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The area of Georgia was under Roman control between the 1st century BC and the 7th century AD. This control varied by time and was intermittent over the kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia in the Caucasus region. These kingdoms roughly correspond to some of the western and eastern parts of modern Georgia. [1]
Rome's conquests reached the Caucasus area at the end of the 2nd century BC, when the Roman Republic started to expand in Anatolia and the Black Sea.
In the area of what is now western Georgia there was the Kingdom of Colchis that in those years had fallen under control of the Kingdom of Pontus (an enemy of Rome), while further east there was the "Kingdom of Iberia". As a result of the Roman campaigns of Pompey and Lucullus in 65 BC, the Kingdom of Pontus was completely destroyed by the Romans and all its territory, including Colchis, was incorporated into the Roman Empire as its province. Iberia, on the other hand was invaded and became a vassal state of the empire.
From this point on Colchis became the Roman province of Lazicum, with Emperor Nero later incorporating it into the Province of Pontus in 63 AD, and successively in Cappadocia by Domitian in 81 AD. At the same time, Iberia continued to be a vassal state because it enjoyed significant independence and with the lowlands frequently raided by fierce mountain tribes, paying a nominal homage to Rome in exchange for protection was viewed as a worthwhile investment. [2]
The following 600 years of South Caucasian history were marked by the struggle between Rome and Parthians and Sassanids of Persia who fought long wars against the Romans, known as the Roman-Persian Wars.
Despite the fact that all major fortresses along the seacoast were occupied by the Romans, their rule was pretty loose. In 69 AD, the people of Pontus and Colchis under Anicetus staged a major uprising against the Romans which ended unsuccessfully.
Christianity began to spread in the early 1st century. Traditional accounts relate the event with Saint Andrew, Saint Simon the Zealot, and Saint Matata (but the Hellenistic, local pagan and Mithraic religious beliefs would remain widespread until the 4th century). [3]
While the Laz people's kingdom of Colchis was administered as a Roman province, Caucasian Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection. A stone inscription discovered at Mtskheta speaks of the 1st-century ruler Mihdrat I (AD 58-106) as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians." Emperor Vespasian fortified the ancient Mtskheta site of Arzami for the Iberian kings in 75 AD.
In the 2nd century AD, Iberia strengthened her position in the area, especially during the reign of King Pharsman II Kveli (The Prominent) who achieved full independence from Rome and reconquered some of the previously lost territories from declining Armenia. During his reign Iberia and Rome became allies. Pharsman II was even invited by emperor Marcus Aurelius to Rome and an equestrian statue of Iberian king has been erected on Mars square in his honor.
In the 3rd century AD, the Lazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom of Lazica, locally known as Egrisi. Colchis was a scene of the protracted rivalry between the Eastern Roman/Byzantine and Sassanid empires, culminating in the Lazic War from 542 to 562. [4]
Furthermore, in the early 3rd century, Rome had to acknowledge sovereignty of Caucasian Albania and Armenia to Sassanid Persia, but all what is now Georgia was back under Roman control with Aurelian and Diocletian around 300 AD. [5]
The province of Lazicum (or Lazica) was given a degree of autonomy that by the mid-3rd century developed into full independence with the formation of a new Kingdom of Lazica-Egrisi on the territories of smaller principalities of the Zans, Svans, Apsyls, and Sanyghs. This new South Western Caucasian state survived more than 250 years until 562 when it was absorbed by the Eastern Roman Empire, during Justinian I. [6]
Indeed, in 591 AD Byzantium and Persia agreed to divide Caucasian Iberia between them, with Tbilisi to be in Persian hands and Mtskheta to be under Roman/Byzantine control.
At the beginning of the 7th century the temporary truce between the Romans and Persia collapsed again. The Iberian Prince Stephanoz I (ca. 590-627), decided in 607 AD to join forces with Persia in order to reunite all the territories of Caucasian Iberia, a goal he seems to have accomplished.
But Emperor Heraclius's offensive in 628 AD brought victory over the Persians and ensured Roman predominance in western and eastern Georgia until the invasion and conquest of the Caucasus by the Arabs in the second half of the 7th century.
Indeed, the presence of Rome started to disappear from Georgia after the Battle of Sebastopolis, fought near the eastern shores of the Black Sea in 692 AD between the Umayyads and the Eastern Roman Empire troops led by Leontios. [7]
Sebastopolis (actual Sukhumi) continued to remain the last Roman/Byzantine stronghold in western Georgia, until being finally sacked and destroyed by the Arab conqueror Marwan II in 736 AD.
One of the main legacies of Rome to Georgia is the Christian faith.
Indeed, Christianity, first preached by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century, became the state religion of Caucasian Iberia in 327, making Georgia one of the earliest Christian countries in the world. [8] [9]
The final conversion of all Georgia to Christianity in 327 is credited to St. Nina of Cappadocia. She was the only daughter of pious and noble parents, the Roman general Zabulon, a relative of the great martyr St. George, and Susanna, sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. [10]
Christianity was declared the state religion by King Mirian III of Iberia as early as 327 AD, which gave a great stimulus to the development of literature, arts and the unification of the country. In 334 AD, Mirian III commissioned the building of the first Christian church in Iberia which was finally completed in 379 AD on the spot where now stands the Cathedral of the Living Pillar in Mtskheta, the ancient capital of Georgia.
Petra in Lazica is an ancient bishopric in Georgia that is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. [11]
Roman presence was huge in coastal Georgia, where some Roman forts were defended for centuries by legionaries (and had even some Roman colonists living in the related cities). The fortress of Gonio, in the ancient Colchis city of "Apsaros", is considered by some scholars (like Theodore Mommsen) to have been the center of Roman power in western Georgia since the 2nd century AD.
Indeed, Roman culture -according to archeological findings- was widespread in western Lazicum, diminished in eastern Colchis but was minimal in Caucasian Iberia (with the exception of the capital Mtskheta).
The main Roman Forts (and related cities) were:
Archaeopolis (actual Nokalakevi) was ruled by the Romans from Augustus times, but only the Eastern Roman Empire developed in a huge way this fortification in central Lazicum after the 4th century AD. Actually it is a renowned archeological site of Georgia. [14]
Armazi, in eastern Georgia, was another fortified city related to Rome. This fortress near Mtskheta was captured by the Roman general Pompey during his 65 BC campaign against the Iberian king Artag. A ruined structure over the nearby Mtkvari River dates from that time and is still called "Pompey's bridge". Armazi's heyday came when Iberia was allied with the Roman emperors. A stone stele unearthed at Armazi in 1867 reports that the Roman Emperor Vespasian fortified Armazi for the Iberian king Mithridates I in 75 AD. [15] This defense wall constructed in a unique position, to block the southern exit of the Daryal Pass before it widens into the plain of modern Tbilisi, was presumably a preventive measure against the Alans who frequently raided the Roman frontiers from across the Caucasus.
In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.
In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known after its core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages was a significant monarchy in the Caucasus, either as an independent state or as a dependent of larger empires, notably the Sassanid and Roman empires. Iberia, centered on present-day Eastern Georgia, was bordered by Colchis in the west, Caucasian Albania in the east and Armenia in the south.
The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia, commonly known as the Georgian Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of Georgia, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with the other churches of Eastern Orthodoxy. It is Georgia's dominant religious institution, and a majority of Georgian people are members. The Orthodox Church of Georgia is one of the oldest churches in the world. It asserts apostolic foundation, and that its historical roots can be traced to the early and late Christianization of Iberia and Colchis by Andrew the Apostle in the 1st century AD and by Saint Nino in the 4th century AD, respectively. As in similar autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, the church's highest governing body is the holy synod of bishops. The church is headed by the Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, who was elected in 1977.
Mtskheta is a city in the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is located approximately 20 km (12 mi) north of Tbilisi, at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. Currently a small provincial capital, for nearly a millennium until the 5th century AD, Mtskheta was a large fortified city, a significant economical and political centre of the Kingdom of Iberia.
Lazica was the kingdom in the territory of west Georgia in the Roman/Byzantine period, from about the 1st century BC. Created as a result of the collapse of the kingdom of Colchis and the gaining of independence by the tribal-territorial units included in it in 131 ad.
The Georgians, or Kartvelians, are a nation and Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Georgian kingdoms. Significant Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union.
Mirian III was a king (mepe) of Iberia or Kartli (Georgia), contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. He was the founder of the royal Chosroid dynasty.
Saint Nino was a woman who preached Christianity in the territory of the Kingdom of Iberia, in what is modern-day Georgia. Her preaching resulted in the Christianization of Iberia.
The Lazic War, also known as the Colchidian War or in Georgian historiography as the Great War of Egrisi was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire for control of the ancient Georgian region of Lazica. The Lazic War lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended with the Fifty-Year Peace Treaty which obligated the Byzantine Empire to pay tribute to Persia each year for the recognition of Lazica as a Byzantine vassal state by Persians. The Lazic War is narrated in detail in the works of Procopius of Caesarea and Agathias.
The Iberian Gates is situated in the westernmost extension of historical Georgia, on the plateau of the Mescit Mountains, known as the Meschic mountains in Greco-Roman geography. The place is recorded as Gurji-Boghazi in the Description of the Kingdom of Georgia by 18th century, Georgian geographer Vakhushti Batonishvili.
Foreign relations exist between Armenia and Georgia. Both countries were former Soviet republics of the Soviet Union. Both countries' governments have had generally positive relations, but there have also been some problems.
Armazi is a locale in Georgia, 4 km southwest of Mtskheta and 22 km northwest of Tbilisi. A part of historical Greater Mtskheta, it is a place where the ancient city of the same name and the original capital of the early Georgian kingdom of Kartli or Iberia was located. It particularly flourished in the early centuries AD and was destroyed by the Arab invasion in the 730s.
The Pharnavazid is the name of the first dynasty of Georgian kings of Kartli (Iberia) preserved by The Georgian Chronicles. Their rule lasted, with intermissions, from the 3rd century BC to the 2nd century AD. The main male line is reported to have become extinct early on and followed by houses related to it in the female line. By the close of the 2nd century AD, the Pharnavazid rule came to an end and the Arsacid dynasty took over the crown of Iberia.
The nation of Georgia was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty by the King Bagrat III of Georgia in the early 11th century, arising from a number of predecessor states of the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia. The Kingdom of Georgia flourished during the 10th to 12th centuries under King David IV the Builder and Queen Tamar the Great, and fell to the Mongol invasion by 1243, and after a brief reunion under George V the Brilliant to the Timurid Empire. By 1490, Georgia was fragmented into a number of petty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout the Early Modern period struggled to maintain their autonomy against Ottoman and Iranian domination until Georgia was finally annexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. After a brief period of independence as Democratic Republic of Georgia, the country soon ended up being a Soviet republic until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The current republic of Georgia has been independent since 1991.
The Roman Empire influenced parts of Caucasian Albania.
Caucasian campaign of Pompey was a military campaign led by Pompey that took place in 65 BC and was a consequence of the third Mithridatic War fought over Georgian lands and its neighboring frontiers. Rome sought to expand its influence and establish itself as the overlord of the Middle East. After conquering the Kingdom of Pontus and receiving the subjugation of Tigranes II of Armenia the Romans marched on the Kingdom of Iberia, whose king, Artoces had been an ally of Mithridates VI of Pontus, Rome's premier enemy during the 80's, 70's and early 60's BC.
Before the 10th-century unification of the country by the Bagrationi dynasty, several Georgian states subsisted between the Roman Empire on the west and the Sassanid Empire on the east. Between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Kingdom of Georgia was a major regional power which withstood invasions by the Seljuk, Mongol and Timurid Empires before its fragmentation and submission to the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. Many Georgians fought in the armies of empires that ruled the country since the 16th century, be it the Safavids, the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union. Since 1991, independent Georgia has taken part in a number of wars; its conflict with Russia culminated in the 2008 Russo–Georgian War, and its alliance with the United States led to Georgia's participation in the Afghan and Iraq Wars.
The Stele of Vespasian is a stele celebrating Roman emperor Vespasian. It was written in Ancient Greek and found in 1867 at Armazi, near Mtskheta, Georgia in the ancient capital of the Caucasian Kingdom of Iberia.
Sasanian Iberia was the period the Kingdom of Iberia was under the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire. The period includes when it was ruled by Marzbans (governors) appointed by the Sasanid Iranian king, and later through the Principality of Iberia.
The Christianization of Iberia refers to the spread of Christianity in the early 4th century as a result of the preaching of Saint Nino in the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known as Iberia in classical antiquity. The then-pagan king of Iberia Mirian III declared Christianity to be the kingdom's state religion. Per Sozomen, this led the king's "large and warlike barbarian nation to confess Christ and renounce the religion of their fathers", as the polytheistic Georgians had long-established anthropomorphic idols, known as the "Gods of Kartli". The king would become the main sponsor, architect, initiator and an organizing power of all building processes.
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