TITLE OF CAESAR IN MEDIEVAL GEORGIAN POLITICAL REALITY

Abstract

Caesar in the early Roman Empire simply means Emperor. A bit later seignior-Emperor was called Augustus, and junior-Emperor – Caesar.In the Byzantine Empire Caesar (Καῖσαρ) is the Byzantine court title. The Georgians in the Medieval ages maintained Ḳeisari for the Emperor, and created Ḳesarosi as a the court title.The only Georgian sovereign who received that dignity from Byzantine Emperor was Giorgi II (1072-1089). He acquired this dignity approximately in 1076. Giorgi also appears with that title (i.e. Ḳesarosi) in the inscriptions on his silver coins minted in Kutaisi. Apart from Giorgi II of Georgia, the title of Caesar was conferred to John Doukas, who was the uncle of Emperor Michael VII Doukas (1071-1078), and Nikephoros Melissenos. During the rule of Emperor Alexios Komnenos title of Caesar was further debased.The title of Caesar was not reserved only for Giorgi II. Two brothers, famous Georgian generals, Zacharia and Ivane Mkhargrdzeli also had this title.Concerning to our observation, the title of Caesar appears in the Armenian and Persian sources in a form similar to Georgian Ḳesarosi. Zacharia and Ivane Mkhargrdzeli were honored with it. All probably, the person who donated the title to members of Mkhargrdzeli family was Georgian monarch rather than Byzantine Emperor.Ḳeisari is Georgian form to designate Roman and Byzantine Emperors in the Georgian sources. An early Roman context is preserved in this case. Even the Persian historical records supplement the Georgian sources. They used the similar form to Ḳeisari to describe the royal status of the Georgian monarchs