The Iranian Heritage of Georgia

Abstract

Traditionally, scholars have considered extant medieval Georgian historiography as having been produced exclusively during the millennium of Bagratid rule. This essay identifies a separate historiographical phase just preceding the rise of Bagratid rule in the Georgian domains in the early ninth century. Pre-Bagratid historiographical texts are distinguished first and foremost by their Iranian flavor, which is a reflection of the longstanding membership of the whole of southern Caucasia in the Iranian cultural world.