Kingdom of Abkhazia
Kingdom of Abkhazia აფხაზთა სამეფო apkhazta samepo | |||||||||||
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778–1008 | |||||||||||
Flag | |||||||||||
Capital | Eastern Orthodox (Georgian Orthodox Church ) (Pre Schism) | ||||||||||
Government |
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archon | |||||||||||
• c. 510–530 | Anos (first) | ||||||||||
• c. 745–767 | Leon I (last) | ||||||||||
King | |||||||||||
• 767–811 | Leon II (first) | ||||||||||
• 978–1014 | Bagrat III (last) | ||||||||||
Historical era | Early Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Declared independence from Byzantine | 778 | ||||||||||
• Unification of the Georgian State | 1008 | ||||||||||
Currency | Various Byzantine and Arab coins[3] | ||||||||||
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Today part of | Georgia Russia Turkey |
Part of a series on the |
History of Georgia |
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The Kingdom of Abkhazia (Georgian: აფხაზთა სამეფო, romanized: apkhazta samepo; lit. 'Kingdom of the Abkhazians'), also known Egrisi-Abkhazia, was a medieval feudal state in the Caucasus which was established in the 780s. Through dynastic succession, it was united in 1008 with the Kingdom of the Iberians, forming the Kingdom of Georgia.
Byzantine sources record that in the early years of the 10th century Abkhazia stretched three hundred Greek miles along the Black Sea coast, from the frontiers of the thema of Chaldia to the mouth of the river Nicopsis, with the Caucasus behind it.
History
Background
Abkhazia was a princedom under Byzantine authority. It lay chiefly along the Black Sea coast in what is now the northwestern part of the modern-day Georgia (disputed Republic of Abkhazia[4]) and extended northward into the territory of today's Krasnodar Krai of Russia. It had Anacopia as its capital. Abkhazia was ruled by a hereditary archon 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. Another Abasgian episcopal see was that of Soterioupolis.[5]
In 735, a large
Establishment and consolidation
The successful defense against the Arabs, and new territorial gains, gave the Abkhazian princes enough power to claim more autonomy from the
The most prosperous period of the Abkhazian kingdom was between 850 and 950. Beginning with
Unification
By that time the hegemony in the
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. Prince Cyril Toumanoff relates the name of Anos to the later Abkhaz noble family of Anchabadze.[8] 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.[citation needed]
King | Reign | Dynasty |
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1. Leon II | 780 – 828 | Anchabadze |
2. Theodosius II | 828 – 855 | Anchabadze |
3. Demetrius II | 855 – 864 | Anchabadze |
4. George I | 864 – 871 | Anchabadze |
5. John (usurper) | 871 – 873 | Shavliani |
6. Adarnase | 887 – 893 | Shavliani |
8. Bagrat I | 882 – 894 | Anchabadze |
9. Constantine III | 894 – 923 | Anchabadze |
10. George II | 923 – 957 | Anchabadze |
11. Leon III | 957 – 967 | Anchabadze |
12. Demetrius III | 967 – 975 | Anchabadze |
13. Theodosius III | 975 – 978 | Anchabadze |
14. Bagrat III | 978 – 1008 | Bagrationi |
Historiography
Writing the kingdom's primary history was dominated by Georgian and Byzantine sources supported by modern epigraphic and archaeological records.[citation needed]
The constitution of the kingdom is presented differently in the Abkhazian and Georgian historiography, with the ethnic composition of the population and the origin of the ruling dynasty being especially contentious.[9]
For the Abkhazian historians, the kingdom of Abkhazia is considered the historical root of the nation and the "1200-year statehood tradition" is emphasised. The dominant Georgian narrative emphasises the joint Georgian-Abkhazian state and the dominant role of the Georgian language and culture.[9]
Most international scholars agree that it is extremely difficult to judge the ethnic identity of the various population segments[10] 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 Mingrelians, Laz, and Svans with their distinct languages that are related to the Georgian language) and Abkhaz (Abasgoi, Apsilae, and Zygii) peoples.[11] It seems likely that a significant (if not predominant) proportion of the Georgian-speaking population, combined with a drive of the Abkhazian kings to throw off the Byzantine political and cultural dominance, resulted in Georgian replacing Greek as the language of literacy and culture.[12]
Gallery
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The Bedia Chalice donated by Bagrat to the Bedia Monastery is an important piece of Georgian metal art. c. 999 AD
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Mokvi Cathedral constructed in 10th century, during the reign of King Leon III of Abkhazia
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Church of St. Simon the Canaanite constructed between 9-10th century in New Athos
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Church of Bzyb constructed in the second half of IX century
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Pitsunda Cathedral was built at the end of the 10th century by King Bagrat III of Georgia.
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Lykhny Church built in the 10th century.
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Chkondidi cathedral built by George II, X century
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The cross of George II of Abkhazia, X century
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The remains of the Bagrat's Castle.
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Kumurdo Cathedral was built by Ioane the Bishop during the reign of King Leon III of Abkhazia in 964.
See also
Notes
- ^ "It was also during the tenth century that the language of the church in Abkhazia shifted from Greek to Georgian (Inal-Ipa, 1965, p570)."[1]
- ^ "Bagrat minted coins in Kutaisi: demonstrating his political ambitions, the obverse read in Georgian, ‘O Christ, magnify Bagrat king of the Abkhaz’, and in Arabic, ‘There is no God but one’, while the reverse read in Arabic, ‘Mohammad messenger of God’."[2]
References
- ^ Hewitt 2013, p. 63.
- ISBN 978-1-78023-030-6.
- ISBN 978-1-78023-030-6.
- Russian-occupied territory.
- ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 975
- Vakhushti Bagrationi, The History of Egrisi, Abkhazeti or Imereti, part 1.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ Rapp, pages 481-484.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-000-62300-0.
- ^ Graham Smith, Edward A Allworth, Vivien A Law et al., pages 56-58.
- V. Minorsky in the Encyclopaedia of Islam.
- ^ Alexei Zverev, Ethnic Conflicts in the Caucasus; Graham Smith, Edward A Allworth, Vivien A Law et al., pages 56-58; Abkhaz by W. Barthold [V. Minorsky] in the Encyclopaedia of Islam; The Georgian-Abkhaz State (summary), by George Anchabadze, in: Paul Garb, Arda Inal-Ipa, Paata Zakareishvili, editors, Aspects of the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict: Cultural Continuity in the Context of Statebuilding, Volume 5, August 26–28, 2000.
Sources and further reading
- (in English) Alexei Zverev, Ethnic Conflicts in the Caucasus 1988-1994, in B. Coppieters (ed.), Contested Borders in the Caucasus, Brussels: VUBPress, 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 0-521-59968-7
- Encyclopaedia of Islam[permanent dead link]
- (in English) Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, Aspects of the Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict
- (in Russian) 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 90-429-1318-5
- (in English) Conflicting Narratives in Abkhazia and Georgia. Different Visions of the Same History and the Quest for Objectivity, an article by Levan Gigineishvili, 2003
- (in English) The Role of Historiography in the Abkhazo-Georgian Conflict Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, an article by Seiichi Kitagawa, 1996
- Hewitt, George, ed. (2013). The Abkhazians: A Handbook. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-80205-8.
- 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 0-313-30044-5
- Ronald Grigor Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition (December 1994), Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3, 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 0-19-826373-2
- Toumanoff C., Chronology of the Kings of Abasgia and other Problems // Le Muséon, 69 (1956), S. 73-90.