Demetrius (died 1042) was a Georgian

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 Bagrationi royal dynasty, and a claimant to the throne of Georgia

Kingdom of Georgia

The Kingdom of Georgia was a medieval monarchy established in AD 978 by Bagrat III.It flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries, the so-called "golden age" of the history of Georgia. It fell to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by 1327...

. He was the younger son of George I of Georgia

George I of Georgia

Giorgi I , of the House of Bagrationi, was the king of Georgia from 1014 until his death in 1027. He spent most of his seven-year-long reign waging a bloody and fruitless territorial war with the Byzantine Empire.-Early reign:...

 by his second wife Alda

Alda of Alania

Alda or Alde was an 11th-century Alan princess and the second wife of King George I of Georgia . The couple had a son, Demetre, who played a notable role in the civil unrest of Georgia during the reign of his half-brother Bagrat IV....

, daughter of the king of Alania

Alania

Alania may refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation...

.

After the death of George I, some Georgian nobles wished to enthrone Demetrius instead of his half-brother Bagrat IV

Bagrat IV of Georgia

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 Georgia's sovereignty from the Byzantine and Seljuqid empires...

 (r. 1027–1072), but to no avail. Alda and Demetrius lived in their fief at Anacopia, a fortified maritime town in Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

, which had been bequeathed to them by the late king George I. The efforts by Bagrat's mother Mariam

Mariam of Vaspurakan

Mariam was the daughter of John-Senekerim II Artsruni, an Armenian king of Vaspurakan, and the first consort of the king George I of Georgia. As a Dowager Queen of Georgia, she was a regent for her underage son, Bagrat IV, from 1027 to 1037, and was involved in diplomacy with the Byzantine...

 to win Demetrius's loyalty to the crown went in vain. Threatened by Bagrat, Alda defected to the Byzantines

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...

 and surrendered Anacopia to the emperor Romanos III

Romanos III

Romanos III Argyros was Byzantine emperor from 15 November 1028 until his death.-Biography:...

 who honored her son Demetrius with the rank of magistros. This happened in 1033.

In 1039, Demetrius returned to Georgia with Byzantine troops. Liparit IV

Liparit IV, Duke of Kldekari

Liparit IV, sometimes known as Liparit III , was an 11th-century Georgian general and political figure who was at times the most valuable support of King Bagrat IV of Georgia and his most dangerous rival...

, of the Liparitid clan, the most powerful noble in Georgia, supported the rebellious prince and launched initially a successful campaign against Bagrat's army. However, Demetrius died unexpectedly in 1042. Alda, with Demetrius’s son David, fled to her native Alania. The 18th-century Georgian scholar Prince Vakhushti

Vakhushti

Vakhushti was a Georgian prince , geographer, historian and cartographer.- Life :A son of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli , he was born in Tbilisi, 1696...

 argues that David’s descendants flourished in Alania and produced a line of local princes of which came David Soslan

David Soslan

David Soslan was an Alan prince and a King Consort of Georgia as the second husband of Queen Regnant Tamar who married him c. 1189. He is chiefly known for his military exploits during Georgia’s wars against its Muslim neighbors.- Origins :...

, the second husband of Queen Tamar of Georgia

Tamar of Georgia

Tamar , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Georgia from 1184 to 1213. Tamar presided over the "Golden age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy...

 (r. 1184–1213).

Anacopia, ceded by Alda and Demetrius to the emperor, would remain under the Byzantine sway until being recovered by Bagrat’s son and successor George II

George II of Georgia

George II , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1072 to 1089. He was a son and successor of Bagrat IV and his wife Borena of Alania...

 in 1074. This happened after the Battle of Manzikert

Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert , was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert...

 (1071). Profiting by the defeat of the Byzantines at the hands of the Seljuqids, Georgia regained a number of key territories lost to the Empire in the course of the 11th century, including Anacopia as well as the fortresses located in the Thema of Iberia.