SETA B. DADOYAN, The Fatimid Armenians: Cultural and Political Interaction in the Near East, Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts, vol. 18, ed. Ulrich Haarmann and Wadad Kadi (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997). Pp. 222. $72.00 cloth.

Abstract

Rather than expound a thesis, this study establishes the fundamental facts of Armenian history from the 4th century to the 12th century on the basis of multiple difficult and sometimes hitherto unexploited sources. If there is an overall thesis, it is that Armenian sectarianism was so prevalent that it accounts for the fragmentary picture of Armenian history given by any single source. Orthodox Armenian sources ignore or dismiss sectarians. Sectarians wrote no history. And Arab historians make only annalistic references to Armenians, unaware of their sectarian divisions.