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The Bagratids (also called Bagrationi or Bagratuni) were a Royal family in Transcaucasia. Branches of the Bagratid family have ruled both Armenia and Georgia.
The Bagratid family first emerged as naxarars , members of the hereditary nobility of Armenia. Their holdings were in the region of Speri , in the Chorokhi valley. As early as 288-301 A.D., the Bagratid prince Smbat held the hereditary Armenian titles of Master of the Horse and t'agatir, or coranant of the King.
In the eighth century, a later Bagratid prince (also named Smbat) revolted against the Arab Caliphate. The revolt was defeated, but was successful enough to set the stage for Georgian and Armenian independence.
The Bagratids claimed descent from King David and King Solomon of the Hebrew Bible. The claim is given no credence by modern scholarship, but was accepted in its day and lent prestige to the family.
The Armenian Bagratids built as their capital the city of Ani, now famous for its ruins. They kept power by playing off the competition between Byzantium and the Arabs. Their rule ended in 1045 with the conquest of Ani by the Byzantines. The Rubenids , believed to be a branch of the Bagratids, later took the throne of an Armenian Kingdom in CiliciaIn ancient geography, Cilicia ("Ki-LIK-ya") formed a district on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus (Giaour Dagh), which separated it from Syr.
The Bagratid family in Georgia began with the migration of one prince Ashot (780-826) from Armenia. He settled in the Armeno-Georgian marchlands at Artanuji (part of the Georgian Principality of Tao-KlarjetiTao-Klarjeti was a Georgian Kingdom (now territory of Turkey). In the 2nd- 3rd millenniums BC territory of Tao-Klarjeti was a part of the oldest Georgian Kingdom of Diaokhi. In the 8th- 9th centuries AD, southern borders of Georgia extended to the river A, now in the territory of TurkeyTurkey (officially the Republic of Turkey Turkish Turkiye is a country located in Southwest Asia with a small part in southeastern Europe. Until 1922 the country was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The Anatolian peninsula, between the Black Sea and the.)
In 888, Adarnase II (888-923) revived the monarchy of IberiaCaucasian Iberia is the term designated to the Kingdom of Iberia ( 4th century BC 5th century AD) established in Eastern Georgia by the Georgians ( Kartvelians). The king of Iberia, Farnavaz I was a reformer of the Georgian alphabet ( 284 BC). He was also and assumed the title King of the Georgians. Through marriage, inheritance, and conquest, his descendents gained control of what is today Georgia. The greatest representatives of this dynasty were David the BuilderDavid the Builder David IV Bagrationi ( 1073 January 24, 1125) was a King of Georgia ( 1089- 1125). He was born in Kutaisi in western Georgia. He was one of greatest statesmen and generals of the medieval world. His father was Giorgi II ( 1072 1089). and Tamar of GeorgiaTamar Bagrationi was Queen of the kingdom of Georgia from 1184- 1213. She ruled during what is generally regarded as Georgia's "golden age" and gained a reputation as an outstandingly successful ruler, dubbed "King of Kings and Queen of Queens" by her sub. Last King from the dynasty of Bagrationi was a King of Imereti, Solomon II (1789-1810). In 1801 the Tsarist Russian Empire occupied and annexed the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti (Eastern Georgia), in 1810 the Kingdom of Imereti (Western Georgia).
Having survived for a full millennium, the Bagrationi were among the longest-lasting ruling families in history.
Primary sources for the history of the dynasty of Bagrationi include the following Georgian chronicles of the 10th - 18th centuries: chronicle of Sumbat Davitis dze , "Moktsevai Kartlisai", "Tskhovreba Kartvelta Mepeta", "Matiane Kartlisa".