Alexander Amilakhvari

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Prince Alexander Amilakhvari (Georgian: ალექსანდრე ამილახვარი, Alek'sandre Amilakhvari; Russian: Александр Дмитриевич Амилахоров, Aleksandr Dmitrievich Amilakhorov) (October 20, 1750 – 1802) was a Georgian nobleman and author known as a theoretical supporter of enlightened absolutism, and also for his opposition to King Erekle II’s rule.

A member of one of the leading noble families of Georgia, that of Amilakhvari, he was involved, together with his father, in a 1765 coup plot aimed at deposing Erekle II in favor of Prince Paata, a pretender to the Georgian throne. After the plot collapsed, he was arrested and mutilated (his nose was cut). In 1771, however, he staged a prison break and fled to the Russian Empire where he joined Prince Alexander, another Georgian pretender-in-exile. With the Russo-Georgian rapprochement, Amilakhvari was arrested by the Russian government at Erekle’s request and cast in the Vyborg prison in 1783. The 1801 amnesty granted Amilakhvari freedom and allowed him to return to Georgia. He died on his way back at Astrakhan, however.

Amilakhvari’s political pamphlet – A Georgian History[1] – published in St. Petersburg in 1779 relates his own story and describes Georgia’s political and social life of the latter half of the 18th century. At the same time, the author overtly attacks the Georgian autocracy and unleashes criticism on Erekle II, every aspect of whose rule is portrayed extremely negatively. Another of his works The Sage of the Orient (ბრძენი აღმოსავლეთისა) is influenced by some ideas of the contemporaneous French Enlightenment and is essentially a project of the reformed Kingdom of Georgia based on decentralization of royal authority.

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  1. ^ Its full Russian title is: История георгианская о юноше князе Амилахорове: С кратким прибавлением истории тамошней земли от начала до нынешняго века, которую рассказывает Усим купец анатольский со товарищами своим между разными известиями.

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