David Soslan
| David Soslan | |
|---|---|
| King Consort of Kingdom of Georgia | |
| Tenure | c. 1187/1189 – c. 1207 |
| Died | 1207 |
| Spouse | Tamar of Georgia |
| Issue |
George IV of Georgia Rusudan of Georgia |
| House | Bagrationi dynasty |
| Father | Jadaron |
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| Signature |  |
David Soslan (Georgian: დავით სოსლანი) (died 1207) was a prince from Alania and second husband of Queen Tamar, whom he married in c. 1189. He is chiefly known for his military exploits during Georgia’s wars against its Muslim neighbors.
David Soslan was a member of the royal house which ruled Alania (Ovseti or Oseti in the Georgian sources; hence, the modern designation of Ossetia), an Orthodox Christian kingdom in the North Caucasus, and frequently intermarried with the Bagrationi Dynasty of Georgia. An anonymous chronicler, writing during the reign of George IV Lasha (son of Tamar and David Soslan; 1212–1223), ascribes to Soslan a Bagratid ancestry. A version of his Bagratid origin found further development in the works of the 18th-century Georgian scholar Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi: He considered Soslan to be a descendant of George I of Georgia (1014–1027) and his Alan wife Alde who were the parents of Demetrius (Demetre), an unfortunate pretender to the Georgian crown whose son, David, was forced by Bagrat IV of Georgia to flee to Alania. According to Vakhushti, David and his descendants - Aton and Jadaron - married into the Alan ruling family and became "kings of the Osi" [i.e., Alans]. This Jadaron is said to have been Soslan's father. While this account is considered credible by the modern scholars such as Mariam Lordkipanidze and Cyril Toumanoff the issue of Soslan's origin still remains uncertain.
A passage from the 13th-century anonymous Georgian Histories and Eulogies of Sovereigns relates that David was under the patronage of Tamar’s paternal aunt Rusudan and came of "the descendants [ძენი; literally, "sons"] of Ephraïm, which are Osi, handsome and strong in battle." The Georgian scholar Korneli Kekelidze suggested that David Soslan’s family – the "Ephraïmids" – might have claimed descent from the biblical Ephraim, and compared this family legend to that of the Bagratids who considered themselves descendants of David, the second king of the Israelites.
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