Ashot II Kuropalates
Encyclopedia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
with the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
title of curopalates
Curopalates
Kouropalatēs, Latinized as curopalates or curopalata and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the time of Emperor Justinian I to that of the Komnenoi in the 12th century...
.
Ashot was the second son of Adarnase I
Adarnase IV of Iberia
Adarnase IV was a member of the Georgian Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and prince of Iberia/Kartli, responsible for the restoration of kingship, which had been in abeyance since it had been abolished by Iran in the sixth century, in 888....
, king of Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
/Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
and younger brother of David II
David II of Iberia
David II was a member of the Georgian Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and titular king of Iberia/Kartli from 923 until his death.The eldest son and ultimate successor of Adarnase IV of Iberia as king of Iberia, David’s control was limited to the districts of Qveli, Javakheti, and Lower Tao as...
(r. 923–937). David succeeded Adarnase as titular king of Iberia, but not as curopalates, this honorific being granted by the Byzantine emperor to Ashot. Ashot’s original holding was the duchy of Lower Tao
Tao (historical region)
Tao is a historical region in the territory of modern Turkey roughly corresponding to the Taochi of Greeks and Tayk of Armenians. It was a province within various Georgian Bagratid states from the 8th to the 16th century, when the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.-External references:*...
to which he added Upper Tao obtained following the death of his relative Gurgen II of Tao
Gurgen II of Tao
Gurgen II "the Great" was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and hereditary ruler of Tao with the title of eristavt-eristavi, "duke of dukes". He also bore the Byzantine title of magistros....
in 941. Ashot II also ed and received from the emperor, c. 952, the Armenian canton of Phasiane.
During Ashot’s tenure, the Vita of Saint Grigol Khandzteli was composed by Giorgi Merchule
Giorgi Merchule
thumb|Icon of Giorgi MerchuleGiorgi Merchule was a 10th-century Georgian monk and writer who authored "The Vita of Grigol Khandzteli", a hagiographic novel dealing with the life of the prominent Georgian churchman St. Grigol Khandzteli .Giorgi was a monk at the Georgian Orthodox monastery of...
. Ashot actively supported the development of monasticism
Monasticism
Monasticism is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work...
in Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti
Tao-Klarjeti is the term conventionally used in modern history writing to describe the historic south-western Georgian principalities, now forming part of north-eastern Turkey and divided among the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars...
and rebuilt the main church of the monastery at Opiza. Ashot died without heir and his lands and titles passed to his brother King Sumbat I
Sumbat I of Iberia
Sumbat I was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and the titular king of Iberia-Kartli from 937 until his death....
.
According to the art historian W. Djobadze
Wachtang Djobadze
Wachtang Djobadze was a Georgian art historian and Professor at the California State University, Los Angeles. During the Soviet Union, he lived as an émigré in the United States, and was the only Georgian scholar to have opportunity to travel to Turkey where a number of medieval Georgian churches...
, the bas-relief from Opiza which was brought to Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and which is now on display at the State Museum of Fine Arts in Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, does not render Ashot I Kuropalates
Ashot I Kuropalates
Ashot I the Great was a presiding prince of Iberia , first of the Bagratid family to have attained to this office c. 813. From his base in Tao-Klarjeti, he fought to enlarge the Bagratid territories and sought the Byzantine protectorate against the Arab encroachment until being murdered c. 830...
(died 830) and the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
King David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
as it has been sometimes assumed, but the 10th century re-builders of the monastery, Ashot II and David II.