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Ashot I Kuropalates

Ashot I
აშოტ I
Prince of Iberia
Kouropalatēs
Ashotkurapalatgeorgia.jpg
Ashot Kurapalates, first Bagrationi King of Georgia, 829 AD
King of Georgia
Reign 813–830
Predecessor Stephen III
Successor Bagrat I of Iberia
Adarnase II of Tao-Klarjeti
Guaram Mampali
Died c. 826/830
Nigali valley
Issue Bagrat I of Iberia
Adarnase II of Tao-Klarjeti
Guaram Mampali
Bagrationi, Queen of Abkhazia
Dynasty Bagrationi
Father Adarnase I of Tao-Klarjeti
Religion Georgian Orthodox Church

Ashot I the Great (Georgian: აშოტ I დიდი) (died 826/830) was a presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia), first of the Bagratid family to have attained to this office c. 813. From his base in Tao-Klarjeti, he fought to enlarge the Bagratid territories and sought the Byzantine protectorate against the Arab encroachment until being murdered c. 830. Ashot is also known as Ashot I Curopalates for the Byzantine title he wore. A patron of Christian culture and a friend of the church, he has been canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Ashot was the son of the Iberian nobleman Adarnase who had founded the Bagratoni hereditary fiefdom in Tao-Klarjeti (now northeast Turkey) and bequeathed to his son extensive possessions acquired upon the extinction of his Guaramid and Chosroid cousins. Ashot initially failed to gain a foothold in central Iberia (Shida Kartli), his efforts being dashed by the Arab control of Tiflis. Ashot established himself in his patrimonial duchy of Klarjeti, where he restored the castle of Artanuji said to have been built by the Iberian king Vakhtang I Gorgasali in the 5th century, and received the Byzantine protection, being recognized as the presiding prince and curopalates of Iberia. To revive the country devastated by the Arabs and cholera epidemics, he patronized the local monastic communities established by Grigol Khandzteli, and encouraged the settlement of the Georgians in the region. As a result, the political and religious center of Iberia was effectively transferred from central Iberia to the south-west, in Tao-Klarjeti.


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