Akhaltsikhe Explained

Akhaltsikhe
Native Name:	Georgian: ახალციხე
Pushpin Map:	Georgia (country)#Samtskhe-Javakheti
Mapsize:	280
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Type1:	Region
Subdivision Name1:	Samtskhe–Javakheti
Subdivision Type2:	Municipality
Subdivision Name2:	Akhaltsikhe
Established Title:	Founded
Established Date:	1200
Population As Of:	2024
Population Footnotes:	^[1]
Population Total:	17287
Timezone:	Georgian Time
Utc Offset:	+4
Coordinates:	41.6389°N 42.9861°W
Elevation M:	1029
Postal Code Type:	Postal code
Postal Code:	0800

Akhaltsikhe (Georgian: ახალციხე in Georgian pronounced as /aχaɫtsʰiχe/), formerly known as Lomsia (Georgian: ლომსია), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is the administrative center of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and the Samtskhe–Javakheti region. It is situated on both banks of the small river Potskhovi (a left tributary of the Kura), which divides the city between the old city in the north and new in the south.

The 9th-century Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle, which was recently restored, is located in the old part of the city. It is one of the main attractions of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region, along with Vardzia, Vale, Okrostsikhe and Zarzma.

Toponymy

Akhaltsikhe is the Georgian name of the town, which literally means "new fortress". It is attested in Arabic sources as (and), in Persian as (also spelled as), and in Turkish sources as .^[2]

History

The town is mentioned among the settlements conquered by general Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya I (661–680). During the Mongol domination of Georgia, local rulers of the House of Jaqeli, who ruled the feudal principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago, were invested with the title of atabeg and were allowed to be autonomous. In contemporaneous Persian and Turkish sources, these Jaqeli rulers were referred to as Ḳurḳūra, which derives from —the name of several Jaqeli rulers.

In 1579, during the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590, the Ottomans took the town. In the ensuing period, the Ottomans implanted Islam and Ottoman customs. In 1625, the town became the centre of the Akhalzik Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire known as and it held a resident Ottoman pasha. The town rose to strategic importance and became a leading hub of the Caucasian slave market. By the late 17th century, the town was home to 400 households, consisting of a mixed population of Turks, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks and Jews.^[3]

In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Russian troops under the command of General Ivan Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople, it was ceded to the Russian Empire. The city initially become part of the Kutaisi Governorate, then of the Tiflis Governorate, becoming the administrative centre of the Akhaltsikhe uezd.

In the late 1980s the city was host to the Soviet Army's 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which became a brigade of the Georgian land forces after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Population

^[4]

Year	Georgians	Armenians	Russians	Jews	Others	Total
1886	2,733	17%	10,417	64.6%	146	0.9%	2,545	15.8%	275	1.7%	16,116
1897^[5] ^[6]	3,578	23.3%	9,035	58.8%	1,172	7.3%	438	2.9%	1,134	3.4%	15,357
1916^[7]	2,783	10.9%	18,165	71.3%	716	2.8%	3,246	12.7%	560	2.2%	25,470
1926^[8]	1,817	14.8%	6,516	52.9%	1,425	11.6%	94	0.8%	2,458	20.0%	12,310
1959^[9]	6,801	25.7%	14,341	54.1%	3,509	13.2%	368	1.4%	1,478	5.6%	26,497
1979^[10]	5,714	29.2%	10,278	52.5%	2,208	11.3%	337	1.7%	1,050	5.4%	19,587
1989											24,570
2014^[11]	12,838	71.7%	4,781	26.7%	75	0.4%	11	0.06%	198	1.1%	17,903
2023^[12]											16,943

Archaeology

The highland environment between Akhaltsikhe and Aspindza presents a varied and complex array of archaeological features in different locations, elevations and topographies. This includes the alluvial flood-plain of the Kura River, all the way to the high grasslands.

Human habitation is attested already in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC) and later. Artifacts from the Roman and medieval periods are also strongly represented in the area.

Amiranis Gora

The important archaeological site of Amiranis Gora is located on the northeastern outskirts of Akhaltsikhe.^[13] It was excavated by Tariel Chubinishvili.^[14] The earliest carbon date for Amiranis Gora is 3790-3373 cal BC. It was obtained from the charcoal of the metallurgical workshop which belonged to the earliest building horizon of Amiranis Gora^[15] This indicates a division of metallurgical production into extractive and processing branches.^[16]

Amiranis Gora is an important reference point for the study of the Early Bronze Age Kura–Araxes culture, also known as the Early Transcaucasian Culture. The many references include the architecture, burial practices, material culture and metallurgy.^{[17] [18] [19]} Amiranis Gora is one of the best sites with fixed stratigraphy of the Kura-Araxes culture. The carbon date for the Kura-Araxes material at Amiranis Gora is 3630-3048 cal B.C., which is very early.

People associated with Akhaltsikhe

• Gregorio Pietro Agagianian (1895–1971), Patriarch of Cilicia and the Armenian Catholic Church, Cardinal, and first Eastern Catholic papabile since Cardinal Bessarion during the Renaissance
• Charles Aznavour, world-famous French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent (father, Michael Aznavourian, was born in Akhaltsikhe)
• David Baazov, rabbi at Akhaltsikhe (1918)
• Shio Batmanishvili, hieromonk of the Servites of the Immaculate Conception, first Exarch of the Georgian Greek Catholic Church, and survivor of Solovki prison camp. Martyred by the NKVD during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and buried in the mass grave at Sandarmokh in the Republic of Karelia.
• Hovhannes Kajaznuni (1868–1938), first prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia
• Ahmed-Pasha Khimshiashvili (?–1836), Pasha of Ahiska
• Sergo Kobuladze (1909–1978), painter and illustrator
• Hakob Kojoyan (1883–1959), Soviet Armenian artist
• Shalva Maglakelidze, plenipotentiary for the Russian Provisional Government and then for the government of Georgia in Akhaltsikhe (1917–1918)
• Stepan Malkhasyants, Armenian academician
• Hakob Manandian, Armenian historian
• Palavandishvili family
• Giorgi Mazniashvili, governor general of Akhaltsikhe (1919–1920)
• Natela Svanidze, Georgian composer
• Michel Tamarati (1858–1911), Georgian Catholic priest and historian
• Vakhtang Tchutchunashvili (?–1668), usurper of the throne of Imereti, fled to Ahiska after being deposed
• Vakhtang V, King of Kartli, fled to Ahiska after a failed coup
• Lusine Zakaryan (1937–1991), Soviet Armenian soprano singer

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Georgia (country).

Twin towns and sister cities

Akhaltsikhe is twinned with:

• Ardahan, Turkey^[20]

See also

• Battle of Akhaltsikhe
• Samtskhe–Javakheti

Notes and References

1. Web site: Population by regions . National Statistics Office of Georgia . 28 April 2024 .
2. Book: Willem Floor

   . Floor. Willem M.. Willem Floor. Titles and Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, by Mirza Naqi Nasiri. 2008. Mage Publishers. Washington, DC. 978-1933823232. 140.

3. Book: Chardin, John . The travels of Sir John Chardin into Persia and the East Indies : the first volume, containing the author's voyage from Paris to Ispahan : to which is added, the coronation of this present king of Persia, Solyman the Third . Pitt . Moses . Loggan . David . 1686 . London : Printed for Moses Pitt in Duke-Street Westminster . Getty Research Institute . 168.
4. Web site: население грузии. October 8, 2016.
5. Web site: Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. . October 8, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160818113307/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/emp_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=451 . August 18, 2016 . mdy .
6. Web site: АХАЛЦИХСКИЙ УЕЗД (1897 г.). October 8, 2016.
7. Book: Кавказский календарь на 1917 год . Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom . 1917 . 72nd . Tiflis . 206–213 . Russian . Caucasian calendar for 1917 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211104233151/https://www.prlib.ru/item/417322 . 4 November 2021.
8. Web site: Ахалцихский уезд 1926. www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
9. Web site: Ахалцихский район 1959. www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru.
10. Web site: Ethnic composition: 1979 census . pop-stat.mashke.org . https://archive.today/20201220093322/http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic1979.htm . 20 December 2020 . 20 December 2020 . live .
11. Web site: Ethnic composition, all places: 2014 census . pop-stat.mashke.org . https://web.archive.org/web/20201220100552/http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-ethnic-loc2014.htm . 20 December 2020.
12. Web site: Georgia: Regions, Major Cities & Urban Settlements - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information . 2023-06-28 . www.citypopulation.de.
13. Kakhiani . Kakha . Sagona . Antonio . Sagona . Claudia . Kvavadze . Eliso . Bedianashvili . Giorgi . Massager . Erwan . Martin . Lucie . Herrscher . Estelle . Martkoplishvili . Inga . Birkett-Rees . Jessie . Longford . Catherine . 2013 . Archaeological Investigations at Chobareti in Southern Georgia, the Caucasus . Ancient Near Eastern Studies . 50 . 1–138 . 10.2143/ANES.50.0.2975510 . 1378-4641.
14. Book: Chubinishvili, T. N. . Amiranis Gora: masalebi Mesxetʻ-Javaxetʻis użvelesi istoriisatʻvis . Sabchota Saqartvelo . Tbilisi . ka . ka:ამირანის გორა: მასალები მესხეთ-ჯავახეთის უძველესი ისტორიისთვის . Amiranis Gora: Materials on the Ancient History of Meskhet-Javakheti . 21445209.
15. Book: Kushnareva . K. Kh. . Drevnie kulʹtury I︠U︡zhnogo Kavkaza: (V-III tys. do n.ė.) . Chubinishvili . T. N. . . 1970 . Leningrad . p. 114, fig. 5.1 . ru . ru:Древние культуры Южного Кавказа (V-III тыс. до н.э.) . Ancient Cultures of Southern Caucasus (5th-3rd millennia BCE) . 3011868.
16. Book: Kavtaradze, Giorgi Leon . The Beginnings of Metallurgy: Proceedings of the International Conference "The Beginnings of Metallurgy", Bochum, 1995 . Deutsches Bergbau-Museum . 1999 . 9783921533635 . Hauptmann . Andreas . Bochum . The importance of metallurgical data for the formation of a Central Transcaucasian chronology.
17. Book: Palumbi, G. . The Red and Black: Social and Cultural Interaction between the Upper Euphrates and Southem Caucasus Communities in the Fourth and Third Millennium BC . Università di Roma "Sapienza" . 2008 . 9788890424007 . Studi di Preistoria Orientale 2 .
18. Book: Kiguradze . Tamaz . Archaeology in the Borderlands: Investigations in Caucasia and Beyond . Sagona . Antonio . Cotsen Institute of Archaeology . 2003 . 978-1-931745-01-7 . Smith . Adam T. . 38–94 . On the Origins of the Kura-Araxes Cultural Complex . Rubinson . Karen Sydney . https://www.academia.edu/3131921.
19. Book: Burney . Charles . The People of the Hills, Ancient Ararat and Caucasus . Lang . David Marshall . Praeger . 1971 . New York.
20. Web site: About Ardahan . 2022-03-02 . Website Ardahan. tk .