LIST OF KINGS IN THE 18TH CENTURY GEORGIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The issue of listing, or numbering of kings, which was of interest of Georgian chroniclers right from the outset, became even more crucial for Georgian historiography of the 18th century, as demonstrated by the ideas of the “Learned Men” Commission, Vakhushti Bagrationi, and other authors. The results of the study show that, unlike previous historians, the “Learned Men” Commission provided a single list of Georgian kings regardless of their religious and dynastic affiliation, from the first King of Kartli Parnavaz (3 rd century B.C.) to George V the Brilliant (1318-1346). The same Commission was the first to attempt and give the numbering of the kings with the same names. The Commission included a list of kings under the headings of small sections divided by their reigning periods, and numbered the kings of the same name on the side margins.

Vakhushti Bagrationi critically studied and refined the conclusions of the “Learned Men” Commission. He made some corrections to the order of the kings developed by the Commission and supplemented it with several rulers. He was also the first to develop the numbering of Georgian kings and princes during the period of political disintegration of the country what the “Learned Men” Commission could not achieve. Vakhushti Bagrationi solved this issue by presenting the histories of Georgian political units of the above-mentioned period separately what allowed him to give the orders and numberings of the rulers of such units separately. Remarkably, his list of kings from the era of unity was continued by the kings of Kartli of the era of political disintegration (from 1469 to his time, 1744, by his chronology). At the same time, he gave separate numberings of the kings of Kakheti (from 1469) and Imereti (by his chronology, from the time David VI Narin established himself in Kutaisi in 1259), as well as the feudal hause of Jaqeli, the Atabags of Samtskhe (from 1463/1465). The above legacy of Georgian historians of the 18th century has made a certain contribution to the development of scientific historiography