Georgia, or Grusia, formerly an independent country of .\sia, now included in the Russian prov- inces of Tiriis and Kutais. The name is sometimes employed to designate tlie whole territory possessed or claimed by the Pussians south of tlie Caucasus, and emljracing the districts of Kacheth, Karthli (Kar- thalinia, Karduel), Imereth, Mingrelia, and Guria. In this larger sense it lias an area of about 28,000 square miles, and in 1862 a population of 1,142,611 inhabit- ants ; while Georgia proper, embracing the three first- named districts, contains only 12,800 stjuare miles and 577.267 inhabitants. The (Georgians are one of that numerous group of nations or tribes that inhabit the Caucasus, to which Ur. Latham has given the name of Dioscurians. They are celebrated for the athletic frames of their men and the beauty of their women, but their long oppression by the Mohammedans has had its effect both upon their intelligence and their luorality. Of the total population of Georgia, taken in the larger sense, 835, 830- belong to the Georgian rice (inclusive of Mingrelians and Lazi); the remain- der are Turcomanni, Ossetes, Armenians, Jews, Kus- 1
sians, and Germans. The Christian population num. bers 1,003,791, and the non-Christian l;!8,820 souls. On their language and literature, see the articles Georgian LANGUACiE and Georgian Version.
The ancient history of Georgia is altogether fabu- lous. It suljinitted to Alexander the Great, but after his death was made an independent kingdom. In this condition it remained for al)out twenty-one cen- turies. Christianity spread in Georgia about the close of the 4th century and dislodged the ancient religion, which was jirobably kindred to tiie Mithras service of the ancient Persians. In consequence of the jjrofes- sion of tlie Christian faith, Georgia became allied to the Byzantine empire, conjointly with which it re- sisted the attacks of the Sassanides. More successful than the inroads of the Sassanides were those of the Arabs, and under the dynasty of the Bagratides, » branch of the Armenian dynasty of that name (since 614), Georgia became a province of the empire of the Arabian caliphs, and only the mountainous districts in which the kings of Georgia found a refuge preserved a kind of independence. In the 9th century, during the decline of the Arabian caliphate, tiie Georgians recovered their independence for a short period, but in the 10th century they became tributary to the Moham- medan dynasties in Persia. Toward the end of the lOtli centurj' they again achieved independence, and inaugui'ated the most brilliant era in Gecorgian his- toiy ; for from this period to the 13th century, when they were conquered by the Mongols, Georgia was governed by a series of able sovereigns, who increased its extent and raised it to great prosperity. Toward the end of the 14th century the countiy was conquered bj' Timour, who was driven from it in the beginning of the following century by George VII. Alexander I, the successor of George VII, divided the kingdom between his three sons. Each of these states was again divided, and at one time 20 different princes reigned in Georgia. The general histoiy of Georgia now divides into two parts : that of the eastern states, Karthli and Kacheth ; and that of the western states, including Imereth, Mingrelia, and Guria. From the 16th to the 18th century the eastern states were heavily oppressed by Persia, and in 1799, Gregory XI, after man}' at- tempts to establish their independence, resigned the states in favor of Paul, emperor of Russia, and in 1802 the emperor Alexander proclaimed the territory a Rus- sian province. Of the three states forming )\'estern Georgia, Guria fell into the hands of Russia in 1801, and formally surrendered itself to that empire by the treaty of 1810; iMingrelia was virtually added to Rus- sia in 1803, and fully incorporated with it in 1868, and the state of Imereth toward the close of the 18th cen- tury'. Thus the whole of Georgia has been brought under the dominion of Russia, and has been unit- ed, along with the other Transcaucasian posses- sions of that country, into a general government, the head of which unites in his own person the militari' and civil pow- ers, and exercises mili- tary supremacy over the whole of the Caucasus.
The Georgians v;ere represented in the synods convened by the Arme- nian patriarch in the 5th and 6th centuries, and embraced' the IMonophy- site faith, and they also withdrew fnmi the com- munion of the patriarch of ('oiistantinii])le. In the , latter part of the 6th cen-
Mingrelian Monk.
GEORGIAN LANGUAGE
813
GEORGIAN VERSION
tury they resumed their former ecclesiastical connec- tion, anil they have since been considered as a part of the Greek Church. Wlien Georgia passed into the hands of Kussia it lost the independence of its nation- al Church. The differences between the Russian and the Georgian forms of religion being very small, tlie latter became subject to the Sj'nod of Petersburg ; the authority of the Georgian cuthoUcos was also transfer- red, and a Russian archbishop sent to occup}' the see of Georgia. Convents and nunneries are abundant, and the inmates are all mendicants. Most of the bish- ops are rich, but the majority of the priests are both very poor and ignorant. Tl>e best and fullest informa- tion about Georgia is contained in the works of Bros- set, Hist, ancienne de la Georyie (Petersb. 1840, 2 vols. ; Additions, 1851), and Ilistoire Moderne de la Georgie (Peters. 185J;-57, 3 vols.). — Brockhaus, Convers.-Lex. ; Farrar ; Helyoi ,Ordres des Relig. (ed. Migne), ?. v. Mel- chites. (A. J. S.)