Late Antique Historiography

Life of the successors of Mirian

Title(s):
  • Life of the successors of Mirian
Author:
Period covered:
Middle of 4th-early 5th c. (the Christian Chosroid kings of eastern Georgia from Bak'ar (r. 363-380?) to Mirdat IV (r. 409-411))
Language:
Georgian
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Secular history (epic history)
Remarks:
Life of the successors of Mirian is exclusively preserved in the historiographical corpus K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba (variants: K‛art‛lis c‛xovreba, Kartlis Tskhovreba). It forms the untitled third and final component of the corpus' initial suite Ts‛khorebay k‛art‛velt‛a mep‛et‛a (C‛xorebay k‛art‛velt‛a mep‛et‛a, Tskhovreba Kartvelta Mepeta). Most scholars conflate the three distinct components of Ts‛khorebay k‛art‛velt‛a mep‛et‛a into a single text attributed to the eleventh-century archbishop Leonti Mroveli. However, Mroveli was not the original author but an editor who might have been responsible for assembling the initial version of K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba as we know it today.
Edition - Translation:
  • I. Abuladze (1998) (ed.) 'K‛art‛lis ts‛khovrebis dzveli somkhuri t‛argmani'. In: K‛art‛lis c‛xovreba: The Georgian royal annals and their medieval Armenian adaptation. Two Volumes, ed. S. Rapp. Delmar (NY) = Abuladze, I. (1953) (ed.) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovrebis dzveli somkhuri t‛argmani [=Patmut‛iwn Vrats‛]. Tbilisi: 130-136.
  • S. Jones (2014) (ed.) Kartlis Tskhovreba: A history of Georgia. Tbilisi: 68-70.
  • R. Metreveli (2008) (ed.) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba. Tbilisi: 145-149.
  • S. Qaukhch‛ishvili (1955) (ed.) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba. Volume One. Tbilisi: 130-138.
  • R.W. Thomson (1996) Rewriting Caucasian history: The medieval Armenian adaptation of the Georgian chronicles, the original Georgian texts and the Armenian adaptation (Oxford Oriental monographs). Oxford: 146-153.
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • I. Javakhishvili (1977) Dzveli k‛art‛uli saistorio mtserloba (V-XVIII ss.). Tbilisi.
  • S.H. Rapp (2003) Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: Early texts and Eurasian contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 610: Subsidia, 113). Leuven.
  • S.H. Rapp (2014) The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian commonwealth in late antique Georgian literature. Farnham: 261-270.
  • C. Toumanoff (2012) 'Medieval Georgian historical literature (VIIth-XVth centuries)'. In: Languages and cultures of Eastern Christianity: Georgian (The worlds of Eastern Christianity 300-1500, 5), ed. S. Rapp - P. Crego. Farnham: 304-307 = Toumanoff, C. (1943) 'Medieval Georgian historical literature (VIIth-XVth centuries)'. Traditio 1: 166-169.
  • C. Toumanoff (1963) Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Washington, D.C.