Emirate of Tbilisi

Emirate of Tbilisi إمارة تفليسي Imārat Tiflisi (in Arabic)
736–1122
Emirate of Tbilisi in 1060.
Capital	al-Tefelis
Common languages	Classical Arabic, Georgian
Religion	Sunni Islam, Eastern Orthodox Church
Government	Emirate
History
• Established	736
• Siege of Tbilisi	1122
Preceded by Succeeded by Principality of Iberia Kingdom of Georgia
Today part of	Georgia

The Emirs of Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისის საამირო t’bilisis saamiro, Template:Lang-ar Imārat Tiflisi) ruled over the parts of today's eastern Georgia from their base in the city of Tbilisi, from 736 to 1080 (nominally to 1122). Established by the Arabs during their invasions of Georgian lands, the emirate was an important outpost of the Muslim rule in the Caucasus until recaptured by the Georgians under King David IV in 1122. Since then, the city has served as the capital of Georgia.

Georgia and the Caucasus around 740, just after the emirate was established.

History

See also: Arab rule in Georgia and History of Tbilisi

The Arabs first appeared in Georgia, namely in Kartli (Iberia) in 645. It was not, however, until 735, when they succeeded in establishing their firm control over a large portion of the country. In that year, Marwan II took hold of Tbilisi and much of the neighbouring lands and installed there an Arab emir, who was to be confirmed by the Caliph or, occasionally, by the ostikan of Armīniya.

During the Arab period, Tbilisi (al-Tefelis) grew into a center of trade between the Islamic world and northern Europe. Beyond that, it functioned as a key Arab outpost and a buffer province facing the Byzantine and Khazar dominions. Over time, Tbilisi became largely Muslim, but the Islamic influences were strictly confined to the city itself, while the environs remained largely Christian.

Tbilisi was a large city with a strong double wall pierced by three gates. It lay on both banks of the Kura River, and the two parts were connected by a bridge of boats. The contemporary geographers especially mention its thermal springs, which supplied the baths with constant hot waters. On the river were water-mills. The houses were primarily built, to the surprise of contemporary Arab travelers, of pine wood. In the first half of the ninth century, Tbilisi is said to have been the second largest, after Derbend, a city in the Caucasus, with its at least 50,000 inhabitants and thriving commerce. Several intellectuals born or living in Tbilisi, bearing the nisba al-Tiflisi were known across the Muslim world.

The Abbasid Caliphate weakened after the Abbasid civil war in the 810s, and caliphal power was challenged by secessionist tendencies among peripheral rulers, including those of Tbilisi. At the same time, the emirate became a target of the resurgent Georgian Bagrationi dynasty who were expanding their territory from Tao-Klarjeti across Georgian lands. The Emirate of Tbilisi grew in relative strength under Ishaq ibn Isma'il (833–853), who was powerful enough to quell the energies of the Georgian princes and to contend with the Abbasid authority in the region. He withheld his annual payment of tribute to Baghdad, and declared his independence from the Caliph. To suppress the rebellion, in 853 Caliph al-Mutawakkil dispatched a punitive expedition led by Bugha al-Kabir (also known as Bugha the Turk) who burned Tbilisi to the ground and had Ishaq decapitated, putting an end to the city's chance to become the center of an independent Islamic state in the Caucasus. The Abbasids chose not to rebuild the city extensively, and as a result the Muslim prestige and authority in the region began to wane.

Beginning in the 1020s, the Georgian kings pursued a contradictory but generally expansionist policy against the emirs of Tbilisi, this latter coming sporadically under Georgian control. The territories of the emirate shrank to Tbilisi and its immediate environs. However, the Seljuk invasions of the 1070s–1080s thwarted the Georgian advance and deferred the Bagratid plans for nearly a half of a century. The last line of emirs of Tbilisi ended, presumably, circa 1080, and the city was run thereafter by the merchant oligarchy known in the Georgian annals as tbileli berebi, that is, the elders of Tbilisi. Georgian King David IV’s victories over the Seljuk Turks inflicted a final blow to Islamic Tbilisi, and a Georgian army entered the city in 1122, ending four hundred years of Muslim rule.

Legacy

The office of emir — amira or amirtamira — now an appointed Georgian royal official — survived in Tbilisi, as well as other big cities of Georgia, into the 18th century, being substituted by the office of mouravi.

Rulers

Emir	Reign	Dynasty	Notes
1. Isma'il b. Shuab	(until 813)	Shuabids
2. Mohammed I b. Atab	813 – 829	Shuabids
3. Ali I b. Shuab	829 – 833	Shuabids
4. Ishaq b. Isma'il b. Shuab	833 – 853	Shuabids
5. Mohammed II b. Khalil	853 – 870	Shaybanids
6. Isa b. ash-Sheikh ash-Shayban	870 – 876	Shaybanids
7. Ibrahim	876 – 878	Shaybanids
8. Gabuloc	878 – 880	Shaybanids
9. Jaffar I b. Ali	880 – 914	Jaffarids
10. Mansur I b. Jaffar	914 – 952	Jaffarids
11. Jaffar II b. Mansur	952 – 981	Jaffarids
12. Ali II b. Jaffar	981 – 1032	Jaffarids
13. Jaffar III b. Ali	1032 – 1046	Jaffarids
14. Mansur II b. Jaffar	1046 – 1054	Jaffarids
15. Abu'l-Haija b. Jaffar	1054 – 1062	Jaffarids
	1062 – 1068		City council
16. Fadlun of Ganja	1068 – 1080	Jaffarids	appointed by Alp Arslan
	1080 – 1122		City council
			annexed to Kingdom of Georgia

Sources

• Allen, WED (1932), A History of the Georgian People, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co,
• Minorsky, V., Tiflis in Encyclopaedia of Islam
• Suny RG (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation (2nd Edition), Bloomington and Indianapolis, ISBN 0-253-35579-6

External links

• Tiflis dirhams at Zeno.ru – Oriental Coins Database