Unification of the Georgian realm
The unification of the Georgian realm was the 10th-century political movement that resulted in the consolidation of various Georgian crowns into a single realm with centralized government in 1008, the Kingdom of Georgia, or Sakartvelo. It was originally initiated by the powerful local aristocracy of the eristavs, due to centuries-long power struggles and aggressive wars of succession between the Georgian monarchs, arising from their independent ruling traditions of classical antiquity and their Hellenistic-era monarchical establishments in Colchis and Iberia.
Under David III, his ancestral land of Tao became the political and ecclesiastic centre of Georgia. He was the first Georgian ruler since Sassanid times to mint coins. David III, childless, took advice from a powerful feudal lord of neighboring Kartli to lead and pave the way for Georgian unification.
Bagrat's reign was characterized with ruthlessness, energy and luck, that he had outdone even King Vakhtang I, as after 500 years, Georgia was united, centralized and free of foreign domination. Aged 52, Bagrat died in 1014. His son George, just like himself, would be a boy king ascending to the unified Georgian throne.
David III Kuropalates or David III the Great, also known as David II, was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid family of Tao, a historic region in the Georgian–Armenian marchlands, from 966 until his murder in 1000 or 1001. Kuropalates was a Byzantine courtier title bestowed upon him in 978 and again in 990.
David III the Great as depicted on a bas-relief from the Oshki Monastery. It was David’s use of Byzantine imagery that influenced the appearance of royal power of Georgia in the following two centuries.
A processional cross of David of Tao by the goldsmith Asat
David as depicted on a bas-relief from the Oshki cathedral.