By Devi Berdzenishvili (State Ivane Dshawachischwili University Tbilissi)
The mountainous parts of present South Georgia, Trialeti and Javakheti, include the minor Caucasus plateaus, which are 1800-2000 meters above sea level, and the peaks of the mountains surrounding them reach 2500-3000 meters.
The grassy meadows found in the natural forests have represented summer pastures for the cattle of Eastern Georgia since ancient times. In addition to cattle breeding the native inhabitants engage in wheat farming, bee-keeping and the highly developed production of flax oil. As grapes did not grow at these altitudes, the native inhabitants carried the freshly- squeezed juice of the grapes up from the plain and poured it into the Kvevris (large earthenware containers kept in the ground for making wine; also pitchers.) and produced sparkling wine.
The river Ktsia, which stretches across the whole length of Trialeti from the West towards the East, creates a deep, rocky canyon beyond Trialeti. The natural caves on both sides were converted into defensive shelters and monasteries by the population in the Middle Ages.
Where the Ktsia and the Chavchava rivers join, one finds Samshvilde, the biggest fortress of the province of Kvemo Kartli. It is known as one of the oldest towns of Georgia. The 11th-century historian Leonti Mroveli calls it „Motherfortress Samshvilde“. According to Georgian sources, it has been the center of Saeristavo (an administrative division of Georgia ruled by an „Eristavi“, the title of a nobleman, who was appointed governor by the king) since the time of the first king of Georgia, Parnavaz (4th-3rd centuries B.C.).
There are some ruins of an acropolis as well as three churches and the remains of a palace on its grounds. The Samshvilde region was formed in the 8th century around these structures. The inscription, which remains on the ruins, informs us that the church was built by a „Pitiakhshi relation“ (Pitiakhshi is the title of a governor appointed by a Byzantine emperor), i.e. the great secular power of the province. The town in Samshvilde existed up to the 15th century and the fortress functioned up to the end of the 18th century.
There are a lot of churches, monasteries and remnants of villages in the Samshvilde region, among which the Pirghebuli monastery, situated to the West of Nakalakari, is important, as by tradition it is considered to have been built by King Tamar. In the Pitareti monastery, which also belongs to the 13th century, a domed temple still exists. According to the inscription, it was constructed by Kavtar, the son of Kajipa, in 1205-1222.
On the Chavchava gorge road to Trialeti, the Royal summer place, Nadarbazevi, is most important. It was built in the 9th-10th centuries and functioned up to the end of the 13th century. A large square parlor with some traces of painting on the walls remains. Archaeological excavation revealed a 6-kilometer-long earthenware water pipeline, which supplied the Royal place with water. There are remains of houses for the service staff nearby.
On a high cliff, where the Ktsia and Krtsakhi ravines join, stands the fort „Mo da Mnakhe“. The fort must belong to the 11th-13th centuries and it must have been built to control the roads leading to Trialeti and Gomareti. There are several forts with such names in Georgia. It appears that these names were given to inaccessible, impregnable forts. A Turkish equivalent is also known.
In Trialeti on the Tsalka plateau the oldest of the numerous remaining churches belong to the 6th-7th centuries. They represent basilica-type buildings with trichurch and trinave constructions. Among them Tetritskaro, Tak kili, Kushchi and Edrani should be mentioned within the Tsalka region. The rest of the churches date mainly from the 10th-13th centuries. Their inscriptions contain a great deal of information about both the political situation and the local laws of Georgia in that period.
Kldekari fort, built by the Aragvi feudal lord Liparit Baghvashi in the 970s should be referred to separately. After building his residence here, he created a new saeristavo, which was given the name Kldekaris Saieristavo after the name of its center. The fort was erected to block the roads cut through the cliff („klde“ – a cliff, „kari“ – a door) connecting the regions of East Georgia with the southern neighboring countries and Byzantium. Having possessed Trialeti, the Baghvashi ancestry achieved the power that enabled some of their representatives to rival even the kings of united Georgia.
The appearance of Akhalkalaki coincides with the period of the Baghvashi’s supremacy, reflecting the economic advance of this region as well. In the 10th century Rati Baghvashi built a remarkable domed church, ruins of which still exist. The numerous churches built by the descendents of this ancestry are still seen on both the Gomareti and Tsalka plateaus (Dmanisi region).
Early in the 12th century King Davit Aghmashenebeli (David the Constructor) abolished Kldekaris Saeristavo and converted Trialeti into the Royal manor.
Besides the medieval monuments, barrow-type burial grounds, where the chiefs of cattlemen tribes were buried, have been studied and dated back to the 2nd millennium B.C., thanks to archaeological excavation.
The magnificent archaeological cultural monuments as well as splendid gold and silver handicraft items can be seen in the exhibits of our museums.
The oldest kind of fortresses, so common in Trialeti and Javakheti, belong to the 2nd-1st millennium B.C.
Senio is dry-laid construction of dual walls built of big boulders, with the space between filled with small stones. It seems that during an invasion the native population together with their cattle took shelter here. Such fortresses are mostly located on mountain slopes in Trialeti. Forts of this type are Beshtasheni, Avranlo, Akhalkalaki of Trialeti, Kardevani, Santi and others. It should also be mentioned that the ancient names of the villages of Trialeti are mainly lost. The majority of the present names were brought in by the new settlers, who were exiled from Turkey by the Russian governors in the 19th century. The reservoir built on the Tsalka plateau in the 1930s covered several architectural movements.
In contrast to Trialeti, Javakheti is distinguished by its numerous big lakes. The source of the Parawnistskali River, that crosses the plateau of Akhalkalaki, is also lake Paravani. The above-mentioned dry-laid forts are located on the very shores of the lakes, apart from mountains. The forts have ditches around them, filled with lake water for strengthening the defense. Near the forts that were built on the hills and mountains, ditches and mounds of earth served as moats.
The forts of Shaori, Abuli and Saro represent more developed kinds of the above- mentioned old forts. The first two are located on the peaks of mountains in the center of mountain torrents at 2751 and 2800 meters above sea level. These big and complexly planned „Cyclopean“ forts have crenellated walls, within which are two-story buildings. Leading to the Shaori fortress acropolis is a road paved with flat boulders approximately 2.5 meters in width, created for carriages and horses.
Considering the spread of such types of fortresses in the South Caucasus, Shaori and Abuli can be regarded as belonging to the end of the 2nd millennium or the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C. They can be regarded as temporary shelters during times of upheaval for tribal chiefs along with their servants and part of the population as well. Cult rituals might have been conducted there, something that could be established by archaeological excavation. Based on cuneiform characters (found in the South Caucasus) about „Zabakha“ i.e. Javakheti as well as in the Anabasis records of Xenophon, we can presume that weakly defended settlements belonged to separate ancestry. They would be grouped around the kinds of fortress of central importance such as Shaori and Abuli.
The ancient walls of Saro fort, according to the archaeologists studying the fort, could be connected either with the Hellenic or an earlier era. The road map, made by Castor, the Roman geographer of the second half of the 4th century, must also confirm it. On the map the road from Artasaan to Sebastopol (from Armenia to present Sukhumi) runs across Javakheti, where the mentioned three places, Pagas, Apulum and Caspial, must be the present Poka, Abuli and Khopsia. The old cyclopean forts are confirmed in the three places, which seem to have been used later as well. The 12th-century inscription in Saro informs us of the fort renewal.
Javakheti from the beginning appeared to be right on the crossroads, where Christianity came into Georgia. In the 1st third of the 4th century B.C. St Nino, the enlighterer from Kapadokia, came to Javakheti through Armenia, then went down to Mtskheta along the Mtkvari River and converted the Royal family to Christianity in the capital of that time. At the request of the king of Kartly, the Roman emperor Constantine sent a bishop and masons able to build churches. Based on Georgian written sources, they seem to have come to Javakheti through the Mtkvari gorge and started constructing one of the initial churches in the Javakheti center of those times -Tsunda. After that they crossed Javakheti and Trialeti, began building a church in Manglisi and arrived in Mtskheta.
Since then Christian construction continued in Javakheti. Based on Georgian sources, the first episcopate in Javakheti was established by King Vakhtang the Gorgasali in the 5th century. The written sources of the 6th century mention the bishops of Javakheti, Tskarostaveli and Kumurdoeli (i.e. the patriarchs of the Tkarostavi and Kumurdo episcopate cathedrals). Tskarostavi, the church on the shore of Kartsakhi Lake now lies in Turkish territory, and the ruins of the Kumurdo domed church built in 964 still remain. This wonderful monument of Georgian architecture is famous for its numerous interesting inscriptions. Most of the churches in the villages of the Javakheti region are interesting examples of the chamber type. However, the most important ones are the monastery complexes in Samsar, the Caves of Vani and Vardzia. The latter two are located in the deep rocky canyon of the Mtkvati river. From the edges of the plateau there is a super panorama, which reminds the viewer of Gustav Dore´s biblical landscapes. The caves of Vani and the multicircle Vardzia monasteries are also famous for their connection with the Golden Age of Georgia and King Tamar, whose fresco still exists in Vardzia. Important with respect to the caves of Vani, „Vanis Kvabta Gangeba“, is the monastery convention, which represents a worthy monument to the Law of Georgian corporation and dates from the 13th century.
In the same canyon of the Mtkvari River are located the monasteries of upper Vardzia and the Caves of Olada. With regard to the secular monuments, the most distinguished are the Khertvisi and Tmogvi fortresses along with the feudal ancestry residences of the khertvisars and the Tmogvelis. There are also so-called Cliff Houses located in the caves of the village ruins of Pia and Jolda.
The central place on Javakheti plateau was Akhalkalaki of Javakheti, an old settlement that was converted into a fortress in the 10th-11th centuries. On the grounds of Nakalakari the towers inserted in the crenellated walls, ruins of houses, remnants of a church and a mosque and ruins of a large caravanserai remain. Archaeological excavations proved that urban life here reached its highpoint in the 11th-13th centuries. Eristavi, who was appointed by the king, ruled this Royal town.
The importance of the road across Trialeti and Javakheti can also be determined by the caravansarai ruins still to be seen on the Gomareti plateau at the village of Salamaleik and in the village of Paravani. Both constructions belong to the 11th and 12th centuries. Both sides of the South Georgian Highland, Trialeti and Javakheti, mainly represented the Royal manor. That is the reason why the monuments of historical interest, that is, stone bars with the depiction of a human hand, are most often seen here. They often have the Riyal symbol of Georgian Bagrationi ancestry in the upper part; and the representatives of the Royal house and the most important figures of government are mentioned in the inscriptions.
Osmal supremacy, which lasted for three centuries, substantially reduced the Georgian population in Javakheti. Nowadays, the majority of the inhabitants are the Armenians who were exiled from Arzumi by the Russian government in the 1830s. Only after this time were Armenian churches built in Javakheti.