Tao (historical region)

Coordinates: 40°18′N 41°30′E / 40.3°N 41.5°E / 40.3; 41.5
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Tao
ტაო
Historical Region
Historical Tao in the 8th-10th centuries
Historical Tao in the 8th-10th centuries
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Tao (

Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Its name derives from the ancient proto-Georgian inhabitants of this area, known as Taochi.[1]

History

Antiquity

The history of Tao could be traced to the emergence of the tribal confederation of

Iberian Kingdom
.

The region was bitterly contested by the Georgian and Armenian rulers throughout the following centuries. In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, following the Byzantine–Persian partition of Armenia in 387, Tao came under Persian influence, and its western border (Iberian gates) served as aboundary between the two empires. Tao or Tayk was one of the nine districts forming the territory of the Armenian kingdom of Arshak III. Tao at that period was a principality, the ancestral domain of the Mamikonid clan. In the 6th century, the Byzantines took control over Tao. Once the Mamikonians had disappeared from the scene, the Bagratids began their ascendancy.

Middle Ages

Medieval Georgian sources recorded the Upper (southwest) Tao and Lower (northwest) Tao, of which the former was in

Caucasian Iberia fell to the Sassanid Empire in the 6th century, and the leading local princely families were exhausted by Arab attacks. The rise of the new dynasty was made possible by the extinction of the Guaramids and the near-extinction of the Chosroids, and also by the Abbasid preoccupation with their own civil wars and conflict with the Byzantine Empire
.

Princedom

The new era began in

Kouropalatate of Iberia. The Bagrationi family eventually took control of both Upper and Lower Tao and gradually expanded its sphere of influence. He encouraged resettlement of Georgians in these lands, and patronized monastic life initiated by the prominent Georgian ecclesiastic figure Grigol Khandzta (c. 759–861). For a long time the region became a cultural safe-house and one of the most important religious
centers of Georgia.

Rulers of Tao

David III Kuropalates of Tao as depicted on a bas-relief from the 10th-century Georgian Orthodox monastery of Oshki in modern Erzurum Province of present-day Turkey.
Prince Reign Notes
1. Gurgen I c. 870 – 891
2. Adarnase III 891 – 896
3. David 896 – 908
4. Ashot 908 – 918
5. Gurgen II 918 – 941
6. Bagrat I 941 – 945 Founder of second Tao branch
7. Adarnase V 945 – 961 Curopalate (958 - 963)
8. Bagrat II 961 – 966
9. David III 966 – 1001 Curopalate (990 - 1001)
1001 annexed to Byzantine Empire

(theme of Iberia)

In the second half of the 10th century, Tao became a large and powerful principality during the rule of

John Tornikios defeated the insurgents and restored the emperor's authority. Throughout his reign, David Curopalates pursued his grand design of the unification of Georgia. Supported by Ioane Marushisdze, the powerful duke of Iberia (Kartli), he succeeded in having his adopted son Bagrat placed on the throne of Kartli in 975 and of Abkhazia
in 978.

Kingdom of Georgia under Queen Tamar's reign.

Following David III's death in 1001, his domain was inherited by emperor of Byzantine Basil II, these provinces were organized into the theme of Iberia with the capital at Theodosiopolis, forcing the successor Georgian Bagratid ruler Bagrat III to recognize the new rearrangement. Bagrat's son, George I, however, inherited a longstanding claim to David's succession. Young and ambitious, George launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates’ succession to Georgia and occupied Tao in 1015–1016. Byzantines were at that time involved in a relentless war with the Bulgarian Empire, limiting their actions to the west. But as soon as Bulgaria was conquered, Basil II led his army against Georgia (1021). An exhausting war lasted for two years, and ended in a decisive Byzantine victory, forcing George to agree to a peace treaty, in which he had to abandon his claims to Tao.

After the

Samtskhe, ruled by the House of Jaqeli
.

Modern history

In 1545 region was conquered by the

Erzurum Vilayet. However, the Russian territorial gains in Tao were reversed in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Ottoman Turkey and Bolshevik Russia in 1918. Although the Democratic Republic of Georgia
briefly regained its control of the region in 1919–1920, the subsequent invasion of the Red Army in 1921 led to the territorial partition of Georgia in which Turkey received the provinces of Tao and Klarjeti.

Today Tao is within the boundary of modern-day Turkey. Armenian residents were largely forced out of the region during the early 20th century, but the Georgian populace remains. More importantly, the region contains numerous Georgian historical monuments, notably the churches and monasteries of Ishkhani, Bana, Doliskana, Parkhali, Kakhuli, Oshki, Otkhta and others. Recent study has found most of the surviving monuments in satisfactory condition, but some have been vandalized, and immediate conservation and renovation is urgently needed.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-253-20915-3
    . Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  2. ^ G. Kavtaradze. "The Ancient Country of Taokhians and the Beginnings of Georgian Statehood". "Language and Culture". N5-6, 2005.
  3. ^ A. G. Sagona. Archaeology at the North-East Anatolian Frontier, p. 30.
  4. Toumanoff, Cyril
    . "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia." Traditio 7 (1949–51): 184-185

40°18′N 41°30′E / 40.3°N 41.5°E / 40.3; 41.5

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