ЛЕТОПИСЬ КАРТЛИ

A particular attention is devoted by the author of Chronicles to the raise of' Tao – Klardjetian princedom in the South – Western Georgia. Here at the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire the Georgians managed to establish their cultural domination. The social, political and cultural forces of the Eastern Georgia were concentrating in Tao – Klardjeti. The spiritual -foundation of the Georgian feudal nationality, laid down early in the middle of the first millennium A. D., was further strengthened here. Here, in Tao-Klardjeti, in the 9th – 10th centuries the idea of unity of the Georgian nationality, based on the unity of its language and spiritual culture, has finally formed. In its flourishing period Tao-Klardjeti had given a mighty impetus to the Georgian colonizing movement far beyond the limits of Georgia proper. In 9th – 10th centuries Georgian colonists from Tao-Klardjeti were disseminating in various parts of the civilized world of that time. The Abkhazian Kingdom of the Western Georgia was under the impact of this cultural and political movement. The striving of rulers of Abkhazian Kingdom to subordinate alt remaining Georgian lands to their hegemony was a reflexion of the tendency in the cultural development of this kingdom. The determination, with which Leon II moved eastwards, had beerr prepared by the preceding developments in Abkhazia. This is testified not only by the author of Chronicles but also by epigraphic monuments of Abkhazia, written in ancient Georgian script and belonging to the best examples of lapidary inscriptions in Ancient Georgia.

The Chronicles tell a good deal about the part played in the process of unification of Georgia by neighbour peoples. The international situation was always exploited by great powers, like Iran, Byzantine Empire, Arabian Khalifate, to serve their aggressive interests, to disadvantage of smaller countries and peoples. Georgians, Armenians, Albanians, peoples of the Northern Caucasus were under a constant danger not only of an enslavement by the great powers, but also of a total elimination as independent ethnic entities. In such circumstances of a continuous confrontation with a danger from outside, the interests of various peoples of the Caucasus objectively most often coincided. Chronicles of Kartli give correct and bright evaluations of historical events, classes, social groups, and many historical persons, who influenced the course of historical and political development in that time.

The data on various peoples of our Motherland, contained in,,Chronicles of Kartli”, place this text among the most important historical sources, to be included in the compendium,,The ancient sources for the history of peoples of the USSR”, planned by Institute of History of the USSR.

This translation of Chronicles is accompanied by comments, aimed to provide short historical and bibliographical references to some not too well known facts, connected with the text of Chronicles and the more general historical circumstances.

ПРИМЕЧАНИЯ

1. Как отмечают исследователи, в письменных источниках о хазарах (Ибн Фадлан, Иакут) часто говорится о браках хазарского кагана с дочерьми предводителей тех племен и народов, которые находились в политической зависимости от Хазарии или антагонистически к ней настроенных (Б. Н. 3аходер. Каспийский свод сведений о Восточной Европе, т. I, М., 1962, с. 144). При этом предполагается, что в таких случаях дело было связано с «ритуальным браком» (А. В. Гадло. Этническая история Северного Кавказа IV – X вв. Л., 1979, с. 62). В данном предположении нет ничего невероятного, и потому легендарная судьба картлийской царевны Шушан может быть тому дополнительным свидетельством.

2. Точная дата описанного здесь нашествия хазар в Картли не установлена. Однако принято считать, что это было одно из вторжений, направленных против арабов и имело место в 764 г. (Очерки истории СССР. III – IX вв. М, 1956, с. 705; Очерки истории Грузии, т. II, Тбилиси, 1973, с. 292 – 293, на груз. яз. Далее: Очерки, с указанием тома). Грузинский источник, очевидно, верно передает, по словам В. Ф. Минорского, то ли имя, то ли звание хазарского полководца. Минорский также обращает внимание на, возможно, идентичное имя более позднего хазарского предводителя «сын Б. л. джана», в 901 г. вторгшегося в Дербенд (В. Ф. Минорский. История Ширвана и Дербенда, М., 1963, с. 143: там же: примеч. 92).