CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 136

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
Before we analyze the sources provided directly by Vakhushti, we
want to notice one circumstance, in particular, that absolute majority of
historical sources, among them Life of Kartli, 7 acknowledges cohabita-
tion, important military, political and cultural connections between the
Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians. But, what does it mean? Maybe,
this and other facts such as dynastic marriages and, that the rank of an
Abkhazian king took the fi rst honorable place among the titles of the
Georgian kings, only prove, that keeping the balance and political con-
juncture was important in the period of the Kingdom of Georgia too.
Thus, stating, that e.g. ethnical group living on the territory of Ab-
khazia was Georgian or on the contrary, was not ethnically Georgian, but
they necessarily would became Georgians infl uenced by the domestic cul-
tural environment; 8 also, giving a special importance and improper per-
ception of migration processes, which could caused changing of demo-
graphic picture (much more on the territory Abkhazia than Shida Kartli)
in the 17th and 18th centuries, while discussing about the illegitimacy of
the demands of ethnical minorities, 9 sounds not serious and intensifi es the
confl icts.
The point is that, when the Georgian we-group had cultural and polit-
ical hegemony and the attitude of the Abkhazian ruling elite and among
them of the Ossetians in the North Caucasus were unambiguously loyal
towards the Georgian king, they did not pose a problem. The ethnical is-
sue has arisen since the disbandment of the Georgian Kingdom and was
extremely aggravated in the 18th century. That is one of the reasons why
we mainly fi nd positive messages in the old versions of the Life of Kartli.
What was changed in the 18th century? It was the period when the
Georgian cultural and in general, socio-economic life started to revive.
The learned men commission was established whose duties were to gath-
er Georgian historical documents and old versions of Life of Kartli, for
correcting and editing them according to the modern standards. In 1709,
Vakhtang VI (ruler of Kartli in 1703-1714, king in 1716-1723) founded
printing-house, which should help propagation of these new ideas.
The work of this movement did not slow down in the following peri-
od too. On the contrary, it should be said that over time, the movement
became more and more serious. It was obvious that the fi nal goal of the
leaders was to unite Georgia. An introduction in The Description of the
Georgian Kingdom by Vakhushti Bagrationi (1696-1739) is exactly evi-
7
8
9
Life of Kartli is the name of principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts,
natively known as Kartlis Tskhovreba.
Mibchuani, On the bloody footprint, 15.
Mibchuani, On the bloody footprint, Ibid., 12.; Janiashvili, “Historical writing – inspiration
for the Ethnocentrism stereotypes,” in 68-70.
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