Kartlos

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Thargamos and his sons.
The order of the figures from left to right is: Movakan, Bardos, Kartlos, Haos, Lekos, Thargamos, Cavcasus, Egros. An opening folio of the Georgian Chronicles (Vakhtangiseuli redaction), 1700s.

Kartlos or K'art'los (Georgian: ქართლოს) was the legendary establisher and eponymous father of Georgia, and the mythic ancestor of Georgians, namely its nucleus Kartli (Caucasian Iberia). His story is narrated in the compilation of the medieval Georgian chronicles, Kartlis Cxovreba, taken down from oral tradition by Leonti Mroveli in the 11th century.

The legend has it that he was a son of Targamos and, thus, brother of Haos, Movakos, Lekos, Heros, Kavkasos, and Egros from whom other Caucasian peoples took their origin. Kartlos united his people to become their chieftain and founded the city of Kartli.

According to some modern scholars, Kartlos seems to be a later contrivance though he came to be regarded in the medieval epoch as a real historical figure and the genuine founder of the Georgian nation.^[1]

[edit] Descendants

He had several sons:

• Mcxetos
• Gardabos
• Kakhos
• Kukhos
• Gachios
• Uphlos
• Odzrkhos
• Javakhos

– who became eponymous founders and the first rulers of Mtskheta, Gardabani, Kakheti, Kukheti, Gachiani, Uplistsikhe, Odzrkhe, and Javakheti, respectively.

The 3rd-century BC Iberian king Pharnavaz is said to have claimed his descent from Kartlos, being called Kartlosiani (Kartlosid) after him.

[edit] References