Kvirike III the Great ( ka, კვირიკე III დიდი, ''Kvirike III Didi'') (died 1037/39) was a

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

of Kakheti and Hereti in eastern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

from 1010 (effectively from 1014) to 1037 or 1039.

Reign

Kvirike succeeded upon the death of his father

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 ...

as a prince and chorepiscopus of

Kakheti Kakheti (; ) is a region of Georgia. Telavi is its administrative center. The region comprises eight administrative districts: Telavi, Gurjaani, Qvareli, Sagarejo, Dedoplistsqaro, Signagi, Lagodekhi and Akhmeta. Kakhetians speak the ...

, but the Bagratid king

Bagrat III of Georgia Bagrat III ( ka, ბაგრატ III) (c. 960 – 7 May 1014), also known as Bagrat the Unifier, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king ('' mepe'') of the Kingdom of Abkhazia from 978 on (as Bagrat II of Abkhazia) and king of the Kingdom of ...

captured him and conquered Kakheti. Following Bagrat's death in 1014, Kvirike was able to recover the crown, took control of the neighboring

kingdom of Hereti The Kingdom of Hereti ( ka, ჰერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a medieval Albanian monarchy which emerged in Caucasus on the Iberian-Albanian frontier. Nowadays it roughly corresponds to the southeastern corner of Georgia's Kakhet ...

and declared himself King of Kakheti and Hereti. He made

Telavi Telavi (; ) is the main city and administrative center of the eastern Georgian province of Kakheti. As of the 2017 Census, its population was 19,751. The city is located on the foothills of the Tsiv-Gombori Range at above sea level. History Th ...

his capital and constructed a palace at Bodoji near

Tianeti Tianeti is a townlet in east-central Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains. Tianeti is the administrative center of Municipality of Tianeti, which also comprises the town of Sioni and 43 neighbouring villages (total area – 907 km2; populatio ...

. Under Kvirike III, the kingdom experienced a period of political power and prosperity. In 1027, Kvirike joined the combined armies of Bagrat IV of Georgia led by Liparit Orbeliani and Ivane Abazasdze, Emir Jaffar of Tiflis, and the

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n King David I of Lorri against the

Shaddadid The Shaddadids were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin. who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951 to 1199 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni ...

emir of Arran, Fadhl II, who was decisively defeated at the Eklez River. Around 1029, Kvirike III defeated an invasion force led by the

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

king Urdure who had crossed the Caucasus Mountains into Kakheti and ravaged Tianeti. Urdure was killed in battle. At the zenith of his power and prestige, Kvirike was assassinated while hunting in 1037/39. According to the Georgian historian

Vakhushti Vakhushti ( ka, ვახუშტი; 1696 – 1757) was a Georgian royal prince ('' batonishvili''), geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works, '' Description of the Kingdom of Georgia'' and the ''Ge ...

, this was done by Kvirike's Alan slave who sought to avenge for the death of King Urdure. On Kvirike’s death, Kakheti was temporarily annexed to the

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia (), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a Middle Ages, medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in Anno Domini, AD. It reached Georgian Golden Age, its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign ...

Coins

Two series of silver coins of mixed Christian-Islamic design stuck under Kvirike III were found in 2012 and 2013 at

Çuxur Qəbələ Çuxur Qəbələ (also, Chukhurkabala and Chukhur-Kebele) is a village and municipality in the Qabala Rayon of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and land ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

and

Sisian Sisian ( ) is a town and the centre of the Sisian Municipality of the Syunik Province in southern Armenia. It is located on both banks of the Vorotan River, at an altitude of 1600 m above sea level, 6 km south of the Yerevan- Meghri highway, at ...

. The coins bear the name of Kvirike in Arabic (as ''Abu-l'Fadl Quriqi b. Da'ud''), the Islamic symbol of faith (''

shahada The ''Shahada'' ( ; , 'the testimony'), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there is no Ilah, god but God in Islam, God ...

''), and the names of

Abbasid caliphs The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came ...

—

Al-Qadir Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ishaq (; 28 September 947 – 29 November 1031), better known by his regnal name al-Qadir (, , ), was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 991 to 1031. Born as an Abbasid prince outside the main line of succession, al-Qad ...

(r. 991–1031) and Al-Qa'im (r. 1031–1075) — on the obverse, an indication of Kvirike's acceptance, at least nominally, of the Abbasid suzerainty as a means to fend off the Bagratid expansionism. The usage of Arabic script, common Arabic monetary protocol, and Muslim symbol of faith (''

'') on his coins did not mean Kvirike III's adherence to Islam. The reverse of the coins contains the image of a horseman identified in the Georgian ''

asomtavruli The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written ...

'' letters as

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

defeating

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

, the earliest known monetary depictions of the saint.

References

Kings of Kakheti and Hereti Year of birth unknown 1030s deaths {{Georgia-royal-stub