Q'ueli
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Q'ueli ( ka, ყუელი) or Q'uelis-tsikhe (ყუელისციხე, "fortress of Q'ueli") was a medieval Georgian fortress atop the homonymous mountain of the Arsiani Range (Yalnızçam Dağları), now within the boundaries of
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, where it is known as Kol Kalesi or Kuvel Kalesi. Its Georgian name is alternatively transliterated as Qveli, Kveli, K'veli, Qvelis-ts'ikhe or Qvelis-c'ixe.
Toumanoff, Cyril Cyril Leo Toumanoff ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...
(1963). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', pp. 492-495.
Georgetown University Press Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political s ...
.
First appearing in the early 10th-century Georgian sources, Q'ueli was one of the principal fortifications of the province of
Samtskhe Meskheti ( ka, მესხეთი ) or Samtskhe ( ka, სამცხე ), also known as Moschia in ancient sources, is a mountainous area in southwestern Georgia. History Ancient tribes known as the Mushki (or Moschi) and Mosiniks (or Mo ...
until being conquered by the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in the 16th century. The name Q'ueli/Q'uelis-tsikhe literally translates from Georgian as "a cheese fortress", which was a source of the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
equivalent Tyrokastron (Τυρόχαστρον)—the name by which the fortress is mentioned in
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and ...
's ''
De Administrando Imperio (; ) is a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII. It is a domestic and foreign policy manual for the use of Constantine's son and successor, the Emperor Romanos II. It is a prominent example of Byz ...
''.


History

The fortress of Q'ueli, now largely in ruins, lies at the village of Kolköy in the present-day district of
Posof Posof ( ka, ფოცხოვი, Potskhovi, formerly ka, დიღვირი, Dighviri) is a town in Ardahan Province of Turkey, in the far east of the country, 75 km from the city of Ardahan and near the Georgia–Turkey border, border ...
, northeastern Turkey, close to the border with Georgia. It is first mentioned in the early 10th-century Georgian
hagiographic A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...
text ''Passion of Gobron'' by
Stepane Mtbevari Stepane Mtbevari ( ka, სტეფანე მტბევარი) was a 10th-century hierarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, religious writer and calligrapher. ''Mtbevari'', "of T'beti", is the title indicating his holding of the diocese of ...
as the site of resistance to the invading army of the Azerbaijani
emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...
Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj Yusuf ibn Abi'l Saj (died, d. 928) was the Sajids, Sajid Emir of Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan from 901 until his death. He was the son of Abi'l-Saj Devdad. War with Armenians and Georgians Yusuf came to power in 901 by overthrowing his nephew, ...
—Abu l'K'asim of the Georgian accounts—in 914. According to this source, Q'ueli fell after a 28-day siege and the Georgian commanding officer
Gobron Gobron ( ka, გობრონი, tr) also known as Mikel-Gobron or Michael-Gobron () (died November 17, 914) was a Christianity, Christian Georgians, Georgian military commander who led the defense of the fortress of Q'ueli against the Sajids, S ...
, a devoted
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, was put to death for having refused to convert to
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
.
Rayfield, Donald Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Jose ...
(2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', pp. 48-9.
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, .
By the 920s, Q'ueli had emerged as a chief fortress of
Javakheti Javakheti ( ka, ჯავახეთი ) or Javakhk (, ''Javakhk'')' is a historical province in southern Georgia, corresponding to the modern municipalities of Akhalkalaki, Aspindza (partly), Ninotsminda, and partly to the Turkey's Ardahan ...
, a Georgian duchy which is mentioned in Constantine Porphyrogennetos's ''
De Ceremoniis The or (fully ) is the conventional Latin name for a Greek book of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople. Its Greek title is often cited as ("Explanation of the Order of the Palace"), taken from the work' ...
'' as Kouel (Κουελ), so named after the fortress itself. In this passage, Constantine refers to the "
archon ''Archon'' (, plural: , ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem , meaning "to be first, to rule", derived from the same ...
of Kouel", which, according to Professor
Cyril Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...
, might have been the Georgian Bagratid prince
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
. Q'ueli is elsewhere referred to by Constantine by its Greek equivalent of Tyrokastron and later appears in possession of David's expansionist cousin, Gurgen II of Tao. Gurgen then gave Q'ueli and
Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a ...
to his father-in-law Ashot Kiskasi in exchange of
Klarjeti Klarjeti ( ka, კლარჯეთი ) was a province of ancient and medieval Georgia, which is now part of Turkey's Artvin Province. Klarjeti, the neighboring province of Tao and several other smaller districts, constituted a larger region ...
and, subsequently, deprived him even of these. After Gurgen's death in 941, Q'ueli passed to his cousins and, eventually, was inherited, along with other Bagratid holdings, by Bagrat III, who went on to become the first king of a unified Georgia in 1008. Due to its strategic location, Q'ueli was a scene of several military conflicts throughout its history. In the 1040s, Q'ueli fell under control of the rebellious Georgian warlord Liparit, who was eventually dispossessed of it by King
Bagrat IV of Georgia Bagrat IV ( ka, ბაგრატ IV; 101824 November 1072), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king ('' mepe'') of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to ...
in 1059. The fortress was then apparently given in possession to Murvan Jaq'eli, who appears as the
eristavi ''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgia (country), Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine ''strategos'' and normally translated into English language, English as "prince" or less comm ...
(duke) of Q'ueli in the 1060s. In 1065 it was passed by the Seljuqid sultan Alp-Arslan during his Georgian campaigns. In 1080, the Turks led by amir Ahmad, probably of the Mamlān dynasty, surprised and defeated King
George II of Georgia :''There was also a Giorgi II, Catholicos of Kartli who ruled in 826–838.'' George II ( ka, გიორგი II, tr) ( 1050 – 1112), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king (''mepe'') of Georgia from 1072 to 1089. He was a son and successor ...
at Q'ueli. Thomson, Robert W. (1996), ''Rewriting Caucasian History'', p. 310.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, .
In the 16th century, Q'ueli, along with much of southwest Georgia, fell under the Ottoman sway and lost its past importance. დ. მუსხელიშვილი, „ყველისციხე“. ქსე, ტ. X.-თბ., 1986.-გვ.639.


References

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