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49-507: Mtskheta ( Georgian : მცხეთა , romanized : mtskheta [ˈmtsʰχetʰa] ) is a city in the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti , Georgia . It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world . It is located approximately 20 km (12 mi) north of Tbilisi , at the confluence of the Kura and Aragvi rivers. Currently

98-457: A vigesimal numeric system like Basque and (partially) French . Numbers greater than 20 and less than 100 are described as the sum of the greatest possible multiple of 20 plus the remainder. For example, "93" literally translates as 'four times twenty plus thirteen' ( ოთხმოცდაცამეტი , otkhmotsdatsamet’i ). One of the most important Georgian dictionaries is the Explanatory dictionary of

147-569: A Roman grammarian from the 2nd century AD. The first direct attestations of the language are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century, and the oldest surviving literary work is the 5th century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik by Iakob Tsurtaveli . The emergence of Georgian as a written language appears to have been the result of the Christianization of Georgia in the mid-4th century, which led to

196-665: A capital-like effect called Mtavruli for titles and inscriptions. Georgian is an agglutinative language with a complex verb structure that can include up to eight morphemes , exhibiting polypersonalism . The language has seven noun cases and employs a left-branching structure with adjectives preceding nouns and postpositions instead of prepositions. Georgian lacks grammatical gender and articles, with definite meanings established through context. Georgian's rich derivation system allows for extensive noun and verb formation from roots, with many words featuring initial consonant clusters. The Georgian writing system has evolved from ancient scripts to

245-626: A lowland, surrounded by mountains, at the confluence of the two rivers, Kura and Aragvi . The city is approached from the north by the Greater Caucasus and from the south by the Lesser Caucasus mountains. Archeological evidences trace human settlement in the area of Mtskheta from 2nd millennium BC to early 1st millennium AD. Numerous burials of the Bronze Age (beginning of the 1st millennium BC) prove that Mtskheta already

294-490: A ri means 'friend'; megobrebi ( megob Ø rebi ) means 'friends', with the loss of a in the last syllable of the word stem. Georgian has seven noun cases: nominative , ergative , dative , genitive , instrumental , adverbial and vocative . An interesting feature of Georgian is that, while the subject of a sentence is generally in the nominative case and the object is in the accusative case (or dative), one can find this reversed in many situations (this depends mainly on

343-399: A row, as may be seen in words like გვფრცქვნ ი gvprtskvni 'you peel us' and მწვრთნ ელი mts’vrtneli 'trainer'. Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice and suggests this may be one cue distinguishing ejectives from their aspirated and voiced counterparts. Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently

392-470: A small provincial capital, for nearly a millennium until the 5th century AD, Mtskheta was a large fortified city and a significant economic and political center of the Kingdom of Iberia . Due to the historical significance of the town and its several outstanding churches and cultural monuments, the "Historical Monuments of Mtskheta" became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. As the birthplace and one of

441-460: A small wooden church was built in the center of the city, later to become Svetitskhoveli Cathedral . Archeological excavations revealed the remnants of the wooden church within the cathedral. By the 5th century AD the small church was no longer satisfying the growing community of the city, and Vakhtang Gorgasali built a large basilica, the greatest church in Georgia dedicated to the Dormition of

490-589: A word. Georgian vowels in non-initial syllables are pronounced with a shorter duration compared to vowels in initial syllables. long polysyllabic words may have a secondary stress on their third or fourth syllable. Georgian contains many "harmonic clusters" involving two consonants of a similar type (voiced, aspirated, or ejective) that are pronounced with only a single release; e.g. ბგ ერა bgera 'sound', ცხ ოვრება tskhovreba 'life', and წყ ალი ts’q’ali 'water'. There are also frequent consonant clusters , sometimes involving more than six consonants in

539-525: Is also a monument to sculptor Elena Machabeli . A mausoleum of rich woman from 1st century AD was recovered near Mtskheta train station. The structure imitates a house with well-processed quadrats and a fronton . The roof was covered with tile. Among the findings inside the mausoleum was a small bronze statue of young man playing flute. The Historical Monuments of Mtskheta were on UNESCO 's List of World Heritage in Danger , citing "serious deterioration of

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588-563: Is because syllables in the language often begin with two consonants. Recordings are available on the relevant Wiktionary entries, linked to below. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : Pharasmanes I of Iberia Pharasmanes I the Great ( Georgian : ფარსმან I დიდი ; died 58) was a king ( mepe ) of Iberia . He plays a prominent role in the historian Tacitus ' account of policy and campaigns in

637-677: Is known from the Epigram of Amazaspos found in Rome . Toumanoff has tentatively suggested the identification of Pharasmanes with the Aderki (or Rok) of the medieval Georgian chronicles whose reign is said to have coincided with the appearance of the first Christian communities in Iberia, and the travel of the Jews from Mtskheta to Jerusalem whence they witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus and brought

686-1003: Is rather light, and in fact Georgian transliterates the tenuis stops in foreign words and names with the ejectives. The coronal occlusives ( /tʰ tʼ d n/ , not necessarily affricates) are variously described as apical dental, laminal alveolar, and "dental". Per Canepari, the main realizations of the vowels are [ i ], [ e̞ ], [ ä ], [ o̞ ], [ u ]. Aronson describes their realizations as [ i̞ ], [ e̞ ], [ ä ] (but "slightly fronted"), [ o̞ ], [ u̞ ]. Shosted transcribed one speaker's pronunciation more-or-less consistently with [ i ], [ ɛ ], [ ɑ ], [ ɔ ], [ u ]. Allophonically, [ ə ] may be inserted to break up consonant clusters, as in /dɡas/ [dəɡäs] . In casual speech, /iV, Vi/ sequences can be realized phonetically as [jV~i̯V, Vj~Vi̯]. Phrase-final unstressed vowels may sometimes be partially reduced. Prosody in Georgian involves stress, intonation, and rhythm. Stress

735-401: Is very weak, and linguists disagree as to where stress occurs in words. Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result of pitch accents on the first syllable of a word and near the end of a phrase. According to Borise, Georgian has fixed initial word-level stress cued primarily by greater syllable duration and intensity of the initial syllable of

784-458: The Dittionario giorgiano e italiano . These were meant to help western Catholic missionaries learn Georgian for evangelical purposes. On the left are IPA symbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet, which is essentially phonemic. Former /qʰ/ ( ჴ ) has merged with /x/ ( ხ ), leaving only the latter. The glottalization of the ejectives

833-499: The Mkhedruli script is almost completely dominant; the others are used mostly in religious documents and architecture. Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use; a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters of Mkhedruli correspond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language. According to the traditional account written down by Leonti Mroveli in

882-505: The Armaztsikhe acropolis (dating to the late 1st century BC), remains of a "Pompey's bridge" (according to legends built by Roman legionnaires of Pompey the Great in the 1st century BC), the fragmentary remains of a royal palace (1st–3rd century AD), a nearby tomb of the 1st century AD, and the fortress of Bebris tsikhe (14th century). The Institute of Archaeology, and the garden of Mikheil Mamulashvili are also worthy of note. There

931-516: The Georgian Orthodox Church and together are called Khutsuri 'priest alphabet'. In Mkhedruli , there is no case. Sometimes, however, a capital-like effect, called Mtavruli ('title' or 'heading'), is achieved by modifying the letters so that their vertical sizes are identical and they rest on the baseline with no descenders. These capital-like letters are often used in page headings, chapter titles, monumental inscriptions, and

980-503: The Holy Tunic to Iberia. According to the Georgian chronicles, Aderki's division of his kingdom between his two sons, Kartam (Kardzam) and Bartom (Bratman), inaugurated the start of dyarchy in Iberia which would last for five generations. Many modern scholars, however, doubt the existence of the diarchy, for the contemporary foreign source make references only to sole monarch. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

1029-457: The Kartlian dialect. Over the centuries, it has exerted a strong influence on the other dialects. As a result, they are all, generally, mutually intelligible with standard Georgian, and with one another. The history of the Georgian language is conventionally divided into the following phases: The earliest extant references to Georgian are found in the writings of Marcus Cornelius Fronto ,

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1078-462: The Khazars between 736 and 739, and again when Timur conquered the area in the 15th century. These attacks reduced the size of the city, and by the time Georgia became part of Russia in 1801, it was little more than a village. However, industrialization improved the economic situation of the city. The old city lies at the confluence of the rivers Mtkvari and Aragvi. In recognition of its role in

1127-403: The 11th century, the first Georgian script was created by the first ruler of the Kingdom of Iberia , Pharnavaz , in the 3rd century BC. The first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD. There are now three Georgian scripts, called Asomtavruli 'capitals', Nuskhuri 'small letters', and Mkhedruli . The first two are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of

1176-467: The 4th-3rd centuries BC mention that Mtskheta had a number of neighborhoods. Among them, Armazis-tsikhe, Tzitzamuri, Jvari and others. Like other Georgian towns it was divided into the city proper and the citadel. Both the excavations and The Georgian Chronicles tell about considerable construction in the Hellenistic period : residential houses, palaces and fortifications. A new wall around Mtskheta

1225-677: The 5th century, to Modern Georgian today. Its development as a written language began with the Christianization of Georgia in the 4th century. Georgian phonology features a rich consonant system, including aspirated, voiced, and ejective stops , affricates , and fricatives . Its vowel system consists of five vowels with varying realizations. Georgian prosody involves weak stress, with disagreements among linguists on its placement. The language's phonotactics include complex consonant clusters and harmonic clusters. The Mkhedruli script , dominant in modern usage, corresponds closely to Georgian phonemes and has no case distinction, though it employs

1274-594: The Georgian Christian history, Mtskheta was granted the status of a "Holy City" by Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia in accordance with the written testament of his 11th-century predecessor Melchizedek I of Georgia . Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (11th century), Samtavro Monastery (4th century) and Jvari Monastery (6th century) in Mtskheta are amongst the most significant monuments of Georgian Christian architecture, and are historically significant in

1323-568: The Georgian language ( ქართული ენის განმარტებითი ლექსიკონი ). It consists of eight volumes and about 115,000 words. It was produced between 1950 and 1964, by a team of linguists under the direction of Arnold Chikobava . Georgian has a word derivation system, which allows the derivation of nouns from verb roots both with prefixes and suffixes, for example: It is also possible to derive verbs from nouns: Likewise, verbs can be derived from adjectives, for example: In Georgian many nouns and adjectives begin with two or more contiguous consonants. This

1372-548: The Mother of God, Svetitskhoveli , which survived until the 11th century. The first katolikos was elected in the 5th century, and his residence was in Svetotskhoveli, in Mtskheta. By the 11th century, the earlier basilica of Svetitskhoveli was again too small, and Katolikos Melchizedek I built a new church on top of it. King Dachi of Iberia (early 6th century AD), who was the successor of Vakhtang I of Iberia , moved

1421-469: The Mtkvari River, and three forts protected it. The main citadel, Armazi , on Mount Bagineti controlled the entrance from the south and east, Tsitsamuri , at the base of Mount Jvari from the north, and Sarkine from the west. Mtskheta was a site of early Christian activity resulting in the Christianization of Iberia , where Christianity was proclaimed the state religion in 337. It remains

1470-474: The capital from Mtskheta to the more easily defensible Tbilisi according to the will left by his father. Afterwards the importance of Mtskheta began to decline, while that of Tbilisi grew. However, Mtskheta continued as the coronation and burial place for most kings of Georgia until the end of the kingdom in the 19th century. Mtskheta suffered tremendous damage during the Umayyad Caliphate 's defeat of

1519-403: The character of the verb). This is called the dative construction . In the past tense of the transitive verbs, and in the present tense of the verb "to know", the subject is in the ergative case. Georgian has a rich word-derivation system. By using a root, and adding some definite prefixes and suffixes, one can derive many nouns and adjectives from the root. For example, from the root - kart -,

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1568-458: The current Mkhedruli, used for most purposes. The language has a robust grammatical framework with unique features such as syncope in morphophonology and a left-branching syntax. Georgian's vocabulary is highly derivational, allowing for diverse word formations, while its numeric system is vigesimal. No claimed genetic links between the Kartvelian languages and any other language family in

1617-491: The development of medieval architecture throughout the Caucasus . Of special significance are early inscriptions, which form a valuable reference in the study of the origins of the early Georgian alphabet .. Samtavro necropolis , a burial place north of the monastery, is dated between the middle of the 3rd millennium BC and the 10th century. In the outskirts of Mtskheta are the ruins of Armaztsikhe fortress (3rd century BC),

1666-424: The early Georgian Kingdom of Iberia from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. The chronicles mention that the Kingdom of Iberia and its capital were conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, but certain historians do not accept this. Eventually, the ruler appointed by Alexander ruined the walls of Mtskheta and left only four fortresses, one of them known today as Armazi . Ancient sources of

1715-621: The eastern lands of the Roman Empire under Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius and Nero . According to Cyril Toumanoff , Pharasmanes was a member of the third Pharnavazid dynasty and reigned from 1 to 58. Pharasmanes is mentioned on the Stele of Vespasian . During his reign, Iberia was transformed into the Transcaucasian empire, that would dominate the kingdoms of Armenia and Albania . As allies of Rome, his brother Mithridates

1764-498: The following words can be derived: Kart veli ('a Georgian person'), Kart uli ('the Georgian language') and Sa kart velo ('the country of Georgia'). Most Georgian surnames end in - dze 'son' (Western Georgia), - shvili 'child' (Eastern Georgia), - ia (Western Georgia, Samegrelo ), - ani (Western Georgia, Svaneti ), - uri (Eastern Georgia), etc. The ending - eli is a particle of nobility, comparable to French de , Dutch van , German von or Polish - ski . Georgian has

1813-512: The headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church . Around that period Mtskheta was a culturally developed city. A gravestone dated between the late 4th and early 5th centuries, found in Samtavro necropolis , contains an epitaph in Greek , telling about the main architect and archizograph (artist) of Mtskheta Aurelius Acholis. In the first years after the conversion of Georgia into Christianity,

1862-498: The like. This is the Georgian standard keyboard layout. The standard Windows keyboard is essentially that of manual typewriters . Georgian is an agglutinative language . Certain prefixes and suffixes can be joined in order to build a verb. In some cases, one verb can have up to eight different morphemes in it at the same time. An example is ageshenebinat ('you [all] should've built [it]'). The verb can be broken down to parts: a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a-t . Each morpheme here contributes to

1911-472: The meaning of the verb tense or the person who has performed the verb. The verb conjugation also exhibits polypersonalism ; a verb may potentially include morphemes representing both the subject and the object. In Georgian morphophonology , syncope is a common phenomenon. When a suffix (especially the plural suffix - eb -) is attached to a word that has either of the vowels a or e in the last syllable, this vowel is, in most words, lost. For example, megob

1960-591: The most vibrant centers of Christianity in Georgia , Mtskheta was declared the " Holy City " by the Georgian Orthodox Church in 2014. In 2016, the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta were placed by UNESCO under Enhanced Protection, a mechanism established by the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Mtskheta is set on

2009-599: The proceedings of Rhadamistus, and in order to curry their favor, Pharasmanes put his son to death. Pharasmanes was apparently succeeded by Mithridates (Mihrdat) I . At an unknown date, Pharasmanes married an unnamed Armenian princess of the Artaxiad dynasty . She was the daughter of the Artaxiad Armenian monarchs Tigranes IV and his sister-wife Erato . His Armenian wife bore him three sons: Mithridates I (Mihrdat) , Rhadamistus , and Amazaspus (Amazasp), who

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2058-640: The replacement of Aramaic as the literary language . By the 11th century, Old Georgian had developed into Middle Georgian. The most famous work of this period is the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin , written by Shota Rustaveli in the 12th century. In 1629, a certain Nikoloz Cholokashvili authored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, the Alphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Oratione and

2107-486: The rumours of his death demoralized the Parthians. Around 52, Pharasmanes instigated his son, Rhadamistus , whose ambitious and aspiring character began to give him umbrage, to make war upon his uncle Mithridates, and supported him in his enterprise. After a short reign, Rhadamistus was in turn expelled by the Parthians in 55, and took refuge again in his father's dominions. The Romans had expressed their displeasure at

2156-590: The stonework and frescoes" as the main threat to the site's long-term preservation. They were removed from the list in 2016. Mtskheta is twinned with: Georgian language Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages ( Megrelian and Laz ) and more distantly to Svan . Georgian has various dialects , with standard Georgian based on the Kartlian dialect, and all dialects are mutually intelligible. The history of Georgian spans from Early Old Georgian in

2205-469: The walls of Mtskheta were improved during the reign of Bartom in the 1st century BC, and later also by Aderki , often identified with Pharasmanes I . The latter king is associated with the appearance of the first Christian communities in Kartli and the arrival of the Holy Tunic to Mtskheta, brought from Jerusalem by local Jews . The city was strongly fortified at that period. Walls lined both sides of

2254-399: The world are accepted in mainstream linguistics. Among the Kartvelian languages, Georgian is most closely related to the so-called Zan languages ( Megrelian and Laz ); glottochronological studies indicate that it split from the latter approximately 2700 years ago. Svan is a more distant relative that split off much earlier, perhaps 4000 years ago. Standard Georgian is largely based on

2303-465: Was a significant settlement at that period. According to The Georgian Chronicles , Mtskheta was founded by Mtskhetos , the son of Kartlos , eponymous ancestor of the Georgians . The wall around the city was built by Nimrod 's ancestor Ardam. By another version, more accepted by historians, Mtskheta was founded by the ancient Meschian tribes in the 5th century BC . Mtskheta was the capital of

2352-452: Was built by the first Georgian king, Parnavaz , in the beginning of the 3rd century BC, and later strengthened by his son Saurmag in the late 3rd - early 2nd century BC. In late 2nd - early 1st century BC, king Parnajom strengthened his relations with Persians and invited Zoroastrian priests to settle in Mtskheta. This probably led to construction of Zoroastrian temples in the city. Meanwhile, no such archeological evidence exists. Again

2401-485: Was installed as king of Armenia by Roman emperor Tiberius , who invaded Armenia in 35. When the Parthian prince Orodes , son of Artabanus II of Parthia , attempted to dispossess Mithridates of his newly acquired kingdom, Pharasmanes led a large Iberian army and defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle (Tacitus, Annals . vi. 32–35). Pharasmanes personally smashed Orod's helmet with one blow: Orod galloped off, and

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