07 — The Golden Age
How David IV’s reign opened the Georgian Golden Age — the era of Georgian power and culture that runs from David through his great-granddaughter Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213); and the wider hegemony he built in his last years, when the “King of Kings” made Georgia the dominant power of the Caucasus, overlord of Christian and Muslim neighbors alike.
Tradition: Georgian Orthodox
This section sets David within the longer arc he began. The first file traces the Golden Age forward: how the state, army, Church, and learning David built became the foundation of a century of Georgian greatness, culminating in the reign of Queen Tamar and the epic of Rustaveli, and how David is remembered as the founder of that age. The second treats the wider power David wielded in his last years — the imperial titulature (“King of Kings,” “sword of the Messiah”), the extension of Georgian suzerainty over the Armenian lands and the Muslim emirates of the eastern Caucasus, and the making of Georgia into a regional hegemon.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-dawn-of-the-georgian-golden-age.md | David as founder of the Golden Age; the state, army, Church, and learning that carried Georgia to its height; the line from David through Demetre I, George III, and Queen Tamar; and Georgia’s twelfth–thirteenth-century flowering in power and culture. |
| david-and-the-caucasus.md | David’s wider power in his last years: the imperial titulature; the taking of Dmanisi (1124) and the extension of Georgian hegemony over the Armenian and Muslim principalities; Georgia as the dominant power between Byzantium and the steppe; and his protection of the Christian peoples of the region. |
See Also
- The Battle of Didgori (1121) — the victory that opened the age
- The Gelati Academy — the learning that fed the cultural Golden Age
- Legacy — David’s memory as founder of the Golden Age
References
- Ronald Grigor Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation, 2nd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994).
- Donald Rayfield, Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia (London: Reaktion Books, 2012).
- Alexander Mikaberidze, Historical Dictionary of Georgia, 2nd ed. (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
- Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1963).