Vakhtang I Gorgasali
Encyclopedia
Vakhtang I "Gorgasali" (c.
439 or 443 — 502 or 522), of the Chosroid dynasty
, was a king of Iberia
, natively known as Kartli
(modern eastern Georgia
) in the second half of the 5th and first quarter of the 6th century. Gorgasali is a sobriquet meaning in Iranian
"wolf’s head". He led his people, in an ill-fated alliance with the Eastern Roman Empire, into a lengthy struggle against Sassanid Iranian hegemony, which ended in Vakhtang's defeat and weakening of the kingdom of Iberia. Tradition also ascribes him reorganization of the Georgian church and foundation of Tbilisi
, Georgia’s modern capital.
Dating Vakhtang's reign is problematic. Professor Ivane Javakhishvili
assigns to Vakhtang’s rule the dates c. 449–502 and Professor Cyril Toumanoff
the dates c. 447–522. Furthermore, Toumanoff identifies Vakhtang with the Iberian king Gurgenes known from Procopius
' Wars of Justinian.
Vakhtang is a subject of the 8th or 11th century vita
attributed to Juansher
which intertwines history and legend into an epic narrative, hyperbolizing
Vakhtang's personality and biography. This literary work has been a primary source of Vakhtang’s image as an example warrior-king and statesman, which has preserved in popular memory to this day. He emerged as one of the most popular figures in Georgia's history already in the Middle Ages
and has been canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.
equivalent and infers that the king’s sobriquet Gorgasal — given to Vakhtang because of the shape of the helmet he wore — was rendered by the 6th-century Roman historian Procopius as Gurgenes . Toumanoff's identification of Vakhtang with Gurgenes has not been universally accepted.
Beyond the Life of Vakhtang Gorgasali (hereinafter LVG), the medieval Georgian sources mention Vakhtang only briefly, yet with respect rarely afforded to the pre-Bagratid
Georgian monarchs. Notwithstanding its semi-legendary epic character, the LVG provides many important details, which can be combined with the sources closer to the period in question, such as Lazarus of Parpi
and Procopius.
Vakhtang is reported by the LVG to have succeeded at the age of 7 his father King Mihrdat (V)
. His mother, a Christianized Persian Sagdukht, assumed regency in Vakhtang's minority. The author then describes the grave situation in which Iberia was at that time, troubled by the Sassanids' Zoroastrianizing
efforts and a ravaging raid by the "Ossetians
" from the north, this letter being a possible reference to the invasion by the Huns
(which may have included Alans
) through the Caspian Gates mentioned by Priscus
. At the age of 16, Vakhtang is said to have led a victorious retaliatory war against the "Ossetians", winning a single combat
against the enemy’s giant and relieving his sister Mirandukht from captivity. At the age 19, Vakhtang married Balendukht, "daughter" of the Great King
Hormizd (apparently Hormizd III
, r
. 457–459). Soon, upon the Great King's request, Vakhtang took part in the campaign in "India
", probably in Peroz
's abortive expedition against the Hephthalites in the 460s and, and against the Roman Empire in 472, in which Vakhtang is reported to have gained control of Egrisi
(Lazica) and Abkhazia
(Abasgia).
Returning to Iberia, Vakhtang took up a series of measures aimed at strengthening the royal authority. Resenting Iranian encroachments on his independence, Vakhtang reversed his political orientation and effected a rapprochement with the Roman government. He married Helena, "daughter" (possibly relative) of Emperor Zeno
, and received permission from Constantinople
to elevate the head of the church of Iberia, the bishop
of Mtskheta
, to the rank of catholicos
, which he sent, together with newly appointed 12 bishops, to be consecrated at Antioch
. These rearrangements did not pass smoothly and the king had to overcome opposition, especially in the person of Mikel, the deposed bishop of Mtskheta. Javakhishvili explains this conflict on account of doctrinal differences between the Monophysite Vakhtang and Diophysite Mikel, a presumption supported by Toumanoff, who points out, that the change of prelate and his subordination to Antioch could "only imply acceptance of Zeno's formulary of faith", i.e., the moderately Monophysite Henotikon
of 482. On his part, another Georgian historian, Simon Janashia
, argues that Vakhtang was inclined towards Diophysitism while Mikel adhered to Monophysitism.
By espousing pro-Roman policy, Vakhtang further alienated his nobles, who sought Iranian support against the king’s encroachments on their autonomy. In 482, Vakhtang put to death his most influential vassal, Varsken, vitaxa of Gogarene, a convert to Zoroastrianism and a champion of Iran’s influence in the Caucasus
, who had executed his Christian wife, Shushanik
, daughter of the Armenia
n Mamikonid prince Vardan II and a hero of the earliest surviving piece
of Georgian literature. By this act, Vakhtang placed himself in open confrontation with his Iranian suzerain. Vakhtang called on the Armenian princes and the Huns for co-operation. After some hesitation, the Armenians under Vardan’s nephew Vahan, joined forces with Vakhtang. The allies were routed and Iberia was ravaged by Iranian punitive expeditions in 483 and 484, forcing Vakhtang into flight to Roman-controlled Lazica (modern western Georgia). After Peroz’s death in the war with the Hephthalites in 484, his successor Balash
reestablished peace in the Caucasus. Vakhtang was able to resume his reign in Iberia, but did not betray his pro-Roman line.
Once the Hundred Years Peace between Iran and Rome collapsed, Kavadh I
of the Sassanids summoned Vakhtang as a vassal to join in a new campaign against Rome. Vakhtang refused, provoking an Iranian invasion of his kingdom. Then about 60, he had to spend the last years of his life in war and exile, fruitlessly appealing for the Roman aid. The chronology of this period is confused, but by 518 an Iranian viceroy had been installed at the Iberian town of Tiflis, founded – according to Georgian tradition – by Vakhtang and designated as the country’s future capital. According to the LVG, Vakhtang died fighting an Iranian invading army at the hands of his renegade slave who shot him through an armpit defect of his armor. The wounded king was transported to his castle at Ujarma where he died and was interred at the cathedral in Mtskheta. Javakhishvili puts Vakhtang’s death at c. 502. If Toumanoff’s identification of Procopius’ Gurgenes with Vakhtang is true, the king might have ended his reign in 522 by taking refuge in Lazica, where he possibly died around the same time. Gurgenes’ family members – Peranius
, Pacurius
, and Phazas
– had careers in the Roman military.
, Vakhtang’s eldest son by his first marriage to the Iranian princess Balendukht (who died at childbirth), succeeded him as king of Iberia and had to return to Iranian allegiance. Two younger sons by Vakhtang’s second marriage to the Roman lady Helena – Leon and Mihrdat – were enfeoffed of the southwestern Iberian provinces of Klarjeti
and Javakheti
in which Leon’s progeny – the Guaramids – traditionally followed pro-Roman orientation. Both these lines survived in Iberia into the 8th century, being succeeded by their energetic cousins of the Bagratid
family. Toumanoff has inferred that the Samanazus, a name of the Iberian "king" found in John Malala's list of rulers contemporary with Justinian and reported by Theophanes the Confessor
and Georgios Kedrenos to have visited Constantinople in 535, might have been a corruption of words meaning "brother of Dachi" and so perhaps refers to Mihrdat.
. In popular memory, his image has acquired a legendary and romantic façade. Vakhtang is a subject of several folk poems and legends, extolling the king’s perceived greatness, enormous physical strength, courage and devoutness to Christianity.
Vakhtang has been credited with foundation of several towns, castles, and monasteries across Georgia, including the nation’s capital Tbilisi, where a street and a square bear his name, and a 1967 monument by the sculptor Elguja Amashukeli tops the Metekhi
cliff. A legend has it that when King Vakhtang was in the forest, his falcon
chased a pheasant
. The bird fell into a hot water spring and the king and his servants saw the steam come out of the water. Surprised by the abundance of hot water, Vakhtang gave orders to build a city on this site and named it "Tbilisi", that is, "the site of warm springs".
Vakhtang was officially included in the Georgian Orthodox calendar – and a church built in his honor in the city of Rustavi
– early in the 1990s, but he had presumably been considered a saint long before that. The Georgian church commemorates him as the Holy and Right-believing King Vakhtang on November 30 (O.S.: December 13).
The Vakhtang Gorgasal Order, created in 1992, is one of the highest military decorations in Georgia.
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
439 or 443 — 502 or 522), of the Chosroid dynasty
Chosroid Dynasty
The Chosroids were a dynasty of the kings and later of the presiding princes of the early Georgian state of Iberia, natively known as Kartli, from the fourth to the ninth centuries. Of Iranian origin and a branch of the Mihranid House, the family accepted Christianity as their official religion c...
, was a king of Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
, natively known as Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
(modern eastern Georgia
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...
) in the second half of the 5th and first quarter of the 6th century. Gorgasali is a sobriquet meaning in Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
"wolf’s head". He led his people, in an ill-fated alliance with the Eastern Roman Empire, into a lengthy struggle against Sassanid Iranian hegemony, which ended in Vakhtang's defeat and weakening of the kingdom of Iberia. Tradition also ascribes him reorganization of the Georgian church and foundation of Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, Georgia’s modern capital.
Dating Vakhtang's reign is problematic. Professor Ivane Javakhishvili
Ivane Javakhishvili
Ivane Javakhishvili was a Georgian historian whose voluminous works heavily influenced the modern scholarship of the history and culture of Georgia...
assigns to Vakhtang’s rule the dates c. 449–502 and Professor Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...
the dates c. 447–522. Furthermore, Toumanoff identifies Vakhtang with the Iberian king Gurgenes known from Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
' Wars of Justinian.
Vakhtang is a subject of the 8th or 11th century vita
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
attributed to Juansher
Juansheriani
Juansheriani were an offshoot of the royal Chosroid dynasty of Iberia whose appanage consisted of lands in Inner Iberia and in Kakheti....
which intertwines history and legend into an epic narrative, hyperbolizing
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....
Vakhtang's personality and biography. This literary work has been a primary source of Vakhtang’s image as an example warrior-king and statesman, which has preserved in popular memory to this day. He emerged as one of the most popular figures in Georgia's history already in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and has been canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Name
According to the Life of Vakhtang Gorgasali, the king was given at his birth an Iranian name Varazkhosrovtang, rendered in Georgian as Vakhtang. The name may indeed be derived from Iranian *warx-tang (vahrka-tanū) — "wolf-bodied", a possible reflection of the wolf cult in ancient Georgia. Beginning in the late 13th century, numerous Georgian princes and kings took the name Vakhtang. Toumanoff observes that the name Vakhtang has no ClassicalClassical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
equivalent and infers that the king’s sobriquet Gorgasal — given to Vakhtang because of the shape of the helmet he wore — was rendered by the 6th-century Roman historian Procopius as Gurgenes . Toumanoff's identification of Vakhtang with Gurgenes has not been universally accepted.
Early reign
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...
Georgian monarchs. Notwithstanding its semi-legendary epic character, the LVG provides many important details, which can be combined with the sources closer to the period in question, such as Lazarus of Parpi
Ghazar Parpetsi
Ghazar Parpetsi was a 5th to 6th century Armenian chronicler and historian. He had close ties with the powerful Mamikonian noble famiily and is most prominent for writing a history of Armenia, History of Armenia, sometime in the early sixth century.-Life:...
and Procopius.
Vakhtang is reported by the LVG to have succeeded at the age of 7 his father King Mihrdat (V)
Mihrdat V of Iberia
Mihrdat V |Latinized]] as Mithridates), of the Chosroid Dynasty, was the king of Iberia reigning, according to a medieval Georgian literary tradition, for 12 years, from c. 435 to 447 ....
. His mother, a Christianized Persian Sagdukht, assumed regency in Vakhtang's minority. The author then describes the grave situation in which Iberia was at that time, troubled by the Sassanids' Zoroastrianizing
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
efforts and a ravaging raid by the "Ossetians
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....
" from the north, this letter being a possible reference to the invasion by the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
(which may have included Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
) through the Caspian Gates mentioned by Priscus
Priscus
Priscus of Panium was a late Roman diplomat, sophist and historian from Rumelifeneri living in the Roman Empire during the 5th century. He accompanied Maximinus, the ambassador of Theodosius II, to the court of Attila in 448...
. At the age of 16, Vakhtang is said to have led a victorious retaliatory war against the "Ossetians", winning a single combat
Single combat
Single combat is a fight between two single warriors which takes place in the context of a battle between two armies, with the two often considered the champions of their respective sides...
against the enemy’s giant and relieving his sister Mirandukht from captivity. At the age 19, Vakhtang married Balendukht, "daughter" of the Great King
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
Hormizd (apparently Hormizd III
Hormizd III
Hormizd III, sixteenth Sassanid King of Persia, son of Yazdegerd II , succeeded his father in 457.Hormizd, the older son of Yazdegerd II, was kept near Ctesiphon, while his younger brother, Peroz, was stationed in Sistan. Following his father's death, Hormizd became ruler of the Sassanian Empire...
, r
Reign
A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation or of a people . In most hereditary monarchies and some elective monarchies A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office...
. 457–459). Soon, upon the Great King's request, Vakhtang took part in the campaign in "India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
", probably in Peroz
Peroz I
Peroz I Peroz I Peroz I (also Pirooz; Peirozes (Priscus, fr. 33); Perozes (Procopius, De Bello Pers. I. 3 and Agathias iv. 27; the modern form of the name is Perooz, Piruz, or the Arabized Ferooz, Firuz; Persian: پیروز "the Victor"), was the seventeenth Sassanid King of Persia, who ruled from 457...
's abortive expedition against the Hephthalites in the 460s and, and against the Roman Empire in 472, in which Vakhtang is reported to have gained control of Egrisi
Egrisi
Lazica or Egrisi in Georgian |Georgia]], named after the Laz tribe, which at some time dominated the local ruling élite.The kingdom flourished between the 6th century BC and the 7th century AD. It covered part of the territory of the former kingdom Colchis and subjugated the territory of modern...
(Lazica) and Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
(Abasgia).
Church affairs
Zeno (emperor)
Zeno , originally named Tarasis, was Byzantine Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
, and received permission from Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
to elevate the head of the church of Iberia, the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Mtskheta
Mtskheta
Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...
, to the rank of catholicos
Catholicos
Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases is borne by the designated head of an autonomous church, in which case the holder might have other titles such as Patriarch...
, which he sent, together with newly appointed 12 bishops, to be consecrated at Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
. These rearrangements did not pass smoothly and the king had to overcome opposition, especially in the person of Mikel, the deposed bishop of Mtskheta. Javakhishvili explains this conflict on account of doctrinal differences between the Monophysite Vakhtang and Diophysite Mikel, a presumption supported by Toumanoff, who points out, that the change of prelate and his subordination to Antioch could "only imply acceptance of Zeno's formulary of faith", i.e., the moderately Monophysite Henotikon
Henotikon
The Henotikon was issued by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 482, in an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the differences between the supporters of the Council of Chalcedon and the miaphysites...
of 482. On his part, another Georgian historian, Simon Janashia
Simon Janashia
Simon Janashia was an outstanding Georgian historian and public benefactor, one of the founders and Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences , Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor....
, argues that Vakhtang was inclined towards Diophysitism while Mikel adhered to Monophysitism.
War with Iran
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, who had executed his Christian wife, Shushanik
Shushanik
Saint Shushanik was a Christian woman who was murdered by her husband Varsken in the town of Tsurtavi, Georgia. Since she died defending her right to profess Christianity, she is regarded as a martyr...
, daughter of the Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n Mamikonid prince Vardan II and a hero of the earliest surviving piece
Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik
The Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik is the first extant piece of Georgian literature. Purported to have been written between 476 and 483, the earliest surviving manuscript dates from the 10th century...
of Georgian literature. By this act, Vakhtang placed himself in open confrontation with his Iranian suzerain. Vakhtang called on the Armenian princes and the Huns for co-operation. After some hesitation, the Armenians under Vardan’s nephew Vahan, joined forces with Vakhtang. The allies were routed and Iberia was ravaged by Iranian punitive expeditions in 483 and 484, forcing Vakhtang into flight to Roman-controlled Lazica (modern western Georgia). After Peroz’s death in the war with the Hephthalites in 484, his successor Balash
Balash
Balash , the eighteenth Sassanid King of Persia in 484–488, was the brother and successor of Peroz I of Persia , who had died in a battle against the Hephthalites who invaded Persia from the east.- Reign of Balash :Balash was made King of Persia following the death of his...
reestablished peace in the Caucasus. Vakhtang was able to resume his reign in Iberia, but did not betray his pro-Roman line.
Once the Hundred Years Peace between Iran and Rome collapsed, Kavadh I
Kavadh I
Kavad or Kavadh I was the son of Peroz I and the nineteenth Sassanid king of Persia, reigning from 488 to 531...
of the Sassanids summoned Vakhtang as a vassal to join in a new campaign against Rome. Vakhtang refused, provoking an Iranian invasion of his kingdom. Then about 60, he had to spend the last years of his life in war and exile, fruitlessly appealing for the Roman aid. The chronology of this period is confused, but by 518 an Iranian viceroy had been installed at the Iberian town of Tiflis, founded – according to Georgian tradition – by Vakhtang and designated as the country’s future capital. According to the LVG, Vakhtang died fighting an Iranian invading army at the hands of his renegade slave who shot him through an armpit defect of his armor. The wounded king was transported to his castle at Ujarma where he died and was interred at the cathedral in Mtskheta. Javakhishvili puts Vakhtang’s death at c. 502. If Toumanoff’s identification of Procopius’ Gurgenes with Vakhtang is true, the king might have ended his reign in 522 by taking refuge in Lazica, where he possibly died around the same time. Gurgenes’ family members – Peranius
Peranius
Peranius was a Georgian prince from Iberia and a military commander in Roman service. According to Procopius, he was the eldest son of the Iberian king Gurgenes. Gurgenes can be identified with Vakhtang I Gorgasali of the Georgian sources; and Peranius might have been his brother rather than a son...
, Pacurius
Pacurius
Pacurius was a prince of the Iberian royal family and a military commander in the Roman service in Italy. His name is presumably a Latinized rendition of the Georgian Bakuri....
, and Phazas
Phazas
Phazas was a prince of the Iberian royal family and a cavalry officer in the Roman service during the Gothic War . He was a nephew of Peranius and cousin of Pacurius....
– had careers in the Roman military.
Family
According to the LVG, Vakhtang was survived by three sons. DachiDachi of Iberia
Dach'i , of the Chosroid Dynasty, was the king of Iberia reigning, according to a medieval Georgian literary tradition, for 12 years, from c. 522 to 534...
, Vakhtang’s eldest son by his first marriage to the Iranian princess Balendukht (who died at childbirth), succeeded him as king of Iberia and had to return to Iranian allegiance. Two younger sons by Vakhtang’s second marriage to the Roman lady Helena – Leon and Mihrdat – were enfeoffed of the southwestern Iberian provinces of Klarjeti
Klarjeti
Klarjeti was a province of ancient and medieval Georgia, which is currently part of the Artvin Province in northeastern Turkey. Klarjeti, the neighboring province of Tao and several other smaller districts constituted a larger region with shared history and culture conventionally known as...
and Javakheti
Javakheti
Javakheti is a historical region of the nation of Georgia, in the southeastern part of the country's Samtskhe-Javakheti province. Today it comprises the Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda municipal territories. It was historically bordered in the west with both sides of the Mtkvari river, in the north,...
in which Leon’s progeny – the Guaramids – traditionally followed pro-Roman orientation. Both these lines survived in Iberia into the 8th century, being succeeded by their energetic cousins of the Bagratid
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...
family. Toumanoff has inferred that the Samanazus, a name of the Iberian "king" found in John Malala's list of rulers contemporary with Justinian and reported by Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor
Saint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church .-Biography:Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac,...
and Georgios Kedrenos to have visited Constantinople in 535, might have been a corruption of words meaning "brother of Dachi" and so perhaps refers to Mihrdat.
Memory
Vakhtang entered a pantheon of Georgian historical heroes already in the Middle Ages. A royal oriflamme of the Georgian Bagratids was known as "Gorgasliani", i.e., "of Gorgasali". It is sometimes supposed to be the earliest model of the current Georgian national flagFlag of Georgia (country)
The official flag of Georgia is the "five-cross flag", restored to official use on January 14, 2004, after a break of some 500 years...
. In popular memory, his image has acquired a legendary and romantic façade. Vakhtang is a subject of several folk poems and legends, extolling the king’s perceived greatness, enormous physical strength, courage and devoutness to Christianity.
Vakhtang has been credited with foundation of several towns, castles, and monasteries across Georgia, including the nation’s capital Tbilisi, where a street and a square bear his name, and a 1967 monument by the sculptor Elguja Amashukeli tops the Metekhi
Metekhi
Metekhi is a historic neighborhood of Tbilisi, Georgia, located on the elevated cliff that overlooks the Mtkvari river.- History :The district was one of the earliest inhabited areas on the city’s territory...
cliff. A legend has it that when King Vakhtang was in the forest, his falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
chased a pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
. The bird fell into a hot water spring and the king and his servants saw the steam come out of the water. Surprised by the abundance of hot water, Vakhtang gave orders to build a city on this site and named it "Tbilisi", that is, "the site of warm springs".
Vakhtang was officially included in the Georgian Orthodox calendar – and a church built in his honor in the city of Rustavi
Rustavi
Rustavi is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the province of Kvemo Kartli, situated southeast of the capital Tbilisi. It stands on the Mtkvari River at...
– early in the 1990s, but he had presumably been considered a saint long before that. The Georgian church commemorates him as the Holy and Right-believing King Vakhtang on November 30 (O.S.: December 13).
The Vakhtang Gorgasal Order, created in 1992, is one of the highest military decorations in Georgia.