Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. For 1200 they give the Georgian kingdom at its height: Tamar's marriage to David Soslan, the Zakarid brothers as commander and atabeg, the defeat of the Eldiguzid Abu Bakr at Shamkor (1195), the taking of Ani (1199) and Kars (1206), the vassalage of Shirvan, the war with Rukn al-Din of Rum and the Saltukids that led to Basiani (1202), the Alans and Kipchaks in Georgian service, and the court's ceremonial and offices. Panegyric in tone, with a theological frame and few exact dates; the chronology is reconstructed from Muslim sources.
About this source
- Title
- Kartlis Tskhovreba: Istoriani da azmani sharavandedtani; Tskhovreba mepet-mepisa Tamarisi
- Author
- Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court
- Written
- about 1210 to 1225
- Language
- Georgian
- Covers
- 1156 to 1212 (Histories and Eulogies); 1184 to 1213 (Life of Tamar)
- Kind
- History
The 2014 Artanuji English was released free by its publishers and is the first full English of the Tamar histories. Brosset's French is public domain. Thomson's 1996 volume stops before Tamar and is in copyright. The TITUS page is a frame index of the Georgian text.
Where to read it
Editions
- S. Qaukhchishvili (ed.), Kartlis Tskhovreba, 2 vols (Tbilisi, 1955 to 1959), Georgian, the standard text (not freely online)
- Georgian text of Kartlis Tskhovreba at the TITUS project (Frankfurt)
Translations
- M.-F. Brosset, Histoire de la Georgie depuis l'antiquite jusqu'au XIXe siecle, part 1: Histoire ancienne jusqu'en 1469 (St Petersburg, 1849), French
- R. Metreveli and S. Jones (eds), Kartlis Tskhovreba: A History of Georgia (Tbilisi, Artanuji, 2014), English, including both Tamar texts
- R. W. Thomson, Rewriting Caucasian History: the Medieval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles (Oxford, 1996), English of the older parts only (not freely online)