Contents:00- Georgia as a Bridge between Cultures: Dynamics of Artistic Exchange;0- (introduction to A. Palladino?s translation of H. Belting);0- Belting from Belting. From Moscow to Constantinople, and to Georgia;0- (translation of H. Belting?s article) ;0- The Painter Manuel Eugenikos from Constantinople in Georgia, translated from Hans Belting.00Articles:00- The Khakhuli Dome Decoration;0- Liturgy and Architecture: Constantinopolitan Rite and Changes in the Architectural Planning of Georgian Churches;0- Altars in Medieval Georgian Churches: Preliminary Notes on their Arrangement, Decoration, and the Rite of Consecration;0- Liminal Spaces of Memory, Devotion, and Feasting? Porch-Chapels in Eleventh-Century Georgia;0- The Monastery of the Transfiguration in Zarzma: At the Intersection of Biblical Narration and Liturgical Relevance;0- The Theme of the Last Judgment in Medieval Georgian Art (Tenth?Thirteenth Centuries).

The volume serves as an introduction to what its editors have chosen to call the "artistic cultures" prevalent during the Middle Ages in the region of the South Caucasus. Although far from comprehensive in terms of material, chronology and geography, the volume intends to raise awareness of a region whose artistic wealth and cultural diversity has remained relatively unknown to most medievalists. Stretching from Eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea in the West to the Caspian Sea in the East, and from the snow-capped Great Caucasus mountain range in the north to the Armenian highlands in the south, medieval southern Caucasia was originally divided into the kingdom of Caucasian Albania, Greater and Lesser Armenia, and western and eastern Georgia, that is, the kingdoms of Lazica (Egrisi) and Iberia (Kartli) respectively. Together, these entities made the South Caucasus a true frontier region between Europe and Asia and a place of transcultural exchange. Its official Christianization began as early as in the fourth century, even before Constantine the Great founded Constantinople or had himself been converted to Christianity. During the subsequent centuries, the region became a well-connected and strategic buffer zone for its neighboring and occupant Byzantine, Persian, Islamic, Seljuk and Mongol powers. And although subject to constantly shifting borders, the medieval kingdoms of the South Caucasus remained an internally diverse yet shared and distinct geographical and historical unity. Far from being isolated, these cultures were part of a much wider medieval universe. Because of the transcultural nature and elevated artistic quality of their objects and monuments, they have much to offer the field of art history, which has recently been challenged to think more globally in terms of transculturation, movement and appropriation among medieval cultures.

Georgia's early history is rich with Native American culture. Several tribes, including the Apalachees and Cherokees, lived on the land for many years. After Europeans, such as Hernado DeSoto, arrived in the New World, other tribes were forced into the area. During the 19th century, Native American tribes were kicked out of Georgia, even though the Supreme Court ruled this to be unconstitutional. Many of the tribes that were forced to leave Georgia ended up on reservations in Oklahoma. Primary sources and engaging images bring history to life on each spread. Readers will walk away with a better understanding of Native American cultures through the history of Georgia.