Bagration Family

a Georgian royal dynasty of the 9th—19th centuries. The Bagration family originated in the province of Speri (modern Ispir in Turkey). In the sixth-eighth centuries, one of their branches won ascendancy in Kartli. In the first half of the ninth century, Ashot Bagration founded the strong Principality of Tao-Klardzheti in southern Georgia. Outstanding representatives of the dynasty were David the Builder (1089–1125), Georgii III (1156–84), and Tamara (1184–1213). After the dissolution of the Georgian state at the end of the 15th century, the Bagrationi ruled in the Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti kingdoms. With Georgia’s annexation to Russia in 1801, the royal power of the Bagrationi was abolished. One of their branches became part of the Russian nobility. Many well-known figures that came from the Bagration family include the historians Vakhushti, Teimuraz, David, and others and the Russian military leader P. I. Bagration.