Misplaced Pages

Mepe (Old Georgian: ႫႴ; Georgian: მეფე [mepʰe]; meh-PEH) is a royal title used to designate the Georgian monarch, whether it is referring to a king or a queen regnant. The title was originally a male ruling title.

Etymology

The word is derived from Georgian word მეუფე (meupe) which literally means sovereign and lord. Some Georgian dialects has the term as ნეფე (nepe), all derived from common Proto-Kartvelian მფ/მეფე/მაფა (mp/mepe/mapa). Even though mepe has a female equivalent, დედოფალი (dedopali; lit. 'queen') it is only applied to the king's consort and does not have a meaning of a ruling monarch.

History

The term mepe was utilized since pre-Christian beginnings with Azo, but the role would get more structured during the reign of Pharnavaz I in the 3rd century BC. His successors, the Pharnavazid mepes would be titled as goliath who would possess 𐬓𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀𐬵 (pharnah; lit. 'royal radiance'), the divinely endowed glory believed by ancient Persians to mark only a legitimate ruler, accompanied with დიდებაჲ (didebay; lit. 'greatness') and სუე (sue; lit. 'fortune; destiny'). Georgian monarch's reign was known as მეფობაჲ (mepobay; lit. 'kingship'). Loss of pharnah and sue led to imminent death or overthrow of mepe.

In the late 6th century, the Sassanid Empire would abolish the Georgian kingship of the Kingdom of Iberia resulting in the interregnum stretching from c. 580 to 888 as a demoted principality. Despite the monarchy was in abeyance, and that royal governing disintegrated, the principality rulers would still continue to claim to be referred to as mepes and ჴელმწიფე (helmts'ipe; lit. 'sovereign'). After 888 (or 889) restoration under next successive dynasty of mepe Adarnase IV, the new kingdom would emerge as the fusion of many lands and territories, that would lead towards a total Georgian unification, culminating in 1008.

In the 12th century, the Bagratid mepe David IV the Builder, who had established himself as the region's superlative political and military force, with his ambitious and sophisticated push for his kingdom's royal imagery promotion, the official style of a king would become imperial თჳთმპყრობელი (tuitmp'q'robeli; lit. 'absolute master' i.e. autokratōr) and მეფეთმეფე (mepetmepe; lit. 'King of Kings'), similar to the Byzantine βασιλεὺς βασιλέων (basileus basileōn) and Persian شاهنشاه (shahanshah). David IV's royal projection of his grandiose title was partly aimed at a non-Georgian audience. Title Shahanshah was later totally usurped and consistently used by Georgian monarchs, denoting sovereignty over several Persianate subjects such as Shirvanshahs, the Shaddadids and the Eldiguzids. The royal cult of a monarch would reach its zenith with a female ruler, Tamar, whose execution of power would inaugurate the Georgian Golden Age, her being styled as Tamar, the mepe. Tamar was given the longest and more elaborate titles on the royal charters, listing all the peoples and lands that she ruled as a semi-saint mepetamepe. The Bagrationi mepe, with its royal legitimacy and ideological pillar, would rule Georgia for a millennium, from its medieval elevation down to the Russian conquest in the early 19th century.

See also

• Caesar, Roman title
• Basileus, Greek title
• Shah, Persian title
• Tsar, Slavic title

Notes

1. ^ The terms ႫႴ (mp), ႫႴႤ (mpe) and ႫႤႴႤ (mepe) were used simultaneously. Such abbreviations were common in Georgian.
2. ^ The Pharnavazids were fascinated by the Persian structure of royal administration, yet cultivated close relations with the Hellenistic Seleucids. The pre-Christian Georgian kings modeled themselves in a same heroic garb as in the Iranian epic cycle and imagery, also incorporating several allusions to the Hebrew Bible and Classical Syriac sources. The pre-Christian Georgian rulers identified Persia as the "land of heroes and giants", an exalted status that was never bestowed upon Rome or Byzantium.
3. ^ The Chosroids were dethroned immediately after the death of King Bakur III. Bakur's sons would remain in the mountainous region of Kakheti; their royal pedigree would rule the region as titular princes styled as mtavari.
4. ^ The Bagratids restored the royal authority soon after they succeeded the Chosroids and seized the Principality of Iberia in 813. They brought rapid expansion and consolidation within Georgian polities. Bagrationi monarchs would base much of their culture modeling and competing intensely with the Byzantine emperors. They frequently claimed saintly status and linked themselves with the divine, eucharistic symbolism, had Davidic lineage pretensions, their royal superiority always depicted haloes and crowns and surrounded by the warrior saints. 12th century icon preserved in the collection of the Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai shows King David IV, styled as "pious emperor", standing next to Saint George and receiving the crown from Jesus Christ. The Bagratid kings would expand their authority beyond the confines of Georgia itself, transforming the kingdom into an imperial power. Georgia's imperial "Byzantinization" would result in abandoning its traditional use of the Syro-Palestinian liturgy; in the presence of thousands of Georgian monks throughout Byzantine lands, including Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus, Anatolia, Bulgaria, on Mount Athos; and the Byzantino-Georgian exchange of diplomatic marriages.
5. The first Georgian king to assume the title "mepetmepe" was Gurgen of Iberia, but the term would become absolute and universal during and after David IV. Gurgen's title is elaborated by the Bagratid-commissioned chronicler Sumbat Davitis Dze, explaining Gurgen being a mepe, and a father, of another mepe. Gurgen ruled the Kingdom of the Iberians, while his son, Bagrat, led the Kingdom of the Abkhazians.
6. The Georgian kingship had stubborn and staunch devotion to rules of legitimism and the dynastic succession as a new mepe should have had a biological connection and/or matrimony with an existing family. The Pharnavazids, Chosroids and Bagratids were related through descent, intermarriage and adoption.

References

1. Eastmond, p. 58
2. Eastmond, p. 182
3. Rapp, p. 38
4. Rapp, p. 472
5. Rayfield, location: 1292
6. Rapp, p. 263
7. Eastmond, p. 178
8. Klimov, p. 120
9. Rapp, p. 265
10. Klimov, p. 196
11. Klimov, pp. 195-215
12. Rapp, p. 286
13. Eastmond, p. 109
14. Rapp, p. 182
15. Rapp, p. 153
16. Rapp, pp. 11-277
17. Rapp, p. 154
18. Rapp, p. 141
19. Eastmond (2017), p. 109
20. Rapp, p. 155
21. Rapp, p. 205
22. Rapp, p. 276
23. Rapp (2014), p. 228
24. Rapp, p. 261
25. Bakhtadze, pp. 1-4
26. Rapp (2014), p. 230
27. Rayfield, location: 980
28. Rapp, p. 426
29. Rapp, pp. 233-471
30. Rapp, pp. 372-451
31. Eastmond, pp. 5-6
32. Bakhtadze, p. 3
33. Rayfield, location: 1337
34. Rapp, p. 337
35. Bakhtadze, pp. 5-9
36. Rapp, p. 231
37. Rapp, p. 187
38. Eastmond (2017), p. 111
39. Rapp, pp. 165-231-479
40. Eastmond, p. 5
41. Rapp, p. 370
42. Eastmond, pp. 118-121-201
43. Eastmond, p. 69
44. Eastmond (2017), p. 112
45. Eastmond (2017), p. 113
46. Rapp, p. 338
47. Eastmond, pp. 70-71
48. Eastmond, pp. 59-60
49. Rapp, p. 396
50. Eastmond (2017), p. 114
51. Eastmond, p. 134
52. Rayfield, location: 2194
53. Bakhtadze, p. 29
54. Eastmond, p. 39
55. Rapp, p. 501
56. Bakhtadze, pp. 20-22
57. Rapp, p. 372
58. Eastmond, pp. 67-70
59. Eastmond, p. 92
60. Rayfield, location: 2199
61. Eastmond, p. 97
62. Eastmond, pp. 162-178
63. Rapp (2014), pp. 230-231
64. Rapp (2014), pp. 273-370
65. Rapp (2014), pp. 232-240
66. Rapp, pp. 234-338

Bibliography

• Rapp, Stephen H. (2014) The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4724-2552-2
• Rapp, Stephen H. (2003) Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts; Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5
• Eastmond, A. (2017) Eastern Approaches to Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-Third Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Warwick, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-351-94213-3
• Eastmond, A. (1998) Royal imagery in medieval Georgia, Pennsylvania State University, ISBN 978-0-271-01628-3
• Rayfield, D. (2013) Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia, Reaktion Books, ISBN 9781780230702
• Bakhtadze, M. (2015) Georgian titulature of Tao-Klarjeti ruling Bagrationi dynasty, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Institute of Georgian History Proceedings, IX, Tbilisi, Publishing Meridiani
• Klimov, G. (1998) Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages; Walter de Gruyter GmbH; ISBN 978-3-11-015658-4

• Royal titles
• Georgian words and phrases
• Honorifics
• Pharnavazid dynasty
• Chosroid dynasty
• Bagrationi dynasty
• Monarchs of Georgia