The Georgian Chronicles
Encyclopedia
The Georgian Chronicles is a conventional English
name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian
historical texts Kartlis Tskhovreba , literally "life of Kartli", Kartli
being a core region of ancient and medieval Georgia, known to the Classical
and Byzantine
authors as Iberia
. The chronicles are also known as The Georgian Royal Annals, for they were essentially the official corpus of history of the Kingdom of Georgia
.
and Juansheriani
) have been a subject of scholarly debates. Although many scholars in Georgia still propose an 11th-century dating for the first redaction of the corpus, the increasing number of modern experts has accepted Professor Cyril Toumanoff
's hypothesis that the earliest texts of Kartlis Tskhovreba were composed c. 800. The latest texts were added in the 14th century. A “canonized” version was edited by a special commission appointed and chaired by King Vakhtang VI of Kartli
early in the 18th century.
During the 11th century, the first three works – the "History of the Kings and Patriarchs of the Georgians", the "History of King Vakhtang Gorgasali", and the "Martyrdom of Saint Archil" – already made up a first corpus which covered the Georgian history from the earliest times through the reign of Vakhtang I Gorgasali
(r. 452–502/22) down to the death of Vakhtang's descendant Archil
(786). In the middle of the 12th century, two texts were added: the "Chronicle of Kartli" – which records the Georgian history from the late 8th century through the reign of the first all-Georgian king Bagrat III
(r. 1008-1014) to the early regnal years of George II
(r. 1072-1089) – and the "History of the King of Kings David" – which continues the story and focuses on the reign of David IV
(r. 1089-1125).
adaptation known as "The History of Georgia" (Patmut'iwn Vrats), most probably made in the 12th century, with its earliest extant manuscript being copied in the period of 1279-1311.
A number of translations are available in French, Russian, English and German, but each one covers only a selected number of these texts.
, have questioned the authenticity of the early components of "The Georgian Chronicles" and have called for extreme caution when working with them. Indeed, strict historical facts are frequently intermingled with mythical ones, making it sometimes difficult to discern true historiography and mythology. However, critical analyses against other sources, including the Classical
authors, and a series of recent archaeological studies have proved the trustworthiness of many of the Chronicles' accounts. These texts relate evidence not only for the history of Georgia, but also Armenia
and the Caucasus
in general, Iran
, Syria
, Anatolia
, the Roman Empire
, the Khazars
, and the Turks
.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
name for the principal compendium of medieval 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...
historical texts Kartlis Tskhovreba , literally "life of Kartli", 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...
being a core region of ancient and medieval Georgia, known to the Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
and 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...
authors as 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...
. The chronicles are also known as The Georgian Royal Annals, for they were essentially the official corpus of history of the Kingdom 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...
.
Chronicles
The Chronicles consist of a series of distinct texts dating from the 9th to the 14th century. The dating of these works as well as the identification of their authors (e.g., Leonti MroveliLeonti Mroveli
Leonti Mroveli was the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, presumably an ecclesiastic. Mroveli is not his last name, but the adjective for the diocese of Ruisi, whose bishop he probably was...
and Juansheriani
Juansheriani
Juansheriani were an offshoot of the royal Chosroid dynasty of Iberia whose appanage consisted of lands in Inner Iberia and in Kakheti....
) have been a subject of scholarly debates. Although many scholars in Georgia still propose an 11th-century dating for the first redaction of the corpus, the increasing number of modern experts has accepted Professor Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...
's hypothesis that the earliest texts of Kartlis Tskhovreba were composed c. 800. The latest texts were added in the 14th century. A “canonized” version was edited by a special commission appointed and chaired by King Vakhtang VI of Kartli
Vakhtang VI of Kartli
Vakhtang VI , also known as Vakhtang the Scholar and Vakhtang the Lawgiver, was a Wāli of Kartli, eastern Georgia, as a nominal vassal to the Persian shah from 1716 to 1724. Traditionally, he has been still styled as king of Kartli...
early in the 18th century.
During the 11th century, the first three works – the "History of the Kings and Patriarchs of the Georgians", the "History of King Vakhtang Gorgasali", and the "Martyrdom of Saint Archil" – already made up a first corpus which covered the Georgian history from the earliest times through the reign of Vakhtang I Gorgasali
Vakhtang I Gorgasali
Vakhtang I "Gorgasali" , of the Chosroid dynasty, was a king of Iberia, natively known as Kartli in the second half of the 5th and first quarter of the 6th century. Gorgasali is a sobriquet meaning in Iranian "wolf’s head"...
(r. 452–502/22) down to the death of Vakhtang's descendant Archil
Archil of Kakheti
Archil was a Christian prince of the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti who flourished in the eighth century and was executed by the Arabs for having refused to convert to Islam...
(786). In the middle of the 12th century, two texts were added: the "Chronicle of Kartli" – which records the Georgian history from the late 8th century through the reign of the first all-Georgian king Bagrat III
Bagrat III of Georgia
Bagrat III , of the Georgian Bagrationi dynasty, was King of the Abkhazians from 978 on and King of Georgia from 1008 on. He united these two titles by dynastic inheritance and, through conquest and diplomacy, added some more lands to his realm, effectively becoming the first king of what is...
(r. 1008-1014) to the early regnal years of 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...
(r. 1072-1089) – and the "History of the King of Kings David" – which continues the story and focuses on the reign of David IV
David IV of Georgia
David IV "the Builder", also known as David II , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125....
(r. 1089-1125).
Manuscripts
The extant Georgian manuscripts of Kartlis Tskhovreba are relatively late, with the earliest, the so-called Anaseuli or "Queen Anna" codex, dating from the period of 1479-1495. Another major variant, Mariamiseuli or "Queen Mariam" codex, was copied in the years 1633-1645/1646. However, the surviving Georgian manuscripts are predated by the Chronicles' abridged ArmenianArmenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
adaptation known as "The History of Georgia" (Patmut'iwn Vrats), most probably made in the 12th century, with its earliest extant manuscript being copied in the period of 1279-1311.
A number of translations are available in French, Russian, English and German, but each one covers only a selected number of these texts.
Authenticity
Some modern scholars, such as Ivane JavakhishviliIvane Javakhishvili
Ivane Javakhishvili was a Georgian historian whose voluminous works heavily influenced the modern scholarship of the history and culture of Georgia...
, have questioned the authenticity of the early components of "The Georgian Chronicles" and have called for extreme caution when working with them. Indeed, strict historical facts are frequently intermingled with mythical ones, making it sometimes difficult to discern true historiography and mythology. However, critical analyses against other sources, including the Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
authors, and a series of recent archaeological studies have proved the trustworthiness of many of the Chronicles' accounts. These texts relate evidence not only for the history of Georgia, but also Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
in general, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
, and the Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
.
| English name | Georgian name | Transliteration | Date | Author | Period covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| History of the Kings and Patriarchs of the Georgians | ცხოვრება ქართუელთა მეფეთა და პირველთაგანთა მამათა და ნათესავთა | tskhovreba kartuelta mepeta da pirveltaganta mamata da natesavta | 11th century | Leonti Mroveli Leonti Mroveli Leonti Mroveli was the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, presumably an ecclesiastic. Mroveli is not his last name, but the adjective for the diocese of Ruisi, whose bishop he probably was... (?) |
4th century BC – 5th century AD |
| History of King Vakhtang Gorgasali | ცხოვრება და მოქალაქეობა ვახტანგ გორგასლისა | tskhovreba da mokalakeoba vakhtang gorgaslisa | 11th century | Juansher Juansheriani Juansheriani Juansheriani were an offshoot of the royal Chosroid dynasty of Iberia whose appanage consisted of lands in Inner Iberia and in Kakheti.... |
5th–8th centuries |
| Martyrdom of Saint Archil | წამება წმიდისა და დიდებულისა არჩილისი | tsameba tsmidisa da didebulisa archilisi | 9th or 11th century | Juansheriani or Mroveli | 736–786 |
| Chronicle of Kartli | მატიანე ქართლისა | matiane kartlisa | 11th century | Anonymous | 786–1072 |
| History of the King of Kings David | ცხოვრება მეფეთ მეფისა დავითისი | tskhovreba mepet mepisa davitisi | 12th century | Anonymous | 1072–1125 |
| History of the Bagratids | ცხოვრება და უწყება ბაგრატონიანთა | tskhovreba da utsqeba bagratonianta | 11th century | Sumbat Davitis-Dze Sumbat Davitis-Dze Sumbat Davitis-Dze , or Sumbat, son of David, in modern English transliteration, was the 11th-century Georgian chronicler who described in his The Life and Tale of the Bagratids the history of the Bagrationi Dynasty of Georgia from the beginnings until c. 1030. The Georgian scholar Ekvtime... |
6th century–1031 |
| Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns | ისტორიანი და აზმანი შარავანდედთანი | istoriani da azmani sharavandedtani | 13th century | Anonymous | 1156-1212 |
| History of the Five Reigns | ლაშა-გიორგის დროინდელი მატიანე | lasha-giorgis droindeli matiane | 1223 | Historian of George IV | 1125-1223 |
| History of the Queen of Queens Tamar | ცხოვრება მეფეთ მეფისა თამარისი | tskhovreba mepet mepisa tamarisi | 13th century | Anonymous | 1184–1210/1213 |
| Chronicle of a Hundred Years | ასწლოვანი მატიანე | astslovani matiane | 14th century | Anonymous | 1212-1318 |