King from 916-960

George II of Abkhazia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George II (Georgian: გიორგი II) was King of the Abkhazians (Georgian: აფხაზთა მეფე) from 916 AD until 960 AD. His lengthy reign is regarded as a zenith of cultural flowering and political power of his realm.

A member of the purported Anchabadze dynasty, he was born to Constantine II, whom he succeeded in 916. It took him, however, some time to assume full ruling powers as his half-brother Bagrat also claimed the crown,

George continued the expansionist policy of his predecessor aimed primarily at retaining the control of central Georgia, namely eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Iberia. To secure the allegiance of local nobility, he appointed his son Constantine a viceroy (eristavi) of Kartli, but the latter engineered a coup against his father three years later (circa 920). George entered Kartli and placed the rock-hewn city of Uplistsikhe (literally, the Fortress of Lord in Georgian) under siege. He lured Constantine by treachery and had him blinded and castrated. George installed his another son, Leon (the future king Leon III), as an eristavi of Kartli and proceeded to campaign against the easternmost Georgian principality of Kakheti whose ruler (chorepiscopus) Kwirike also pretended on parts of Kartli. Kwirike was defeated and imprisoned, and released only after he had submitted to vassalage. To secure his supremacy over Kartli, George allied himself with the Georgian Bagratids (Bagrationi) of Tao-Klarjeti, and gave his daughter, Gurandukht, to Gurgen Bagrationi in marriage. Soon Kvirike returned to offensive and incited also the rebellion in Kartli. George sent a large army under his son, Leon, but the king died amid the expedition, and Leon had to make peace with Kvirike, ending his campaign inconclusively.

George was also known as a promoter of Orthodox Christianity and a patron of Georgian Christian culture. He helped to establish Christianity as an official religion in Alania, winning the thanks of Constantinople. The contemporary Georgian annals knew him as a "builder of churches". Among others, he constructed a cathedral at Chkondidi (later known as Martvili) in Samegrelo (Mingrelia).

See also

• Abkhazian Kingdom
• Divan of the Abkhazian Kings
• History of Georgia

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References and further reading on the Kingdom of Abkhazia

• (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
• (English) Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, Aspects of the Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict
• S. H. Rapp, Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, Peeters Bvba (September 25, 2003) ISBN 90-429-1318-5
• (English) Conflicting Narratives in Abkhazia and Georgia. Different Visions of the Same History and the Quest for Objectivity, an article by Levan Gigineishvili, 2003
• (English) The Role of Historiography in the Abkhazo-Georgian Conflict, an article by Seiichi Kitagawa, 1996
• (English) 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 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 Museon, 69 (1956), S. 73-90.

• (Russian) Вахушти Багратиони. История царства грузинского. Жизнь Эгриси, Абхазети или Имерети. Ч.1