Mepe (Old Georgian: ႫႴ; Georgian: მეფე in Georgian pronounced as /mepʰe/;) is a royal[1] title used to designate the Georgian monarch, whether it is referring to a king or a queen regnant.[2] [3] The title was originally a male ruling title.[4]
The word is derived from Georgian word მეუფე (meupe)[5] which literally means sovereign and lord.[6] [7] Some Georgian dialects has the term as ნეფე (nepe), all derived from common Proto-Kartvelian მფ/მეფე/მაფა (mp/mepe/mapa).[8] Even though mepe has a female equivalent, დედოფალი (dedopali;)[9] it is only applied to the king's consort and does not have a meaning of a ruling monarch.[10]
See main article: Style of the Georgian sovereign. The term mepe was utilized since pre-Christian beginnings with Azo, but the role would get more structured during the reign of Pharnavaz I[11] in the 3rd century BC.[12] His successors, the Pharnavazid mepes would be titled as goliath[13] who would possess (pharnah;),[14] the divinely endowed glory believed by ancient Persians to mark only a legitimate ruler,[15] accompanied with დიდებაჲ (didebay;) and სუე (sue;).[16] Georgian monarch's reign was known as მეფობაჲ (mepobay;).[17] [18] Loss of pharnah and sue led to imminent death or overthrow of mepe.[19]
In the late 6th century, the Sassanid Empire would abolish the Georgian kingship of the Kingdom of Iberia resulting in the interregnum stretching from 580 to 888 as a demoted principality.[20] [21] Despite the monarchy was in abeyance, and that royal governing disintegrated, the principality rulers would still continue to claim to be referred to as mepes and ჴელმწიფე (helmts'ipe;).[22] After 888[23] [24] (or 889)[25] restoration under next successive dynasty of mepe Adarnase IV, the new kingdom would emerge as the fusion of many lands and territories, that would lead towards a total Georgian unification, culminating in 1008.[26]
In the 12th century,[27] the Bagratid mepe David IV the Builder, who had established himself as the region's superlative political and military force,[28] with his ambitious and sophisticated push for his kingdom's royal imagery promotion,[29] the official style of a king would become imperial[30] თჳთმპყრობელი (tuitmp'q'robeli; [31] i.e. autokratōr)[32] and მეფეთ[ა]მეფე (mepet[a]mepe;[33] [34]), similar to the Byzantine βασιλεὺς βασιλέων (basileus basileōn) and Persian شاهنشاه (shahanshah).[35] David IV's royal projection of his grandiose title was partly aimed at a non-Georgian audience.[36] Title Shahanshah was later totally usurped[37] and consistently used by Georgian monarchs, denoting sovereignty over several Persianate subjects such as Shirvanshahs, the Shaddadids and the Eldiguzids.[38] The royal cult of a monarch would reach its zenith with a female ruler, Tamar, whose execution of power would inaugurate the Georgian Golden Age, her being styled as Tamar, the mepe.[39] Tamar was given the longest and more elaborate titles on the royal charters, listing all the peoples and lands that she ruled as a semi-saint mepetamepe.[40] The Bagrationi mepe, with its royal legitimacy and ideological pillar, would rule Georgia for a millennium, from its medieval elevation down to the Russian conquest in the early 19th century.[41]