- Egrisi
Egrisi ( _ka. ეგრისი) is a medieval Georgian name for the region and kingdom in the western part of modern-day Georgia, known to the Byzantine authors as Lazica and to Persians as Lazistan after the Laz tribe, which at some time dominated the local ruling élite. [David Braund, Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, Oxford University Press, USA (September 8, 1994) p 27]
The kingdom flourished between the
6th century BC and the 7th century AD. It covered part of the territory of the former kingdomColchis and subjugated the territory of modern dayAbkhazia . Throughout its existence it was mainly a Byzantine strategic vassal kingdom occasionally coming under the Sassanid Persian rule.At some point in the early
4th century AD , theChristian Eparchy or bishopric ofPitiunt (Bichvinta in Georgian) was established in this kingdom. In325 among the participants of theFirst Council of Nicaea was theBishop ofPitiunt ,Stratophilus . The first Christian king of Egrisi wasGubaz I ; in the5th century , Christianity was made the official religion of Egrisi. Later, the nobility and clergy of Egrisi switched from the Hellenic ecclesiastic tradition to the Georgian; and Georgian became the language of culture and education. TheBichvinta Cathedral is one of oldest monuments of the Georgian Christian architecture constructed by the Georgian King Bagrat III of theBagrationi Royal House in the late 10th century. [W.E.D. Allen, A history of the Georgian people (1932), p. 276.] It was under Bagrat III, that Egrisi unified with the eastern Georgian lands of Iberia-Kartli to form a unitedKingdom of Georgia .References
See also
* History of Georgia
*History of Abkhazia
*Laz people
*Culture of Georgia
*Diaokhi
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.