Trialeti culture

Tao-Klarjeti georgian province ტაო - კლარჯეთის

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• published: 10 Aug 2012
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The history of the region goes back to 3000 BC, i.e. the Bronze Age known as the Kura-Araxes culture. In the 1st millennium BC, the area was predominantly inhabited by various early-Georgian people which was divided into the kingdoms of Diaokhi, Colchis and Iberia. In ca. 302 BC, these territories were absorbed into the ancient Kingdom of Iberia under the king of Pharnavaz I and since then it was occupied and annexed by various countries. Contested between Iberia and Armenia throughout the following centuries, the region was invaded and completely destroyed by the Arabs in the 7th century. The Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgian: ტაო--კლარჯეთის სამეფო; T'ao-K'larjetis samepho) is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian kingdoms and principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars. Tao and Klarjeti were originally only the names of the two most important provinces of the Georgian lands that stretched from the "Georgian Gorge" (Turk. Gürcü Boğazı) in the south to the Lesser Caucasus in the north. Historically, the area comprised the following provinces: West of the Arsiani Mountains (Turk. Yalnızçam Dağları) were Tao, Klarjeti and Shavsheti, to the east lay Meskheti, Erusheti, Javakheti, Artaani and Kola. The landscape is characterised by mountains and the river-systems of the Chorokhi (Turk. Çoruh) and the Mtkvari (Turk. Kura). Tao-Klarjeti's geographical position between the great Empires of the East and the West, and the fact that one branch of the Silk Road ran through its territory, meant that it was subject to a constant stream of diverging influences. In the 9th-11th centuries, Tao-Klarjeti was ruled by the Iberian Bagrationi Dynasty, and the region played a crucial role in the unification of the Georgian principalities into a single feudal state in 1008. Alongside the magnificent nature, the architectural monuments of Tao-Klarjeti (churches, monasteries, bridges and castles) function as tourist attractions today, but many monuments are endangered, since nothing is done for their preservation. There have also been cases of deliberate destruction (for instance in Opiza and Tbeti).