history

Georgian History with One Stroke of the Pen

Georgia is a nation found in many ancient myths. It is here – in the famous Kolkheti rich in gold – that Prometheus was chained to a cliff for stealing the godly fire and giving it to mankind. The Argonauts stole the Golden Fleece from Kolkheti too. The mythological ancientness is also connected with polyphonic songs, the dancing, and the old Georgian folklore. The remarkable Georgian applied arts have the same roots.

Georgian is located in the South Caucasus. The territory of Georgia is 69, 5 thousand square kilometers. The population is around 5 million people. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi – one of the ancient cities of Europe and Asia. It was founded by the King of East Georgian State – the Kingdom of Kartli – Vakhtang Gorgasali.

The ancient Georgian towns are -- Kutaisi – Kutaia, Sokhum-Tskhumi-Dioskuria, Batumi-Batisi, Vani-Surioni, Siarme-Sareki, Armaztsikhe-Armazike, Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe and others – originated in the middle of the 1 millennium B.C., and some of them even in the beginning. The ruins of the ancient cities discovered by Archeologists, gold, ceramics, bronze and silver items – astonish those who have an opportunity to have a look at them and also demonstrate the skill of Georgian craftsmen of old times.

Nature

The nature in Georgia has a wide variety. The Caucasus, covered with snow, is washed by the Black Sea, and neighboring countries are half deserts, half subtropical. Each part of Georgia is unique, with the beauty typical of that part only. But tourists are especially excited by high mountainous regions: Svaneti, Khevsureti, and Tusheti. And it was the rich nature and the moderate climate that attracted the first European here. On the territory of the old city of Dmanisi the skulls of the two most ancient people were discovered. The age of the skulls, according to the data of the researchers, is 1, 7-1, 8 million years.

Paleolithic, Mesolithic and the Neolithic relics have been discovered in Georgia. As early as the Neolith era, there is evidence of the existence of the original agricultural civilization. This civilization is dates to VII-VI millennia, B.C. Georgia is also an early center of bronze metallurgy. The Bronze era on the territory dates back to the middle of the IV millennium and is represented by such advanced agricultural cultures as “Mtkvar-Araksisa” and Kolkhuri. The “Great Kurgan Culture” of brilliant cattle-breeding can also be mentioned in this series.

The history of the statehood of Georgia dates back to very ancient times. Scientists date the discovery of the West Georgian State Egrisi to fifteenth to the thirteenth centuries B.C. and the discovery of East Georgian State Kartli sixth to the ninth centuries B. C.

What is surprising is that the country with such an ancient civilization was simultaneously one of the motherlands of grain cultures. Out of 18 sorts of grain that are preserved and known in the world, 14 species are in Georgia.

Georgia has also been the center of vine culture and wine since ancient times. In Georgia there are 400 sorts of vine out of the total of four thousand types exiting in the world.

The geographic location of Georgia is also very convenient. It is located on the crossroads of the old trade routes connecting the West with the East and the North with the South. This has made Georgia an important part of the Silk Road since ancient times. The existence of the Road was proven in early as the second century, B. C. by archeological data. At that time Georgia was a bridge between the West and the East. Georgian statehood, the Georgian nation and the Georgian civilization in general originated on the merging place of two civilizations. And it succeeded in adopting and taking the achievements of both.

Georgia was among the states that were the first to get acquainted with the Chinese sericulture in the fifth century. In the ninth century silk was the number one product on the list of the most frequent exported goods. Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries the production of silk was so high that it even overrode the Chinese silk on the world market. Some magnificent fragments of the cloth were preserved here. The Great Silk Road and the high level of trade and craft earlier determined the appearance of coins on the place. The first silver coin ever made in Georgia – referred to as the Kolkheti Tetri by scientists - was made in this place. You can find here the first samples of Greek writing carved by the local writing craftsmen. These carved writings are referred to by the scholars as the Armazi writings belong to the first and third centuries.

The Georgian original writing that is one of the 14 alphabetic writing systems known in the world was created in the fourth century A.D. Yet, the old chronicles refer the origination of the writing to the rule of the first King of the Georgian State – Kartli - Parnavaz from the fourth to the middle of the second centuries B.C.

The oldest samples of the Georgian writing preserved so far belongs to the beginning of the V century. The motivation for the creation of the Georgian writing was probably the adoption of Christianity by the Georgian States Egrisi (Lazika) and Kartli (Iberia)

The Christian Religion started to spread in Georgia the first century AD. Archeologists mark the existence of Christian themes on the territory of Georgia as early as the second and third centuries. Christianity was proclaimed the state religion in the state of the Eastern Georgian State of Kartli in 326, during the reign of King Mirian as a result of St. Nino’s enlightenment activities. About the same period, Christianity becomes the state religion in Egrisi (Lazika) – the West Georgian State. It is noteworthy that the first meeting of Nikea in 325 was attended by the Bichvinta Episcope Stratophilus from Egrisi and the second meeting of Constantinople held in 381 was attended by the Kartli Episcope Pantophilus.

So, the Georgian Episcopes took a direct part in the formation of the symbol of Christianity.

The Georgian Church is one of the ancient autocephalous churches. The history of its autocephaly starts in the second part of the fifth century and ends in the full independence on the sixth century world meeting in Constantinople in 681. Since the eleventh century, the Catholicos of the united Georgia has the title of Patriarch and has the sixth position after the Pope, after the patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria.

After the 300 year long Arab rule (in the period between the mid seventh and the early ninth centuries) in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries the disintegrated Georgian kingdoms and feudal entities became a United Georgian Monarchy that was ruled by Bagrat III from the Bagrationi Dynasty (978-1014). The Bagrationi are an old family that probably originated from the Satrap of the Persian period Achaemenids.

Since the post Macedonian period, in the middle of the third century, the representatives of these families even had made their own money that had the writing: “Baghadat Bivrat” that means the Bivrat given by God in Persian. According to the widely-spread legend that was reflected in the works of the X century Byzantine historian-emperor Constantine Porpiroment. The origination of the Bagrationi family is associated with the King of the Israeli David. The final unification of Georgia was hampered for a few decades by the invasions of Tusk-Seljuks. David the IV the Builder (1089-1125) managed to cast out the invaders and integrate of the country. In his reign Georgia was the center for the whole Caucasus. Likewise, during the rule of the following kings of Georgia Demetre I (1125-1156), Giorgi III (1156-1184), King Tamar (1184-1110), Giorgi IV (1110-1123) – Georgia turned into one of the superpowers alongside with such states as Egypt, Rum Sultanate and Khvarazma in the Middle East. The territory of Georgia stretched from the origin of the Kuban River to Darubandi and from the mid Tergi to Erzum and the river Araks.

The culture of the country flourished during this period of unification and the leading position in Europe and Asia. The tenth through the thirteenth centuries are a period of the flourishing of Georgian art and the Georgian feudal culture on the whole. The flourishing of thought and form were simultaneously reflected in the original architecture artifacts, monumental fine arts, iconology, miniature fine art, mosaics and other works of art. The ruins of such monuments as Bana, Iskhani, Kumudro, Opisa, Shatberi, Khandzta (on the territory of Turkey), the Kutaisi Mother of God Cathedral (Bagrat) and many others are admired by many visitors. The height of the developed feudal architecture is Svetitskhoveli – Patriarch Cathedral in Mtskheta, the residence of the Patriarch of the United Georgia, the 50 meters tall Alaverdi Cathedral within the vicinity of Telavi, the Grand Monastery of Vardzia that is built in rock in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. The gold, silver, enamel articles of the period look amazing. It should be mentioned that the size of the enamel articles has no analogues in the world.

Tens of thousand of manuscripts and book fragments of the early feudal period have been preserved. They are decorated with fine miniatures and covers that are so refined that can be called works of art.

We should also mention the middle age historical almanac, the book of Georgian books, “Kartlis Tskhovreba” (the life of Kartli) that relates the history of the state and the Caucasus in the period from the thirteenth to the sixth century B.C .to the fourteenth century A.D.. Thanks to this unique historical source we have historical data from the old period, as well as large excerpts from historical compositions, part of which were written by king historians in Aramaic and Greek languages, a long span of time before the formation of the original Georgian writing.

The Georgian Hagiographic culture, both translated and original, is rich as well. The best samples are distinguished with their lively, clear manner of narration, realism and the history of the events described. Hymnography also reaches a high level of development.

It goes beyond saying that the early Renaissance work of the Great Shota Rustaveli – the immortal “Vepkhistkaosani” that belongs to the world literature treasury - is definitely the greatest phenomenon of Georgian literature, the climax of Georgian middle-age thought, form, poetry and esthetics.

In the third decade of the thirteenth century Georgia, as well as the rest of the world, was seized by the Mongols. The Mongol rule brought about economic destruction to Middle East. Political disintegration, a slack economy, poverty, epidemics and the physical destruction of the population – is just a short list of the troubles that Georgia was faced with during the almost one hundred year rule of the Mongols. In the third decade of fourteenth century, during the reign of King Giorgi V the Bright Georgia finally managed to free itself from the Mongolian rule. It reunited as one kingdom and made an attempt to restore its old fame.

Unfortunately, Georgia could not completely recover and escape from the results of heavy, destructive Mongol rule. In the fourth decade of the fourteenth century the epidemic of the Plague, that reached the country from Genoa to Capa in the Crimea - broke out in Georgia. The epidemic repeated over several times and took the lives of a lot of people. These cruel times for Georgia were aggravated by the attacks of Tamerlane In 1386 – 1405, which meant the robbery and extirpation of the population. Economic weapons were used against Georgia for the first time. In an attempt to suppress the opposition from the people, Tamerlane ordered the destruction of orchards, gardens, fields, vine, took away the cattle from the people. Around the south borders of the remainders of the Tamerlane’s Empire, near Georgia, there appeared half nomad Turkman states Aq Qoiunlu (white lamb) and Qara Qoiunlu (black lamb), the rulers of which invaded Georgia a countless number of times throughout 15 centuries and deprived it of the possibility to stand on its feet. During one century, starting from the fifth decade of the fourteenth century to the sixth decade of the fifteenth century the population of Georgia was reduced twice and even more. The economy of the country was ruined. The wealth accumulated by the population for centuries was taken out from the country. Under these circumstances the money circulation in Georgia lowered significantly. This gave an impetus to the development of natural agriculture. At the same time the re-feudalization of the country consolidated the position of the local noblemen. As result, by the end of the fifteenth century the single Georgian Monarchy de-segmented in to separate knighthoods and kingdoms. The following eleventh to the thirteenth centuries turned out similarly heavy for Georgia. Weakened and de-fragmented Georgia had to share its sovereignty with two neighboring super states, Persia and the Osmania. One thirds of the territory of Georgia was lost in 1550 – 1639. Namely, the old Georgian state Samtskhe-Saatibego that became part of Osmania as the vilayet of Gurjistan (Georgia). The continuous fight for independence from Osmania and Persia and for Christianity, forced the Georgian knighthood and kingdoms to look for a way out from the geopolitical impasse. They had to appeal to the West, namely the Pope and the King of France Louis XV.

In spite of the extremely heavy situation the cultural life of Georgia never ceased to exist. Just the opposite. It revived thanks to the great representative of the Georgian culture King Vakhtang the VI and his milieu. At this time “Kartlis Tskhovreba” was filled with the historical data missing before. Textbooks in various fields, including astronomy, physics, and chemistry and the Georgian dictionary of definitions are also referred to at this time. The Georgian law was codified and assumed its final shape.

In order to seek the physical survival of the people, Erekle the II, who unified the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti, had to address the Emperor of Russian to accept Georgia as its protégée. In 1789 Kartl-Kakheti and the Russian Empire signed a tractate on protectorate that was called the Georgievsk Treaty – as it was signed in Georgievsk.

When Ekaterina II of Russia accepted part of the power and control over Kart-Kakheti through the partial loss of sovereignty by the latter, she gave an oath in an official ceremony to the Georgian people and the state that she would protect the statehood of Georgia. At the same time she promised to do everything – use both peaceful and military methods - to help Georgia regain control over the lost territories. However paradoxical it might seem, after 18 years, Russian abolished the Kingdom of Kart-Kakheti and made the Kingdom family move from Georgia to Russia. Shortly, the Russian Army conquered the Kingdom of West Georgia Imereti. After this, in the early nineteenth century, the following West Georgian knighthoods of Guria, Odishi (Samegrelo), Svaneti and Abkhazia were abolished. For the first time in the long history, Georgia lost its statehood.

The Georgian people began to fight for independence at once. In the sixth decade of the nineteenth century, the generation of Georgian scholars and men of literature led by the outstanding Georgian writer and public figure Ilia Chavchavadze came to the struggle. The group of young patriots educated in Russia, therefore called Tergdaleulebi worked out the cultural and economic development plan of Georgia. The national bank, the society that “spread literacy among Georgians”, the national professional theater, newspapers and magazines, propagating leading democratic philosophies and activating the national identity of Georgians – all refer to this period. Thus, Georgian society has gained some political and economic strength. It took advantage of the 1917 Revolutions and the dissolution of the Russian Empire and on May 26, 1918 Georgia declared independence. This was approved by the Bolshevik Russia, too. And was revealed in the agreement between Russia and Georgia signed on May 7, 1920. Yet, as early as February 2, 1921, Russia violated the terms of the agreement deliberately and the revolutionary forces and individual parts of the Red Army attacked Georgia from all sides. The occupation of Georgia caused the people much misery and grief. The best sons of the country fell victim in the unequal fight with the conquerors. Thousands were shot. A large part of the people was forced to emigrate. For seventy years, Georgia was one of the republics of the And as part of this entity, Georgia participated in the World War against German occupiers to save Europe and the whole world from fascists. Georgia suffered considerable loss in this war. Out of 700 thousand Georgians, 300,000 died in the war. In spite of the totalitarian communist regime Georgian culture had a period of revival in the twentieth century. It is hard to enumerate all of the distinguished writers, producers, poets, actors, artists. Most of their works are valuable artifacts of world culture. Georgian scientists have made an important contribution to the Soviet and as a consequence the world culture.

The national liberation fight against the Communist regime never ceased all the way through the occupation. It was not weakened by the repressions and the shooting of the 1920s, 30s and the 40s. Nor did the violence used against the Georgian youngsters who had a demonstration May 9, 1956. The national liberation movement broke out with a new force from the late 1970s and increased in force as the political regime of the Soviet Union developed in the direction of liberalization. This was originated by the new Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachov and his reforms. Georgia was one of the Soviet states where the parliament declared the restoration of independence on the basis of the results of a referendum on April 9, 1991.

During the 15 year period of independence, Georgia, like many post-soviet states, has had to tackle difficulties both on the political and economical arenas. But thanks to the support from the world community, especially the USA, Europe and Turkey (the support from the latter is crucially important for the country as it is our closet neighbor) our country has been reviving and the people look to the future with optimism.