We have many sights and famous people in Georgia. One of the most famous and worthy people, whose monument stands in the capital of our country, is Vakhtang Gorgasali. This is truly a real person.
The holy noble king Vakhtang IV (c. 440-502) for 15 years ascended the royal throne of Kartli (Eastern Georgia), one of the founders of the Georgian statehood. Son of Mithridates V from the Khosroviani dynasty. His nickname "gorgasal" translates from Persian as "wolf's head" (an allusion to the shape of his helmet). He carried out measures to strengthen the Georgian fortresses and entered into an alliance with the Armenian Mamikonyans, and in 482 he led a major uprising against Persian rule.
During this period, Kartli was attacked by the Persians from the south and by the Ossetians from the north. And in Western Georgia the situation was no better, the Byzantines captured the country from Egrisi to Tsikhegoji. Immediately upon accession to the throne, the young king of Kartli, Vakhtang, gathered the royal court and turned to his subjects with a wise speech. He said that the grievous state of the country is a manifestation of God's wrath for the sins of the tsar and the people and called on everyone to unanimously and unselfishly fight for the holy Faith and the Motherland. He made a victorious campaign against the Ossetians, freed the captive princess, his older sister, and concluded several mutually beneficial agreements with the Caucasian highlanders on a joint struggle against the invaders. Then he made a campaign in Western Georgia, freed it from the Byzantines, strengthened the power of King Gubaz and victoriously returned to Kartli.
Faith, wisdom, stateliness, beauty and valor of Tsar Vakhtang were amazing. Tall (2.40 m), unusually handsome face, he could tirelessly fight in battle. Dressed in armor, fully armed, he could load a war horse on his shoulders and climb from the city (Mtskheta) to the Armaz fortress on foot, he could catch up with a deer on the run and twist it. At the same time, through long prayers and night vigils, by giving alms to the poor, he served righteously before God. The holy king was an extremely judicious politician, showed great restraint and remained calm in the solution of state issues.
A wolf was depicted on the forehead of Vakhtang's military helmet, and a lion was depicted on the back. Seeing a helmet with images of a wolf and a lion, the Persians began to shout to each other: "Dur az Gorgasar" (Beware of the wolf's head). Hence the nickname of Tsar Vakhtang - "Gorgasali".
He expelled the fire-worshiping priests from Kartli, sent them to Constantinople, for the trial of Patriarch Archbishop Michael, who, inclining towards the Monophysitism implanted in Kartli by the Persians, cursed the king and his army for revolting against them. The Patriarch of Constantinople and the Emperor of Byzantium sent clerics sent by Tsar Vakhtang to the Patriarch of Antioch for consecration. The Patriarch of Antioch ordained 12 bishops, and Peter - a Catholicos.
Vakhtang fulfilled the will of the holy King Mirian and built the Georgian Cross Monastery in Jerusalem. Instead of a wooden church built during the time of St. Nino in Mtskheta, he built a stone one. At the same time, several new dioceses were founded. Vakhtang built a cathedral in Nikozi (Shida Kartli) and established a new Nikoz cathedral. Here he reburied the relics of the holy First Martyr Razhden.
Tsar Vakhtang built the fortresses of Tukharisi, Artanuji and Akhiza, founded the monasteries of Artanuji, Mere, Shindobi, Akhiza, built and founded many other fortresses, churches and monasteries. He built a new royal residence in Ujarma, laid the foundation for a new capital - Tbilisi. His political credo was: an equal union with Orthodox Byzantium, independence and unity of the Church and the people.
In 502, the sixty-year-old king Vakhtang had to defend his country for the last time. In an unequal struggle with the Persians, he was mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow. Before his death, King Vakhtang summoned the clergy, family, royal court and bequeathed them to be firm in the Faith and seek death for the sake of the Name of Christ in order to receive Eternal Glory.
All Georgia mourned the Tsar who died for Christ. From the royal residence in Ujarma, the deceased king was transported to the capital, to the Svetitskhoveli temple erected by him, and was buried with great honors.
With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, a side-altar in the name of Vakhtang Gorgasali was added to the Patriarchal Cathedral of Zion, and a cathedral was erected in the city of Rustavi in \u200b\u200bhis honor. The Order of Vakhtang Gorgasal is one of the highest state awards of Georgia.
The Georgian monarchs did not escape this share either ...
A nickname, as a rule, says a lot about the appearance, habits and habits of its bearer. For example, let us recall the last monarch of Georgia, George XII, whom the people called "Bykoed". And not because he could overcome the whole carcass of a bull in one sitting - his boundless gluttony is simply emphasized.
The historian Bondo Kupatadze carefully studied this phenomenon and found out that about 20 Georgian kings were nicknamed by the people and chroniclers. The title "Great" went to six monarchs: Bagrat III, David III, Bagrat V, Alexander I, King Svimon of Kartala and King Solomon of Imereti. This is a nickname for their performance. Like others. Kartalin's king Farsman, for example, was nicknamed "The Valiant". In addition, for the first time it was in his address that the famous phrase was said: "Fearless, like disembodied" ...
King Roar was the ruler who forbade the sacrifice of children to the Armaz idol and ordered the use of sheep and cows as a sacrifice. At all times it was difficult and risky to enter into confrontation with the clergy, but Revi did not give up and achieved his goal, for which the people called him "Righteous Roar".
The real name of Vakhtang Gorgasali was the Persian Varan Khosro-Tang. The Georgians reduced it and got "Vakhtang". As for "Gorgasali", it is again a Persian word, and it means "wolf's head". A wolf was depicted on Vakhtang's helmet, and during the battles the Persians advised each other to avoid the one with the wolf's head. According to historians, the height of Tsar Vakhtang exceeded two meters. Therefore, an already fearless warrior, he terrified the enemy.
And since we are talking about the height, it is not superfluous to remember the king Heraclius. People called him "Little Kakhi", according to some versions, because of his short stature. However, presumably this was not the case at all. By "Little" can also mean age, since Heraclius ascended to the royal throne quite young. In this regard, I recall the following case. In 1982-1983, Giga Lortkipanidze shot the film "The Book of the Oath", in which Tengiz Archvadze played the role of Tsar Irakli. During the filming in Telavi, Irakli's robe was taken out of the museum in order to sew a suit on it. When Archvadze tried on this robe, it turned out that it was very big for him! ... In Kakheti, Tsar Irakli is also called tsarevich to this day. The same name is given to many places associated with it, the palace and a nearby source - "the source of the prince".
Archil, Demeter, Ketevan and Duarsab are nicknamed "Martyrs". Demeter additionally received the nickname "Selfless". According to the Life of Kartli, because of his "indecent" marriage (already married, he was forced to marry a Mongolian woman), the clergy were constantly in opposition to him. However, when the young king, instead of hiding in Mtiuleti, decided to go to the khan, Catholicos Abraham said: "Each of us, bishops, will bear the burden of your sin." And only King David was nicknamed "Builder", his name ("Davitiani") remained with the banner, and the king, who "as a Builder, revived the country", as a sign of great respect, was named George VI the Brilliant.
And as a result, he entered the four most famous kings, after whom streets and squares were named, and to whom they began to erect monuments. The history of Vakhtang is a huge piece of Georgian history, for 50 years. Unfortunately, in the story of his life, it is difficult to separate mythology from reality.
Historicity issue
We know about Vakhtang from one single document - from the text “The Life of Vakhtang Gorgasal”, which was written by a certain Juansher Juansheriani in the 11th century. Juansher could use some early chronicles, but he could add to the text and mythology. It is impossible to verify the authenticity by other sources, and for this reason, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, Georgian historians had a suspicion - is not all this a myth at all? Historian Pavel Ingorokva noted that the whole story about Vakhtang Gorgasal suspiciously resembles a cycle of Persian legends about King Bahram Gur. As a result, historians came to the conclusion that King Vakhtang did exist, and Juansher's work is largely historical, although, of course, with a great admixture of mythology.
All subsequent biographies of Vakhtang were a retelling of Juansher's work - for example, Mikhail Sabinin wrote a very detailed biography in the 1870s, correcting some inaccuracies in Juansher.
Juansher's writing looks pretty convincing, and there is nothing in it that would be clearly mythological. It can be conditionally taken as true (if only because the opposite has not been proven), but still it must be understood that Juansher wrote about an era that was distant from him in the same way as the era of the Mongol yoke from the era of Yeltsin.
Now there are opinions on the Internet that Vakhtang is a completely fictional figure. But this is too radical a statement. We have nothing to prove the existence of Vakhtang, but his existence does not contradict the facts known to us.
Childhood and youth
Vakhtang was born around 440, when Iberia was under the Persians for about 80 years. This was the first major occupation in its history. People have not yet developed defense mechanisms, and their culture was very quickly Iranized. This can be seen at least by the numerous Persian names and even by the Iranian principles of the formation of names. For example, names like Gurandukht appeared - formed from the Georgian name Guram and the Iranian ending "-dukht" (daughter).
But this occupied province of Iran rebelled from time to time. In particular, Vakhtang's grandfather named Archil fought very successfully with the Iranian governor of Azerbaijan, Barzobod. The governor did not have enough resources to resist, but Archil also lacked the strength to take all the enemy cities, so he went to peace negotiations. He had a son, Mirdat, whose name is also Persian and means "given by Mithra," and he was married to Sagdukht, the daughter of Barzobod. This marriage was supposed to mend relations with the Persians. Sagdukht converted to Christianity and even built the Zion Cathedral in Samshvilde.
In this marriage, a daughter with the Iranian name Khuranzan was born and four years later a son with the Persian name Varan-Khosro-Tang, and in the history of Juansher it is so directly called Persian. Six years later, another daughter was born to the king, and she was also named with a Persian name - Mirandukht. According to the mountain tradition, in those years not yet obsolete, children were given to be raised by friends. Vakhtang was taken by the commander of the army, and Mirandukht was taken by some other chief and taken away to Kaspi. This fragment from Juansher can be considered a piece of true history with all its archaisms.
During these years strange things were happening in the church life of Iberia. From 436 to 448, the bishop of Iberia was a man named Mobidan. It is strange because it exactly coincides with the title of the Zoroastrian priests - "mobed-mobidan". And in those same years, Zoroastrianism was legalized in Iberia. According to Juansher, Queen Sagdukht allowed this in exchange for the refusal of the Iranians to force the country to Zoroastrianism.
King Mirdat died in 447 and Vakhtang became king at the age of 7. In the first years of his reign, many events happened in the world at once. In 449, the Armenians rebelled against the Persians, fought for a couple of years and were defeated in the Avarayr battle in May 451. In the same year 451, the Council of Chalcedon gathered in Byzantium, which condemned Monophysitism - from that moment a major schism began in the Christian world, which Vakhtang will then observe throughout his life.
Byzantium was ruled by the emperor Theodosius II, who waged monotonous wars with the Huns and Persians. He died in 450 and the military leader Marcian became the emperor, who managed to fight off Attila himself.
War with the Huns
During the childhood of Vakhtang, the Huns lived on the northern side of the Caucasus, who, under the leadership of Attila, gradually conquered the galaxy. In 450 they tried to take Constantinople, but left this business (as mentioned above) and went to Italy in 452. Attila died in 453. In the last years of his life, his sons fought their own wars. For example, his son Ernak, identified with a man named Kheran of the Armenian Chronicles, in 451 went through the war in Caucasian Albania, reached Iberia, "and sent many prisoners and booty from Greece and from Armenia, and from Iberia, and from Albania." This invasion went down in the history of Juansher as the invasion of the oats (Ossetians) and there it is dated to the 10th year of Vakhtang's life, that is, exactly 450-451 years. In the course of this invasion, the Huns captured the city of Kaspi, took Vakhtang's sister from there and took away somewhere to her.
In 455, Vakhtang gathered his people and addressed them with a speech, which begins with the words "Trouble looms over our kings and people." In this phrase, philologists see a trace of the era when the word king ( mepe) simply meant a tribal leader. It was about the time to fight the Huns. Vakhtang gathers an army somewhere in the fields north of Mtskheta, leaves his mother to rule the country, and he goes with the army to Tianeti, and then, probably along the route of the modern Georgian military road, goes to the Darial Gorge. Going out into the Terek valley, the Iberian army met the Hunnic army, after which the Juansher describes the fight between Vakhtang and one of the Hunnic "goliaths".
This duel later entered the folk mythology, where the scene of action was transferred to Tbilisi. According to mythology, Vakhtang was waiting for the Ossetian hero on the Metekhi rock, and he was crossing the Kura. Vakhtang promised not to shoot at him on the crossing, but still shot and killed. In the form of repentance for breaking the oath, he built a temple, which he called Metekhi, the name of which is etymologized in the legend as "me vtekhe" - I changed (the oath). The modern statue of Vakhtang on the Metekhi rock stands exactly where Vakhtang committed this moral crime.
The victory over the "Goliath" helped to defeat the Huns, who returned all the prisoners and Vakhtnaga's sister. Further, Juansher describes a somewhat dubious event: a campaign through the Caucasus to Abkhazia, and the conquest of all of Western Georgia. We know that in 456 the Laz king Gubaz rebelled against Byzantium, which responded with a military campaign and the destruction of Archeopolis, the capital of Lazika. It is theoretically possible that Vakhtang took advantage of the moment and chewed off some pieces of Lazika.
These victories made a good impression on the Persians and the Shah (Yazdigird II or Ormizd III) gave his daughter Belendukht to him and gave him Somhiti (Northern Armenia) as a dowry.
Is the story of the campaign against the Huns historical? On the one hand, there is nothing impossible in this, since a crisis has just begun in the Hunnic empire. Armenian historians mention negotiations between Vakhtang and the "Khons" (Huns) in the 480s. Perhaps something similar happened, but not in 455, but later.
After the campaign against the Huns, there were two more joint Persian-Iberian: on Byzantium and on the Hephthalites. The trip to the Hephthalites can be tentatively dated to the 470s, and the trip to Byzantium does not exactly date, although it was named first by Juansher.
Founding of Tbilisi
One of the most striking and notable achievements of Tsar Vakhtang is the founding of Tbilisi. According to one of the officially recorded oral traditions, it was like this:
The places where Tbilisi now stands were covered with an impenetrable forest inhabited by numerous animals. Once Vakhtang Gorgasal was hunting in that forest. The tried and tested royal falcon chased a pheasant. Both went down into the gorge and disappeared. The king, surrounded by his retinue, went down into the gorge and saw a stream of hot water, and in it a boiled falcon with a pheasant in its claws. The king carefully examined those places, understood the healing value of those waters and decided to found a city here. He ordered to uproot the forest, clear the area and start building houses. The city of Tbilisi was named after those warm waters.
There is, however, a very similar story about the founding of Tbilisi by King Farnavaz, who shot a deer at the springs. And in the novel by Kurban Said "Ali and Nino" a pheasant is killed by "a certain padishah." In the life of Vakhtang nothing is said about hunting, from which one can assume that this is just a folk fantasy. Sabinin, in his very detailed biography of Gorgasala, does not say anything at all about the founding of Tbilisi, from which one can assume that in the 1870s this event was treated like folk tales.
The exact date of this event is unknown. In 1958, it was announced that Vakhtang founded Tbilisi in 458, and, accordingly, it is time to celebrate the 1500th anniversary.
In theory, he really could have done it right after the Hunnic campaign. But Juansher says nothing about it. He writes that Vakhtang began to "lay the foundations" of Tbilisi at the age of 60 - that is, around 500. And then the war with the Persians began, and in 502 Vakhtang was killed. It all fits together. In 500, the construction of the Tbilisi fortress really made sense - it covered the approaches to Mtskheta from Iran. In 468, there was no conflict with Iran, and there seemed to be no need for a fortress either. It is possible that Soviet historians invented the dating "458" simply because it was necessary. The jubilee was celebrated, the film "Tbilisi was removed for 1500 years", the statue of Vakhtang on the Metekhi rock was installed (1961), dating took root in the popular mind.
Hike to Byzantium
Juansher's account of this campaign is verbose and probably mythological almost entirely. For no apparent reason, Vakhtang started a war and laid siege to Erzurum and Trebizond. The Persians from his army began to terrorize the priests and monks, so Vakhtang intervened and released all the captured monks. He kept a certain priest Peter with him. The same man seized the moment and advised Vakhtang to make friends with the emperor. Vakhtang promised to try, and almost immediately had a dream: first, Saint Nina appears to him, warning that now he will see the king of heaven and earth. Then he sees two thrones and two figures: someone in the image of the emperor, and next to him Gregory the Illuminator, at whose feet is sitting Nina. In this story, the most interesting of all is the image of Gregory in the form of the king of heaven. This was permissible in the 6th century, but for the 11th century it was already very strange.
Then, after a certain amount of vague fighting, Vakhtang and the emperor became friends. Byzantium gave Vakhtang Tao-Klarjeti and Abkhazia from Inguri to Kelasuri. Vakhtang drove through Klarjeti, he liked everything there, and he ordered to found the city of Artanuji and the Opiza monastery.
Juansher writes that the Persian king died just during the negotiations between Vakhtang and the emperor. Perhaps this means 459, when Shah Ormizd III died and Peroz became shah. The problem is that Byzantium did not have any problems with Iran until at least 502, when Shah Kavad did capture Erzurum. Before that, the war with the Persians was only in 447. In other words, the campaign of the Persian-Iberian army of Vakhtang could not take place between 447 and 502 years. It seems that there was no campaign, there was no break with the Persians, there was nothing.
War with Iran and nickname
According to Juansher, the break with the Persians led to war. Historically, we know only the Persian campaign of 463 years to Caucasian Albania. In the life of Vakhtang it is written that the Persians reached Mtskheta, and there they fought for a long time with the Iberian army, and it was at this time that Vakhtang made himself a helmet with a wolf's head in front and a lion's head in the back. And it was this helmet that led to the appearance of his nickname "Gorgasali". There are many questions to this nickname. In Middle Persian, the wolf is "gurg", and the pronunciation of "gorg" was established only in New Persian. In addition, in many sources it is recorded as "Gorgaslan", where "aslan" is really a lion, but in the Turkic languages, the speakers of which will appear in Transcaucasia only in the XI century. In other words, "Gorgaslan" is a nickname that could appear only after the 11th century. On the other hand, the Persians could call him "Gurg-Sar" (Wolf's Head), and this name was gradually distorted into "Gorgasal" or "Gorgaslan". In the source code of Juansher it is still "Gorgasal", but there is an opinion that this is a late correction. All these oddities really do not refute anything, but they hint that not everything is clean with the nickname Gorgasal.
Somewhere in the same years, Vakhtang had a son, who was given the Persian name Darchil, derived from "Dar-chikhr" (Descendant of Darius). His Persian wife died at the same time. At the age of five (465?) Vakhtang crowned Darchil as king and built the fortress Ujarma for him. It was assumed that Darchil would live and be raised in Ujarma. But further it is written that he gave to his son Cheremi, Nekresi and Hornabuji, and settled in Ujarma himself.
War with the Ethialites
We know that in 467 Shah Peroz, in alliance with the Hephthalites, destroyed the state of the Kidarites, then he quarreled with the Hephtaliats and the first war took place between them, unsuccessful for Peroz. Sometime in the 470s, Peroz began a second war. It is believed that Vakhtang participated in this campaign. Hephthalite Buddhists lived approximately in the territory of modern Uzbekistan, so Vakhtang became the first Georgian king to travel to Central Asia. And this was the first and last contact of the Iberian society with Buddhist culture. One can only regret that the low level of literacy did not allow the Iberians to leave memoirs describing the life and customs of Greco-Buddhist Central Asia.
Again, in science there is an opinion that Juansher fastened here a story about the wars of the Persians with the Arabs in the 7th century and made Vakhtang their participants.
Church reform
When Vakhtang was just born, anarchy reigned in the church life of Iberia. The bishops fell into heresies and almost Zoroastrianism. Around 452, a certain Mikael became the archbishop of Mtskheta, who immediately began to exterminate this evil. It is known that he destroyed some treatises on Zoroastrianism by one of his predecessors. For 20 years, Mikael put his archbishopric in order and disposed of affairs at his own discretion. Probably, some bishops obeyed him, but we do not know how many there were, and what they did.
And here there was a conflict with Vakhtang. It happened either in 467 or 484 or somewhere in between. The source of the conflict is unknown to us. Juansher presents the course of events in a very confusing way. Something strange happens: Mikael curses Vakhtang, he arrives for negotiations, and during the conversation Mikhail knocks out Vakhtang's tooth. As a result, the Mtskheta archbishopric was liquidated and instead of the archbishop, with the sanction of Byzantium, a Catholicos appeared, and all Vakhtang's possessions were cut into 12 bishoprics.
It is generally accepted that this rotation was done by the Patriarch of Antioch, Peter II Knafey. In those years, disputes between the Monophysites and the Orthodox intensified, all non-Greek peoples gradually went into Monophysitism, and Patriarch Peter went there too. He began to gradually remove the Orthodox bishops, replacing them with Monophysite ones - especially after 485. It may very well be that Mikael also fell under the distribution. Emperor Zeno supported Peter, and Vakhtang did not oppose. And Iberia went into Monophysitism.
This version looks harmonious and was supported at one time by Academician Javakhishvili. But Academician Janashia did not agree with him, and believed that it was Mikael who was a monophysite.
It is customary to think that it was at this moment that the Georgian church acquired autocephaly - independence from the Patriarch of Antioch. But, unfortunately, we do not know exactly when this autocephaly was obtained. It could have been in the 5th century, in the 6th, in the 7th, or in the 8th.
But be that as it may, the Iberian Church received its own Catholicos - it was Peter, the same one whom Vakhtang freed during the Byzantine campaign. One of his associates named Samuel became the bishop of Mtskheta. At the same time, Vakhtang changed all the other bishops. Juansher gives a list of their dislocations:
- In Klarjeti, at the temple of Akhiza
- In Artaani (Artvin)
- In Tsunde
- In Bolnisi
- To Ninotsminda (where Ninotsminda Cathedral is)
- In Cheleti
- In Agaraki near Hunan (place disappeared)
Later in the text it is said that Vakhtang also founded the bishopric of Nikoza (with a see in Nikoza Cathedral)
Construction
The church reform brought with it some changes in the material side of the church: several new churches were built. The Svetitskhoveli temple, built during the reign of Nina, was destroyed by that time. Vakhtang decided to build a new large stone temple in its place. This building was 20x30 meters in size, and it was a basilica on five pairs of pillars.
It is believed that at about the same time he built several more temples: Bolnisi Zion, Ruiz Cathedral, Nikos Cathedral, Metekhi Church, and, presumably, the Metekhi temple in Tbilisi. Of these, only Bolnisi Zion has survived, the beginning of the construction of which is known for sure: 478. This dating falls into the fork between 467 and 484, that is, it chronologically coincides with the dating of the negotiations on the establishment of the Catholicosate. Well, the legend also attributes to Vakhtang the construction of the Upper Betlem Church in Tbilisi.
Martyrdom Shushanik
During the Vakhtang years, there was a half-kingdom, half-principality of Gogaren, which was located somewhere south of Tbilisi, approximately where there is now Kvemo-Kartli and Northern Armenia. The capital of Gogarena was the city of Tsurtavi, which was located somewhere near modern Marneuli. The ruler of this state named Varsken converted to Zoroastrianism and tortured his wife named Shushan (diminutive Shushanik) for refusing to do the same. Soon the text “Martyrdom of Shushanik” was written about this, which became the first written work in Georgian history.
The author dates the event under the reign of the Persian Shah, and not Vakhtang, who seems to him to be the king. But the author does not mention Vakhtang at all, although he does mention the “Kartli bishop” Samuel. According to his text, Varsken is directly subordinate to the Persian shah and carries out all his orders. Although at this time Vakhtang was already building cities and temples with might and main, and in four years he will begin to build the Bolnisi Zion somewhere very close to Tsurtavi.
Perhaps Gogarena was already so independent that the Iberian kings did not interest her in any way.
There is a version that Vakhtang killed Varsken in revenge on Shushanik, and this is how his last war with Iran began.
War with Iran
Varsken's assassination provoked a war with Iran, unless the opposite happened. It was probably the conflict of 482, when both Iberia and Armenia rebelled against Shah Peroz. The Armenians proclaimed Sahak Bagratuni the king. The Persians responded with an invasion - a battle took place on a certain Charmanait plain, which is not mentioned anywhere except in this story. They write that she was on the banks of the Kura, not far from Tbilisi.
The Iberian-Armenian army was defeated, Sahak was killed. But at about this very time, Shah Peroz dies in a battle with some nomads (either the Huns, or the Hephthalites), and the new Shah Balash decides to leave Transcaucasia alone. In 484, Iran concludes the Nvarsak Treaty with Armenia, according to which Armenia gains semi-independence and religious freedom.
Juansher does not write anything about these events. At all. And Sabinin is also silent. According to Juansher, “some time later” after the establishment of the Catholicosate, a war with Iran began, in 502 a battle took place on the Samgori field, where Vakhtang died. If the issue with the Catholicosate was resolved sometime before 484, it seems that the last war of Vakhtang was precisely the war of 482. This means that he died in 482, not 502. And then the thought creeps in that the death of Vakhtang is an allusion to the death of Sahak Bagratuni, and the Samgori field is the Charmanait plain.
But it is customary to think that Vakhtang died in 502. In this case, a gap forms in his life from about 484 to 502 - 18 years. During this time, the Iranian Shah Balash came to power, ruled quietly and peacefully and was removed. Kavad became Shah, who was later also overthrown, but he returned to power in 499 and started a war with Byzantium. This war is a historical fact. Once Byzantium promised Iran money for the protection of the Caucasus passages, but did not pay it. Kavad was offended and went to war against the Greeks - his army reached Erzurum.
According to Juansher, the shah (whom he calls by the name of Khosro) demanded that Vakhtang participate in the campaign, but he refused. And then the Persians invaded Iberia: they ravaged the city of Cambechovani (approximately Hornabuji), Cheremi and Velistsikhe, then went to the Iori River, where Vakhtang met them with an army near the village of Khashmi. An epic three-day battle took place on the Samgori field, during which Vakhtang was wounded. The arrow hurt his lungs. He was taken to the Ujarma fortress, where he soon died. The Persians retreated to Rustavi, but learned about the death of Vakhtang and occupied Tbilisi.
In theory, it is quite possible that during the campaign against Erzurum, the Persian army sent some forces to Iberia, and they decided to go up the Iori gorge to get to the place where the Iberians fled. But it is very likely that Juansher is confusing the events of 484 with those of 502. Or he writes about the events of 484, but someone later mistakenly dated them to 502. One way or another, Vakhtang died. Iberia remained under Persian occupation. His son and heir Dacha was hiding in the mountains. The death of Vakhtang became a symbolic watershed in Georgian history: the history of the Iberian kingdom and Georgian antiquity ended. The era of occupation began.
Vakhtang Gorgasali in history
Tsar Vakhtang is a boring figure, about whom they will hardly write a book or shoot a feature film. All his actions are administrative orders. We do not know anything about his personal life, problems, conflicts and contradictions. It is difficult to see a living person behind his official image. True, there is also a block of folk mythology, according to which his wife cheated on him, and then arranged his murder, but they try not to publicize this side of Vakhtang's life, especially since it is still mythology.
Vakhtang was recognized as a saint, but no temples were built for him until the 90s. When in 1942 the Germans came up with the names for the battalions of the "Georgian Legion", they even used the name Chavchavadze, and forgot about Vakhtang.
But the Soviet authorities liked him for something. In the middle of the Soviet era, the cult of Vakhtang began to form: in 1961, his monument was erected on the Metekhi rock, then the Tatar Maidan and the adjacent embankment were named after him, in the 90s a couple of churches were named after him and the Order of Vakhtang Gorgasal appeared.
The holy noble Tsar Vakhtang IV at the age of 15 ascended the royal throne of Kartli (Eastern Georgia). During this period, Kartli was attacked by the Persians from the south and by the Ossetians from the north. And in Western Georgia the situation was no better, the Byzantines captured the country from Egrisi to Tsikhegoji. Immediately upon accession to the throne, the young king of Kartli, Vakhtang, gathered the royal court and turned to his subjects with a wise speech. He said that the grievous state of the country was the manifestation of God's anger for the sins of the tsar and the people and called on everyone to unanimously and unselfishly fight for the holy Faith and the Motherland. He made a victorious campaign against the Ossetians, freed the captive princess, his older sister, and concluded several mutually beneficial agreements with the Caucasian highlanders on a joint struggle against the invaders. Then he made a trip to Western Georgia, freed it from the Byzantines, strengthened the power of King Gubaz and victoriously returned to Kartli.
Faith, wisdom, stateliness, beauty and valor of Tsar Vakhtang were amazing. Tall (2.40 m), unusually handsome face, he could tirelessly fight in battle. Dressed in armor, fully armed, he could load a war horse on his shoulders and climb from the city (Mtskheta) to the Armaz fortress on foot, he could catch up with a deer on the run and twist it. At the same time, through long prayers and night vigils, by giving alms to the poor, he served righteously before God. The holy king was an extremely reasonable politician, showed great restraint and remained calm in the solution of state issues.
A wolf was depicted on the forehead of Vakhtang's military helmet, and a lion was depicted on the back. Seeing a helmet with images of a wolf and a lion, the Persians began to shout to each other: "Dur az Gorgasar" (Beware of the wolf's head). Hence the nickname of Tsar Vakhtang - "Gorgasali".
The recognition of the autocephaly of the Georgian Church is associated with the name of Tsar Vakhtang. He expelled the fire-worshiping priests from Kartli, sent them to Constantinople, for the trial of Patriarch Archbishop Michael, who, inclining towards the Monophysitism implanted in Kartli by the Persians, cursed the king and his army for rebelling against them. The Patriarch of Constantinople and the Emperor of Byzantium sent clerics sent by Tsar Vakhtang to be consecrated to the Patriarch of Antioch. The Patriarch of Antioch ordained 12 bishops, and Peter - a Catholicos.
Vakhtang fulfilled the will of the holy King Mirian and built the Georgian Cross Monastery in Jerusalem. Instead of a wooden church built during the time of St. Nino in Mtskheta, he built a stone one. At the same time, several new dioceses were founded. Vakhtang built a cathedral in Nikozi (Shida Kartli) and established a new Nikoz cathedral. Here he reburied the relics of the holy First Martyr Razhden.
Tsar Vakhtang built the fortresses of Tukharisi, Artanuji and Akhiza, founded the monasteries of Artanuji, Mere, Shindobi, Akhiza, and built and founded many other fortresses, churches and monasteries. He built a new royal residence in Ujarma, laid the foundation for a new capital - Tbilisi. His political credo was: an equal union with Orthodox Byzantium, independence and unity of the Church and the people.
In 502, the sixty-year-old king Vakhtang had to defend his country for the last time. In an unequal struggle with the Persians, he was mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow. Before his death, King Vakhtang summoned the clergy, family, royal court and bequeathed them to be firm in the Faith and seek death for the sake of the Name of Christ in order to receive Eternal Glory.
All Georgia mourned the Tsar who died for Christ. From the royal residence in Ujarma, the deceased king was transported to the capital, to the Svetitskhoveli temple erected by him, and was buried with great honors.
With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, a side-altar in the name of Vakhtang Gorgasali was added to the Patriarchal Cathedral of Zion, and a cathedral was erected in the city of Rustavi in \u200b\u200bhis honor.
king of Kartli (middle V - late V or early VI century). Gorgasal in Persian means "wolf's head" - a nickname given to V.G. by the Persians from the image on his battle helmet. Soon after the death of the tsar was created that did not reach the present. time short historical essay, in the XI century. in an expanded version it was included in Kartlis Tskhovreba ("Life of Kartli"). The author of the work, Juansher Juansheriani, as well as other historical sources call VG "a martyr for the faith of Christ." The Georgian Church canonized him and established the day of commemoration on 30 Nov.
Kingdom of Kartli in mid. V - early. VI century was a vassal of Sassanian Iran. Messages cargo. sources about the existence in Mtskheta (the capital of Kartli) of a region where fire-worshipers lived, headed by the “bishop of fire-worshipers” (ჯუანშერი, ჟართლის ცხოვრება 1955, vol. 1. p. 145), which occupied an honorable place at the royal court, indicate that that the religion of pre-Islamic Iran Mazdeism enjoyed the rights of legal worship in Kartli. VG's main activity was aimed at uniting Georgia and decreasing the dependence of its provinces on the power of Iran. V. tried to use the confrontation between Iran and Byzantium in favor of the interests of Kartli. He returned the cargo captured by Byzantium. prov. Klarjeti, annexed Hereti, which was in the Iranian sphere of influence, extended the influence of Kartli to the western Georgia. state of Egrisi. Opposing the North Caucasian nomads (60-ies), occupied the Daryal fortress - the stronghold of Kartli in the north. border. He strengthened and restored fortresses (Daryal, Ujarma, Cheremi, Kornabuji, Artanuji), creating a system of fortifications. In the 70s. refused to participate in the war against Byzantium, threw the main servant of the cult of fire Binkaran into prison, expelled the fire worshipers from Kartli. In response, a punitive army was sent from Iran. Despite the fact that, as a result of negotiations, V.G. again had to recognize himself as a vassal of Iran, fire worship in Kartli no longer had its former status. With the consent of the darbazi (an advisory body under the tsar), V.G. appointed eristavs (including in the newly annexed territories), who were directly subordinate to his authority.
At the same time, V.G. began church reform with the aim of achieving recognition of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He wanted to put a Catholicos at the head of the Church and asked for a Byzantine. Emperor to send Catholicos Peter and 12 bishops to Kartli. Angry Archbishop. Kartli Mikael, who had disagreements with V.G. in connection with the struggle between the Monophysites and Diophysites before that, called the king an apostate, cursed him and the army. To avoid further deepening of the conflict, V.G. went to the archbishop and knelt before him to touch his robe, but Mikael kicked the king and knocked out his tooth. V. G. sent the archbishop from the country to K-pol, to the K-Polish Patriarch. Archbishop. Michaela was identified as a monk in the Akimite monastery near the K-field. Catholicos Peter with 12 bishops, who arrived from K-field, were sent to the Patriarch of Antioch, since the Georgian Church was subordinate to the Antiochian diocese. Having received the blessing, they returned to K-pol. According to legend, imp. Leo the Great gave them gifts for the cargo. Tsar, and also sent his daughter Elena to Mtskheta, who was destined to be V.G.'s wife. Some of the arriving bishops headed the newly formed dioceses, and others replaced the bishops - supporters of the archbishop. Michaela. To the end. V century there were already 24 dioceses in Kartli. Kartli was an outpost of Christianity in the Caucasus. Having strengthened the position of the country, V.G. resumed the struggle against the Sassanian Iran. In 484 he led a major Georgian and Armenian uprising. Although the revolt was suppressed, the Sassanids were forced to weaken their regime. In the end. V or early. VI century V. G. was mortally wounded in a battle with the Persians, having received a blow from the sword in the back. The tsar was buried in the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, rebuilt by him, where there was a fresco with his image.
V. G. was going to move the capital to Tbilisi, carried out construction work and bequeathed the implementation of this plan to his successor, built the temples Nikozi and Ninotsminda (3rd quarter of the 6th century), the fortress city of Cheremi. His name is associated with participation in the construction of the monastery of the Holy Cross (Jvari) in Jerusalem, where on the wall until the 19th century. his image existed. In the British Museum there is a gem with a Pahlavi inscription and an image of a man in a royal crown, which is identified with V.G.
V. G. is revered as a model of courage and wisdom. Numerous folk poems, poems and legends dedicated to the legendary ruler testify to the love of Georgians for him. The royal banner of Georgia is called "Gorgasalian Davitiani".
The Georgian historian Juansher tells about the reign of Vakhtang Gorgasal in his essay. When the Kartli king Mirdat died, his son Vakhtang was seven years old and the state was ruled by his mother Sagdukht. In Vakhtang's childhood, Alans (Ossetians) attacked Kartli from the North Caucasus, ravaged it and captured Vakhtang's sister Mirandukht.
The Alans were a nomadic Iranian-speaking people. They appeared in the 1st century in the lower reaches of the Volga and Don. In the IV century, the Alans were conquered by the Huns. Some of them followed the Huns and, together with the Vandals, formed a kingdom in North Africa. Another part of the Alans took refuge in the foothills of the North Caucasus.
The Huns as a single ethnic group formed in the 2nd-4th centuries. In the 4th century they began their campaigns to the west. The Huns defeated the Alans and invaded Europe. The most famous leader of the Huns was Attila (445-453). Part of the Huns settled in the North Caucasus. Subsequently, they mixed with other peoples.
Vakhtang Gorgasal was sixteen years old when the Georgians undertook a retaliatory campaign in the North Caucasus. They defeated the Alans and freed the prisoners. In battle, the king personally destroyed several of the enemy's best warriors. Vakhtang Gorgasal placed his garrisons in the fortresses and reliably closed the passages through the Caucasian ridge. According to the historian Juansher, Vakhtang Gorgasal continued his campaigns in Western Georgia to Tsikhe-Goji and defeated the Byzantines. He freed Klarjeti from the Byzantines, and built the significant city of Artanuji here. Hereti also became part of the Kingdom of Kartli.
In the first half of the 5th century, Iran imposed heavy military service on Kartli - the Georgian army was supposed to act in the Iranian campaigns. The king himself, together with the Georgian army, repeatedly took part in the wars in Central Asia and India.
Returning to his homeland, the king firmly decided to free the country from Iranian rule. For this, first of all, it was necessary to strengthen the tsarist power, curb the treacherous feudal lords and find allies in the struggle against Iran. Byzantium - the main enemy of Iran - was completely occupied with its own problems. It cost her great efforts to protect her own territory from the invasions of "barbarians". In the 40s of the 5th century, the Huns, led by Attila, ravaged the entire territory of the Byzantine Empire and tried to take Constantinople, but failed. The Western Roman Empire found itself in an even more difficult position. In 410, the Visigoths, under the leadership of their king Alaric, took the "eternal city".
In the 50s of the 5th century, Attila invaded Italy. In 476, the leader of one of the Germanic tribes Odoacer took Rome and overthrew the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus from the throne. On this the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist.
Tsar Vakhtang Gorgasal first of all drew attention to the Georgian church. He apparently intended to reorganize the Kartlian church, but Archbishop Michael opposed him. This conflict between Vakhtang Gorgasal and Mikael took place after the return of the king from Central Asia. The tsar personally met with the archbishop. The chronicler reports on this occasion that when the king bent down to kiss the hem of Michael's robe, he kicked the king with such force that he knocked out his teeth. The king reported the incident to the Patriarch of Constantinople and sent Michael to Constantinople. He asked the patriarch to send to Kartli the Catholicos Peter, and the bishop - Samoel, and together with them twelve new bishops.
The establishment of a Catholicosate in Kartli was a great political phenomenon in the history of Georgia, as it meant the autocephaly of the Georgian Church.
Iran had its supporters in Georgia. These were didaznaurs who opposed the strengthening of the royal power. One of them was the influential Pityakhsh Varsken. In 482 he was killed by order of the king. This assassination was the signal for an uprising against the Iranians. The uprising was attended by the Armenians, led by the famous Armenian commander Vahan Mamikonyan. They were to be joined by a large mercenary army of the Huns. But the Huns broke their promise and sent only 300 soldiers. The uprising of 482-484 was defeated, the main reason for this was treason. Vakhtang was forced to move to Western Georgia for a certain time. Returning to Kartli, the king again begins the struggle against the Iranian enslavers. In the battle on the Samgori field, the king was mortally wounded. He was taken to the Ujarma fortress, where he died. The Georgian Church canonized Vakhtang as a saint and established the day of his commemoration on November 30 (December 13).
Unfortunately, the exact date of his reign is not known. According to Juansher, the king was sixty years old when he died.
The nickname Gorgasal (Gorgasali) (lit. Wolfhead) was given to him by the Persians. According to legend, the king had a helmet with the head of a wolf in front and a lion in the back. Seeing a helmet with images of a wolf and a lion, the Persians began to shout to each other: "Dur az Gorgasar" ( watch out for the wolf head).
He took the throne at the age of seven after the death of his father. Until Vakhtang came of age, his mother Sandukhta was the regent.
Vakhtang was married to Princess Balendukhta, daughter of the Persian king Ormizd, whose mentor was Razhden Pers, who became the first martyr of the Georgian Church in a year.
Vakhtang's main activity was aimed at uniting Georgia and reducing the dependence of its provinces on the Iranian government. The king tried to use the confrontation between Iran and Byzantium in favor of the interests of Kartli. He returned the Georgian province of Klarjeti, which had been captured by Byzantium, annexed Hereti, which was in the sphere of influence of Iran, and extended the influence of Kartli to the western Georgian state of Egrisi. Having opposed the North Caucasian nomad Alans (460s), he occupied the Daryal fortress - the stronghold of Kartli on the northern border. Then he made a trip to Western Georgia, freed it from the Byzantines, strengthened the power of King Gubaz and victoriously returned to Kartli.
He strengthened and restored fortresses (Daryal, Ujarma, Cheremi, Hornabuji, Artanuji), creating a system of fortifications.
In the 470s, he refused to participate in the war against Byzantium, threw the main servant of the cult of fire Binkaran into prison, expelled the fire worshipers from Kartli. In response, a punitive army was sent from Iran. Despite the fact that as a result of the negotiations, Vakhtang again had to recognize himself as a vassal of Iran, fire worship in Kartli no longer had its former status. With the consent of the darbazi (an advisory body under the king), Vakhtang appointed eristavs (including in the newly annexed territories) who were directly subordinate to his authority.
At the same time, Vakhtang began church reform with the aim of achieving recognition of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He wanted to put a Catholicos at the head of the Church and asked the Eastern Roman Emperor to send to Kartli the priest Peter and 12 bishops, whom Vakhtang knew well, to Kartli. The enraged Archbishop of Kartli Michael I, who even before that had disagreements with Vakhtang in connection with the struggle between the Chalcedonites and anti-Chalcedonites, called the king an apostate, cursed him and the army. To avoid further deepening of the conflict, Vakhtang went to the archbishop and knelt before him to touch his robe, but Michael kicked the king and knocked out his tooth. The tsar sent the archbishop out of the country to Constantinople, to the patriarch. Archbishop Michael was appointed a monk to the Akimite monastery near Constantinople. Catholicos Peter with 12 bishops, who arrived from Constantinople, were sent to the Patriarch of Antioch, since the Georgian Church was subordinate to the Antiochian Church. Having received the blessing, they returned to Constantinople. According to legend, Emperor Leo I the Great gave them gifts for the Georgian king, and also sent his daughter Elena, who was destined to wife Vakhtang, to Mtskheta. Some of the newly arrived bishops headed the newly formed dioceses, while others replaced the bishops who were supporters of Archbishop Michael. By the end of the century, there were already 24 dioceses in Kartli and the country was an outpost of Christianity in the Caucasus.
Having strengthened the position of the country, Vakhtang resumed the struggle with the Sassanian Iran. In the year he led a major uprising of Georgians and Armenians. Although the revolt was suppressed, the Sassanids were forced to weaken their regime.
Vakhtang is revered as a model of courage and wisdom. Numerous folk poems, poems and legends dedicated to the legendary ruler testify to the love of Georgians for him. The royal banner of Georgia is called "Gorgasalian Davitiani".
Soon after the death of the tsar, a short historical work that has not survived to this day was written, in c. in an extended version, it was included in Kartlis Tskhovreba ("Life of Kartli"). The author of the work Juansher Juansheriani, as well as other historical sources, call Vakhtang "a martyr for the faith of Christ."
The Georgian Church canonized him and established the day of commemoration on November 30.
With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, a side-altar in the name of Vakhtang Gorgasali was added to the Patriarchal Church of Zion, and a cathedral was erected in the city of Rustavi in \u200b\u200bhis honor.
Literature
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ჯუანშერი, ჟართლის ცხოვრება 1955, vol. 1, p. 145
According to Juansher Juansheriani, in the work "The Life of Vakhtang Gorgasal", freedom of religion for fire worshipers in Kartli was proclaimed at the request of the Persian governor in the Caucasus Borzabod, the grandfather of St. Vakhtang.