Doctor of History
Director
Tamaz Beradze Institute of Georgian Studies, the University of Georgia
msanadze@ug.edu.ge

The Allotted Land of Kartlos as a Reflection of the Borders of Kartli in the 560s–580s

The paper discusses the borders of Kartli as they are presented in the introductory narrative of The Life of the Kings of the Georgians from Their Forefathers and Kinsmen. It demonstrates that what is depicted in this narrative as the territories of Kartlos (Kartli) and his five sons—particularly the joint dominion of Mtskhetos and his three sons—represents the political realities of the period following the death of Vakhtang Gorgasali (531), more specifically, the situation after the peace treaty of 562. At that time, Guaram Patrikios (later known as Curopalates), installed in Mtskheta as the supreme ruler by Byzantium, governed the country.

Under the jurisdiction of Mtskheta—and therefore administered from it (Mtskhetos’s “sons” being symbolic rather than actual offspring)—fell:

  1. the central section of Zena Sopeli as the lord’s own domain, and

  2. Guaram’s hereditary estates: Javakheti and Odzrkhe.

The latter, at that time, also encompassed Klarjeti, since the chronicler describes Odzrkhe as consisting of two towns: Odzrkhe proper and Tukharsi, with Tukharsi being identified as Klarjeti.

A shorter narrative is also examined, recounting the marriage of the daughters of Mir/Mirdat, son of Vakhtang Gorgasali (erroneously inserted into the chronology, which led to his portrayal as the son of Stephan II). This episode illustrates the political fragmentation of the Kingdom of Kartli into principalities in the late 580s and early 590s. After the death of Gurgen II, ruler of Tbilisi (whom we assume belonged to the Ferozid family and was a grandson—or rather nephew—of Gurgen I, who had entered the Byzantine court of Justin in 523), Persia, for a brief period of one year, appointed in Tbilisi a representative of the Revian family: Juwanšer Juwanšerian, son of Juansher, Vakhtang Gorgasali’s spaspeti and the first compiler of The Life of the Georgians. He governed the part of Kartli still under Persian control.

Finally, attention is drawn to the difference in geographical terminology between Juansher and Leonti Mroveli. In the narrative of Kartlos and his sons, Leonti—under the influence of Armenian historiographical traditions (particularly the account of Targamos and his son Haos/Haik)—uses the designation “Pontic Sea” for the Black Sea. By contrast, in Juansher’s own account of Kartlos, his five sons, and three grandsons, the term “Speri Sea” is consistently used, reflecting authentic terminology of Juansher’s time.

Keywords: Borders of Kartli, Kartlos and his descendants, Vakhtang Gorgasali, Guaram Patrikios, 6th-century Georgia.