THE IRANIAN HERITAGE OF GEORGIA: BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO THE PRE-BAGRATID HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TRADITION

Traditionally, scholars have considered extant medieval Georgian historiography as having been produced exclusively during the millennium Of Bagratid rule. This essay identifies a separate historiographical phase just preceding the rise of Bagratid rule in the Georgian domains in the early ninth century. Pre-Bauratid historiographical texts are distinguished first and foremost by their Iranian flavor, which is a reflection of the longstanding membership of the whole of southern Caucasia in the Iranian Cultural world.