Archil of Kakheti

Archil
St. Archil by Mikhail Sabinin
Erismtavari of Kartli / Prince of Kakheti
Reign	736–786
Predecessor	Stephen of Kakheti
Successor	Juansher of Kakheti
Born	Kingdom of Iberia
Died	786
Issue	Juansher of Kakheti Prince Ioane Princess Gurandukht Princess Mariam Princess Mirandukht Princess Susan
Dynasty	Chosroid dynasty
Father	Stephen of Kakheti
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church

Prince Archil the Martyr (Georgian: არჩილი) was an 8th-century Georgian Orthodox Christian royal prince of the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti who was executed by the Arabs for having refused to convert to Islam. Historians are divided as to the years of his activity and death, but Professor Cyril Toumanoff of Georgetown University has relatively reliably established 736 to 786 as the period of his princely rule.

Archil's biography is related in the medieval corpus of Georgian chronicles known as The Life of Kartli. One of its parts, the c. 800 history by Pseudo-Juansher, terminates with a brief account of Archil's tenure as prince, while another one – The Martyrdom of Archil, a brief text of uncertain age (between early 9th and late 11th centuries) inserted just after Ps.-Juansher’s chronicle – narrowly focuses on Archil's martyrdom.

Archil was a scion of the former royal dynasty of Iberia (Kartli), the Chosroid dynasty and a son of Prince Stephen of Kakheti (r. 685-736). His rule coincided with the Arab conquests in Caucasia. The 735-737 expedition by Marwan ibn Muhammad forced Archil and his brother Mirian to flee to the west through Egrisi into Abasgia where they joined the local dynast Leon I in the defense of Anacopia against the invading Arabs. Returning to Kakheti, Archil launched a program of reconstruction and Christianization of his mountainous pagan subjects. The Georgian texts also relate the rise of the Georgian Bagratids, a future royal dynasty, during the time of Archil.

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