Georgians

Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, translit.: kartvelebi) are a nation and ethnic group who constitute a majority of the population in Georgia. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Iran, United States, and to a lesser extent throughout the European Union.

Georgians arose from the ancient Colchian and Iberian civilizations. They embraced Christianity in the early 4th century and now majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christians and most follow their national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church. There are also small Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara, as well as a significant number of irreligious Georgians.

A complex process of nation formation has resulted in a diverse set of geographic subgroups of Georgians, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialects and, in the case of Svans and Mingrelians, own regional languages. The Georgian language, with its own unique writing system and extensive written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the official language of Georgia as well as the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in the country.

Hundred Thousand Martyrs of Tbilisi

The Hundred Thousand Martyrs (Georgian: ასი ათასი მოწამე, asi atasi mots'ame; originally, ათნი ბევრნი მოწამენი, at'ni bevrni mots'ameni) are saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church, who were put to death, according to the 14th-century anonymous Georgian source Chronicle of a Hundred Years, for not renouncing Christianity by the Khwarezmid sultan Jalal ad-Din upon his capture of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in 1226. The Georgian church commemorates them on 13 November (O.S. 31 October).

History

Jalal ad-Din's first encounter with the Kingdom of Georgia occurred in 1225, when his army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Georgians at Garni, bringing about the end of Georgia's medieval heyday. Next year, Jalal ad-Din marched on to Tbilisi, forcing Queen Rusudan of Georgia and her court into flight. The Georgian forces, left in defense of the capital, put up a fierce resistance, but Jalal's forces eventually broke into the city with the assistance of local Muslims on 9 March 1226. The victorious Khwarezmid soldiers sacked Tbilisi and massacred its Christian population. The anonymous 14th-century Georgian chronicle, conventionally known as the Chronicle of a Hundred Years, laments: "Words are powerless to convey the destruction that the enemy brought: tearing infants from their mothers' breasts, they beat their heads against the bridge, watching as their eyes dropped from their skulls...". The Muslim historians ibn al-Athir and Nasawi, the latter being Jalal's secretary and biographer, confirm the killings of Christians who did not accept Islam at the sultan's order.