Akhaltsikheli Shalva

Shalva Akhaltsikheli (d. 1226) was a Georgian state and military figure of the 12th-13th centuries. He served as the vizier of Queen Tamar and Lasha-Giorgi (initially as Mechurchletukhutsesi – royal treasurer, then as Mandaturtukhutsesi – chief overseer), the Head of the Nobles (Eristavteristavi), and the border guard of Javakheti.

In the Battle of Shamakhi (1195), he captured the flag of the caliph, which Queen Tamar dedicated to the Virgin Mary of Khakhuli in Gelati. Akhaltsikheli, along with Sargis Tmogveli, led the Georgian army in the battles at Kars (early 13th century). In the Battle of Basian (1203), Shalva and his brother Ivan commanded the vanguard of the Meskhetians. In the final years of Tamar's reign, he liberated Kechroli (southern Georgia) from the Turks.

In the Battle of Garnisi (1225), he commanded the vanguard of the Meskhetians alongside Ivan Akhaltsikheli. The Akhaltsikheli forces did not back down from the enemy's superior forces but were defeated in the unequal battle (their defeat was also facilitated, apparently, by the feudal enmity between the Mkhargrdzeli and the Akhaltsikheli families). Akhaltsikheli was captured and refused to convert to another religion. According to a Persian historian, he provided the Georgians with information about the enemy's troop movements, for which Jalal ad-Din sentenced him to death.

Literature: იხ. სტ-თან ახალციხელები.

N. Shoshiashvili