Ph.D. in history Arnold Alahverdian focuses research on Late Antiquity and the Sasanian world
Department: Armenian Studies
Post Date: November 2, 2018News Details
Arnold Alahverdian, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the UCI Department of History, is in the process of completing his dissertation project, “The Making of a Sanctified Revolt in Late Antiquity: Political Turmoil, Fifth-Century Sasanian Persecutions, and the Armenian Rhetoric of Holy War.” The first half of his dissertation focuses on mid-fifth-century Sasanian persecutions and a major revolt in Transcaucasia. He contextualizes these events within broader fifth-century administrative and institutional developments, as well as nomadic invasions, in the Sasanian world and beyond.
The second part of his dissertation studies Armenian narratives of political alliance and militant martyrdom. He especially focuses on the manifestation of the gendered discourses found in martyr texts in these narratives of sanctified warfare. His project relates the development of narratives of sanctified violence in other bodies of late antique Christian and Islamic literature.
“The initiation of the Armenian Studies program at UCI immediately reshaped my studies and research interests,” says Alahverdian. “During her first year as the Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies, Professor Houri Berberian served on my Ph.D. comprehensive examinations committee, and she is currently also part of my dissertation committee. Due to her expertise in modern Armenian history, I want to work with her to add a chapter to my dissertation that discusses the mobilization of the late antique sources my doctoral thesis focuses on by modern Armenian communities.”
While conducting his research project on mid-fifth-century Sasanian persecution and Transcuacasian revolt, Alahverdian has engaged with over five pre-modern languages: Middle Persian, Classical Armenian, Syriac, Ancient Greek, and Classical Arabic.
“Perhaps the most difficult challenge throughout my research journey has been acquiring the ability to read several pre-modern languages over the past four years. I have had to travel out of state and commute long distances in order to study some of the languages I use for my research,” he says.
Alahverdian earned an M.A. in history from UCI in 2015. He completed his thesis, “Masculinity and Militant Piety in Defying Yazdegerd II,” under the guidance of Touraj Daryaee, Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture and director of the UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture.
Alahverdian serves as a teaching assistant for history courses including “The Ancient World,” “World Innovations,” and “Classical Greece.” He has received awards such as the UC Regents’ Fellowship and the Dumbarton Oaks and HMML Syriac Summer Program Fellowship.