Arian Kartli

Arian-Kartli ( georg . არიან-ქართლი ) - according to the medieval Georgian annals " Conversion of Georgia " ( georg . მოქცევაჲ ქართლისაჲ ) is an early Georgian state from Kartli ( Iveria , Central and Eastern Georgia).

In the Georgian annals " Kartlis Tskhovreba" there is an apocryphal reference to the military campaign of Alexander the Great in internal Georgia. Alexander, as stated in the annals, brought with him a certain Azon (Azo), “the king of Arian-Kartli,” who, together with a group of associates, entrusted the administration of the city of Mtskheta , the main city of Kartli, during his absence. In the XI century, the Georgian monk Arsen, the author of the metaphysical edition of “The Life of St. Nina ” and the educator of the King of Georgia David IV , comments on this passage as follows: “We Georgians are descendants of aliens from Arian-Kartli, we speak their language, and all the kings of Kartli are the descendants of their kings ” ^[1] . Corresponding to this is the legend that the clans of the Iberian nobility were descended from the satellites of Azo ^[2] .

The identification of the state, which medieval Georgian authors called Arian-Kartli, is problematic. Apparently, the conquest of this state preceded the Middle East conquests of Alexander the Great, but its exact location, date of foundation, and the identities of the rulers cannot be determined using preserved documentary evidence. The word “Arian” (“Aryan”) is borrowed from the ancient Indian language - Sanskrit - or from the ancient Iranian language (that is, it is of Indo-Iranian origin) and is translated as “noble” ^[3] , which suggests the Indo-Aryan or Iranian origin of the population of this country. Classical sources indicate that Arian-Kartli was part of the zone of influence of the Persian Empire of the Achaemenids . The most significant source is Herodotus , who in the list of Achaemenid provinces has the proto-Georgian tribes in satrapies from thirteenth to nineteenth ^[4] . These territories partially correspond to the historical south-west of Georgia, where a number of Georgian scholars, in particular Georgy Melikishvili , are most likely to place Arian-Kartli.

The early Georgian kingdom of Kartli / Iveria, which is clearly indicated in the historical sources of the Hellenistic period, apparently has ties with Iran, coinciding with those known to Arian-Kartli ^[4] . The American historian Kirill Tumanov identified the region with Aranē ( Greek 'Αράνη ), mentioned by Ptolemy (V.6.18) and the Hittite Arrana ^[5] .