TheDivan of the Abkhazian Kings (Georgian:აფხაზთა მეფეთა დივანი,romanized:apkhazta mepeta divani, which is often translated as theChronicles of the Abkhazian Kings) is a short medieval document composed inGeorgian in the late 10th or early 11th century. It has come down to us as a 15th-century copy. The text was first studied and published by theGeorgian scholarEkvtime Takaishvili. It has also been translated intoEnglish andRussian.
It is usually attributed to the first king of all-Georgia,Bagrat III, who began his reign as theAbkhazian king in 978. Somewhat of a manifesto, this document may have been issued by Bagrat, a representative of the new dynasty of theBagrationi, in support of his rights to the Abkhazian throne.
TheDivan lists 22 successive rulers from Anos to Bagrat, and styles each of them as “king” (Georgian:mepe) (though until the mid-780s they functioned as thearchons under theByzantine authority). The text does provide the information about the family relationships among these rulers as well as the duration of the last 11 kings’ reigns, but lacks chronology. The two kings of the Shavliani clan (878–887) are omitted probably because they were regarded as usurpers. The dates and achievements of most of the early Abkhazian rulers remain conjectural.
The names below are given in original transliteration. The dates are as per PrinceCyril Toumanoff and other modern scholars.
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