Tamar chose David Soslan herself after divorcing Yury, and he has been her mainstay ever since: he helped crush Yury's backers in 1191 and 1193 and led the army that broke the atabeg Abu Bakr at Shamkor on 1 June 1195, entering Ganja in triumph.
In the 1190s he raided Barda, Beylagan and Ganja in Arran, Gegharkunik and the country towards Erzurum (the raids are not dated one by one). He is called king, his monogram stands with Tamar's on the coins and he appears in charters and church paintings, but he has no authority of his own and no duchy: his power is the queen's. He commands in the field with the Mkhargrdzeli brothers.
Who he is
- Name
- David Soslan
- Title
- King (mepe) as consort
- Since
- Married to Tamar at the Didube palace between 1187 and 1191 (most often 1189)
- Born
- Not pinned
- Family
- An Alan prince of the royal house of Alania, related to Tamar through her Alan mother (Mkhitar Gosh calls him 'her relative on the mother's side'); a Bagratid descent from George I is given by a chronicler of George IV's reign and by Prince Vakhushti, who names his father Jadaron. Children with Tamar: George Lasha (born 1192 or 1194) and Rusudan (born 1194 or about 1195).
- Confidence
- high
Wikipedia after Lordkipanidze, Toumanoff and the Georgian histories.
Overlord
Tamar
What it holds
- No lands of his own are recorded; he holds rank, command and the queen's favour
How it was acquired
Marriage to Tamar.
Allies and rivals
Allies: Tamar, the Mkhargrdzeli, the Alan princes. Rivals: Yury and his party (now broken), the atabeg Abu Bakr.
How things stand that morning
At court and in command of the army. No campaign is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200.
Wealth
The queen's household; spoils of war.
Military
Commander of the royal army in the great campaigns: Shamkor (1195); later Basiani (1202-05) and Kars (1206-07).
Threats
- None in particular; his position depends on Tamar
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1202 to 1205 (later course)Leads the army that routs Süleymanshah II at Basiani.Depends on: The sultan marching on Georgia Stopped by: A truce with Rum
- About 1207 (later course)Dies.Depends on: Natural death
Where the sources disagree
- Marriage dated 1187, 1189 and 1191 in different works.
Evidence: His deeds are told by the court histories; his origin is disputed.
On the map: No land to draw.
Primary sources for Georgia
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
- The History of Derbent and Shirvan, as preserved in Munejjim-bashi's Jami al-duwal, Anonymous (an 11th-century author of Derbent, excerpted by Munejjim-bashi, died 1702) (about 1075; preserved in an Ottoman compilation of the 1670s). The only local history of the Shirvanshahs and the emirs of Derbent, surviving as extracts in a 17th-century Ottoman compilation.
- The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
- History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
- The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
- The Historical Compilation of Vardan Areveltsi, Vardan Areveltsi (about 1267 to 1271). A short universal history that for the 12th and 13th centuries follows Samuel of Ani, Michael the Syrian (which Vardan helped translate into Armenian in 1248) and Kirakos. Read online
- The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.