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Samshvilde Sioni Church
Samshvilde Sioni church ( ka, სამშვილდის სიონი, tr) is a ruined medieval Christian cathedral and one of the main architectural features of the historic site of Samshvilde in Georgia's southern region of Kvemo Kartli. A centralized domed building with apsed sanctuary and pastophoria, the church was built between 759 and 777. It is now in ruins and only fragments of the eastern wall remain standing. The church is inscribed on the list of the Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia. History The Sioni church is part of the Samshvilde historic site, which is centered in a naturally fortified location, a rocky terrain at the confluence of the Khrami and Chivchavi rivers, 4 km south of the town of Tetritsqaro. Following a medieval Georgian tradition of naming churches after particular places in the Holy Land, the cathedral bears the name of Mount Zion at Jerusalem. The early medieval Georgian Chronicles credit the 5th-century ...
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Samshvilde
Samshvilde ( ka, სამშვილდე, ) is a ruined fortified city and archaeological site in Georgia, in the country's south, near the homonymous modern-day village in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region. The ruins of the city, mostly medieval structures, stretch for a distance of 2.5 km in length and in width in the Khrami river valley. Some of the most recognizable monuments are the Samshvilde Sioni church and a citadel erected on a rocky river promontory. Samshvilde features in the medieval Georgian annals as one of the oldest cities of ancient Kartli, dating back to the 3rd century BC. In the Middle Ages, it was an important stronghold as well as a lively commercial and industrial city. Samshvilde changed hands several times. At the end of the 10th century, it became capital of the Armenian kings of Tashir-Dzoraget and was incorporated in the Kingdom of Georgia in 1064. From the mid-13th century on, as fortunes of the medieval Georgian monar ...
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Sagdukht
Sagdukht ( ka, საგდუხტი) was a 5th-century queen consort of Iberia, natively known as Kartli in eastern Georgia, as wife of King Mirdat V. She was a daughter of Barzabod, a Mihranid ruler of Gardman. Sagdukht is primarily known from the Georgian chronicle, written by Juansher c. 800, relating life of King Vakhtang I, the son of Mirdat and Sagdukht. She is also mentioned as Sahakdukht in the works of the 13th-century Armenian historian Vardan. Modern historians such as Ivane Javakhishvili, Simon Janashia, and Cyril Toumanoff identify her with the Sahakdukht recorded in a Georgian inscription on an icon from the Jvarisa church in the village of Znakva. According to Juansher's chronicle, Sagdukht's hand was sought and obtained by Mirdat—then heir apparent to his reigning father King Archil—who was captivated by Sagdukht's beauty and also sought to ensure the peace between Iberia and Gardman, the Rani ( Arran) of the Georgian source. The couple settled at Mirdat' ...
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Squinch
In architecture, a squinch is a triangular corner that supports the base of a dome. Its visual purpose is to translate a rectangle into an octagon. See also: pendentive. Construction A squinch is typically formed by a masonry arch that spans a square corner. History in the Middle East The dome chamber in the Palace of Ardashir, the Sassanid king, in Firuzabad, Iran is the earliest surviving example of the use of the squinch, suggesting that the squinch may have been invented in Persia. After the rise of Islam, it was used in the Middle East in both eastern Romanesque and Islamic architecture. It remained a feature of Islamic architecture, especially in Iran, and was often covered by corbelled stalactite-like structures known as muqarnas. History in Western Europe It spread to the Romanesque architecture of western Europe, one example being the Normans' 12th-century church of San Cataldo, Palermo in Sicily. This has three domes, each supported by four doubled squinches. ...
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Bay (architecture)
In architecture, a bay is the space between architectural elements, or a recess or compartment. The term ''bay'' comes from Old French ''baie'', meaning an opening or hole."Bay" ''Online Etymology Dictionary''. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=bay&searchmode=none accessed 3/10/2014 __NOTOC__ Examples # The spaces between posts, columns, or buttresses in the length of a building, the division in the widths being called aisles. This meaning also applies to overhead vaults (between ribs), in a building using a vaulted structural system. For example, the Gothic architecture period's Chartres Cathedral has a nave (main interior space) that is '' "seven bays long." '' Similarly in timber framing a bay is the space between posts in the transverse direction of the building and aisles run longitudinally."Bay", n.3. def. 1-6 and "Bay", n.5 def 2. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009 # Where there a ...
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Eukterion
''Eukterion'' ( el, εὑκτήριον), or ''eukterios oikos'' (εὑκτήριος οἰ̑κος), literally meaning "a house of prayer", was a term used in the Byzantine and some other Eastern Orthodox societies such as Georgia to refer to private churches— oratories and chapels—that were distinct from, or attached to, the main places of public worship (''katholikai ekklesiai''). The legality of chapels in private houses was a controversial issue in the Byzantine law for centuries. In order to ensure that private ''eukteria'' remained separate and did not overburden the church's structure, as well as to prevent the dissemination of heresy, the emperor Justinian I () introduced several preconditions for their construction and ordered some restrictions, including a ban on celebrating the liturgy in the oratories of private houses. The Council in Trullo in 692 extended the prohibition to baptism. Under Leo VI (), the restrictions were lifted, but the later patriarch Alexios St ...
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Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , Shida Kartli is the 8th largest Georgian region by land area. With 284,081 inhabitants, it is Georgia's seventh-most-populous region. Shida Kartli's capital and largest city, Gori, is the 5th largest city in Georgia. The region is bordered by the Russian Federation to the north, Georgian regions of Mtskheta-Mtianeti to the east, Kvemo Kartli to the south, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the southwest, Imereti to the west, and Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti to the northwest. It consists of the following municipalities: Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Java, Khashuri. The northern part of the region, namely Java, and northern territories of Kareli and Gori municipalities (total area of 1,393 km²), have been controlled by the authorities of the self- ...
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Church Of Tsromi
The church of Tsromi ( ka, წრომის ტაძარი)is an early medieval church in village Tsromi, in the vicinity of town Khashuri, in Shida Kartli region of Georgia. It is situated at the center of the village, along the right side of the river Mtkvari (Kura). History According to the southern façade, the temple construction dates to the years 626–634, when it was built during the reign of Stephen II of Iberia. The monument was strongly affected and got even worse during the earthquake in 1940. Now the temple is fortified. Architecture The domed temple represents a monument of Georgian architecture, distinguished by its complex composition. Its artistic importance is comparable with Jvari Monastery in MtskhetasaIt is the basis of the further development of Georgian church architecture of the Middle Ages. The temple is a ″drawn-inside cross″ type; the basis of its plan is an equiangular cross. It is the first Georgian churct where the dome rests on ...
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Leo IV The Khazar
Leo IV the Khazar (Greek: Λέων ὁ Χάζαρος, ''Leōn IV ho Khazaros''; 25 January 750 – 8 September 780) was Byzantine emperor from 775 to 780 AD. He was born to Emperor Constantine V and Empress Tzitzak in 750. He was elevated to co-emperor on the next year, in 751, and married to Irene of Athens in 768. When Constantine V died in September 775, while campaigning against the Bulgarians, Leo IV became senior emperor. In 778 Leo raided Abbasid Syria, decisively defeating the Abbasid army outside of Germanicia. Leo died on 8 September 780, of tuberculosis. He was succeeded by his underage son Constantine VI, with Irene serving as regent. History Leo IV was born on 25 January 750AD, to Emperor Constantine V and his first wife, Empress Tzitzak. Because his mother was a Khazar, Leo was given the epithet 'the Khazar'. Leo was elevated to co-emperor in 751, while still an infant. He became emperor on 14 September 775, after Constantine V died while campaigning against the ...
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Constantine V
Constantine V ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντῖνος, Kōnstantīnos; la, Constantinus; July 718 – 14 September 775), was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able military leader, Constantine took advantage of civil war in the Muslim world to make limited offensives on the Arab frontier. With this eastern frontier secure, he undertook repeated campaigns against the Bulgars in the Balkans. His military activity, and policy of settling Christian populations from the Arab frontier in Thrace, made Byzantium's hold on its Balkan territories more secure. Religious strife and controversy was a prominent feature of his reign. His fervent support of Iconoclasm and opposition to monasticism led to his vilification by later Byzantine historians and writers, who denigrated him with the nicknames "the Dung-Named" ( grc-gre, Κοπρώνυμος, Koprónimos; la, Copronymus), because he allegedly defaecated dur ...
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Asomtavruli
The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: #Asomtavruli, Asomtavruli, #Nuskhuri, Nuskhuri and #Mkhedruli, Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their Letter (alphabet), letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written horizontally from Writing system#Directionality, left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli, once the civilian royal script of the Kingdom of Georgia and mostly used for the royal charters, is now the standard script for modern Georgian and its related Kartvelian languages, whereas Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are used only by the Georgian Orthodox Church, in ceremonial religious texts and Iconography#Christian iconography, iconography. Georgian scripts are unique in their appearance and their exact origin has never been established; however, in strictly structural terms, their alphabetical order largely corresponds to the Greek alphabet, with the exception of letters denoting uniquely G ...
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Samshvilde Sioni Inscription
The Samshvilde Sioni inscription ( ka, სამშვილდის სიონის წარწერა) is the Georgian language inscription written in the Georgian ''Asomtavruli'' script on the Sioni Church in Samshvilde, a ruined cathedral located in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli, Georgia. Originally the inscription was 35 ''metres'' long but only 10 metres of inscription survived. The inscription mentions Georgian ''eristavis'' Varaz-Bakur and Iovane and two Byzantine Emperors, Constantine V and Leo IV the Khazar. Inscription *Translation: "Jesus Christ, built by the mercy of Christ and love of mankind, for praying the Holy Theotokos, o Christ have mercy on the relatives of pitiaksh. Of the year of reign of King Constantine that laid the ground for this, and it was built. Varaz-Bakur took a rest here and is behind of this and Iovane looked forward for it. And it was built. It was entirely built, this Holy Church, and in the year of reign King Leon, in the ...
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Caucasian Iberia
In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; la, Hiberia) was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლი), known after its core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages was a significant monarchy in the Caucasus, either as an independent state or as a dependent of larger empires, notably the Sassanid and Roman empires. Iberia, centered on present-day Eastern Georgia, was bordered by Colchis in the west, Caucasian Albania in the east and Armenia in the south. Its population, the Iberians, formed the nucleus of the Kartvelians (i.e. Georgians). Iberia, ruled by the Pharnavazid, Artaxiad, Arsacid and Chosroid royal dynasties, together with Colchis to its west, would form the nucleus of the unified medieval Kingdom of Georgia under the Bagrationi dynasty. In the 4th century, after the Christianization of Iberia by Saint Nino during the reign of King Mirian III, Christianity was made the state religio ...
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