Tamar of Georgia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tamar the Great
Fresco at the church of Dormition in Vardzia
Queen of Georgia (more...)
Reign	27 March 1184 – 18 January 1213
Coronation	1178 as co-regent 1184 as queen-regnant Gelati Monastery
Predecessor	George III
Successor	George IV
Born	1160
Died	18 January 1213 (aged 52–53) Agarani Castle
Spouse	Yuri Bogolyubsky (1185–1187) David Soslan (1191–1207)
Issue	George IV Rusudan
Dynasty	Bagrationi dynasty
Father	George III of Georgia
Mother	Burdukhan of Alania
Religion	Georgian Orthodox Church Royal monograms
Khelrtva

Tamar the Great (Georgian: თამარ მეფე, lit. "King Tamar") (c. 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty, her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title mepe ("king"), afforded to Tamar in the medieval Georgian sources.

Tamar was proclaimed heir and co-ruler by her reigning father George III in 1178, but she faced significant opposition from the aristocracy upon her ascension to full ruling powers after George's death. Tamar was successful in neutralizing this opposition and embarked on an energetic foreign policy aided by the decline of the hostile Seljuq Turks. Relying on a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated the Caucasus until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death.

Tamar was married twice, her first union being, from 1185 to 1187, to the Rus' prince Yuri, whom she divorced and expelled from the country, defeating his subsequent coup attempts. For her second husband Tamar chose, in 1191, the Alan prince David Soslan, by whom she had two children, George and Rusudan, the two successive monarchs on the throne of Georgia.

Tamar's reign is associated with a period of marked political and military successes and cultural achievements. This, combined with her role as a female ruler, has contributed to her status as an idealized and romanticized figure in Georgian arts and historical memory. She remains an important symbol in Georgian popular culture.

Images for kids

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  Tamar (left) and George III (right). The earliest surviving portrait of Tamar from the church of the Dormition at Vardzia, c. 1184–1186.

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  Tamar as depicted on a 13th-century mural from the Kintsvisi monastery.

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  A fragment of the early 13th-century fresco of Queen Tamar from Betania.

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  A copper coin with Georgian and Arabic inscriptions featuring Tamar's monogram (1200).

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  A folio from the Vani Gospels manuscript, copied at the behest of Queen Tamar.

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  The Gelati monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a presumptive burial place of Queen Tamar.