Samshvilde
| სამშვილდე | |
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Ruins of the Samshvilde citadel
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 Shown within Georgia (country)
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| Location | Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli, Georgia |
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| Coordinates | 41°30′26″N 44°30′20″E / 41.50722°N 44.50556°ECoordinates: 41°30′26″N 44°30′20″E / 41.50722°N 44.50556°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| Length | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) |
| Width | 0.4 km (0.25 mi) |
| History | |
| Periods | Early Bronze Age to Early Modern |
Samshvilde (Georgian: სამშვილდე, [sɑmʃwildɛ]) is a ruined fortified city and archaeological site in Georgia, in the country's south, near the homonymous modern-day village in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region. The ruins of the city, mostly medieval structures, stretches for a distance of 2,5 km in length and 400 m in width in the Khrami river valley. Some of the most recognizable monuments are the Samshvilde Sioni Church and a citadel erected on a rocky river promontory.
Samshvilde features in the medieval Georgian annals as one of the oldest cities of ancient Kartli, dating back to the 3rd century BC. In the Middle Ages, it was an important stronghold as well as a lively commercial and industrial city. Samshvilde changed hands several times in history. At the end of the 10th century, it became capital of the Armenian kings of Tashir-Dzoraget and was incorporated in the Kingdom of Georgia in 1064. From the mid-13th century on, as fortunes of the medieval Georgian monarchy faded, Samshvilde went in decline and was reduced to a peripheral military outpost. By the end of the 18th century, it was in ruins.
The etymology of the name of Samshvilde is first recorded by the 10th-century Armenian chronicler Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi as meaning in Georgian "three arrows", from sami ("three") and mshvildi ("bow"). In fact, the toponym is constructed through a Georgian geographic circumfix sa⟩ ⟨e and means "[a place] of the bow".
Samshvilde is centered in a naturally fortified location, a rocky terrain at the confluence of the Khrami and Chivchavi rivers, 4 km south of the town of Tetritsqaro. The 1968–1970 archaeological expedition uncovered two layers of the early Bronze Age Kura–Araxes culture at Samshvilde, in the southern slopes of Mount Karnkali, dating from the middle of the 4th millennium BC and 3rd millennium BC, respectively. This horizon included a settlement site and burial ground as well as a circular cult building. Artifacts unearthed there were the Bronze-Age pottery and various obsidian tools.
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