Sakartvelo is the second name of the country - how it appeared in the history of Georgia.

The Iberian kingdom (otherwise known as the kingdom of Kartli) originated in 537 BC on the eastern territory of modern Georgia. In ancient and Byzantine sources, the state is known as Iberia, but the local population called themselves Kartveli. Hence the name of the country – Sakartvelo.

Subsequently, the territory of the kingdoms became attractive to stronger neighboring states and was constantly attacked by outsiders. In the II century BC, the kingdom was conquered by the Pontic state, and then by Rome.

Starting from the I century AD, a new religion, Christianity, began to penetrate into Georgia. Initially, it was spread by the Greeks in the West, but the main process of Christianization of the state is firmly connected with the name of the enlightener – Saint Nino. In the IV century, during the reign of Tsar Mirian, the new religion became the state religion. According to one of the legends, Nino was able to cure the king of blindness, and he ordered the foundation of the first Christian church. The proclamation of Christianity as the official religion served as a unifying factor for the disparate parts of Georgia and led to the development of the Georgian script, which originated before our era.

In the V century, the Kartli king Vakhtang I Gorgasal founded the city of Tbilisi (from the Georgian "tbili" – warm). According to legend, the decision to lay the city was made during the hunt, when the wounded animal was healed at a warm sulfur spring in front of the king.

Since the beginning of the VII century, Colchis and Kartli have been under the rule of the Iranian Sassanids, and since the middle of this century they have been conquered by the Arabs. The powerful Islamic state of the Arab Caliphate, which subjugated the territories of Iran, Palestine and a number of others, formed the Tbilisi Emirate in the east of Georgia.

From the middle of the eighth century, the liberation of Georgian lands from Arab rule began, which resulted in the emergence of regions independent of the Arab Caliphate: Kakheti, Abkhazia and Kartvelia. By the beginning of the IX century, almost the entire country, excluding the territory of the Tbilisi Emirate, was conquered from the Arabs, and at the beginning of the XI century, the Tbilisi Emirate finally ceased to exist.

By the 10th century, the Georgian nationality had mostly developed, and Kartli became the core of the future Georgian state.

Read more about modern Georgia in the Madloba catalog. We have collected the latest information not only about the ancient history of the country, but also about the sights that have survived to the present day. Also on the website you will find a detailed description of all organizations in large cities, with contact details and customer reviews.