The Image of St Christopher Cynocephalus in Early Medieval Sculpture of Armenia

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In early medieval Armenian art (ca 400-700), notably in sculpture, certain rare images and iconographic schemes have so far escaped close study. Medievalists’ interpretation and iconographic analysis of this material would be of particular interest - notably, of an animal-headed human figure. Although this figure has always been associated with the sinful King Trdat (Tiridates), who, according to Agathangelos history, was turned into a boar, it is interpreted here as St Christopher. This new interpretation makes it possible to identify early iconographic versions of St Christopher, whose veneration and imagery were disseminated in the Christian East. (Many other early Byzantine images, including those of St Christopher, did not survive because of iconoclasm). The presence of the image of St Christopher in Armenian sculpture can be inferred from two factors: on the one hand, Armenian art’s close relations with Eastern Christian art, and, on the other, the development of local tradition on its own, uninherited terms.