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.
Pharnavaz I was a king of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia in classical antiquity. The Georgian Chronicles credits him with being the first monarch founding the kingship of Kartli and the Pharnavazid dynasty, while other independent chronicles, such as The Conversion of Kartli make him the second Georgian monarch. Based on the medieval evidence, most scholars locate Pharnavaz's rule in the 3rd century BC: 302–237 BC according to Prince Vakhushti of Kartli, 299–234 BC according to Cyril Toumanoff and 284–219 BC according to Pavle Ingoroqva. Pharnavaz's rise, advent and imperial expansion of the Iberian monarchy was directly tied to the victory of Alexander the Great over the Achaemenid Empire. Pharnavaz ruled under the suzerainty of the Seleucid Empire.
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in the ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages. Kartli had no strictly defined boundaries and they significantly fluctuated in the course of history. After the partition of the kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Kartli became a separate kingdom with its capital at Tbilisi. The historical lands of Kartli are currently divided among several administrative regions of Georgia.
Kakheti is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eight administrative districts: Telavi, Gurjaani, Qvareli, Sagarejo, Dedoplistsqaro, Signagi, Lagodekhi and Akhmeta.
Samtskhe–Javakheti is a region (mkhare) in southern Georgia with a population of 147.400 (2023) and an area of 6,413 km2 (2,476 sq mi). The region has Akhaltsikhe as its administrative center, while Besik Amiranashvili is governor of the region since August 2018. Samtskhe–Javakheti is compiled of the historical Georgian provinces Meskheti, Javakheti and Tori.
The Battle of Sasireti took place in 1042 at the village of Sasireti in the present day Shida Kartli region, not far from the town of Kaspi, during the civil war in the Kingdom of Georgia. It resulted in a decisive defeat of the army of King Bagrat IV by the rebel feudal lord Liparit IV, Duke of Kldekari.
Bagrat I, of the Bagratid dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from 830 until his death.
Urbnisi is a village in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region, in the district of Kareli.
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti is a region (mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), making it the most sparsely populated region in the country. It has a nominal area of 4,954 km2 (1,913 sq mi), of which 4,600 km2 (1,800 sq mi) is de facto controlled by Georgia. The remainder is effectively under South Ossetian control. The region has Ambrolauri as its administrative center and Parmen Margvelidze is governor of the region since June 2021. Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti includes the historical provinces of Racha, Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti.
The Bagrationi dynasty is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is sometimes Hellenized and referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, also known in English as the Bagrations.
The history of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, dates back to at least the 5th century AD. Since its foundation by the monarch of Georgia's ancient precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has been an important cultural, political and economic center of the Caucasus and served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under the Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 it was called Tiflis and held the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus.
Iran and Georgia have had relations for thousands of years. Eastern and Southern Georgia had been under intermittent Persian suzerainty for many centuries up to the early course of the 19th century, while western Georgia had been under its suzerainty for much shorter periods of time throughout history. Georgia especially rose to importance from the time of the Persian Safavids.
Surami is a small town (daba) in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region with the population of 7,492. It is a popular mountain climatic resort and a home to a medieval fortress.
Spaspet was a feudal office in Georgia that originated in ancient Iberia. It is usually translated in English as High Constable.
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 bid for independence with the Democratic Republic of Georgia of 1918–1921, Georgia was part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic from 1922 to 1936, and then formed the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Teimuraz I was a Georgian tavadi ("prince") of the House of Mukhrani, a collateral branch of the royal Bagrationi dynasty of Kartli, and Prince (Mukhranbatoni) of Mukhrani from 1580 until his death. At the same time, he was an ex officio commander of the Banner of Shida Kartli and regent of Kartli, from 1623 to 1625, during the rebellion against Safavid Iran. Teimuraz was killed at the battle of Marabda against the Iranian punitive army.
The Christianization of Iberia refers to the spread of Christianity in the early 4th century by the sermon of Saint Nino in an ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known as Iberia in classical antiquity, which resulted in declaring it as a state religion by then-pagan King Mirian III of Iberia. 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. Per Socrates of Constantinople, the "Iberians first embraced the Christian faith" alongside the Abyssinians, but the exact date of an event is still debated. Georgian monarchs, alongside the Armenians, were among the first anywhere in the world to convert to a Christian faith. Prior to the escalation of Armeno-Georgian ecclesiastical rivalry and the christological controversies their Caucasian Christianity was extraordinarily inclusive, pluralistic and flexible that only saw the rigid ecclesiological hierarchies established much later, particularly as "national" churches crystallized from the 6th century. Despite the tremendous diversity of the region, the christianization process was a pan-regional and a cross-cultural phenomenon in the Caucasus, Eurasia's most energetic and cosmopolitan zones throughout the late antiquity, hard enough to place Georgians and Armenians unequivocally within any one major civilization. The Jews of Mtskheta, the royal capital of Kartli, that did play a significant role in the Christianization of the kingdom, would give a strong impetus to deepen the ties between the Georgian monarchy and the Holy Land leading to an increasing presence of Georgians in Palestine, as the activities of Peter the Iberian and other pilgrims confirm, including the oldest attested Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions found in the Judaean Desert alongside the pilgrim graffiti of Nazareth and Sinai.
Liakhvi Strict Nature Reserve is a protected area in the historic region Shida Kartli on the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus range in the northeastern part of Tskhinvali District and in Akhalgori Municipality of Georgia. Reserve main goal is protecting flora and fauna in surrounding mountainous region. In general Patara Liakhvi gorge has many tourist attractions : ethnological, bird-watching and botanical.
The Urbnisi cathedral of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, commonly known as the Sioni church of Urbnisi, is a Georgian Orthodox cathedral at the village of Urbnisi in Georgia's east-central Shida Kartli region. The church is a relatively large three-nave basilica, originally built in the 6th century and reconstructed in the 10th and 17th centuries. The church walls bear several inscriptions, some being among the oldest executed in the Georgian alphabet. The cathedral is inscribed on the list of Georgia's Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance.
The collapse of the Georgian realm was a political and territorial fragmentation process that resulted in the dynastic triumvirate military conflict of the Bagrationi monarchs and war of succession in the united Kingdom of Georgia culminating during the second half of the 15th century.
Georgia 