1.
Gelati Monastery
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Gelati is a medieval monastic complex near Kutaisi, in the Imereti region of western Georgia. A masterpiece of the Georgian Golden Age, Gelati was founded in 1106 by King David IV of Georgia and is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, historically, Gelati was one of the main cultural and intellectual centers in Georgia. Among the religious authors were celebrated scholars as Ioane Petritsi and Arsen Ikaltoeli, due to the extensive work carried out by the Gelati Academy, people of the time called it a new Hellas and a second Athos. The Gelati Monastery has preserved a number of murals and manuscripts dating back to the 12th to 17th centuries. The Khakhuli triptych was enshrined at Gelati until being stolen in 1859, Gelati is the burial site of its founder and one of the greatest Georgian kings David IV. Near King Davids grave are the gates of Ganja, which were taken as a trophy by King Demetrius I of Georgia in 1138
2.
George II of Georgia
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There was also a Giorgi II, Catholicos of Kartli who ruled in 826–838. George II, of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1072 to 1089 and he was a son and successor of Bagrat IV and his wife Borena of Alania. He also held the high Byzantine titles of curopalates and caesar, in fact, Liparit became the master of nearly half of the Georgian kingdom and the most powerful dynast in the country. By 1060, Bagrat IV had been able to secure the throne, in 1070, Prince George, at the head of a combined Georgian-Alan army, inflicted a decisive defeat on the Shaddadid emir of Arran, Fadl II, and ravaged his possessions at Ganja. George succeeded as King of Georgia upon the death of his father in 1072 and received the title of nobelissimos, a year later, he faced a major aristocratic revolt led by Niania Kvabulis-dze, Ivane Liparitis-dze, and Vardan of Svaneti. Although victorious, the king had to buy the rebels’ loyalty through generously awarding them additional estates, soon, Georgia was attacked again by the Seljuks, a nomadic Turkic people, who would prove to be a major menace to George II’s reign. Following the 1073 devastation of Kartli by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan, on this occasion, George was bestowed with the Byzantine title of caesar, granted the fortress of Kars and put in charge of the Imperial Eastern limits. This did not help to stem the Seljuk advance, however, in 1076, the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah I surged into Georgia and reduced many settlements to ruins. However, tired with a siege of the Kakhetian stronghold of Vezhini, George abandoned the campaign when snow fell. The Seljuk auxiliaries also lifted the siege and plundered the fertile Iori Valley in Kakheti. Aghsartan I, king of Kakheti, went to the sultan to declare his submission, in 1089, George handed over the crown to his vigorous sixteen-year-old son David. This changeover is shrouded in mystery and is mentioned only in passing in the Georgian chronicles, all that is recorded is that George crowned his son as king with his own hands, after which he disappears from the chronicle. He was most probably forced by his nobles, in a palace coup masterminded by the powerful minister Bishop Giorgi Chkondideli, to abdicate in favor of David
3.
Demetrius I of Georgia
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Demetrius I, from the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia from 1125 to 1156. He is also known as a poet, Demetrius was the eldest son of King David the Builder by his first wife Rusudan. As a commander, he took part in his father’s battles, particularly at Didgori, Demetrius succeeded on his father’s death on January 24,1125. With his ascent to the throne, the Seljuk Turks attacked the Georgian-held city of Ani, Demetrius I had to compromise and ceded the city to a Seljuk ruler under terms of vassalage. In 1139, he raided the city of Ganja in Arran. He brought the gate of the defeated city to Georgia and donated it to Gelati Monastery at Kutaisi. Despite this brilliant victory, Demetrius could hold Ganja only for a few years, in 1130, Demetrius revealed a plot of nobles, probably involving the kings half-brother Vakhtang. The King arrested the conspirators and executed one of their leaders, Ioanne Abuletisdze, in 1154 David, Demetriuss elder son forced his father to abdicate and become a monk, receiving the monastic name Damian. However, David died six months later and King Demetrius was restored to the throne, David was survived by his son Demna who was regarded by the aristocratic opposition as a lawful pretender. He died in 1156 and was buried at Gelati Monastery and he is regarded as a saint in the Orthodox Church and his feast day is celebrated on May 23 on the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. Shen Khar Venakhi, a hymn to the Virgin Mary, is the most famous of them, family of David IV of Georgia The Bagrationi Dynasty Listen to the hymn “Thou Art the Vineyard” St Damiane the King and Hymnographer Orthodox synaxarion
4.
Kutaisi
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Kutaisi is the legislative capital of Georgia, and its 3rd most populous city. Situated 221 kilometres west of Tbilisi, it is the capital of the region of Imereti. Kutaisi is located along banks of the Rioni River. The city lies at an elevation of 125–300 metres above sea level, to the east and northeast, Kutaisi is bounded by the Northern Imereti Foothills, to the north by the Samgurali Range, and to the west and the south by the Colchis Plain. Kutaisi is surrounded by deciduous forests to the northeast and the northwest, the low-lying outskirts of the city have a largely agricultural landscape. The city centre has many gardens its streets are lined with high, in the springtime, when the snow starts to melt in the nearby mountains, the storming Rioni River in the middle of the city is heard far beyond its banks. Kutaisi has a subtropical climate with a well-defined on-shore/monsoonal flow during the Autumn. The summers are hot and relatively dry while the winters are wet. Average annual temperature in the city is 14.5 degrees Celsius, january is the coldest month with an average temperature of 5.3 degrees Celsius while July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 23.2 degrees Celsius. The absolute minimum recorded temperature is −17 degrees Celsius and the maximum is 44 degrees Celsius. Average annual precipitation is around 1,530 mm, rain may fall in every season of the year. The city often experiences heavy, wet snowfall in the winter, Kutaisi experiences powerful easterly winds in the summer which descend from the nearby mountains. Kutaisi was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Colchis, archaeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of the kingdom of Colchis in the sixth to fifth centuries BC. From 978 to 1122 CE, Kutaisi was the capital of the united Kingdom of Georgia, in 1508, the city was captured by Selim I, who was the son of Bayezid II, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. During the seventeenth century, Imeretian kings made many appeals to Russia to help them in their struggle for independence from the Ottomans, all these appeals were ignored as Russia did not want to spoil relations with Turkey. Totleben helped King Solomon I of Imereti to recover his capital, Kutaisi, finally, the Russian-Turkish wars ended in 1810 with the annexation of the Imeretian Kingdom by the Russian Empire. The city was the capital of the Gubernia of Kutaisi, which included much of west Georgia, in March 1879, the city was the site of a blood- libel trial that attracted attention all over Russia, the ten accused Jews were acquitted. Kutaisi was an industrial center before Georgias independence in 1991
5.
Tbilisi
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Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure
6.
Family of David IV of Georgia
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The family of David IV the Builder, King of Georgia, was part of the Bagrationi dynasty. The dynasty had made their appearance in the Georgian lands in the 8th century, David IV concluded this process of unification, setting stage for a Georgian domination in the Caucasus. Like his Bagratid ancestors, David entertained claims of descent from the biblical king David and he was a direct descendant of the first Georgian Bagratid monarch Ashot I and bore known lineage, among others, from the Abkhazian, Alanian, Artsruni, Bagratuni, and Guaramid dynasties. Davids immediate family consisted of his two wives and several children, of whom four are relatively better documented. According to the Life of King of Kings David, written c, 1123–1126, David was the only son of King George II. The contemporaneous Armenian chronicler Matthew of Edessa mentions Davids brother Totorme, the latter, according to the modern historian Robert W. Thomson, was his sister. The name of Davids mother, Elene, is recorded in a note in the Gospel of Matthew from the Tskarostavi monastery. David bore the name of the biblical king-prophet, whose 78th descendant he was claimed to be, through his father, David had ancestors among the most prominent dynasties of the Caucasus. Davids grandfather was King Bagrat IV of Georgia and his grandmother was an Alan princess Borena, besides he had in-law relations in Constantinople. Davids paternal aunt Marta-Maria was a consort of the successive Byzantine emperors Michael VII Doukas, different sources mention Davids two wives of whom one, unnamed, was an Armenian lady, the other, Gurandukht, a Cuman-Kipchak, is the only one who can be precisely identified. The Armenian chronicler Matthew of Edessa says that Davids eldest son Demetrius was born from an Armenian woman and she is not mentioned in the surviving Georgian documents. A reference to the wife of David, a king of Georgia, is found in the letter of Ansellus, cantor of the Holy Sepulchre. 1120, with which he was sending a relic of the True Cross to the bishop of Paris, Ansellus reports that he acquired the relic from a convent of Georgian nuns only recently established in Jerusalem under the patronage of the Latin patriarch Ghibbelin. Ansellus names the founder of the nunnery as King Davids widow, since David died only in 1125, the lady of Anselluss letter may have been his first wife, whom he divorced for political reasons in order to marry a Kipchak princess. According to the modern historian Cyril Toumanoff, Davids repudiation of his first marriage occurred c, the same author hypothesizes that Davids Armenian wife was called Rusudan and she mothered all of Davids children. Gurandukht, a daughter of the leader of the Kipchaks Otrok, was the only wife of David mentioned by his medieval Georgian biographer. He married her years before the recruitment of around 40,000 of the Kipchaks in the Georgian service, Gurandukht is a Persianate name popular in medieval Georgia, her original Turkic name is unknown as are the details of her life. The chronicler of David praises Gurandukhts virtues and points out that the marriage helped David to secure the transfer of the Kipchak families as allies of the Georgian crown, the Life of King of Kings David mentions Davids four children, two sons—Demetrius and Vakhtang—and two daughters—Tamar and Kata
7.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
8.
Bagrationi dynasty
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The Bagrationi dynasty is a royal family that reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, this line is often referred to as the Georgian Bagratids. The common origin with the Armenian Bagratuni dynasty has been accepted by scholars, the family, in the person of Ashot I, the great-grandson of the presiding prince of Armenia Ashot III Bagratuni, gained the principate of Iberia at the end of the 8th century. His descendants restored, in 888, the Georgian monarchy and united various native polities into the Kingdom of Georgia, which prospered from the 11th to the 13th century. This period of time, particularly the reigns of David IV the Builder, the dynasty persisted within the Russian Empire as an Imperial Russian noble family until the 1917 February Revolution. The earliest Georgian forms of the name are Bagratoniani, Bagratuniani and Bagratovani. These names as well as the Armenian Bagratuni and the modern designation Bagratid mean the children of Bagrat or the house of/established by Bagrat. A successor, Guaram, was installed as a prince of Kartli under the Byzantine protectorate. Thus, according to version, began the dynasty of the Bagratids. This tradition enjoyed a general acceptance until the early 20th century, the Jewish origin, let alone the biblical descent, of the Bagratids has been discounted by modern scholarship. Adarnase’s son, Ashot I, acquired the principality of Kartli in 813, although certain, the generation-by-generation history of the Bagrationi dynasty begins only in the late 8th century. The Odzrkhe line, known in the annals as the Bivritianis. They cannot, however, be considered the ancestors of the later Bagratids who eventually restored Georgian royal authority. In 813, the new dynasty acquired, with Ashot I, 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, the Kartli line prevailed, in 888, with Adarnase I, it restored the indigenous Georgian royal authority dormant since 580. In spite of repeated incidents of dynastic strife, the continued to prosper during the reigns of Demetrios I, George III. With the death of George III the main line became extinct. 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 dyarchy, with an ambitious lateral branch of the Bagrationi dynasty holding sway over western Georgia
9.
Georgian Orthodox Church
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The Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church in full communion with the other churches of Eastern Orthodoxy. It is Georgias dominant religious institution, and a majority of Georgian people are members and it asserts apostolic foundation, and its historical roots can be traced to the Christianization of Iberia by Saint Nino in the 4th century AD. As in similar autocephalous Orthodox churches, the Churchs highest governing body is the Holy Synod of bishops, the church is headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, currently Ilia II, who was elected in 1977. The current Constitution of Georgia recognizes the role of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the countrys history. Government relations are defined and regulated by the Concordat of 2002. The church is the most trusted institution in Georgia, according to a 2013 survey 95% respondents had a favorable opinion of its work. It is highly influential in the sphere and is considered Georgias most influential institution. According to Georgian Orthodox Church tradition, the first preacher of the Gospel in Colchis and Iberia was the apostle Andrew, the First-called. However, modern historiography considers this account mythical, and the fruit of a late tradition, similar traditions regarding Saint Andrew exist in Ukraine, Cyprus and Romania. The Church also claims the presence in Georgia of the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, the propagation of Christianity in present-day Georgia before the 4th century is still poorly known. The first documented event in this process is the preaching of Saint Nino and its consequences, Saint Nino, honored as Equal to the Apostles, was according to tradition the daughter of a Roman general from Cappadocia. She preached in the kingdom of Iberia in the first half of the 4th century, cyril Toumanoff dates the conversion of Mirian to 334, his official baptism and subsequent adoption of Christianity as the official religion of Iberia to 337. From the first centuries C. E. the cult of Mithras, pagan beliefs, the royal baptism and organization of the Church were accomplished by priests sent from Constantinople by Constantine the Great. Conversion of the people of Kartli proceeded quickly in the plains, the conversion of Kartli marked only the beginnings of the formation of the Georgian Orthodox Church. In the next centuries, different processes took place that shaped the Church, and gave it, by the beginning of the 11th century, the main characteristics that it has retained until now. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Church of Kartli was strictly subordinate to the Apostolic See of Antioch, in 1010, the Catholicos of Kartli was elevated to the honor of Patriarch. From then on, the hierarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church carried the official title of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia. At the beginnings of the Church history, what is now Georgia was not unified yet politically, such division was reflected in major differences in the development of Christianity
10.
Kingdom of Georgia
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The Kingdom of Georgia, also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval monarchy which emerged in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV, a predominantly Christian, Georgian-speaking realm, it was the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia. Lasting for several centuries, the fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century. The Kingdoms geopolitical situation further worsened after the Fall of Constantinople, as a result of these processes, by the end of the 15th century Georgia turned into an isolated, fractured Christian enclave, surrounded by hostile Turco-Iranic neighbors. The ascendancy of the Bagrationi dynasty can be traced to the 8th century, the restoration of the Georgian kingship begins in AD888, when Adarnase IV of Iberia took the title of King of Georgians. The United Kingdom of Georgia was established in 1008, in this year, Bagrat III, son of Gurgen II, became the ruler of the Kingdom of Western Georgia, including the Principalities of Imereti, Samegrelo, Abkhazeti, Guria and Svaneti. Bagrats mother was Queen Gurandukht, a daughter of George II of Abkhazia, the first decades of the 9th century saw the rise of a new Georgian state in Tao-Klarjeti. Ashot Courapalate of the family of Bagrationi liberated from the Arabs the territories of former southern Iberia. In practice, however, the region functioned as an independent country with its capital in Artanuji. The hereditary title of Curopalates was kept by the Bagrationi family, the first united Georgian monarchy was formed at the end of the 10th century when Curopalate David invaded the Earldom of Kartli-Iberia. Three years later, after the death of his uncle Theodosius the Blind, King of Egrisi-Abkhazia, in 1001 Bagrat added Tao-Klarjeti to his domain as a result of Davids death. In 1008–1010, Bagrat annexed Kakheti and Hereti, thus becoming the first king of a united Georgia in both the east and west, in 1071, the Seljuq army destroyed the united Byzantine-Armenian and Georgian forces in the Battle of Manzikert. By 1081, all of Armenia, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Syria, in Georgia, only the mountainous areas of Abkhazia, Svaneti, Racha, and Khevi–Khevsureti remained out of Seljuq control and served as a relatively safe havens for numerous refugees. The rest of the country was dominated by the conquerors who destroyed the cities and fortresses, looted the villages, in fact, by the end of the 1080s, Georgians were outnumbered in the region by the invaders. The Golden Age began with the reign of David IV, the son of George II and Queen Helena, in 1121, he decisively defeated much larger Turkish armies during the Battle of Didgori, with fleeing Seljuq Turks being run down by pursuing Georgian cavalry for several days. A huge amount of booty and prisoners were captured by Davids army, David IV made particular emphasis on removing the vestiges of unwanted eastern influences, which the Georgians considered forced, in favor of the traditional Christian and Byzantine overtones. As part of this effort he founded the Gelati Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, David also played a personal role in reviving Georgian religious hymnography, composing the Hymns of Repentance, a sequence of eight free-verse psalms. In this emotional repentance of his sins, David sees himself as reincarnating the Biblical David, with a relationship to God
11.
Seljuq dynasty
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The Seljuqs established both the Seljuk Empire and Sultanate of Rum, which at their heights stretched from Anatolia through Iran and were targets of the First Crusade. During the 10th century, due to events, the Oghuz had come into close contact with Muslim cities. Around 985, Seljuq converted to Islam, in the 11th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia, in the province of Khurasan, where they encountered the Ghaznavid empire. In 1025,40,000 families of Oghuz Turks migrated to the area of Caucasian Albania, the Seljuqs defeated the Ghaznavids at the battle of Nasa plains in 1035. Tughril, Chaghri, and Yabghu received the insignias of governor, grants of land, at the battle of Dandanaqan they defeated a Ghaznavid army, and after a successful siege of Isfahan by Tughril in 1050/51, they established an empire later called the Great Seljuk Empire. The Seljuqs mixed with the population and adopted the Persian culture. The Great Seljuqs were heads of the family, in theory their authority extended over all the other Seljuq lines, turkish custom called for the senior member of the family to be the Great Seljuq, although usually the position was associated with the ruler of western Persia. Muhammads son Mahmud II succeeded him in western Persia, but Ahmad Sanjar, the rulers of western Persia, who maintained a very loose grip on the Abbasids of Baghdad. Several Turkic emirs gained a level of influence in the region. Kerman was a province in southern Persia, between 1053 and 1154, the territory also included Umman. Kerman was eventually annexed by the Khwarezmid Empire in 1196, the Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia. Early Seljuq History, A New Interpretation, New York, NY, Routledge,2010 Previté-Orton, C. W
12.
Battle of Didgori
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The Battle of Didgori was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the declining Great Seljuq Empire at the place of Didgori,40 km west of Tbilisi, on August 12,1121. The battle resulted in King David IV of Georgia’s decisive victory over a Seljuk invasion army under Ilghazi and the subsequent reconquest of a Muslim-held Tbilisi, the victory at Didgori inaugurated the medieval Georgian Golden Age and is celebrated in the Georgian chronicles as a miraculous victory. Modern Georgians continue to remember the event as an annual September festival known as Didgoroba, the Kingdom of Georgia had been a tributary to the Great Seljuq Empire since the 1080s. David renounced the tribute to the Seljuqs in 1096/7, put an end to the migrations of the Turks into Georgia. By June 1121, Tbilisi had actually been under a Georgian siege, the resurgence of Georgians’ military energies brought about a coordinated Muslim response. Both Georgian and Islamic sources testify that, on the complaints of the Muslims of Tbilisi, muhammad sent an expedition into Georgia in which the Artuqid Ilghazi of Mardin, the Mazyadid Dubays II b. Sadaqa of Al Hillah and the sultan’s brother Tughrul, lord of Arran and Nakhichevan and this combined army under the overall command of Ilghazi entered the valley of Trialeti in eastern Georgia and encamped in the vicinities of Didgori and Manglisi in mid-August 1121. It is also claimed that the Seljuq light cavalry rode in front of the Georgians and started to shoot, there is no evidence of heavy cavalry present on Ilghazis side or any type of cavalry which could have matched the Georgian counterpart. On the other side the Georgians were facing a superior foe in terms of numbers. King Davids decisive reforms turned the Georgian army into an organized and structured military force which saw little analogue in that period. The smallest formations would be equivalents of nowadays squads and platoons, then a group of 100 and so forth all led by servants of higher status, in this particular engagement they were further reinforced with hundreds of crusaders sent by Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Each formation was headed by a great and dense line of horsemen, at the sign of collapse David would then send forward his Kipchak cavalry. Initially the king and all his entourage stayed in the center, during battle David IV would assume command over his armys left wing, while Demetrius was leading the right. The course of the battle is differently related in the historical records. According to the Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir, David sent a detachment of his men in order to simulate negotiation. Other accounts speak of a hundred supposed deserters requesting an audience with the Seljuq commander, meanwhile, the Georgians successfully managed to deploy a large portion of their force where they would almost encircle the enemy in a pincer movement. Their opponents remained unaware of such activities, the Georgians then began to quickly advance on the flanks in full formation. Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq and his son survived the attack on the vanguard but were severely injured during the fight and left the battlefield leaving the Seljuq army virtually leaderless
13.
Caucasus
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The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europes highest mountain, politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The region is known for its diversity, aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian. Pliny the Elders Natural History derives the name of the Caucasus from Scythian kroy-khasis, German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word Kruvesis also means ice. According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the South Caucasus region and southern Dagestan were the furthest points of Persian expansions, with areas to the north of Caucasus Mountains practically impregnable. The mythological mountain of Qaf, the worlds highest mountain that ancient lore shrouded in mystery, was said to be situated in this region, therefore, the Caucasus might be associated with the legendary mountain. The Ciscaucasus contains the majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands, all of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are in South Caucasus. The main Greater Caucasus range is generally perceived to be the line between Asia and Europe. The highest peak in the Caucasus is Mount Elbrus in the western Ciscaucasus in Russia, the Caucasus is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions on Earth. The nation states that comprise the Caucasus today are the post-Soviet states Georgia, Armenia, three territories in the region claim independence but are recognized as such by only a handful or by no independent states, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognised by the majority of independent states as part of Georgia, the Russian divisions include Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the autonomous republics of Adygea, Karachay–Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan. The region has many different languages and language families, there are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region. Russian is used as a common language, today the peoples of the Northern and Southern Caucasus tend to be either Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, or Sunni Muslims. Shia Islam has had many adherents historically in Azerbaijan, located in the part of the region. Located on the peripheries of Turkey, Iran, and Russia, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, throughout its history, the Caucasus was usually incorporated into the Iranian world
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Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
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Culture of Georgia (country)
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The culture of Georgia has evolved over the countrys long history, providing it with a unique national culture and a strong literary tradition based on the Georgian language and alphabet. This has provided a sense of national identity that has helped to preserve Georgian distinctiveness despite repeated periods of foreign occupation. The Georgian alphabet is traditionally said to have invented in the 3rd century BC. Most modern scholarship puts its date at some time in the 5th century AD. These included churches and monasteries, works of art such as icons, in addition, many secular works of national history, mythology, and hagiography were also written. Medieval Georgian icons are renowned as being among the finest creations of Orthodox religious art, george of the 11th century from Labechina The Icon of St. The works of the famous Georgian goldsmiths, Beka and Beshken Opizari, are outstanding contributions to world art, important Georgian literary works of the pre-Christian period are, Amiraniani, ancient Georgian folk epos. Though notably more visibly amongst the classes, Persian cultural aspects were incorporated amongst the already existing Georgian columns, especially painting, architecture. The French traveller Jean Chardin who visited Georgia in 1672 noted that the Georgians followed Persian customs, since many Georgian kings, princes, and nobles were either born or raised in mainland Iran, it is not susprising that Persian cultural aspects spread in Georgia. During the modern period, from about the 17th century onwards, the first Georgian-language printing house was established in the 1620s in Italy, and the first one in Georgia itself was founded in 1709 in Tbilisi. Georgian theatre has a history, its oldest national form was the Sakhioba. The Georgian National Theatre was founded in 1791 in Tbilisi, by the writer, dramatist and its leading actors were Dimitri Aleksi-Meskhishvili, David Machabeli, David Bagrationi, Dimitri Cholokashvili, and others. In Tbilisi, the Museum of the Caucasus was founded in 1845, in the 1920s, it became the State Museum of Georgia. The Tbilisi State Theatre of Opera and Ballet was established in 1851, the first cinema in Georgia was established in Tbilisi on November 16,1896. The first Georgian cinema documentary was shot in 1912 by Vasil Amashukeli, the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts was founded in 1917. Georgian culture suffered under the rule of the Soviet Union during the 20th century, since the independence of Georgia in 1991, a cultural resurgence has taken place, albeit somewhat hampered by the countrys economic and political difficulties in the post-Soviet era. Georgian cuisine is considered one of the attractions for tourists in Georgia. The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from the Middle Eastern
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Canonization
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Originally, persons were recognized as saints without any formal process. Later, different processes were developed, such as used today in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The first persons honored as saints were the martyrs, pious legends of their deaths were considered affirmations of the truth of their faith in Christ. The Roman Rites Canon of the Mass contains only the names of martyrs, along with that of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, since 1962, that of St. Joseph her spouse. By the fourth century, however, confessors—people who had confessed their faith not by dying but by word, examples of such people are Saint Hilarion and Saint Ephrem the Syrian in the East, and Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Hilary of Poitiers in the West. Their names were inserted in the diptychs, the lists of saints venerated in the liturgy. Since the witness of their lives was not as unequivocal as that of the martyrs and this process is often referred to as local canonization. This approval was required even for veneration of a reputed martyr, and Saint Cyprian recommended that the utmost diligence be observed in investigating the claims of those who were said to have died for the faith. Evidence was sought from the records of the trials or from people who had been present at the trials. Saint Augustine of Hippo tells of the procedure which was followed in his day for the recognition of a martyr, the bishop of the diocese in which the martyrdom took place set up a canonical process for conducting the inquiry with the utmost severity. Other churches still use the older practice, in the Catholic Church, canonization is a decree that allows universal veneration of the saint in the liturgy of the Roman Rite. For permission to venerate merely locally, only beatification is needed, only acceptance of the cultus by the Pope made the cultus universal, because he alone can rule the universal Catholic Church. In the Medieval West, the Apostolic See was asked to intervene in the question of canonizations so as to more authoritative decisions. Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804, thereafter, recourse to the judgment of the Pope was had more frequently. Pope Urban II, Pope Calixtus II, and Pope Eugene III conformed to this discipline, a decree of Pope Alexander III1170 gave the prerogative to the ope thenceforth, so far as the Western Church was concerned. However, the procedure initiated by the decretal of Pope Alexander III was confirmed by a bull of Pope Innocent III issued on the occasion of the canonization of St. Cunegunda in 1200. The bull of Pope Innocent III resulted in increasingly elaborate inquiries to the Apostolic See concerning canonizations and he further regulated both of these acts by issuing his Decreta servanda in beatificatione et canonizatione Sanctorum on 12 March 1642. His work published from 1734-8 governed the proceedings until 1917, the article Beatification and canonization process in 1914 describes the procedures followed until the promulgation of the Codex of 1917
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Vakhushti of Kartli
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Vakhushti was a Georgian royal prince of the Kingdom of Kartli, geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works, Description of the Kingdom of Georgia, an illegitimate son of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli, he was born in Tbilisi,1696. Educated by the brothers Garsevanishvili and a Roman Catholic mission, he was fluent in Greek, Latin, French, Turkish, in 1719 and 1720, he took part in two successive campaigns against the rebel duke Shanshe of the Ksani. From August to November 1722, he was a governor of the kingdom during his father’s absence at the Ganja campaign, later he served as a commander in Kvemo Kartli. After the Ottoman occupation of Kartli, he followed King Vakhtang in his emigration to the Russian Empire in 1724, retired to Moscow, Tsarevich Vakhusht was granted a pension. He died at Moscow in 1757 and he was buried at the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow, a traditional burial ground of Georgian emigrant royalty and nobility. Most of his works were written or completed in Moscow and his famous Description of the Kingdom of Georgia is essentially an adorned synopsis of the initial texts of the corpus of medieval Georgian annals, Kartlis Tskhovreba. Vakhushti was critical of the re-edition of the corpus assembled by a commission chaired by his father Vakhtang VI. So as to rectify perceived oversights of Vakhtangs version, Vakhushti compiled his own history and geographical description of the Georgian people. The popularity of Vakhushti’s tome is evidenced by the copies made of it. It is also a source on the Georgian history of the 16th and 17th centuries. Vakhushtis works were translated into Russian and later into French. He also completed, together with his brother, Prince Bakar, the printing of the Bible in Georgian, the printing-press was afterwards transferred to Moscow, where several religious works in Georgian were printed. Bagrationi Bakar Bagrationi George, Prince of Georgia Gabashvili, Valerian, Tbilisi,1969 This article incorporates text from the Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, a publication now in the public domain
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Epigraphy
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Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist, for example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and it is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practiced by the same person, an epigraph is any sort of text, from a single grapheme to a lengthy document. Epigraphy overlaps other competences such as numismatics or palaeography, when compared to books, most inscriptions are short. Typically the material is durable, but the durability might be an accident of circumstance, epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the sciences of history. Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery, epigraphic evidence formed part of the discussion concerning the James Ossuary, the study of ancient handwriting, usually in ink, is a separate field, palaeography. The character of the writing, the subject of epigraphy, is a quite separate from the nature of the text. Texts inscribed in stone are usually for public view and so they are different from the written texts of each culture. Not all inscribed texts are public, however, in Mycenaean Greece the deciphered texts of Linear B were revealed to be used for economic. Informal inscribed texts are graffiti in its original sense, the science of epigraphy has been developing steadily since the 16th century. Principles of epigraphy vary culture by culture, and the infant science in European hands concentrated on Latin inscriptions at first, individual contributions have been made by epigraphers such as Georg Fabricius, August Wilhelm Zumpt, Theodor Mommsen, Emil Hübner, Franz Cumont, Louis Robert. The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, begun by Mommsen and other scholars, has published in Berlin since 1863. It is the largest and most extensive collection of Latin inscriptions, New fascicles are still produced as the recovery of inscriptions continues. The Corpus is arranged geographically, all inscriptions from Rome are contained in volume 6 and this volume has the greatest number of inscriptions, volume 6, part 8, fascicle 3 was just recently published. Specialists depend on such on-going series of volumes in which newly discovered inscriptions are published, often in Latin, Greek epigraphy has unfolded in the hands of a different team, with different corpora. The first is Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum of which four volumes came out, again at Berlin and this marked a first attempt at a comprehensive publication of Greek inscriptions copied from all over the Greek-speaking world
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David III of Tao
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Kuropalates was a Byzantine courtier title bestowed upon him in 978 and again in 990. Between 987 and 989, David joined his friend Bardas Phocas in a revolt against the Byzantine emperor Basil II, yet he was able to secure for his heir, Bagrat III, an opportunity to become the first ruler of a unified Georgian kingdom. He succeeded his brother, Bagrat II, as a duke of Tao in 966, in order to enact his ambitious plans, David had to secure his independence from the Byzantine Empire, which would reach its greatest height under the emperor Basil II. However, the integrity of the empire itself was serious threat after a full-scale rebellion, led by Bardas Skleros. Following a series of battles the rebels swept across Asia Minor. On this occasion, he was granted the high Byzantine court title of kouropalates, Basil II also rewarded the valor of David’s commander Tornikios by funding a Georgian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos. Although populated now chiefly with Greek monks, it is to this day known as Iviron and these formidable acquisitions made David the most influential ruler in the Caucasus, enabling him to interfere in and arbitrate dynastic disputes in both Georgia and Armenia. David invested these revenues in extensive building projects, constructing towns, forts and churches, having no children of his own, David adopted his kinsman, the young prince Bagrat, heir to the Bagratid throne of Kartli. He did so at the request of the energetic Georgian nobleman Iovane Marushis-dze, through his fortunate bloodlines Bagrat was destined to sit upon two thrones. Furthermore, through his mother Gurandukht, sister of the childless Abkhazian king Theodosius III, two years later, in 978, David and Marushis-dze secured the crown of Abkhazia for Bagrat by displacing Theodosius III. Once the rebels were defeated by the Byzantine-Rus forces in 989, Basil dispatched a force under John of Chaldea to punish the Georgians. Reconciled with the emperor, he was granted, in c,990, the title of kuropalates again in return for his promise that upon his death the lands previously placed under his sovereignty would revert to the Byzantine Empire. Another problem arose around the year, when Bagrat of Abkhazia planned a punitive expedition against the non-submissive duke Rati of Kldekari in Lower Kartli. Persuaded that his intended to attack Tao and kill him. As a medieval Georgian chronicler relates, After the reconciliation with the emperor and his kinsmen, mamlan, the Rawadid emir of Azerbaijan, was also twice defeated, the second time decisively, in 998, near Archesh. David was murdered by his nobles early in 1000, according to Aristakes, Although the Georgian Chronicles maintain that David died in 1001, several Armenian and Muslim accounts suggest he may have died in 1000. e. Yet another Armenian, Samuel Anetsi, also puts the date as 1000, Basil II was at that time in the eastern provinces of his empire, wintering on the plain of Tarsus following his campaign against the Fatimid dynasty in Syria. On hearing of David’s death he marched north-eastward to claim the lands David had promised to the emperor, the local Georgian and Armenian nobility submitted without any serious resistance
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Paschal cycle
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The Paschal cycle in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha. The cycle consists of ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as the period of the Triodion and this period includes the three weeks preceding Great Lent, the forty days of Lent, and Holy Week. The 50 days following Pascha are called the Pentecostarion, the Sunday of each week has a special commemoration, named for the Gospel reading assigned to that day. Certain other weekdays have special commemorations of their own, the entire cycle revolves around Pascha. The weeks before Pascha end on Sunday and this is because everything in the Lenten period is looking forward towards Pascha. Starting on Pascha, the weeks again begin on Sunday, while the Pentecostarion closes after All Saints Sunday, the Paschal cycle continues throughout the entire year, until the beginning of the next Pre-Lenten period. The Tone of the Week, the Epistle and Gospel readings at the Divine Liturgy, and the 11 Matins Gospels with their accompanying hymns are dependent on it
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Gospel of Matthew
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The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The narrative tells how the Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was composed between AD80 and 90, with a range of possibility between AD70 to 110. The title Son of David identifies Jesus as the healing and miracle-working Messiah of Israel, as Son of Man he will return to judge the world, an expectation which his disciples recognise but of which his enemies are unaware. As Son of God he is God revealing himself through his son, the gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelists community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees. The original versions of the Gospel of Matthew and the gospels are lost. The oldest relatively complete extant manuscripts of the Bible are the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, besides these, there exist manuscript fragments ranging from a few verses to whole chapters. P104 and P67 are notable fragments of Matthew, in the process of recopying, variations slipped in, different regional manuscript traditions emerged, and corrections and adjustments were made. The Gospel of Matthew is anonymous, the author is not named within the text, the consensus is that Papias does not describe the Gospel of Matthew as we know it, and it is generally accepted that Matthew was written in Greek, not in Aramaic or Hebrew. The majority view of scholars is that Mark was the first gospel to be composed. The author of Matthew did not, however, simply copy Mark, an additional 220 verses, shared by Matthew and Luke but not found in Mark, from a second source, a hypothetical collection of sayings to which scholars give the name Quelle, or the Q source. The author also had at his disposal the Greek scriptures, both as book-scrolls and in the form of collections, and, if Papias is correct. The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century, the Christian community to which Matthew belonged, like many 1st-century Christians, were still part of the larger Jewish community, hence the designation Jewish Christian to describe them. The author of Matthew wrote for a community of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians located probably in Syria, Matthew, alone among the gospels, alternates five blocks of narrative with five of discourse, marking each off with the phrase When Jesus had finished. The Gospel of Matthew begins with the words The Book of Genealogy of Jesus Christ, John baptizes Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. Jesus prays and meditates in the wilderness for forty days, and is tempted by Satan and his early ministry by word and deed in Galilee meets with much success, and leads to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the discourses. The sermon presents the ethics of the kingdom of God, introduced by the Beatitudes and it concludes with a reminder that the response to the kingdom will have eternal consequences, and the crowds amazed response leads into the next narrative block. From the authoritative words of Jesus the gospel turns to three sets of three miracles interwoven with two sets of two stories, followed by a discourse on mission and suffering. Opposition to Jesus comes to a head with accusations that his deeds are done through the power of Satan, Jesus in turn accuses his opponents of blaspheming the Holy Spirit
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David
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David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. He is described as a man after Gods own heart in 1 Samuel 13,14 and Acts 13,22. The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah, the New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus. God is angered when Saul, Israels king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine instruction to not only all of the Amalekites. Consequently, he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul. Sauls courtiers recommend that he send for David, a man skillful on the lyre, wise in speech, and brave in battle. So David enters Sauls service as one of the royal armour-bearers, and plays the lyre to soothe the king, war comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Sauls army, refusing the kings offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling. Saul inquires the name of the heros father. Saul sets David over his army, all Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him. Saul plots his death, but Sauls son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns him of his fathers schemes and David flees. He becomes a vassal of the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but Achishs nobles question his loyalty, Jonathan and Saul are killed, and David is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Sauls son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, with the death of Sauls son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David, Your throne shall be established forever. David wins more victories over the Philistines, while the Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites, during a battle to conquer the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David seduces Bathsheba and causes the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that shall fall upon him, in fulfillment of these words Davids son Absalom rebels. The rebellion ends at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, Absaloms forces are routed, and Absalom is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree, and killed by Joab, contrary to Davids order. Joab was the commander of Davids army, David laments the death of his favourite son, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom
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Anatolia
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Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
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Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
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Romanos IV Diogenes
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While still captive he was overthrown in a palace coup, and when released he was quickly defeated and detained by members of the Doukas family. In 1072, he was blinded and sent to a monastery, Romanos Diogenes was the son of Constantine Diogenes and a member of a prominent and powerful Cappadocian family, connected by birth to most of the great aristocratic nobles in Asia Minor. His mother was a daughter of Basil Argyros, brother of the emperor Romanos III, courageous and generous, but also impetuous, Romanos rose with distinction in the army due to his military talents, and he served on the Danubian frontier. However, he was convicted of attempting to usurp the throne of the sons of Constantine X Doukas in 1067. The problem Romanos and Eudokia had in executing this plan was that Eudokias deceased husband, the Senate agreed, and on January 1,1068 Romanos married the empress and was crowned Emperor of the Romans. Romanos IV was now the emperor and guardian of his stepsons and junior co-emperors, Michael VII, Konstantios Doukas. By 1067, the Turks had been making incursions at will into Mesopotamia, Melitene, Syria, Cilicia, and Cappadocia, culminating with the sack of Caesarea and that winter they camped on the frontiers of the empire and waited for the next years campaigning season. Romanos was confident of Byzantine superiority on the field of battle and he did not take into account the degraded state of the Byzantine forces, which had suffered years of neglect from his predecessors, in particular Constantine X. It was soon evident that while Romanos possessed military talent, his impetuosity was a serious flaw, the first military operations of Romanos did achieve a measure of success, reinforcing his opinions about the outcome of the war. Antioch was exposed to the Saracens of Aleppo who, with help from Turkish troops, returning south, Romanos rejoined the main army, and they continued their advance through the passes of Mount Taurus to the north of Germanicia and proceeded to invade the Emirate of Aleppo. Romanos captured Hierapolis, which he fortified to provide protection against further incursions into the provinces of the empire. He then engaged in fighting against the Saracens of Aleppo. With the campaigning season reaching its end, Romanos returned north via Alexandretta, here he was advised of another Seljuk raid into Asia Minor in which they sacked Amorium but returned to their base so fast that Romanos was in no position to give chase. He eventually reached Constantinople by January 1069, possibly due to Romanos not paying them on time, they began plundering the countryside near where they were stationed at Edessa, and attacking the imperial tax collectors. Although Crispin was captured and exiled to Abydos, the Franks continued to ravage the Armeniac Theme for some time, in the meantime, the land around Caesarea was again overrun by the Turks, forcing Romanos to spend precious time and energy in expelling the Turks from Cappadocia. Desperate to begin his campaign proper, he ordered the execution of all prisoners, philaretos was soon defeated by the Turks, whose sack of Iconium forced Romanos to abandon his plans and return to Sebaste. He sent orders to the Dux of Antioch to secure the passes at Mopsuestia, the Turks were soon hemmed in in the mountains of Cilicia, but they managed to escape to Aleppo after abandoning their plunder. Romanos once again returned to Constantinople without the great victory he was hoping for, Romanos was detained at Constantinople in 1070, while he dealt with many outstanding administrative issues, including the imminent fall of Bari into Norman hands
26.
Battle of Manzikert
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The Battle of Manzikert was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks on August 26,1071 near Manzikert. Many of the Turks, who had been, during the 11th century, travelling westward, the brunt of the battle was borne by the professional soldiers from the eastern and western tagmata, as large numbers of mercenaries and Anatolian levies fled early and survived the battle. This led to the movement of Turks into central Anatolia—by 1080. It took three decades of internal strife before Alexius I restored stability to Byzantium and it was the first time in history a Byzantine Emperor had become the prisoner of a Muslim commander. Under Constantine IX the Byzantines first came into contact with the Seljuk Turks when they attempted to annex Ani, Constantine made a truce with the Seljuks that lasted until 1064, but they then took Ani, and in 1067 the rest of Armenia, followed by Caesarea. In 1068 Romanos IV took power, and after some speedy military reforms entrusted Manuel Comnenus to lead an expedition against the Seljuks. Manuel captured Hierapolis Bambyce in Syria, next thwarted a Turkish attack against Iconium with a counter-attack, in February 1071, Romanos sent envoys to Alp Arslan to renew the 1069 treaty, and keen to secure his northern flank against attack, Alp Arslan happily agreed. Abandoning the siege of Edessa, he led his army to attack Fatimid-held Aleppo. However, the treaty had been a deliberate distraction, Romanos now led a large army into Armenia to recover the lost fortresses before the Seljuks had time to respond. Accompanying Romanos was Andronicus Ducas, son of his rival, John Ducas, the expedition rested at Sebasteia on the river Halys, reaching Theodosiopolis in June 1071. There, some of his generals suggested continuing the march into Seljuk territory, others, including Nicephorus Bryennius, suggested they wait and fortify their position. It was decided to continue the march, Alp Arslan was already in the area, however, with allies and 30,000 cavalry from Aleppo and Mosul. Alp Arslans scouts knew exactly where Romanos was, while Romanos was completely unaware of his opponents movements and this split the forces in half, each taking about 20,000 men. Either way, Romanos army was reduced to less than half his planned 40,000 to 70,000 men, Alp Arslan summoned his army and delivered a speech by appearing in a white robe, as in an Islamic funeral shroud, in the morning of the battle. This was a message that he was ready to die in battle. Romanos was unaware of the loss of Tarchaneiotes and continued to Manzikert, which he captured on August 23. The next day some foraging parties under Bryennios discovered the Seljuk army and were forced to back to Manzikert. The Armenian general Basilakes was sent out some cavalry, as Romanos did not believe this was Alp Arslans full army
27.
Great Turkish Invasion
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The term has it origin in the 12th-century Georgian chronicle and is accepted in the modern scholarship of Georgia. The Seljuqs made their first appearances in Georgia in the 1060s and these intruders were part of the same wave of the Turkish movement which inflicted a crushing defeat on the Byzantine army at Manzikert in 1071. Although the Georgians were able to recover from Alp Arslans invasion, in the 1070s, Georgia was twice attacked by the sultan Malik Shah I, but the Georgian king George II was still able to fight back at times. In 1080, George II was surprised, in the vicinity of Queli, by a large Turkish force led by Aḥmad, probably of the Mamlān dynasty, George was put to flight, through Adjara, to Abkhazia. The Turks conquered Kars from the Georgians and returned to their bases laden with booty and this was soon followed by even larger inroads, led by Yaʿqub and ʿIsā-Böri. The key towns of Kutaisi and Artanuji and the vibrant Christian hermitages of Klarjeti were all burnt down and those who survived the fighting had to flee to the mountains, where many of them found their death of cold and starvation. Georges acceptance of the Seljuq suzerainty did not bring a peace for Georgia. The Turks continued their movement into the Georgian territory to make use of the rich herbage of the Kura valley. These inroads and settlements had an effect on Georgias economic. Cultivated lands were turned into pastures for the nomads and peasant farmers were compelled to seek safety in the mountains, the contemporary Georgian chronicler laments that in those times there was neither sowing nor harvest. The land was ruined and turned into forest, in place of men beasts, insufferable oppression fell on all the inhabitants of the land, it was unparalleled and far worse than all ravages heard of or experienced. A similar situation was found in neighboring Armenia as related in Aristakes Lastivertsis chronicle, to make the things worse, a severe earthquake struck the southern provinces of Georgia, devastating Tmogvi and the surrounding area on April 16,1088. The great nobles of Georgia capitalized on weakening of the power to promote their autonomy. Aghsartan was able to him by offering submission to Malik Shah. Such was the situation in Georgia, when, in 1089, by 1099, the year when Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders, David felt strong enough to withhold annual tribute paid to the Seljuqs. A history of the Georgian people, from the beginning down to the Russian conquest in the nineteenth century, Georgia and the Anatolian Turks in the 12th and 13th centuries. The making of the Georgian nation, thomson, Robert W. Rewriting Caucasian history, the medieval Armenian adaptation of the Georgian chronicles, the original Georgian texts and the Armenian adaptation
28.
Malik-Shah I
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Jalāl al-Dawla Muizz al-Dunyā Wal-Din Abul-Fatḥ ibn Alp Arslān, better known by his regnal name of Malik-Shah I, was sultan of the Seljuq Empire from 1072 to 1092. During his youth, he spent his time participating in the campaigns of his father Alp Arslan, during one of such campaigns in 1072, Alp Arslan was fatally wounded and died only a few days later. After that, Malik-Shah was crowned as the new sultan of the empire, however, Malik-Shah did not access the throne peacefully, and had to fight his uncle Qavurt, who claimed the throne. Although Malik-Shah was the head of the Seljuq state, the vizier Nizam al-Mulk held near absolute power during his reign. Malik-Shah spent the rest of rest waging war against the Karakhanids on the eastern side, Malik-Shahs death to this day remains under dispute, according to some scholars, he was poisoned by the Caliph, while others say that he was poisoned by the supporters of Nizam al-Mulk. Although he was known by names, he was mostly known as Malik-Shah, a combination of the Arabic word malik. Malik-Shah was born on 16 August 1055 and spent his youth in Isfahan, according to the 12th-century Persian historian Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi, Malik-Shah had fair skin, was tall and somewhat bulky. In 1064, Malik-Shah, only 9 years old by then, along with Nizam al-Mulk, the same year, Malik-Shah was married to Terken Khatun, the daughter of the Karakhanid khan Ibrahim Tamghach-Khan. In 1066, Alp Arslan arranged a ceremony near Merv, where he appointed Malik-Shah as his heir, in 1071, Malik-Shah took part in the Syrian campaign of his father, and stayed in Aleppo when his father fought the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV Diogenes at Manzikert. In 1072, Malik-Shah and Nizam al-Mulk accompanied Alp-Arslan during his campaign in Transoxiana against the Karakhanids, however, Alp-Arslan was badly wounded during his expedition, and Malik-Shah shortly took over the army. Alp-Arslan died some days later, and Malik-Shah was declared as the new sultan of the empire, Malik-Shah then replied by sending the following message, A brother does not inherit when there is a son. This message enraged Qavurt, who thereafter occupied Isfahan, in 1073 a battle took place near Hamadan, which lasted three days. Qavurt was accompanied by his seven sons, and his army consisted of Turkmens, while the army of Malik-Shah consisted of ghulams and contingents of Kurdish, during the battle, the Turks of Malik-Shahs army mutinied against him, but he nevertheless managed to defeat and capture Qavurt. Qavurt then begged for mercy and in return promised to retire to Oman, however, Nizam al-Mulk declined the offer, claiming that sparing him was an indication of weakness. After some time, Qavurt was strangled to death with a bowstring, after having dealt with that problem, Malik-Shah appointed Qutlugh-Tegin as the governor of Fars and Sav-Tegin as the governor of Kerman. Malik-Shah eventually managed to repel the Karakhanids and captured Tirmidh, giving Sav-Tegin the key of the city, Malik-Shah then appointed his other brother Shihab al-Din Tekish as the ruler of Tukharistan and Balkh. In 1074, Malik-Shah ordered the Turkic warlord Arghar to restore what he had destroyed during his raids in the territory of the Shirvanshah Fariburz I, during the same year, he appointed Qavurts son Rukn al-Dawla Sultan-Shah as the ruler of Kerman. One year later, Malik-Shah sent an army under Sav-Tegin to Arran, Sav-Tegin managed to easily conquer the region, thus ending Shaddadid rule
29.
Kartli
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Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari, on which Georgias capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a role in the ethnic. Kartli had no defined boundaries and they significantly fluctuated in the course of history. After the partition of the kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, the historical lands of Kartli are currently divided among several administrative regions of Georgia. The Georgians living in the lands of Kartli are known as Kartleli. Most of them are Eastern Orthodox Christians adhering to the national Georgian Orthodox Church and speak a dialect, the toponym Kartli first emerges in written accounts in the 5th-century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik, the earliest surviving piece of Georgian literature. Kartlos seems to be a medieval contrivance and his being the founder of Kartli is not convincing. The term itself derives from Proto-Kartvelian root *kart-, which is considered an ancient inner-Kartvelian formation by modern linguists. See ქართლი and ქართველი for more, parallels have also been sought with the Khaldi and Carduchi of the Classical sources. The formation of Kartli and its people, the Kartveli is poorly documented, the infiltration of several ancient, chiefly Anatolian, tribes into the territory of modern-day Georgia and their fusion with the autochthons played a decisive role in this process. This might have been reflected in the story of Arian-Kartli, the place of the aboriginal Georgian habitat found in the early medieval chronicle Conversion of Kartli. In the 3rd century BC, Kartli and its original capital Mtskheta formed a nucleus around which the ancient Georgian kingdom known to the Greco-Roman world as Iberia evolved. The role of Kartli as an ethnic and political unit which would form a basis for the subsequent Georgian unification further increased as a result of its Christianization early in the 4th century. Located on the crossroads of the Byzantine and Iranian influences, Kartli developed a vibrant Christian culture, but the Kyrie eleison is said in Greek, which means in Georgian Lord, have mercy or Lord, be merciful to us. After the unification of various Georgian polities into the kingdom of Georgia early in the 11th century, the Georgian circumfix sa-X-o is a standard geographic construction designating the area where X dwell, where X is an ethnonym. Most of these lands are now part of Georgias regions of Shida Kartli and Kvemo Kartli, but also of Samtskhe-Javakheti, a significant portion of Zemo Kartli is now part of Turkey. With the fragmentation of the kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, the kings of Kartli did not relinquish the titles of the all-Georgian monarchs whose legitimate successors they claimed to be. The Europeans, thus, knew it as Georgia proper and later also as Kartalinia via the Russian Карталиния, similarly, the toponym Gorjestān was usually used in Persian in the narrower sense of Kartli
30.
Emirate of Tbilisi
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The Emirs of Tbilisi ruled over the parts of today’s eastern Georgia from their base in the city of Tbilisi, from 736 to 1080. Since then, the city has been the capital of Georgia to this day, the Arabs first appeared in Georgia, namely in Kartli in 645. It was not, however, until 735, when they succeeded in establishing their control over a large portion of the country. In that year, Marwan II took hold of Tbilisi and much of the lands and installed there an Arab emir. During the Arab period, Tbilisi grew into a center of trade between the Islamic world and northern Europe, beyond that, it functioned as a key Arab outpost and a buffer province facing the Byzantine and Khazar dominions. Over time, Tbilisi became largely Muslim, but the Islamic influences were strictly confined to the city itself, Tbilisi was a large city with a strong double wall pierced by three gates. It lay on both banks of the Kura River, and the two parts were connected by a bridge of boats, the contemporary geographers especially mention its thermal springs, which supplied the baths with constant hot waters. The houses were built, to the surprise of contemporary Arab travelers. In the first half of the century, Tbilisi is said to have been the second largest, after Derbend. The Abbasid Caliphate weakened after the Abbasid civil war in the 810s, at the same time, the emirate became a target of the resurgent Georgian Bagrationi dynasty who were expanding their territory from Tao-Klarjeti across Georgian lands. The Emirate of Tbilisi grew in strength under Ishaq ibn Ismail. He withheld his annual payment of tribute to Baghdad, and declared his independence from the Caliph, the Abbasids chose not to rebuild the city extensively, and as a result the Muslim prestige and authority in the region began to wane. Beginning in the 1020s, the Georgian kings pursued a contradictory but generally expansionist policy against the emirs of Tbilisi, the territories of the emirate shrank to Tbilisi and its immediate environs. However, the Seljuk invasions of the 1070s–1080s thwarted the Georgian advance, Georgian King David IV’s victories over the Seljuk Turks inflicted a final blow to Islamic Tbilisi, and a Georgian army entered the city in 1122, ending four hundred years of Muslim rule. The office of emir —now an appointed Georgian royal official—survived in Tbilisi, as well as big cities of Georgia, into the 18th century. Khalil Isa b. ash-Sheikh ash-Shayban Ibrahim Gabuloc Jaffar I b, Jaffar Fadlun of Ganja According to Georgian sources between 1062 and 1068 and again between 1080 and 1122 council of elders rule Emirate of Tbilisi
31.
Bagrat IV of Georgia
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Bagrat IV, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the King of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgias sovereignty from the Byzantine, like many medieval Caucasian rulers, he bore several Byzantine titles, particularly those of nobelissimos, curopalates, and sebastos. He was the son of the king George I by his first wife Mariam of Vaspurakan, at the age of three, Bagrat was surrendered by his father as a hostage to the Byzantine emperor Basil II as a price for George’s defeat in the 1022 war with the Byzantines. The young child Bagrat spent the three years in the imperial capital of Constantinople and was released in 1025. He was still in the Byzantine possessions when Basil died and was succeeded by his brother Constantine VIII, Constantine ordered the retrieval of the young prince, but the imperial courier was unable to overtake Bagrat – he was already in the Georgian kingdom. After George I died in 1027, Bagrat, aged eight, queen Dowager Mariam then returned to prominence and became a regent for her underage son. She shared the regency with the grandees, particularly Liparit IV, Duke of Trialeti, by the time Bagrat became king, the Bagratids’ drive to complete the unification of all Georgian lands had gained irreversible momentum. Furthermore, the loyalty of great nobles to the Georgian crown was far from stable, during Bagrat’s minority, the regency had advanced the positions of the high nobility whose influence he subsequently tried to limit when he assumed full ruling powers. Simultaneously, the Georgian crown was confronted with two formidable external foes, the Byzantine Empire and the resurgent Seljuq Turks, several Georgians nobles defected to the Byzantines, but Bagrats loyal subjects put up a stubborn fight. Constantines death in 1028 rendered the Byzantine invasion abortive, and, in 1030 and she negotiated a peace treaty, and returned with the high Byzantine title of curopalates for his son in 1032. Mariam also brought him a Byzantine princess Helena as wife, Helena was a daughter of Basil Argyros, brother of the emperor Romanos, and the marriage was a diplomatic effort to establish a strategic association. In 1033, the court faced another dynastic trouble, this time with Bagrats half-brother Demetre. Demetre and Alda lived in Anacopia, a fortress in Abkhazia, threatened by Bagrat, the dowager queen Alda defected to the Byzantines and surrendered Anacopia to the emperor Romanos III who honored her son Demetre with the rank of magistros. In 1039, Demetre returned to Georgia with Byzantine troops and this time, he was supported by Liparit IV, of the Liparitid clan, the most powerful noble in Georgia. Liparit, as duke of the district of Trialeti and later as a commander-in-chief of the armies, had appeared as the defender of a boy-king Bagrat early in the 1030s. Liparit’s military prowess had been demonstrated once again in 1034 when, at the head of a combined Georgian-Armenian army, in 1038, Liparit was on the verge of capturing the ancient Georgian capital of Tbilisi, which had been a Muslim stronghold since the 8th century. Fearing his growing power, the Georgian nobles persuaded Bagrat to withdraw Liparit’s army, as a result, Liparit became a sworn enemy of the king and began actively cooperating with the Byzantines for vengeance on Bagrat and his nobles. On behalf of the pretender Demetre, Liparit enjoyed a series of successes against Bagrat, in spite of Demetre’s death in 1042, Liparit continued his struggle in alliance with the Byzantines and David I of Lorri
32.
Kingdom of Kakheti
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The Second Kingdom of Kakheti was a late medieval/early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centered at the province of Kakheti, with its capital first at Gremi and then at Telavi. A previous Kingdom of Kakheti was created in the 8th century following the rebellion of the mountainous tribes of Tzanaria. The reemergence of the Kingdom of Kakheti was the first step towards the partition of Georgia which had been embroiled in wars since the mid-15th century. Overwhelmed by these difficulties, Constantine II, king of a reduced Georgia, was obliged to sanction the new order of things, in this way the tripartite division of the Kingdom of Georgia was consummated. Unlike other Georgian polities, Kakheti was spared, for the time being, from foreign incursions. Furthermore, it had the advantage over other parts of Georgia of flanking the important Ghilan-Shemakha-Astrakhan “silk route. ”The Kakhetian government sponsored this trade and actively participated in it, closely tying the kingdom to the life of eastern Transcaucasia. This relative stability for a time strengthened the power and increased the number of his supporters among the nobility. Nevertheless, in 1589, Alexander II of Kakheti officially pledged his allegiance to Tsar Feodor I of Russia, with Alexander’s murder in an Iranian-sponsored coup staged by his own son, a Muslim convert Constantine I, in 1605, the fortunes of Kakheti began to reverse. Thus began Teimuraz’s long and difficult reign in conflict with the Safavids, in the mid-1610s, Shah Abbas I renewed his effort to bring Georgia more completely into the Safavid empire and subjected Kakheti to repeated invasions in 1614,1615 and 1616. In a series of Georgian insurrections and Iranian reprisals, sixty to seventy people were killed. The population of Kakheti dropped by two-thirds, once flourishing towns, like Gremi and Zagemi, shrank to insignificant villages, agriculture declined, by 1648, the indefatigable Taimuraz had finally been ousted from Kakheti. The Safavid government tightened its control of Kakheti, implemented a policy of replacing the native population with nomadic Turkic tribes, at the same time, the Dagestani mountaineers started to attack and colonize the Kakhetian marchlands. For a time, the two kingdoms of eastern Georgia were virtually united under Shah-Nawaz and his son, and a period of peace ensued. Making the town of Telavi his capital, in place of Gremi which was ruined by the Iranian invasions, however, the promising situation was of short duration. This latter house finally succeeded, at the expense of their apostasy to Islam, in reestablishing themselves in 1703 and this proved to be of little benefit, however, and the kingdom continued to be plagued by the incessant Dagestani inroads. From 1724 to 1744, Kakheti was subjected to the successive Ottoman and Iranian occupations. Teimuraz II’s cooperation with Nader enabled him to secure his power in both Kakheti and Kartli, and to recognition for himself as king of Kartli, and for his son, Erekle II. Both monarchs were crowned in accordance to a Christian tradition in 1745 and they exploited the turmoil in Iran that followed Nader’s assassination in 1747 and established themselves as virtually independent rulers
