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THE ABKHAZIAN KINGDOM IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY Writing the kingdom’s primary history was dominated by the Georgian, Armenia n, Byzantine and Muslim annals, supported by modern epigraphic and archaeological records. The problem of the Abkhazian Kingdom, particularly the questions of the nature of its ruling family and its ethnic composition, is a main point of controversy between modern Georgian and Abkhaz scholars. This can be largely explained by the scarcity of primary sources on theses issues. Most Abkhaz historians claim the kingdom was formed as a result of the consolidation of the early Abkhaz Tribes that enabled them to extend their dominance over the neighboring areas. This is one of the instrumentals of the Abkhazian claim for sovereignty over the region . This is categorically objected on the side of the Georgian historians, some of them claiming that the kingdom was completely Georgian. Most international scholars agree, however, that it is extremely difficult to judge the ethnic identity of the various population segments due primarily to the fact that the terms “Abkhazia” and “Abkhazians” were used in a broad sense during this period – and for some while later – and covered, for all practical purposes, all the population of the kingdom, comprising both the Georgian (including also Mingrelia ns, Lazs , and Svans with Their Distinct Languages that are sisters to Georgian ) and possible Abkhazian ( Abasgoi , Apsilae , and Zygii ) peoples . It seems apparent, however, that the significant (if not superior) proportion of the Georgian-speaking population and the drive of the Abkhazian kings to throw off the Byzantine political and cultural dominance have replaced the Greek Language with Georgian as the language of literacy and culture . HISTORY Abkhazia, or Abasgia of classic sources, formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi (Lazica) until the late 690s , was a Princedom under the Byzantine authority. It lay chiefly along the Black Sea coast in what is now northwestern part of modern-day self-styled Republic Of Abkhazia and extended northward into the territory of today’s Krasnodar Krai of the Russian Federation . It had Anacopia as the capital. The border between this princedom and Egrisi ran roughly along the Klisura river. Abkhazia was ruled by a hereditary Archon (or '' Eristavi '', according to the Georgian sources) who effectively functioned as a Byzantine viceroy. The country was chiefly Christian and the city of Pityus was a seat of an Archbishop directly subordinated to the Patriarch Of Constantinople . The Arab s, pursuing the retreating Georgian princes – brothers Mir Of Egrisi and Archil Of Kartli – surged into Abkhazia in 736 . Dysentery and Flood s, combined with a stubborn resistance offered by the archon Leon I and his Kartli an and Egrisian allies, made the invaders retreat. Leon I then married Mir’s daughter, and a successor, Leon II exploited this dynastic union to acquire Egrisi (Lazica) in the 770s . Frequently considered as a Successor State of the latter monarchy, this new polity continued to be referred to as Egrisi in some contemporary Georgian (e.g., ''The Vitae of the Georgian Kings'' by Leonti Mroveli ) and Armenia n (e.g., ''The History of Armenia'' by Hovannes Draskhanakertsi ) chronicles. The successful defense against the Arabs, and new territorial gains, gave the Abkhazian princes enough power to claim more autonomy from the Byzantine Empire. Towards circa , Bedia , Guria , Racha and Takveri , Svaneti , Argveti , and Kutatisi . The most prosperous period of the Abkhazian kingdom was between 850 and 950 . In the early years of the 10th Century , it stretched, according to Byzantine sources, along the Black Sea coast three hundred Greek Mile s, from the frontiers of the Chaldean Thema to the mouth of the river Nicopsis , with the Caucasus behind it. The increasingly expansionist tendencies of the kingdom led to the enlargement of its realm to the east. Beginning with George I ( 872 / 73 - 878 / 79 ), the Abkhazian kings controlled also Kartli (central and part of eastern Georgia ), and interfered in the affairs of the Georgian and Armenia n Bagratid s. In about 908 King Constantine III ( 898 / 99 - 916 / 17 ) had finally annexed a significant portion of Kartli, bringing his kingdom up to the neighborhood of Arab-controlled Tfilisi (modern-day Tbilisi). Under his son, George II (916/17- 960 ), the Abkhazian Kingdom reached a climax of power and prestige. For a brief period of time, Kakheti in eastern Georgia and Hereti in the Georgian- Albanian marches also recognized the Abkhazian suzerainty. Sometime friend of the Byzantines , George II helped to establish Christianity in Alania , winning the thanks of Patriarch Nicholas I Of Constantinople . ; he was also Bagrat III of Georgia of the House of Bagrationi ]] George’s successors, however, were unable to retain the kingdom’s strength and integrity. During the reign of Leon III (960- 969 ), Kakheti and Hereti wrested of his control. A bitter Civil War and feudal revolts which began under Demetrius III (969- 976 ) led the kingdom into complete anarchy under the unfortunate king Theodosius III The Blind (976- 978 ). By that time the hegemony in Transcaucasia had finally passed to the Georgian Bagratids (Bagrationi) of Tao-Klarjeti . In 978 , the Bagratid prince Bagrat , nephew (sister’s son) of the sonless Theodosius, occupied the Abkhazian throne with the help of his adoptive father David III Of Tao . In 1008 , Bagrat succeeded on the death of his natural father Gurgen as the ''King of Kings of the Georgians''. Thus, these two kingdoms unified through dynastic succession, in practice laying the foundation to the unified Georgian monarchy, officially styled then as the Kingdom of the Abkhazians and Georgians. RULERS Most Abkhazian kings, with the exception of John and Adarnase of the Shavliani (presumably of Svan origin), came from the dynasty which is sometimes known in modern history writing as the Leonids after the first king Leon, or Anosids, after the prince Anos from whom the royal family claimed their origin. The prominent 20th-century historian and genealogist Cyril Toumanoff relates the name of Anos to the later Abkhaz noble family of Anchabadze . By convention, the regnal numbers of the Abkhazian kings continue from those of the archons of Abasgia. There is also some lack of consistency about the dates of their reigns. The chronology below is given as per Toumanoff. House of the Anosids (Anchabadze)
House of Shavliani
House of the Anosids (Anchabadze)
House of Bagrationi SEE ALSO NOTES
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING # Alexei Zverev, Ethnic Conflicts in the Caucasus 1988-1994 , in B. Coppieters (ed.), ''Contested Borders in the Caucasus'', Brussels: VUB University Press, 1996 # Graham Smith, Edward A Allworth, Vivien A Law, Annette Bohr, Andrew Wilson, ''Nation-Building in the Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Politics of National Identities'', Cambridge University Press (September 10, 1998), ISBN 0521599687 # Encyclopaedia of Islam # Center for Citizen Peacebuilding website # Вахушти Багратиони. История царства грузинского. Жизнь Эгриси, Абхазети или Имерети. Ч.1 #S. H. Rapp, ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', Peeters Bvba (September 25, 2003) ISBN 9042913185 # Conflicting Narratives in Abkhazia and Georgia. Different Visions of the Same History and the Quest for Objectivity , an article by Levan Gigineishvili, 2003 # The Role of Historiography in the Abkhazo-Georgian Conflict , an article by Seiichi Kitagawa, 1996 # History of Abkhazia. Medieval Abkhazia: 620-1221 by Andrew Andersen #Georgiy I Mirsky, G I Mirskii, ''On Ruins of Empire: Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Former Soviet Union (Contributions in Political Science)'', Greenwood Press (January 30, 1997) ISBN 0313300445 #Ronald Grigor Suny, ''The Making of the Georgian Nation'': 2nd edition (December 1994), Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253209153, page 45 #Robert W. Thomson (translator), ''Rewriting Caucasian History: The Medieval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles: The Original Georgian Texts and Armenian Adaptation (Oxford Oriental Monographs)'', Oxford University Press, USA (June 27, 1996), ISBN 0198263732 #Toumanoff C., ''Chronology of the Kings of Abasgia and other Problems'' // Le Museon, 69 (1956), S. 73-90. |
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