Cjss second Issue: cjss second Issue qxd

1. Shatberduli List: „... and after him the Eristavi was Guaram Kurapalate
6 and the younger Guaram 7 and after them Arshusha Kurapalate 8 and Varaz
Bakur apai Patrikioz who converted the Garbanelni 9 and  later Nerse [10]
with his sons: Philipe 11, Stepanoz 12, Adarnese 13, Guaram 14 and Bakure-
ani Ba[L]dadisi 15 and the sons of Adarnese: Stepanoz 16, and Ashot Kura-
palate 17, and Guaram 18. These were the great Eristavis” (Zveli Kartuli
Agiograpia, I. p. 97).
2. Chelishuri List: „... and after him the Eristavi was Guaram Kurapalate
6 and the youngest Guaram 7 and after them Arshusha Kurapalate 8 and
Varaz Bakur apai Patrikioz who converted the Garbanelni 9 and  later Nerse
[10] and his sons: Philipe 11, Stepanoz 12, Adarnese 13, Guaram 14 and
Bakureani Badadisi and the sons of Adarnese Stepanoz 16, Ashot Kurapalate
17, and Guaram 18. These were the great Eristavis” (Zveli Kartuli Agiograpia,
I. p. 97).
3. Sina Manuscript: „... and after him the Eristavi was Guaram Kurapalate
and the young Guaram and after them Arshusha Kurapalate and Varaz Bakur
apai Patrikioz who converted the Garbanelni and  then Nerse the Great  and
his sons: Philipe, and Stepanoz, and Adarnese, and Guaram the Great Bakure-
ani, son of  Ba[L]dadisi, and the sons of Adarnese Stepanoz, and Ashot Kura-
palate, and Guaram. These were the great Eristavis” (Aleksidze, 2001. pp.
82-83).
If we compare the texts it will be obvious that: 1. the “Baldadisa and not
“Badadisi” is a more correct form, since it was easier to miss a letter in writing
than to add one (Compare, Bar(da)banelebi). 2. the form Baghdadis is a dis-
torted version of Bagh(a)dadi, the same Bag(a)dadis  that was later a basis for
Bagrat-uni. 2. Baldadadis misses Adarnese,  i.e. the text has to be restored in
the following way: „ ... and  later Nerse the great with his sons: Philip,
Stepanoz, Adarnese, and Guaram the Great Bakuriani and Bagh(a)dadisi
(Adarnese) and the sons of Adarnese Stepanoz, and Ashot and Guaram. These
were the great Eristavis” (Sanadze, May 15, 2003; Collected Works, May 27-
30, 2003. pp. 31-34).
Hence, we deal with two families: Nerse and his son Bakuriani (the Ner-
siani of Kartlis Tskhovreba)(Kartlis Tskhovreba, I, p. 241) and the offspring
Adarnese (the same Agharnersiani of Kartlis Tskhovreba) (Kartlis
Tskhovreba, I, p. 242). 
The Bakuriani: Nerse I, Stepanoz III, Mir, Archil, Juansher, Nerse II,
Stepanoz IV (by mother’s line) are Georgian Erismtavaris almost by the end
of VIII century. Before Ashot Kurapalate (the family of Bagration-Adarnersian)
took away the position of Erismtavari from them. Kartlis Tskhovreba provides
precise information when it mentions that after Stepanoz Erismtavari the
Byzantine Caesar gave the title of Erismtavari to the Bakurisdze, i. e. the
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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Bakuriani. Yet, the chronicler makes one mistake. This fact happened not after
Stepanoz II was Eristavi, not Stepanoz I. Nerse – not Adarnese - was the first
Eristavi among the Bakuriani. And the Byzantine emperor to raise Nerse
Bakuriani to the Eristavi throne was Constantine 668-685 and not Herecle
(Sanadze, Kartli on the Biarders of VII VIII Centuries. p. 17). 
Ashot, the son of Aghasran mentioned on the list of Erismtavaris of Mok-
tsevai Kartlisai, is the father of the great Ashot Kurapalate (died in 826). It is
a fact that the author of the Shatverduli collection of X century, mixed him
with Ashot Kurapalate by mistake, and added “Kurapalate” to his name in the
text. 
Here we would like to briefly touch on the issue of Agharnersian, the
same Baghaghad (Bagrationi). Kartlis Tsovreba contains the following data
on the father of  Ashot Kurapalate Adarnase: “At the time there came one sov-
ereign (Erismtavari Archil is implied) who was a relative of David Prophet.
His name was Agharsane. He was the nephew of Aghasrane the Blind, whose
father was the relative of Bagratonian and whom the Greeks crowned as the
Erismtavari of the Armenian parts. He was taken captive to Klarjeti and sub-
jugated there together with the sons of Guaram Kurapalate” (Kartlis
Tskhovreba, 1942. p. 154).
The inscription on one of the manuscripts discovered on Sina Mountain
by the expedition of the Institute of Manuscripts provides enough information
to understand the above-given text.  
The inscription reads: “when the blessed and great mampali Aghasrane
– the son of Stepanoz, the nephew of Dimitri, the  nephew of the great Guram
- passed away and his blessed wife – Queen Latavra, the daughter of Stepanoz,
sister of Aghsartan the mother of Bagratuniani and Kurapalate passed away
on the 2 of January after twenty years, was buried in Jvari, St Mary, by the
portion of her daughter and son (Aleksidze, 2002. p. 23-36). 
While comparing the texts we can see that Agharsane, the father of
Ashot Kurapalate, was the grandson of Adarnese the Blind (Aleksidze, 2002.
p. 23-36). If we look at the chronology, the Adarnese Blind will appear as liv-
ing in VII-VII centuries, a contemporary of Nerse Bakurisdze and his sons
mentioned in the Moktsevai: Stepanoz, Ashot and Guaram should have been
the contemporaries of Mir and Archil – the sons of Stepanoz. To be more pre-
cise, Adarnese, the father of Ashot Kurapalate and grandson of Aghasran the
Blind, was the young contemporary of Archil. As for the word “father” , he
was father as used to refer to Adarnese the Blind, in this case it stands for the
person  who started the family, the forefather, and not a real father. The inser-
tion of Murvan the Deaf belongs to a later time. Otherwise, the two parts con-
vey the same information. The forefather of Agharsane the Blind, the
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