Abstract:
Article deals with the history of seizure and execution of the “sovereigns of Klarjeti”
by king Bagrat III of Georgia (978-1014). “Sovereigns of Klarjeti” were cousins of Bagrat.
Consequently, due to this relative status, Sumbat and Gurgen (“Sovereigns of Klarjeti”) went
before the king Bagrat for the meeting in the castle of Phanaskerti without any suspicion.
Only brief information about that event reached to us. Hence we can only deduce what was
the prelude of that meeting in the Phanaskerti castle. According to the historical sources, this
meeting was ordinary gathering of relatives without any political concept. During the
meeting in Phanaskerti, Bagrat III ordered the seizure of brothers, Sumbat and Gurgen. In the
same period Bagrat, king of “Abkhazians and Kartvelians”, captured the city of Artanuji
(political center of Klarjeti region). Only Bagrat and Demetre, sons of Sumbat and Gurgen,
had escaped the wrath of king Bagrat. But all the other members of their family were
arrested by the companions of Bagrat. Princes of Klarjeti fled to Byzantium. Bagrat ordered
to lock his cousins in the fortress of Tmogvi. The same fortune had befallen on the other
members of their family. It is really difficult to explain the real reasons behind those harsh
measures of king Bagrat. According to our assumption, except of the political concepts,
another reason for this conflict was the big family quarrel.
