Ashot the Immature

Ashot I also known as Ashot Kukhi (Georgian: აშოტ I კუხი, romanized: ashot' I k'ukhi) (died 918) was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and hereditary ruler of Tao with the title of eristavt-eristavi, "duke of dukes". He was nicknamed kukhi, meaning "the Immature".

Ashot I
აშოტ I
Ashot I of Tao, the Kukhi
Prince of Tao
Reign896/908 – 918
PredecessorAdarnase III
SuccessorGurgen II
DynastyBagrationi
ReligionEastern Orthodox Church

Ashot was the younger son of Gurgen I of Tao. After the death of his elder brother Adarnase in 896, he probably stepped in and co-reigned with his nephew David who was still underage at that time. When David died in 908, Ashot became a sole ruler which he remained until his own death in 918.[1]

The Georgian chronicles Kartlis Tskhovreba and contemporary hagiography such as the Vita of Grigol Khandzteli by Giorgi Merchule evidence that Ashot was a keen supporter of monasticism and cultural projects in Tao-Klarjeti. He sponsored the construction of a cathedral at Tbeti in Shavsheti (now Cevizli, Turkey) and installed as its first bishop Stepane Mtbevari from whom Ashot commissioned the hagiographic novel Martyrdom of Mikel-Gobron. A statue purportedly showing Ashot Kukhi which was removed from Tbeti towards the end of World War I is now on display at the Art Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi.[2]

References
  1. Toumanoff, Cyril (1967). Studies in Christian Caucasian History, pp. 493-6. Georgetown University Press.
  2. Antony Eastmond (1998), Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia, pp. 9-12. Penn State Press, ISBN 0-271-01628-0.
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