The Kazbegi originally known as Chopikashvili (ჩოფიკაშვილი), was an influential clan from the northeastern highland Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 district of Khevi

Khevi

Khevi is a small historical-geographic area in northeastern Georgia. It is included in the modern-day Kazbegi district, Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...

.
Of a semi-legendary Kist

Kist people

The Kists are a Nakh-speaking ethnic group in Georgia related to the Chechen and Ingush peoples. They primarily live in the Pankisi Gorge, in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, where their total number is approximate to 5,000 people.-Origins:...

 descent, the Chopikashvili rose in prominence under the Georgian king Erekle II

Erekle II

Erekle II was a Georgian monarch of the Bagrationi Dynasty, reigning as the king of Kakheti from 1744 to 1762, and of Kartli and Kakheti from 1762 until 1798. In the contemporary Persian sources he is referred to as Erekli Khan, while Russians knew him as Irakli...

 at the end of the 18th century, when the clan’s leader Kazi-Beg was made an official (mouravi

Mouravi

Mouravi was an administrative and military officer in early modern Georgia, normally translated into English as seneschal, bailiff, or sometimes as constable. Mouravi was an appointed royal official who had a jurisdiction over particular town or district. In towns, mouravi was assisted by a police...

) in the village Stepantsminda

Stepantsminda

Stepantsminda , is a small town in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of north-eastern Georgia. Historically and ethnographically, the town is part of the Khevi province...

 and placed in charge of collecting tolls on travelers through the key road to the North Caucasus

North Caucasus

The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....

.

Kazi-Beg’s son Gabriel was made an aznauri

Aznauri

Aznauri was a class of Georgian nobility; the term that was first applied to all nobles, but in the later Middle Ages narrowed to designate the petty nobles....

, noble of a lower rank, and adopted the surname Kazbegi (Kazbek). He played a role in the Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

-Georgian interaction and pledged his loyalty to the Russians upon their annexation of Georgia in 1801. When the Georgian princes of the deposed Bagrationi dynasty

Bagrationi Dynasty

The Bagrationi dynasty was the ruling family of Georgia. Their ascendency lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century. In modern usage, this royal line is frequently referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, a Hellenized form of their dynastic name.The origin of the Bagrationi...

 rallied Georgian and Ossetian

Ossetians

The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....

 highlanders against the Tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

's rule in 1804, Gabriel Kazbegi fought in the Russian ranks and was promoted to major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

. The clan ran Stepan-Tsminda – henceforth frequently referred to as Kazbek in Russian accounts – and Khevi as their fief. Gabriel’s son Mikheil (1805—1876) fought in the Caucasian War

Caucasian War

The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...

 and was made a major general

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 of the Russian army in 1859. Mikheil’s son was the famed Georgian prose writer Alexander Kazbegi

Alexander Kazbegi

Alexander Kazbegi was a Georgian writer, famous for his 1883 novel The Patricide.Kazbegi was the great grandson of Kazibek Chopikashvili, a local feudal magnate who was in charge of collecting tolls on the Georgian Military Highway...

.

Notable members

• Alexander Kazbegi
  Alexander Kazbegi
  Alexander Kazbegi was a Georgian writer, famous for his 1883 novel The Patricide.Kazbegi was the great grandson of Kazibek Chopikashvili, a local feudal magnate who was in charge of collecting tolls on the Georgian Military Highway...
  
  , writer
• Giorgi Kazbegi, general and military writer
• Ivane Kazbegi
  Ivane Kazbegi
  Ivane Kazbegi was a Georgian soldier, who served, successively, in the Imperial Russian, Georgian and Polish armies....
  
  , general
• Mikheil Kazbegi, general