Life of St. Arch‛il

Title(s):
  • Life of St. Archil
  • წამება წმიდისა და დიდებულისა მოწამისა არჩილისი
    (Tsameba tsmidisa da didebulisa motsamisa arch‛ilisi, Passion of the holy and glorious martyr Arch‛il)
Period covered:
736-786
Language:
Georgian
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Biography (general)
Remarks:
Though it originally may have existed as an independent text, the Life of Arch‛il is exclusively preserved in the historiographical corpus K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba (variants: K‛art‛lis c‛xovreba, Kartlis Tskhovreba). This mixture of hagiography and historiography is widely misattributed to archbishop Leonti Mroveli, the eleventh-century editor who might have been responsible for assembling the initial version of K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba as we know it today. The work addresses the reign of Arch‛il (r. 736-786), Christian Chosroid prince of the eastern region of Kakhet‛i during the interregnum. Arch‛il was martyred by the Muslim Khuzayma ibn Khāzim ('Asim' and 'Chichnaum').
The work was maybe composed in the monasteries of Tao-Klarjet‛i in southwestern Georgia. There also exists an Armenian version.
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: 204-208.
  • S. Jones (2014) (ed.) Kartlis Tskhovreba: A History of Georgia. Tbilisi: 135-136.
  • R. Metreveli (2008) (ed.) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba. Tbilisi: 247-250.
  • S. Qaukhch‛ishvili (1955) (ed.) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba. Volume One. Tbilisi: 245-248.
  • 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: 251-255.
Fragments:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • S.H. Rapp (2003) Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: Early texts and Eurasian contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 610: Subsidia, 113). Leuven: 469-480.
  • 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: 309-311 = Toumanoff, C. (1943) 'Medieval Georgian historical literature (VIIth-XVth centuries)'. Traditio 1: 171-173.