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Tamar the Great

Tamar the Great
Tamar (Vardzia fresco detail).jpg
Fresco at the church of Dormition in Vardzia
Queen of Georgia
Reign 27 March 1184 – 18 January 1213
Coronation 1178 as co-regent
1184 as queen-regnant
Gelati Monastery
Predecessor George III
Successor George IV
Born 1160
Died 18 January 1213
(aged 52–53)
Agarani Castle
Spouse Yuri Bogolyubsky (1185–1187)
David Soslan (1191–1207)
Issue George IV
Rusudan
Dynasty Bagrationi dynasty
Father George III of Georgia
Mother Burdukhan of Alania
Religion Georgian Orthodox Church
Queen Tamar monogram.png Queen Tamar SG black.svg
Royal monograms
Signature Tamar the Great's signature

Tamar the Great (Georgian: თამარი, Tamari) (c. 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty, her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title mepe ("king"), afforded to Tamar in the medieval Georgian sources.

Tamar was proclaimed heir and co-ruler by her reigning father George III in 1178, but she faced significant opposition from the aristocracy upon her ascension to full ruling powers after George's death. Tamar was successful in neutralizing this opposition and embarked on an energetic foreign policy aided by the decline of the hostile Seljuq Turks. Relying on a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated the Caucasus until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death.

Tamar was married twice, her first union being, from 1185 to 1187, to the Rus' prince Yuri, whom she divorced and expelled from the country, defeating his subsequent coup attempts. For her second husband Tamar chose, in 1191, the Alan prince David Soslan, by whom she had two children, George and Rusudan, the two successive monarchs on the throne of Georgia.

Tamar's association with the period of political and military successes and cultural achievements, combined with her role as a female ruler, has led to her idealization and romanticization in Georgian arts and historical memory. She remains an important symbol in Georgian popular culture and has been canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as the Holy Righteous Queen Tamar (წმიდა კეთილმსახური მეფე თამარი, ts'mida k'etilmsakhuri mepe tamari), with her feast day commemorated on 14 May (O.S. 1 May).


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