Between Two Worlds Kafadar.pdf

societies imbued with the ethos of democracy? Medieval societies likewise upheld
values that could turn against one another but could also be balanced, at least
temporarily or among certain segments of the population, through the enforcement
of some authoritative resolution, complicated negotiations between different
interests, some consensus on priorities, or similar means. Even flit may have
been a major force in the ideological matrix of medieval western Asian and
eastern European frontier regions, the "championing of one's faith" could never
function as the sole concern of historical actors in that stage or as a
single-minded zeal.
This is as true for non-Muslims as it is for Muslims. In fact, significant
parallels can be found in the nature of the concerns and code of behavior
displayed by the warriors of the two sides, as evidenced in, for instance, the
Byzantine legend of Digenis Akritas, the borderland warrior, which allows us a
glimpse into the frontier ethos of the "other side." One very important reason
for such parallels is, as many scholars have pointed out, the fact that the
sociocultural formations on both sides developed their traditions during many
centuries of dose contact and intensive exchange, which does not preclude the
role of violence.[60] The role of shifting boundaries, loyalties, and identifies
should also be underlined here. At any given moment, some of the populace on
either side of the frontier, warriors and others, would have been recent
arrivals — converts, slaves, or recently subjugated people — who were steeped in
the cultural traditions of the other side but were now in a position to
contribute, voluntarily or forcibly, to this one. Given all this, it is not
surprising that a student of Byzantine cultural life finds in her inspiring
study of the Digenis Akritas legend a "measure of understanding" intensified by
"the long existence of the frontier zone .... [T]he frontier Byzantine differed
from the rest. For, as has already been observed by other scholars, the
Byzantine-Arab [or Byzantine-Turkish] frontier regions were different in
character from the territories behind them, developing specific cultural,
social, economic traits."[61]
Like the Muslim gazi epics, the tale of the Byzantine frontier lord presents a
dualistic universe of "us" and "them" defined in religious terms. However, the
line between the two warring worlds is more re-
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markable for the ease with which one can cross it than for its rigidity. And
Digenis Akritas is certainly not ashamed that his father was once a Muslim, who,
like the Trebizondine princess in the story of Kan Turali, switched sides not
out of piety but love, and that his grandparents were Paulician heretics.[62]
Indeed, the very name of the hero, Digenis (Two-Blooded), is a constant reminder
of his background, just like the names of Artuhi and Efromiya in the
Danismendname> . Rather than suppressing the inclusivism of the political
communities they glorify, both the Christian and the Muslim holy warrior epics
thus underline the possibility of inclusion and the fluidity of identities in
those frontier conditions.
The motif of the protagonist's mixed origins in these rich texts can certainly
not be reduced to a "sign" of ethnic mixture. The ambiguity of the hero's
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