ბაგრატიონთა დინასტია
Bagrationi Dynasty

Coat of Arms
Official language	Georgian
First appearance and ending as a defined monarchy	575 AD - 1810 AD
Capitals	Early Bagrationis: Artanuji, Kutaisi, "Golden age" : Tbilisi Breakaway branches: Tbilisi (Kingdom of Kartli); Gremi, Telavi (Kingdom of Kakheti); Kutaisi (Kingdom of Imereti)
Government	Monarchy
Preceding state	Kingdom of Georgia
Succeeding state	Imperial Russia

History of Georgia
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Prehistory
Shulaveri-Shomu culture
Bronze Age
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Trialeti culture
Colchian culture
Diauehi
Classical Antiquity
Colchis
Iberia
Lazica
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Early Middle Ages
Principate of Iberia
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Medieval Monarchy
Bagrationi dynasty
Kingdom of Abkhazia
Kingdom of Tao Klarjeti
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Unified Kingdom of Georgia
Kingdom of Kartli
Kingdom of Kakheti
Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti
Kingdom of Imereti
Royal Principalities
Principality of Meskheti
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Principality of Mingrelia
Principality of Abkhazia
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The Bagrationi Royal Dynasty (Georgian: ბაგრატიონი, bagrationi, ბაგრატიონთა დინასტია, bagrationt'a dinastia) was the ruling family of Georgia. Their ascendency lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century. In modern usage, this royal line is frequently referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, a Hellenized form of their dynastic name.

The origin of the Bagrationi dynasty is disputed, as well as the time when they first appeared on Georgian soil. The history of the dynasty is inextricably bound with that of Georgia. They began their rule, in the early 9th century, as presiding princes in historic southwestern Georgia and the adjacent Georgian marchlands reconquered from Arabs. Subsequently they restored, in 888, the Georgian kingdom, which prospered from the 11th to the 13th century, bringing several regional polities under its control. This period of time, particularly the reigns of David IV (1089–1125) and his great granddaughter Tamar (1184–1213), is celebrated as a "golden age" in the history of Georgia, the era of empire, military exploits, and remarkable achievements in culture. After the fragmentation of their unified feudal state in the late 15th century, the branches of the Bagrationi house ruled the three breakaway Georgian kingdoms – Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti – until the Russian annexation in the early 19th century. The dynasty persisted in exile as an Imperial Russian noble family until the 1917 February Revolution. The establishment of the Soviet rule in Georgia in 1921 forced some members of the family to accept demoted status and loss of property in Georgia, others relocated to Western Europe, although some repatriated after Georgian independence in 1991. One of the branches continues to style itself as the Royal House of Georgia.

Origins[link]

According to a family legend, taken down by the 11th century Georgian chronicler Sumbat Davitis-Dze,^[1] and supplied much later by Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi (1696–1757) with chronological data, the ancestors of the dynasty traced their descent to the biblical king and prophet David and came from Palestine around 530 AD. Tradition has it that of seven refugee brothers of the Davidic line, three of them settled in Armenia and the other four arrived in Kartli (a major Georgian region also known as Iberia by Classical authors) where they intermarried with the local ruling houses and acquired some lands in hereditary possession. One of the four brothers, Guaram (died in 532), allegedly gave an origin to a line subsequently called Bagrationi after his son Bagrat.^[2] A successor, Guaram, was installed as a presiding prince of Kartli under the Byzantine protectorate and bestowed, on this occasion, with the Byzantine court title of Kouropalates^[3] in 575.^[4] Thus, according to this version, began the dynasty of the Bagratids, who ruled until 1801.^[5] This tradition had been given a general acceptance until the early 20th century.^[6] While the Jewish origin, let alone the biblical descent of the Bagratids, has been largely discounted by modern scholarship, the issue of their origin still remains controversial. Several Soviet-era historians of Georgia developed a view summarized by N. Berdzenishvili and et al. in their standard reference book on the history of Georgia:

Georgian Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti.

Many modern scholars, however, question the above version, referring to a more complex analysis of primary Armenian and Georgian sources. Cyril Toumanoff's research affirms that the Georgian Bagratids branched out of the Armenian Bagratid dynasty in the person of Adarnase, whose father Vasak (son of Ashot III the Blind, presiding prince of Armenia from 732 to 748) passed to Kartli following an abortive uprising against Arab rule in 772. Adarnase’s son, Ashot I, attained to the principality of Kartli in 813 and thus founded the last royal house of Georgia. Accordingly, the legend of Davidic origin of the Georgian Bagratids was a further development of the earlier claim entertained by the Armenian dynasty, as given in the work of the Armenian author Moses of Khorene.^[9] Once the Georgian branch, who had quickly acculturated in the new environment,^[10] assumed royal power, the myth of their biblical origin helped to assert their legitimacy and emerged as a main ideological pillar of the millennium-long Bagrationi rule in Georgia.^[11]

Although certain, generation by generation, history of the Bagrationi dynasty begins only in the late 8th century, Toumanoff has demonstrated that the first Georgian branch of the Bagratids may be traced back as far as the 2nd century AD, when we hear them ruling over the princedom of Odzrkhe in what is now southern Georgia.^[12] The Odzrkhe line, known in the medieval annals as the Bivritianis, lasted until the 5th century AD and they cannot be considered as the direct ancestors of the later Bagratids who eventually restored Georgian royal authority.^[13]

History[link]

Early Bagrationi Dynasty[link]

King David IV of Georgia is considered to be one of the greatest Georgian monarchs.

The Bagrationi family had grown in prominence by the time the Georgian monarchy (Caucasian Iberia) fell to the Sassanid Persian Empire in the 6th century, and the leading local princely families were exhausted by Arab attacks. The rise of the new dynasty was made possible by the extinction of the Guaramids and the near-extinction of the Chosroids,^[14] the two earlier Georgian dynasties, with whom the Bagratids extensively intermarried, and also by the Abbasid preoccupation with their own civil wars and the conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Although the harsh Arab rule did not afford them a foothold in the ancient capital of Tbilisi and eastern Kartli, the Bagratids successfully maintained their initial domain in Klarjeti and Samtskhe and, under the Byzantine protectorate, extending their possessions southward into the northwestern Armenian marches to form a large polity conventionally known in modern history writing as Tao-Klarjeti after its two major provinces. In 813, the new dynasty acquired, with Ashot I, the hereditary title of presiding prince (erismtavari) of Kartli, to which the emperor attached the title of kourapalates.

Despite the revitalization of the monarchy, Georgian lands remained divided among rival authorities, with Tbilisi remaining in Arab hands. The sons and grandsons of Ashot I established three separate branches – the lines of Kartli, Tao, and Klarjeti – frequently struggling with each other and with neighboring rulers. The Kartli line prevailed; in 888, with Adarnase I, it restored the indigenous Georgian royal authority dormant since 580. His descendant Bagrat III was able to consolidate his inheritance in Tao-Klarjeti and Abkhazian Kingdom, due largely to the diplomacy and conquests of his energetic foster-father David III of Tao.

King George V the Brilliant of Georgia.

Golden Age[link]

This unified monarchy maintained its precarious independence from the Byzantine and Seljuk empires throughout the 11th century, and flourished under David IV the Builder (1089–1125), who repelled the Seljuk attacks and essentially completed the unification of Georgia with the re-conquest of Tbilisi in 1122. With the decline of Byzantine power and the dissolution of the Great Seljuk Empire, Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East, her pan-Caucasian empire^[15] stretching, at its largest extent, from North Caucasus to northern Iran, and eastwards into Asia Minor. In spite of repeated incidents of dynastic strife, the kingdom continued to prosper during the reigns of Demetrios I (1125–1156), George III (1156–1184), and especially, his daughter Tamar (1184–1213). With the death of George III the main male line went extinct and the dynasty was continued by the marriage of Queen Tamar with the Alan prince David Soslan of reputed Bagratid descent.^[16]

Downfall[link]

The invasions by the Khwarezmians in 1225 and the Mongols in 1236 terminated Georgia’s "golden age". The struggle against the Mongol rule created a diarchy, with an ambitious lateral branch of the Bagrationi dynasty holding sway over Imereti, western Georgia. There was a brief period of reunion and revival under George V the Brilliant (1299–1302, 1314–1346), but the eight onslaughts of the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur between 1386 and 1403 dealt a great blow to the Georgian kingdom. Its unity was finally shattered and, by 1490/91, the once powerful monarchy fragmentized into three independent kingdoms – Kartli (central to eastern Georgia), Kakheti (eastern Georgia), and Imereti (western Georgia) – each led by the rival branches of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities – Odishi, (Mingrelia), Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe – dominated by their own feudal clans. The Georgian rulers maintained their perilous autonomy during the three subsequent centuries of the Ottoman and Persian domination, although sometimes serving as little more than puppets in the hands of their powerful suzerains.

The line of Imereti, incessantly embroiled in civil wars, continued with many breaks in succession, and the kingdom was only relatively spared from the encroachments of its Ottoman overlords, while Kartli and Kakheti were subjected to numerous invasions by the Persians, whose efforts to annihilate the refractory vassal kingdoms were in vain, and the two eastern Georgian monarchies, though occasionally losing their independence in the course of their history, survived to be reunified, in 1762, under King Heraclius II, who united in his person both the Kakhetian and Kartlian lines, the latter represented by its junior branch of Mukhrani since 1658.

Last Monarchs[link]

King Heraclius II of Georgia.

Having gained de facto independence from Persia, Heraclius II achieved a degree of stability in the country and established his political hegemony in eastern Transcaucasia. In the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk, he placed his kingdom under the protection of Imperial Russia. The latter failed, however, to provide timely help when the Persian ruler Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar attacked Tbilisi in 1795 to compel severance of Georgian ties to Russia. After the death of Heraclius in 1798, his son and successor, King George XII, renewed a request for protection from Emperor Paul I of Russia, and urged him to intervene in the bitter dynastic feud among the numerous sons and grandsons of the late Heraclius. George offered to incorporate the kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti into the Russian Empire, while preserving its native dynasty and a degree of internal autonomy — essentially, mediatisation. Negotiations of terms were still in process,^[17] when Paul I signed a manifesto on December 18, 1800, declaring the unilateral annexation of Kartli-Kakheti to the Russian Empire.^[18] This proclamation was kept secret until the death of King George on December 28. His eldest son, the Tsarevich Davit, had been formally acknowledged as heir apparent by Emperor Paul on 18 April 1799, but his accession as king after his father's death was not recognized. On September 12, 1801, Emperor Alexander I of Russia formally re-affirmed Paul’s determination, deposing the Bagrationi dynasty from the Georgian throne.^[18] Although divided among themselves, some of the Bagrationi princes resisted Russian annexation, trying to instigate rebellion. Most of them were subsequently arrested and deported from Georgia.^[19]

The reign of the House of Imereti came to an end less than a decade later. On April 25, 1804, the Imeretian king Solomon II, nominally an Ottoman vassal, was persuaded to conclude the Convention of Elaznauri with Russia, on terms similar to those of the Treaty of Georgievsk. Yet the Russian forces dethroned Solomon on February 20, 1810. Defeated during a subsequent rebellion to regain power, he died in exile in Trabzon, Ottoman Turkey, in 1815.^[20]

Georgian Royal Family in Russia[link]

In the Russian Empire the Bagrationis became a prominent family of aristocrats. The most famous was Prince Pyotr Bagration, a great-grandson of King Jesse of Kartli who became a Russian general and hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. His brother Prince Roman Bagration also became a Russian general, distinguishing himself in the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828), and was the first to enter Yerevan in 1827. Roman Bagration was also known for his patronage of the arts, literature and theatre. His home theater in Tbilisi was regarded as one of the finest in the Caucasus. His son Prince Pyotr Romanovich Bagration became governor of the Tver region and later governor-general of the Baltic provinces. He was also a metallurgic engineer known for the development of gold cyanidation in Russia. Prince Dmitry Petrovich Bagration was a Russian general who fought in World War I in the Brusilov Offensive and later joined the Red Army.

Georgian Royal Family Today[link]

Prince George Bagration-Mukhraneli, a Spanish former racing driver and a claimant to the Headship of the Royal House of Georgia, until his death in 2008.

The majority of the Bagrationi family left Georgia after the Red Army took over Tbilisi in 1921. A descendant of the family, Princess Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Moukhransky, married Vladimir Cyrillovich, Grand Duke of Russia, and became the mother of one of the claimants to the Romanov legacy, Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia.

Royal Bagrationi House of Mukhrani Branch[link]

In 1942 Prince Irakli Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, of the genealogically senior branch of the dynasty, proclaimed himself Head of the Royal House of Georgia,^[21] in the absence of evidence that Bagrationis of the Kakhetian branch (which had reigned until 1801) still survived in the Soviet Union. He founded the Union of Georgian Traditionalists in exile. His second wife, Maria Antonietta Pasquini, daughter of Ugo, Count di Costafiorita, bore him a son and heir, but died in childbirth in February 1944. In August 1946 the widower married Princess María Mercedes de Baviera y Borbón, a granddaughter of King Alfonso XII, and daughter of Don Fernando de Baviera y Borbón, who had renounced his royal rights in Bavaria to become a naturalised infante in Spain.

Beginning in the 1990s, senior members of the Bagrationi-Mukhrani descendants began re-patriating to Georgia from Spain, ending generations of exile. Irakli's elder son, Prince Georgi Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, was officially recognized by government and church leaders when he brought his father's remains from Spain to rest with those of his ancestors in Svetitskhoveli Cathedral at Mtskheta in 1995, and took up residence in Tbilisi in 2005, where he died.^[22] His eldest son, Prince Irakli (Heraclius, born 1972), moved to Georgia in 1999 and, although previously embraced as a future pretender to the throne by some Georgian monarchists, has moved back to Spain and deferred his own dynastic claim, since the death of his father in 2008, to that of his younger brother, Prince Davit (born 1976).^[21] Davit took up residence in Tbilisi, obtained Georgian citizenship, claimed the Mukhraneli dynastic titles, and became Head of the Family Council.^[21] The Bagration Mukhraneli is the senior surviving legitimate branch of the Bagration patrilineage,^[23] descending directly from King Constantine II of Georgia. Nonetheless, mitigating the claim of Prince David Bagrationi-Mukhraneli to the Georgian throne is the fact that the Mukhraneli branch has not reigned as kings in Georgia since the 18th century,^[22]

In the case of the most junior legitimate branch of the dynasty, the Bagrationi Imeretinsky line, the last member passed away in 2009 (Princess Nino Bagration Imeretinsky). Her descendants carry the surname Djaparidze.^{[citation needed]}

Royal Bagrationi House of Gruzinsky Branch[link]

Prince Nugzar Petrovich Bagration-Gruzinski (born 1950) is the most senior, known patrilineal descendant of Georgia's last king, George XII and is, as such, head of the Kakhetian branch of the dynasty which, although genealogically junior to the Mukhranelis, has reigned more recently, not having lost the throne of Georgia until 1800.^[23][24] Nugzar is well known in Georgia because he has lived his entire life in Tbilisi, and experienced with other Georgians both the country's subordination to the Soviet regime and its liberation since 1991. He is a theatrical and cinema director, and his father, Prince Petre Bagration-Gruzinski (1920–1984), was a poet, and authored lyrics to the anthem, "Song of Tiflis".^[24]

Royal Marriage of United Bagrationi Branch[link]

Prince Nugzar's daughter, Princess Anna, a divorced teacher and journalist with two daughters, married Prince David Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, on 8 February 2009 at the Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral.^[25] The marriage united the Gruzinsky and Mukhrani branches of the Georgian royal family, and drew a crowd of 3,000 spectators, officials, and foreign diplomats, as well as extensive coverage by the Georgian media.^[26]

The dynastic significance of the wedding lay in the fact that, amidst the turmoil in political partisanship that has roiled Georgia since its independence in 1991, Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia publicly called for restoration of the monarchy as a path toward national unity in October 2007.^[27] Although this led some politicians and parties to entertain the notion of a Georgian constitutional monarchy, competition arose among the old dynasty's princes and supporters, as historians and jurists debated which Bagrationi has the strongest hereditary right to a throne that has been vacant for two centuries.^[26] Although some Georgian monarchists support the Gruzinsky branch's claim, others support that of the re-patriated Mukhrani branch.^[27] Both branches descend from the medieval kings of Georgia down to Constantine II of Georgia who died in 1505,^[23] and continue in unbroken, legitimate male line into the 21st century.

Whereas the Bagration-Mukhrani were a cadet branch of the former Royal House of Kartli, they became the genealogically seniormost line of the Bagrationi family in the early 20th century: yet this elder branch had lost the rule of Kartli by 1724,^[23] retaining that of the Principality of Mukhrani until its annexation by Russia along with Kartli-Kakheti in 1800.

Meanwhile, the Bagration-Gruzinsky line, although junior to the Princes of Mukhrani genealogically, reigned over the kingdom of Kakheti, re-united the two realms in the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in 1762, and did not lose sovereignty until Russian annexation in 1800.^[28]

The bridegroom is the only member of his branch who retains Georgian citizenship and residence since the death of his father, Prince George Bagration-Mukhraneli in 2008.^[28] Aside from his unmarried elder brother, Prince Davit is the heir male of the Bagrationi family, while the bride's father is the most senior descendant of the last Bagrationi to reign over the united kingdom of Georgia. Since Nugzar and Princes Peter and Eugene Bagrationi-Gruzinsky are the last patrilineal males descended from King George XII, and all three were born before 1950, their branch verges on extinction. But the marriage between Nugzar Gruzinsky's heiress and the Mukhrani heir resolves their rivalry for the claim to the throne, which has recently^[when?] divided Georgian monarchists.^[28]

Prince David and Princess Anna became the parents of a baby boy on September 27, 2011, Prince Giorgi Bagration Bagrationi who, in his person, potentially unites the Mukhraneli and Gruzinsky claims. If no other Bagrationi prince is born in either the Gruzinsky or Mukhraneli branch who is of senior descent by primogeniture, and he survives those now living, Prince Giorgi will become the heir male of the House of Bagrationi and the heir general of George XIII of Georgia .^[29]

Gallery of Georgian Kings of Bagrationi Dynasty[link]

• 

  Bagrat III of Georgia

• 

  David IV of Georgia

• 

  George III of Georgia

• 

  Queen Tamar of Georgia

• 

  George IV of Georgia

• 

  George V of Georgia

• 

  David VI of Georgia

• 

  Luarsab II of Kartli

• 

  George XI of Kartli

• 

  Teimuraz I of Kakheti

• 

  Solomon I of Imereti

• 

  George XII

See also[link]

• List of Bagrationi rulers of Georgia
• Monarchism in Georgia
• Line of succession to the Georgian throne
• Bagration-Davitashvili

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bagrationi

Georgians
ქართველები
Kartvelebi

David IV Tamar of Georgia George V Petre Bagrationi Mary Eristavi Joseph Stalin Ekaterine Dadiani Konstantine Abkhazi Lamara Chkonia George Balanchine Rustaveli E. Shevardnadze John Shalikashvili Katie Melua Ambrosius I. Chavchavadze
Total population
c. 4.3[1] — 5 million
Regions with significant populations
Georgia 3,956,000[2]
Russia 198,944[3] European Union 250,000[citation needed]  United States 200,000[citation needed]  Israel 72,000[4]  Turkey 91,500[1]  Ukraine 34,199[5]  Greece 23,159[6]  Brazil 20,750[citation needed]  Azerbaijan 14,900[7]  Japan 14,000  Italy 12,670  Kazakhstan 4,990[8]  Singapore 3,500  France 2,500  Canada 2,500  Armenia 1,105  Argentina 1,050  Mexico 1,000  United Kingdom 3500
Languages
Georgian (including Mingrelian and Svan), Russian (about 10% of the population)[2]
Religion
Predominantly † Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Georgian Orthodox Church) (83.9%) also some Georgiano-Latin, Greek, and Armenian rites of the Roman Catholic Church (0.8%). Muslim minority (9.9%), chiefly Sunnis of the Hanafi school.[9] In diaspora (Chveneburis, Saingilo and Fereydanians) mainly Islam
Related ethnic groups
Laz

Part of a series on
Georgians ქართველები
The Kartvelian people
Nation
Georgia
Ancient Kartvelian people
Iberians · Colchians
Subgroups
Mingrelians · Svans · Adjarians · Khevsurians · Tushetians · Chveneburi
Culture
Music · Media · Sport · Calligraphy · Cinema · Cuisine · Dances · Costume · Calendar · Mythology · Architecture
Language
Alphabet · Dialects · Grammar
Religion
Georgian Orthodox Church Christianity · Catholicism Islam · Judaism Saint Nino · Saint George
Symbols
Borjgali · Cross of Bolnisi · Grapevine cross · Cross of Saint George
History of Georgia
v t e

The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.

The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.

The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.

Located in Caucasus at the edge of Europe, the Georgian people have fought to protect their Christian identity in the face of immense pressure from the neighboring Muslim empires. By the early 11th century they formed a unified kingdom which emerged as a dominant regional power until it was weakened by internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. To ensure its survival as a Christian kingdom, the country was soon forced to forge an alliance with the Russian Empire, which was viewed as a replacement for the fallen Eastern Roman Empire, Georgia's traditional ally. Eventually being annexed by Russia in 1801, Georgians briefly regained national independence from 1918 to 1921, and finally, in 1991 from the Soviet Union.

Etymology[link]

Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their land Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language Kartuli (ქართული). According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great grandson of the Biblical Japheth. Ancient Greeks (Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Homer, etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to early eastern Georgians as Iberians (Iberoi in some Greek sources) and western Georgians as Colchians.^[10]

Origins[link]

Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period.^[11] Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.^[12] Some European historians of the 19th century (for example, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Paul Kretschmer) as well as Georgian scholars (R. Gordeziani, S. Kaukhchishvili and Z. Gamsakhurdia) came to the conclusion that Proto-Kartvelians might be related linguistically and culturally to the indigenous (pre-Indo-European) peoples of ancient Europe including the Etruscans, Pelasgians and Proto-Basques.

The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians.^[13][14] East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (Moschians, Suanians, Mingrelians and others) established the first Georgian state of Colchis before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east.^[15] According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation.^[16]

Proto-Georgian tribes:

• The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal).^[17]

• Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek, lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of Georgians. The Georgians of today still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, ancient Georgian Kingdom. Some people there still speak Georgian.^[18]

• Colchians in the ancient western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis. First mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II. Also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.^[15][19]

• Iberians also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, in the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia.^[15]

Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.^[20][21]

According to the scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff:

Appearance[link]

Alpine type of Georgian, Svan. Mestia (1888 -1900)

Georgians are classified as Caucasoids (Europoid or Europid),^[23] and often have brown hair and brown eyes.^[24] Georgians who have historically lived in alpine areas of less sunny western Georgia — especially Mingrelians and Svans- tend to have lighter features, with higher frequency of blond hair and light blue or green eyes.

Studies of human genetics suggest that Georgian Y-DNA typically belongs to Haplogroup J2, also found in Greece and Italy, as well as Haplogroup G.^[25]

Culture[link]

Language and linguistic subdivisions[link]

Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Mingrelians, Svans, and the Laz. The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD — today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages — Mingrelian and Svan — are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country — known as Iberia — effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.

All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.

Dialects of Georgian include Imeretian, Racha-Lechkhumian, Gurian, Adjarian, Imerkhevian (in Turkey), Kartlian, Kakhetian, Ingilo (in Azerbaijan), Tush, Khevsur, Mokhevian, Pshavian, Fereydan dialect in Iran in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan, Mtiuletian, Meskhetian.

Religion[link]

Georgian Statehood

Kingdom of Iberia Kingdom of Colchis Kingdom of Diauehi Kingdom of Lazica Unified Georgian Kingdom Partitions Kingdom of Kartli Kingdom of Abkhazia Kingdom of Hereti Kingdom of Kakheti Kingdom of Imereti Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti Georgian Principalities Principality of Svaneti Principality of Meskheti Principality of Abkhazia Principality of Guria Principality of Samegrelo Democratic Republic of Georgia Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic Republic of Georgia Georgia

Wall Painting in Georgia's ancient Monastery, Shio-Mghvime

Christianity, first preached by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century, became the state religion of the Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia in 327, although most of the Georgian population was already Christian.^{[26][27][28][29]} The final conversion of Georgia to Christianity in 327 is credited to a Roman woman St. Nino of Cappadocia, a relative of the great martyr St. George, and Susanna, sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.^[30] The Georgians' new faith, which replaced pagan beliefs, allied them permanently with the Eastern Roman Empire, while placing them on the front line of conflict between the Christian and Islamic worlds. As was true elsewhere, the Christian church in Georgia was crucial to the development of a written language, and most of the earliest written works were religious texts.Medieval Georgian culture was greatly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy and the Georgian Orthodox Church, which promoted and often sponsored the creation of many works of religious devotion. These included churches and monasteries, works of art such as icons, and hagiographies of Georgian saints. In addition, many secular works of national history, mythology and hagiography were also written. Today, 83.9% of the Georgian population, most of whom are ethnic Georgian, practices Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Cuisine[link]

The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from other European culinary traditions, as well as those from the surrounding Western Asia. Each historical province of Georgia has its own distinct culinary tradition, such as Megrelian, Kakhetian, and Imeretian cuisines. In addition to various meat dishes, Georgian cuisine also offers a variety of vegetarian meals.

The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a Caucasian feast, or supra, when a huge assortment of dishes is prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of wine, and dinner can last for hours. In a Georgian feast, the role of the tamada (toastmaster) is an important and honoured position.

In countries of the former Soviet Union, Georgian food is popular due to the immigration of Georgians to other Soviet republics, in particular Russia. In Russia all major cities have many Georgian restaurants and Russian restaurants often feature Georgian food items on their menu.^[31]

Geographic subdivisions and subethnic groups[link]

Geographical subdivisions[link]

Georgian youth in traditional costumes

The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited.

Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region. For example, if a Gurian moves to Tbilisi (part of the Kartli region) he will not automatically identify himself as Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. This may, however, change if substantial amount of time passes. For example, there are some Mingrelians who have lived in the Imereti region for centuries and are now identified as Imeretian or Imeretian-Mingrelians.

Last names from mountainous eastern Georgian provinces (such as Kakheti, etc.) can be distinguished by the suffix –uri (ური), or –uli (ული). Most Svan last names typically end in –ani (ანი), Mingrelian in –ia (ია), -ua (უა), or -ava (ავა), and Laz in –shi (ში).

The 1897 Russian census (which accounted people by language), had Imeretian, Mingrelian and Svan languages separate from Georgian.^[32] During the 1926 Soviet census, Mengrelians and Svans were accounted separately from Georgian.^[33] Mingrelian and Svan languages are both Kartvelian languages and are closely related to the national Georgian.

Outside of modern Georgia[link]

Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. According to the London School of Economics' anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans,^[34] Lazs residing in Georgia frequently identify themselves as "first-class Georgians" to show pride, while considering their Muslim counterparts in Turkey as "Turkified Lazs".^[35]

Subethnic groups	Name in Georgian	Settlement area	Language (other than Georgian)	Approximate number	Difference(s) from mainstream Georgians (other than location)
Shavshians	შავში shavshi	Shavsheti	Imerkhevian dialect ?
Klarjians	კლარჯი klarji	Klarjeti	Imerkhevian dialect ?
Lazs	ლაზი lazi	Chaneti (Lazistan)	Laz language	50,000 (1970 est.)[36]	Religion: Muslim
Chveneburi	ჩვენებური chveneburi	Black Sea coast, Northwestern Turkey		60,000 (1979)[37]	Religion: Muslim
Ingilo	ინგილო ingilo	Saingilo	Ingiloan dialect	12,000	Religion: Muslim[citation needed]
Pereidneli (Fereydan Georgian)	ფერეიდნელი pereidneli	Pereidani	Fereidanian dialect

Linguistic subdivisions[link]

The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD — today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages — Mingrelian and Svan — are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country — known as Iberia — effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.

All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Georgia
• Culture of Georgia
• Georgian language
• Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
• History of Georgia
• Demographics of Georgia
• European American
• Georgian American
• List of Georgians
• Peoples of the Caucasus
• Chveneburi — Georgians in Turkey
• Georgians in Iran

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David IV დავით IV
King of Kings of Georgia
King of Georgia
Reign	1089–1125
Predecessor	George II
Successor	Demetrius I
Spouse	Rusudan of Armenia Guranduht of the Kipchaks
Issue
Demetrius I Vakhtang George Tamar Katay Tamar
Dynasty	Bagrationi
Father	George II of Georgia
Mother	Helena
Born	1073 Kutaisi
Died	24 January 1125 Tbilisi
Burial	Gelati Monastery
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church

David IV "the Builder", also known as David II^[1] (Georgian: დავით აღმაშენებელი, Davit Aghmashenebeli) (1073 – January 24, 1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125.^[2]

Popularly considered to be the greatest and most successful Georgian ruler in history, he succeeded in driving the Seljuk Turks out of the country, winning the major Battle of Didgori in 1121. His reforms of the army and administration enabled him to reunite the country and bring most of the lands of the Caucasus under Georgia’s control. A friend of the church and a notable promoter of Christian culture, he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Early life[link]

The only son of King George II (1072–1089) by his wife Helena, he was born in Kutaisi, western Georgia in 1073. David was raised during one of the darkest chapters of Georgian history, amidst the strife of the so-called Great Turkish Onslaught (didi turkoba) when the Seljuk tribes began massive migrations to the southern Caucasus. King Giorgi II was unable to cope with the problem, and in a bloodless coup in 1089, he was forced to resign in favor of his 16-year-old son.

David's revival of the Georgian State[link]

Despite his age, he was actively involved in Georgia’s political life. Backed by his tutor and an influential churchman George of Chqondidi, David IV pursued a purposeful policy, taking no unconsidered step. He was determined to bring order to the land, bridle the unsubmissive secular and ecclesiastic feudal lords, centralize the state administration, form a new type of army that would stand up better to the Seljuk Turkish military organization, and then go over to a methodical offensive with the aim of expelling the Seljuks first from Georgia and then from the whole Caucasus. Between 1089–1100, King David organized small detachments of his loyal troops to restore order and destroy isolated enemy troops. He began the resettlement of devastated regions and helped to revive major cities. Encouraged by his success, but more importantly the beginning of the Crusades in Palestine, he ceased payment of the annual contribution to the Seljuks and put an end to their seasonal migration to Georgia. In 1101, King David captured the fortress of Zedazeni, a strategic point in his struggle for Kakheti and Hereti, and within the next three years he liberated most of eastern Georgia.

In 1093, he arrested the powerful feudal lord Liparit Baghvashi, a long-time enemy of the Georgian crown, and expelled him from Georgia (1094). After the death of Liparit’s son Rati, David abolished their duchy of Kldekari in 1103.

He slowly pushed the Seljuk Turks out of the country, recovering more and more land from them as they were now forced to focus not only on the Georgians but the newly begun Crusades in the eastern Mediterranean.^[3] By 1099 David IV's power was considerable enough that he was able to refuse paying tribute to the Turks. By that time, he also rejected a Byzantine title of panhypersebastos ^[4] thus indicating that Georgia would deal with the Byzantine Empire only on a parity basis.

In 1103 a major ecclesiastical congress known as the Ruis-Urbnisi Synod was held at the monasteries of Ruisi and Urbnisi. David succeeded in removing oppositionist bishops, and combined two offices: courtier’s (Mtzignobartukhutsesi, i.e. Chief Secretary) and clerical (Bishop of Tchqondidi) into a single institution of Tchqondidel-Mtzignobartukhutsesi corresponding roughly to the post of prime minister.

Next year, David’s supporters in the eastern Georgian province of Kakheti captured the local king Aghsartan II (1102–1104), a loyal tributary of the Seljuk Sultan, and reunited the area with the rest of Georgia.

Military campaigns[link]

King David the Builder, Shio-Mghvime monastery

Georgia during the reign of King David IV.

Following the annexation of Kakheti, in 1105, David routed a Seljuk punitive force at the Battle of Ertzukhi, leading to momentum that helped him to secure the key fortresses of Samshvilde, Rustavi, Gishi, and Lorri between 1110 and 1118.

Problems began to crop up for David now. His population, having been at war for the better part of twenty years, needed to be allowed to become productive again. Also, his nobles were still making problems for him, along with the city of Tbilisi which still could not be liberated from Arab grasp. Again David was forced to solve these problems before he could continue the reclamation of his nation and people. For this purpose, David IV radically reformed his military. He resettled a Kipchak tribe of 14.000 families from the Northern Caucasus in Georgia in 1118–1120. Every Georgian and Kipchak family was obliged to provide one soldier with a horse and weapons. This 56.000 men strong army was entirely dependent on the King. Kipchaks were settled in different regions of Georgia. Some were settled in Inner Kartli province, others were given lands along the border. They were quickly assimilated into Georgian society.

In 1120 David IV moved to western Georgia and, when the Turks began pillaging Georgian lands, he suddenly attacked them. Only an insignificant Seljuk force escaped. King David then entered the neighbouring Shirvan and took the town of Qabala.

In the winter of 1120–1121 the Georgian troops successfully attacked the Seljuk settlements on the eastern and southwestern approaches to the Transcaucasus.

Flag of David the Builder

Muslim powers became increasingly concerned about the rapid rise of a Christian state in southern Caucasia. In 1121, Sultan Mahmud b. Muhammad (1118–1131) declared a holy war on Georgia and rallied a large coalition of Muslim states led by the Artuqid Najm al-din El-ğazi and Toğrul b. Muhammad. The size of the Muslim army is still a matter of debate with numbers ranging from fantastic 600,000 men (Walter the Chancellor’s Bella Antiochena, Matthew of Edessa) to 400,000 (Smbat Sparapet’s Chronicle) to modern Georgian estimates of 250,000–400,000 men. All sources agree that the Muslim powers gathered an army that was far much larger than the Georgian force of 56,000 men. However, August 12, 1121, King David routed the enemy army on the fields of Didgori, achieving what is often considered the greatest military success in Georgian history. The victory at Didgori signaled the emergence of Georgia as a great military power and shifted the regional balance in favor of Georgian cultural and political supremacy.

Following his success, King David captured Tbilisi, the last Muslim enclave remaining from the Arab occupation, in 1122 and moved the Georgian capital there. A well-educated man, he preached tolerance and acceptance of other religions, abrogated taxes and services for the Muslims and Jews, and protected the Sufis and Muslim scholars. In 1123, David’s army liberated Dmanisi, the last Seljuk stronghold in southern Georgia. In 1124, David finally conquered Shirvan and took the Armenian city of Ani from the Muslim Emirs, thus expanding the borders of his kingdom to the Araxes basin. Armenians met him as a liberator providing some auxiliary force for his army. It was when the important component of "Sword of the Messiah" appeared in the title of David the Builder. It is engraved on a copper coin of David's day:

Humane treatment of the Muslim population, as well as the representatives of other religions and cultures, set a standard for tolerance in his multiethnic kingdom. It was a hallmark not only for his enlightened reign, but for all of Georgian history and culture.

David the Builder died on January 24, 1125, and upon his death, King David was, as he had ordered, buried under the stone inside the main gatehouse of the Gelati Monastery so that anyone coming to his beloved Gelati Academy stepped on his tomb first, a humble gesture for a great man. He had three children, the son Demetrius, who succeeded him and continued his father's victorious reign; and two daughters, Tamar, who was married to the Shirwan Shah Akhsitan (Aghsartan in Georgian), and Kata (Katai), married to Isaakios Comnenus, the son of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. Beside his political and military skills, King David earned fame as a writer, composing Galobani sinanulisani (Hymns of Repentance, c. 1120), a powerful work of emotional free-verse psalms, which reveal the king’s humility and religious zeal.

Cultural life[link]

Gelati Monastery fresco of King David, 12th century

King David the Builder gave close attention to the education of his people. The king selected children who were sent to the Byzantine Empire "so that they be taught languages and bring home translations made by them there". Many of them later became well-known scholars.

At the time of David the Builder there were quite a few schools and academies in Georgia, among which Gelati occupies a special place. King David's historian calls Gelati Academy

Besides Gelati there also were other cultural-enlightenment and scholarly centers in Georgia at that time, i.e. the Academy of Ikalto.

David himself composed, c. 1120, "Hymns of Repentance" (გალობანი სინანულისანი, galobani sinanulisani), a sequence of eight free-verse psalms, with each hymn having its own intricate and subtle stanza form. For all their Christianity, cult of the Mother of God, and the king’s emotional repentance of his sins, David sees himself as reincarnating the Biblical David, with a similar relationship to God and to his people. His hymns also share the idealistic zeal of the contemporaneous European crusaders to whom David was a natural ally in his struggle against the Seljuks.^[5]

Family[link]

Marriages[link]

• Rusudan, an Armenian princess (divorced in 1107)
• Gurandukht, daughter of the Kipchak chief Otrok (ca. 1107)