Mepe (Old Georgian: ႫႴ;[a] Georgian: მეფე [mepʰe]; meh-PEH) is a royal[4] title used to designate the Georgian monarch, whether it is referring to a king or a queen regnant.[5][6] The title was originally a male ruling title.[7]
Etymology
The word is derived from Georgian word მეუფე (meupe)[8] which literally means sovereign and lord.[9][10] Some Georgian dialects has the term as ნეფე (nepe), all derived from common Proto-Kartvelian მფ/მეფე/მაფა (mp/mepe/mapa).[11] Even though mepe has a female equivalent, დედოფალი (dedopali; lit. 'queen')[12] it is only applied to the king's consort and does not have a meaning of a ruling monarch.[13]
History
The term mepe was utilized since pre-Christian beginnings with Azo, but the role would get more structured during the reign of Pharnavaz I[14] in the 3rd century BC.[15] His successors, the Pharnavazid[b] mepes would be titled as goliath[20] who would possess 𐬓𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬥𐬀𐬵 (pharnah; lit. 'royal radiance'),[21] the divinely endowed glory believed by ancient Persians[b] to mark only a legitimate ruler,[22] accompanied with დიდებაჲ (didebay; lit. 'greatness') and სუე (sue; lit. 'fortune; destiny').[23] Georgian monarch's reign was known as მეფობაჲ (mepobay; lit. 'kingship').[24][25] Loss of pharnah and sue led to imminent death or overthrow of mepe.[26]
In the late 6th century, the Sassanid Empire would abolish[c] the Georgian kingship of the Kingdom of Iberia resulting in the interregnum stretching from c. 580[c] to 888 as a demoted principality.[30][31] Despite the monarchy was in abeyance, and that royal governing disintegrated, the principality rulers would still continue to claim to be referred to as mepes and ჴელმწიფე (helmts'ipe; lit. 'sovereign').[32] After 888[33][34] (or 889)[35] restoration under next successive dynasty[d] of mepe Adarnase IV, the new kingdom would emerge as the fusion of many lands and territories, that would lead towards a total Georgian unification, culminating in 1008.[36]
In the 12th century,[37] the Bagratid[d] mepe David IV the Builder, who had established himself as the region's superlative political and military force,[46] with his ambitious and sophisticated push for his kingdom's royal imagery promotion,[47] the official style of a king would become imperial[48] თჳთმპყრობელი (tuitmp'q'robeli; lit. 'absolute master'[49] i.e. autokratōr)[50] and მეფეთ[ა]მეფე (mepet[a]mepe;[51][52][e] lit. 'King of Kings'), similar to the Byzantine βασιλεὺς βασιλέων (basileus basileōn) and Persian شاهنشاه (shahanshah).[57] David IV's royal projection of his grandiose title was partly aimed at a non-Georgian audience.[58] Title Shahanshah was later totally usurped[59] and consistently used by Georgian monarchs, denoting sovereignty over several Persianate subjects such as Shirvanshahs, the Shaddadids and the Eldiguzids.[60] The royal cult of a monarch would reach its zenith with a female ruler, Tamar, whose execution of power would inaugurate the Georgian Golden Age, her being styled as Tamar, the mepe.[61] Tamar was given the longest and more elaborate titles on the royal charters, listing all the peoples and lands that she ruled as a semi-saint mepetamepe.[62] The Bagrationi mepe, with its royal legitimacy[f] and ideological pillar, would rule Georgia for a millennium, from its medieval elevation down to the Russian conquest in the early 19th century.[66]
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Rapp, Stephen H. (2014) The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4724-2552-2
- Rapp, Stephen H. (2003) Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts; Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5
- Eastmond, A. (2017) Eastern Approaches to Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-Third Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Warwick, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-351-94213-3
- Eastmond, A. (1998) Royal imagery in medieval Georgia, Pennsylvania State University, ISBN 978-0-271-01628-3
- Rayfield, D. (2013) Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia, Reaktion Books, ISBN 9781780230702
- Bakhtadze, M. (2015) Georgian titulature of Tao-Klarjeti ruling Bagrationi dynasty, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Institute of Georgian History Proceedings, IX, Tbilisi, Publishing Meridiani
- Klimov, G. (1998) Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages; Walter de Gruyter GmbH; ISBN 978-3-11-015658-4