The golden age of Georgia: the reign of the legendary Queen Tamara. Queen Tamara: the history of the reign. Icon, Temple of Queen Tamara Georgian Queen Tamara

The mysterious Queen Tamara is one of the unique women in world history who determined the further spiritual development of her people. After her reign, the best and architectural monuments remained. Fair, honest and wise, she established a firm political position in her country by conquering territories that do not belong to today's Georgia. The period of her reign forever remained in history under the name "Golden Age". The economic, cultural and political prosperity of Georgia of that time is wholly indebted to its queen.

Inheritance

Some facts from the life of Tamara today remain not fully disclosed. The years of her life are still disputed by historians, but Queen Tamara was supposedly born in 1166. The girl's parents came from a noble family: her mother was the daughter of an Alanian king, and her father belonged to famous family Bagrationov was the reigning king at the time of the birth of the child.

When Tamara was ten years old, unrest began in Georgia aimed at overthrowing the power of her father George III. The uprising was led by the son of one of George's brothers - Demeter and his father-in-law Orbeli, who at that time was the commander-in-chief of the Georgian troops. When the rebellion was suppressed by the acting king, the need for a coronation ceremony became obvious.

Since the girl in the family grew up without brothers and sisters, George decided to leave the throne after his death to Tamara. It was against Georgian traditions for a woman to take the throne. Since 1178, the daughter became the co-ruler of her father George III. Their first joint decision was the adoption supreme measure punishment for bandits, thieves, and the creation of a special group to search for them.

6 years after Tamara's entry into the political affairs of her state, the death of George III occurs and the issue of re-coronation and the expediency of the accession of a young lady becomes a privileged society. In favor of the girl, the fact that the Georgian land was previously chosen by the apostolic lot of the Mother of God and a woman was sent to spread Christianity on it played in favor of the girl - Thus, the blessed Queen Tamara finally occupied the throne.

First state reforms

The reign of Queen Tamara began with the liberation of the church from taxes and dues. Talented people were elected to the positions of ministers and military leaders. One of the chroniclers noted that during her reign, the farmers grew to a privileged class, the nobles became nobles, and the latter turned into rulers.

Tamara introduced Archbishop Anton Chkondidsky to the number of close people, to whom she immediately granted the Samtavis diocese and the city of Kisiskhevi. The post of supreme commander went to one of the brothers of the famous Armenian family Mkhargrdzeli - Zakharia. The younger brother Ivane headed the palace economy. The princes recognized Christianity, professed by the so-called faith of the Armenians, and revered Orthodoxy. The chroniclers note that Ivane later recognized the curvature of the Armenian faith and nevertheless accepted Christianity.

The girl distinguished herself by diplomacy in resolving the issue of changing political system Georgia. A certain Kutlu-Arslan organized a group that demanded the creation of an independent body at the royal court. The elected persons of the far-fetched organization were supposed to solve all state issues without the presence of Tamara herself at the meetings. The queen had only an executive function. The arrest of Kutlu-Arslan excited his followers, and then diplomatic negotiations with the conspirators subordinated the latter to Tamara. The program for the restructuring of the state conduct of affairs, led by Kutlu-Arslan, failed.

charitable deeds

Tamara marked the beginning of her career by convening a church council. The same act during the years of his reign was marked by her grandfather David the Builder. The insightful mistress did this for the spiritual unification of the people. She gathered everyone who listens to the word of God: bishops, monks, clergymen, and invited the wise Nikolai Gulaberisdze from Jerusalem, who, together with Archbishop Anthony, led the cathedral.

Before the start of the council, Holy Empress Tamara delivered a speech in which she called on everyone to live in unity and according to the interpretation of the Bible. In a monologue, she turned to the holy fathers with a request to lend a helping hand to all those who have strayed from the spiritual path. She asked the rulers of the Holy Church for guidance, words, and teachings, promising in return decrees, deeds, and teachings.

Merciful to the poor, generous, heavenly patroness of temple builders, Georgia, warriors, benefactor - such was Queen Tamara. The icon with the face of a girl still helps those praying in protecting the family, at home from adversity, in disbelief, in healing physical and mental ailments.

The church cathedral was also marked by the choice of the groom. So, the courtiers turned to the fathers for advice on where to look for Tamara's spouse. Mentors recommended to go to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, in Russia.

Marriage

Not only spiritual, but also physical beauty was given to Queen Tamara. Of course, there is no photo of the girl, but the memoirs of contemporaries point to her well-shaped body, shy look, rosy cheeks and dark eyes.

When the question arose of the need for the appearance of an heir and commander, a contender for husbands was immediately chosen. The Russian prince Yuri Andreevich could not resist the beauty of a young girl. He was from a noble family of Bogolyubsky, revered Orthodoxy and outwardly was a very attractive young man. After arriving in Tbilisi to see his future wife, he decided to immediately play the wedding. However, the prudent Tamara was against such haste. The courtiers and bishops dissuaded the queen from bad thoughts and the marriage took place. Under the leadership of Yuri, although there were victorious battles in Georgia, but after two years of mental suffering, the girl decided to divorce. The former husband of Queen Tamara was sent to Constantinople with part of the acquired wealth. He then reappeared in the life of the girl when Yuri came to Georgia with the Greek army in order to return the lost throne, but, like the previous time, he was defeated, after which he disappeared without a trace.

Brought up on the concepts of the Gospel, the queen experienced a divorce hard. And the thought of a new marriage, which her status demanded, was generally unacceptable.

Happy marriage

Queen Tamara possessed natural beauty and charm (historical photographic sketches confirm this), so many princes wanted to take the vacant place of their husband next to an extraordinary woman. And only the Ossetian king Soslan-David was lucky enough to become the second husband of Tamara. It was no coincidence that the courtiers nominated him as a husband, he was brought up by Rudusan, who was the queen's own aunt. Historians also suggested that the dynastic marriage was a strategic move of the Georgian nobility. At that time, the state needed allies, and the Ossetian kingdom was distinguished by a powerful military potential. That is why the privileged strata of society immediately made a decision and recognized Soslan-David as the co-ruler of Georgia.

Their union not only brought the peoples together, but also made the state powerful and prosperous. They ruled the country in unison. Why God sent them a child. When the people learned that Queen Tamara and David Soslan were expecting their first child, everyone began to pray for the birth of a boy. And so it happened, they had a son, similar to his grandfather. And they gave him the same name - George. A year later, the girl Rusudan was born in the royal family.

Fight against Islam: Battle of Shamkhor

The political course of the mistress was aimed at fighting the Muslim countries, which was supported by the predecessors of the throne: George III and David the Restorer. Twice the Middle East tried to conquer the Georgian lands, and both times the soldiers of these countries were defeated.

The first offensive campaign was organized by the Caliph of Baghdad, in whose hands both the religious and royal power of all Muslims was concentrated. He subsidized a coalition organization directed against the growing Christian state. The troops were led by atabagh Abubekr, and their concentration went so quietly that only when the Muslims took their positions in South Azerbaijan did Queen Tamara learn about the offensive.

The forces of Georgia were inferior in their power to the enemy. But the power of prayer saved this people. When the Georgian troops advanced towards the army of Abubekr, the queen and the inhabitants did not stop the prayer service. The order of the ruler was to perform uninterrupted litanies, confession of sins and demands on the rich to give alms to the poor. The Lord heeded the prayer and the Georgians won the battle of Shamkhor in 1195.

As a trophy, David brought to his wife the flag of the Caliphate, which the mistress gave to the monastery for the icon of Our Lady of Khakhul.

Battle of Basiani

With the victory in Shamkhor, the country's prestige on the world stage has grown. One Sultan Ruknadin from Asia Minor could not recognize the power of Georgia. Moreover, he had plans to take revenge on the Georgian people for the defeat of the Turkish troops, which they won during the reign of David the Builder.

Ruknadin sent an insulting letter to the queen, in which he demanded that Tamara change the Christian faith to Islam. The angry mistress immediately gathered an army and, trusting in God's help, accompanied him to the Vardzia monastery complex, where, kneeling before the icon of the Mother of God, she began to pray for her army.

Experienced in military battles, the Sultan of Rum could not believe that the Georgian Queen Tamara would launch an offensive. After all, the number of military Muslims this time exceeded the Georgian army. The victory again went to the commander and husband of Tamara - Soslan-David. One battle was enough to defeat the Turkish army.

The victory at Basiani helped realize strategic plans the royal court to create a new state neighboring Georgia in the West. So, the Kingdom of Trebizond was created with the Christian faith. In the 13th century, almost all the states of the North Caucasus were citizens of the countries of Georgia.

Culture during the reign of the queen

The stable economic state of the country has become a framework for the development of culture. The name of Queen Tamara is associated with the Golden Age of Georgia. She was the patroness of literature and writing. The monasteries of Iversky, Petritsonsky, on Black Mountain and others acted as cultural and educational centers. They carried out translation and literary and philosophical work. In Georgia at that time there were Ikaltoi and Gelati academies, after graduating from which, people spoke Arabic, Persian, knowledge of ancient philosophy.

The poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin", which belongs to the heritage of world literature, was written during the reign of Tamara and is dedicated to her. conveyed in his creation the life of the Georgian people. The legend begins that there lived a king who did not have a son-heir, and, feeling the approach of the end of his days, he enthroned his daughter. That is, a situation that repeats one to one the events of the time when the throne was transferred to Tamara.

The queen founded the Vardzia cave monastery, which has survived to this day, as well as the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery.

Successful military offensives, tribute from the conquered countries helped to replenish the budget of Georgia, which was directed to the construction of architectural monuments and the development of Christianity.

Vardzia

Churches, residential cells, chapels, baths, refectory rooms - all these premises are carved into the rock and make up the monastery complex in southern Georgia called Vardzia, or the Temple of Queen Tamara. The construction of the cave complex was started during the reign of George III. The monastery was assigned a defensive goal from the Iranians and Turks.

The premises of the fortress have a depth of 50 meters and a height of an eight-story building. Today, secret passages, the remains of an irrigation system and a water pipe have been preserved.

In the center of the cave, a temple was built under the queen in the name of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos. Its walls are decorated with picturesque paintings, among which there are images of Tamara and her father. The frescoes of the Ascension of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the Mother of God are of historical and artistic value.

The earthquake, the capture of the complex by the Persians, the Turks, the Soviet era left an imprint on the existence of the monastery. Now it is more of a museum, although some monks lead their ascetic life in it.

Queen Tamara: the history of the last years of her life

Chronicles date the death of Soslan-David to 1206. Then the queen thought about transferring the throne to her son and made George her co-ruler. Living according to the laws of God, she felt the approaching death. Queen Tamara died of an unknown disease. She spent her last years in Vardzia. The date of death remains an unsolved mystery, but presumably it is 1212-1213.

Where the queen is buried is unknown. The chronicle indicates the Gelati Monastery as the place where the queen's body rests in the family crypt. According to other legends, Tamara, feeling the displeasure of the Muslims, who could desecrate the tomb, asked for a secret burial. There is an assumption that the body rests in the Cross Monastery (Palestine). It turns out that the Lord heard her desire, hiding the holy relics.

AT Orthodox Church Queen Tamara is classified as a saint. Remembrance Day according to the new style falls on May 14th.

There is a belief that when suffering, grief in the world grows, it is resurrected and comes to the aid of people for their consolation.

Faith in God, wisdom, modesty are the features on which Tamara created economic and political system Georgia. Its course of development was based on philanthropy, equality and the absence of violence. Not a single death penalty was carried out during the years of her reign. tenth government revenue Tamara gave to the poor. Orthodox countries, churches and monasteries were honored with her help.

She said the last words to God, in which she entrusted Georgia, the people, her children and herself to Christ.

Image of Queen Tamara by contemporary Russian artist Nadezhda Antipina.

Today in the Orthodox calendar is the day of memory of Blessed Tamara, Queen of Georgia.

Tamara - the famous Georgian queen (1184 - 1213), whose name is associated with one of the best periods in the history of Georgia. She came from the Bagratid dynasty and was the only daughter of George III and the beautiful Burdukhan, compared by the chronicler with Penelope.

She was brought up by her highly educated aunt Rusudan. Modern queen poets praised her intelligence and beauty. She was called not a queen, but a king, a vessel of wisdom, a smiling sun, a slender reed, a radiant face, glorified her meekness, diligence, obedience, religiosity, enchanting beauty.

There were legends about her perfections that have come down in oral transmission to our times; Everyone wanted to see her, Byzantine princes, the Sultan of Aleppo, the Shah of Persia were looking for her hands.

The whole reign of Tamara is surrounded by a mysterious halo; reliable historical information was complicated by legendary tales from the day she ascended the throne. Her father crowned her king (1179) during his lifetime, but only after his death (1184) did she begin to rule the state. Tamara proclaimed mercy and truth as the motto of her reign: “I am the father of the orphans and the judge of widows,” said Tamara. In her reign, there was not a single case of the death penalty and corporal punishment.

Avoiding complications within the kingdom, the queen waged a series of wars with neighboring states.

Her first husband, the Russian prince George (Yuri, according to Karamzin, the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky) made military expeditions to the north of Armenia, to Shirvan (present-day Azerbaijan) and Erzrum. When Tamara's marriage with George was annulled - according to the Georgian chronicler due to the atrocities committed by the prince - then Tamara's ex-husband became her enemy and with a large army moved from Constantinople to Georgia to return the lost throne. Despite the fact that some regional rulers joined him, the Russian prince was defeated and disappeared after that without a trace.

Tamara, having entered into a new marriage with the Ossetian ruler David Soslani, with whom she grew up in childhood, ten years after her accession to the throne, opens an offensive policy.

Georgian kingdom towards the end of Tamara's reign.

Delivering Georgia predominant political significance throughout Asia Minor, having subdued internal and external enemies, expanding the boundaries of the kingdom, Tamara took care of the spiritual development of her country. At her court, a galaxy of glorious writers is gathering, who brought Georgian literary language to perfection. Her century was marked by the poetic activity of Shavteli and Chakhrukh, who dedicated enthusiastic odes to the “god-like queen”. She created secular romantic literature in prose, whose representatives are Khoneli, the author of Amiran Darejani, and Sargis Tmogveli, the translator of the Persian story about Vis and Ramin. Finally, in her reign, the poet Shota Rustaveli became famous, whose magnificent poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" is all imbued with love for Queen Tamara. We find her features at once in two beautiful heroines: princesses Tinatin and Nestan-Darejan, and Tariel and Avtandil express the poet's love for her at the same time.

The legendary story that ascribes to Tamara the construction of all the wonderful temples and fortresses of Georgia is not far from the truth: many monuments of art were created by her, and among them is the luxurious Vardzia Palace, which can accommodate up to 360 chambers.

Christianity and citizenship among the Caucasian highlanders spread thanks to the energy and care of Tamara. Her name is conveyed with the same reverence in the poetic tales of various peoples of the Caucasus. The church canonized her as a saint. Georgian mountaineers turned Tamara into a goddess - a healer of all ailments. In Svaneti, Tamara, from a militant wife, became an object of religious veneration and, at the same time, an ideal of magical beauty.

The people believe that Tamara is not dead, she sleeps in a golden cradle: when the voice of human sorrow reaches her, she will wake up and reign again. This belief is supported by the lack of precise indications of the location of her grave.

From the book Elena Grushko, Yuri Medvedev. Dictionary of names. Nizhny Novgorod: Russian merchant, Brothers Slavs, 1996. Pages 603 - 606.

Let me touch on one more point.

Many lovers of poetry from the school bench remember the lines of Lermontov:

In the deep gorge of Darial,
Where the Terek digs in the mist,
The old tower stood
Blackening on the black rock.

In that tower high and cramped
Queen Tamara lived:
Beautiful like an angel in heaven
Like a demon, insidious and evil.

So, "cunning as a demon" Tamara, who killed her lovers, and ordered the corpses to be thrown into the Terek, has nothing to do with the historical Queen Tamara!

In unknown times, a myth took root in Russia that Tamara had lovers, and she killed them and threw the bodies into the Terek. This myth created a halo of glory around the Darial Gorge and the "Castle of Tamara". However, this is a myth, and a very late one. Where he came from is unclear. The first Georgian historical and mythological stories became known in Russia from the memoirs of Jacques Chardin (-1713), but Chardin does not know any lovers of Tamara. Pushkin does not mention this topic. Lermontov's poem "Tamara and the Demon" clearly mentions another Tamara, and this other Tamara, according to Lermontov, did not live above the Terek, but in the Aragva Gorge. And only in the verse "Tamara" (1841) Lermontov directly describes the story of Tamara and lovers. Where he got this story from is not clear. There is an opinion that this is a modification of the story about Tamara of Imereti, who was the wife of the Kartli king Luarsab I and was known for her bad temper. Mayakovsky replicated this myth, and directly referring to Lermontov. He mentions this plot twice in the poem "Vladikavkaz-Tiflis" and in the poem "Tamara and the Demon" (1924).

A selection of images of Queen Tamara:

1. On a fresco in Vardzia Monastery.

8. Monument to Queen Tamara.

10. Painting by Yesadze. 1913

11.

7. Copy of a fresco from the Hermitage (my photo).

10.

11. Painting by artist Alexei Vepkhadze.

As a child, I liked to hug and squeeze Tomka like a big toy. Tomka is my cousin Tamara, the daughter of Aunt Masha.
I could sit for hours at the peeling green partition between our rooms and listen to her footsteps. Even the stove seemed warmer to me because Tomka lives on the other side.
And sometimes I looked out of the window for a long time. When she walked along our lane, her fluffy bangs bounced, the ribbon in her braid fluttered, the dimples on her cheeks were worried.
“Running, shaggy bell!”, she rejoiced at me, flying towards me. She bent down and picked her up in her arms.
By age she was already a girl, but she played with me like a little one. She and I climbed out the window and chased butterflies through the garden. It happened that they ran in the rain and yelled songs.
And Tomka also knew how to braid my naughty white hair into a “spikelet” pigtail and blow on my knees so that they would immediately heal.

In tenth grade, my sister Tamara, a quiet straight-A student, hanged herself from a gas pipe.
It miraculously managed to be removed. Aunt Masha, barely dabbing her eyes with a towel, had an educational conversation with us: to keep silent about what had happened. My presence, I must say, did not bother anyone: in such cases I took a pencil and leaned over the album.
“She will blow everyone away,” Mom chuckled. The father nodded.
Several days passed before I cautiously asked my mother why this happened to Tomka. She, confused in words, explained that she was shy, that she had grown tall, her height was one hundred and seventy-five, and the boys in the class were small. “What nonsense,” I thought, “because of the boys, these fools, and they breathe down my navel.”
I so wanted to be like Tomka, even if she was as tall as a tree! But Aunt Masha, who was constantly lamenting where her daughter had gone so far, cannot be explained.
My aunt is square, cheeky, has an iron fist, but there’s nothing to say about her character, she worked as a teacher all her life - the local kid scattered when she saw her a kilometer away.
I remember that my father once told my mother that Aunt Masha had exhausted her husbands. "Etched with bleach," - having matured, I concluded. Her things always stank of bleach: underwear, combs and even slippers. “Everything must be sterile,” Aunt Masha said for any reason.

When Tomka was seventeen, she finally had a fiancé: Mustachioed-striped. A strong black-haired boy walked in a vest and had a fashionable mustache. The lovers sat for hours on the sofa in Tomka's room and were silent. I, having settled down on the floor, read books aloud - thereby preventing them from kissing.
I must say, the books in my sister's room were scattered everywhere: on the table, on the windowsill, on the sofa. In each - a bookmark in the form of a dried flower: chamomile, cornflower, buttercup. Most of the books, in my opinion, have not been read.
I especially liked Lermontov's poems. Even the cover was attractive, from which the demon looked, as if molded from pieces of plasticine - a reproduction from a painting by Vrubel. I howled in syllables: “... tsa-ri-tsa Ta-ma-ra lived-la, beautiful-na, like an angel of heaven, like de-mon ko-var-na and evil ”- and looked at Tomka, oh yes! - a real queen, there is even a braid, and this one in a vest is not exactly a demon, but he can easily kidnap my sister. "Sit down, I'll think of something, she'll leave now," Tamara whispered hotly into the ear of Mustachioed-striped.
Aunt Masha's sense of smell became more acute - and she pushed me to the door to the room so that I could "look at what they were doing there."
The couple didn’t seem to do anything like that, but everyone in the house (even my dad), thanks to Aunt Masha, found out that Tomka, naive and inexperienced in love, was pregnant. And she urgently needs to find a doctor to get rid of the baby.
“But they love each other. Don't climb. Let them get married. He doesn’t mind,” my mother admonished my sister. But Aunt Masha spoke out that Tomka had a different fate, not to breed from the first okhlamon that came across, but to study as an art critic.
With sobs, "and he's in the army ... the army ... two years," Tomka was taken to the doctor. She did not go out into the garden for several days. I stood under her window, picking out dried juice from cherries, chewing it and spitting it out.
Not really understanding what “killing a child” means, I decided that Tomka had killed her baby and buried it in the garden. I even looked for a mound, but found only a shriveled chick that had fallen out of the nest. And buried with honors.
Mustache-striped, rejected by Aunt Masha, went into the army, and Tomka, without having time to prepare for entrance exams got a job as a secretary.
She regularly thumped on the typewriter, but was extremely absent-minded and irritable. I waited for letters, but they did not come (Aunt Masha hid them). Often thinking, Tomka endlessly chewed something and rapidly grew fat. Her small bag was full of bags of sweets and nuts.
One day, Aunt Masha got a call at school and was told: Tamara is in the hospital.
With the help of witnesses, a picture of what happened was restored. The boss made a remark to the young secretary, they say, she is intelligent, and you throw candy wrappers on the floor, the teacher's daughter is called. Tamara shouted in his face: "Demon, perish!" She pulled up her skirt and covered herself with it. He called an ambulance.

Mom and I came to Tomka in a psychiatric hospital. When I saw her from a distance, I thought it was Aunt Masha. Big, brown as a bearskin, dressing gown and cropped head. Yesterday Tomka was a cheerful girl, but today she has become almost an old woman. I gave her a vial of vitamins. But she didn't smile.
And she told us goodbye: "I don't need anything, I'm full."

A month later, Tomka was discharged and, with the help of Aunt Masha, resigned. She spent the winter at home - either wandering around the rooms, or thoughtfully leafing through school notebooks - and in the spring she went to Saratov to enter the university.
Soon the first joyful news came: Tamara passed the exams for five.
Now she appeared only in the summer, on vacation. I noticed: my sister became even more beautiful. I finally got around to coloring my lips. And curl your hair in curlers like a real woman.

Sometimes she came to her mother to borrow fashionable blouses. She stood at the door, not knowing how to start a conversation. "Do you want to go somewhere?" - Mom guessed and dumped the entire extensive fashionable wardrobe. Dad tactfully left the room. The fitting began.
One blouse, kapron, green with a white snowflake pattern on the chest, Tomka did not give up until the end of August. I remember that my mother herself went for a blouse to the other half of the house. But the niece brushed it off, saying that she was in the wash.
And only after the pressure, Aunt Masha admitted that Tamara gave her to a friend from Saratov, who stayed with her for a whole week. That one is very green.
Mom tried not to cry over the rag; Aunt Masha, escorting her out, comforted her, they say, we must understand: Tamara is very kind, unusually, she has the soul of a small child. And do not deprive her of the joy of doing good.
Not knowing what to do in the summer, Tomka took books from us to read and lay with them in the garden on a cot. Often forgot them on the grass. Sometimes they swelled from the rain. And she smeared one with some sticky rubbish, like jam. When my mother gasped in horror when she saw it (the book was a library book), the niece said aloofly: “Well, this is not the main thing in life.” “You dismissed her,” the father, who usually did not delve into anything, fumed, “she dangled her legs and rides.”

It should be noted that these troubles did not particularly affect our relations with Tamara. Every summer we went swimming with her to Sura. She swam not like me, like a frog, but beautifully, like a guy, with a breaststroke and assured me that she would save me, if anything. From motor boats came a big wave, I saw with what pleasure she pushes her elbows. My sister was not afraid of anything. Ah, what happiness to sunbathe in the middle of the river aground! Clean sand. Hot swamp puddles. Yellow flowers.
We even managed to pick unseen flowers and stuff them into swimsuit bras.
I was delighted with my unusual student sister. And she noticed with pleasure: we are now the same height, long-legged, feminine in a good way. When we walk along the beach, the guys look at us.

... The real nightmare of my childhood was Tamar's husband, named Nikitin. He was old, gray-haired and round-eyed like an owl. At first, as a family friend, he went to Aunt Masha, and she, having opened the bottle, endlessly told how unhappy Tomka was and how much she had drunk in her life. When I heard: “Well, Masha, well, you, everything will work out,” I hardly realized that this was the name of my iron aunt, and not a fabulous girl. One day, Nikitin wanted to have a fatherly talk with Tomka, who had finished her studies and had not worked for a year.
He squatted down and looked into her green eyes. She hugged his gray head and sobbed.
Passage room. It's dark. Tamara wedding. The bride is wearing a strict dress with a polka dot collar, rented from my mother. Nikitin in a gray, unfashionable suit, cut his hair for the first time, and has a bare head. People - ten people. Only close relatives. Mom and aunt Masha cooked all night. The guests were afraid to say toasts, so as not to blurt out too much. They whispered around the table: Tamara is very ill, and it's better that way than nothing. And when my dad tried to shout “bitterly”, Aunt Masha lightly pushed him in the back with an iron fist - and he coughed.
Soon Tomka had a son, thin and sickly. He cried endlessly, because Aunt Masha burst into the room for the newlyweds, snatched the child out of the crib with cries: “fuck ... your mother!”, rocked her, cursing all this life.
And in the morning she commented on our half of the house that Tomka was sitting with her pants down and what Nikitin was going to do with her. She lamented: only an indifferent mother can allow a child to cry, while she herself thinks about "this."
I remember Nikitin's timid voice behind the wall: "Tomochka, are we going to have dinner tonight?" Somewhere in the back of the room, a child was crying. There was swearing. The door slammed. The pot slammed into the gas with a clatter.
Soon Nikitin, who covered Tomka's eyes, was expelled. But he, as it turned out, did not disappear completely. An elderly papa used to walk drearily in the evenings under the windows of our house, trying to see his son through the silk between the curtains.
Once I was horrified to see in the uncurtained window the eyes of an owl, distorted by human pain. I screamed and ran to my mom. For a long time I had nightmares involving the yellow-eyed old man. But the adults pretended that nothing was happening. It seemed that only I hear at night the heavy footsteps and the crunch of branches.
.
.. Having retired, Aunt Masha took over the upbringing of the baby. She treated all his chickenpox and diarrhea, got cotton swabs and antidiarrheal preparations. Bought medical encyclopedias. Everyone in the alley gasped and groaned, pitying Aunt Masha and her useless beautiful daughter.
And the silent Tomka, left out of business, stopped talking altogether and increasingly closed herself in the room. Everything annoyed her. Noises. Smells. People.
One evening, when our washing machine was noisy, it scratched softly at the door. Mom opened. Tomka silently knocked over the typewriter on the floor, pushed the shelf with shoes, tore open the curtain and left. Mom was collecting shoes floating in a puddle of linen, shedding tears about how unhappy and sick Tomka was. “A loafer and impudent,” the father, who came from the evening shift, made an unexpected conclusion.

... Soon my family got an apartment and moved to the other end of the city.
Many years later. Tomka and I saw each other a couple of times, spoke crumpled and not frankly.
She is a housewife, loves the garden, plants beautiful flowers every year. And in the fall he makes bouquets of them. In general, she is satisfied with life, she gets along well with her mother and adult son.

There are two Queens Tamara in my memory forever.
The first lives in Lermontov's book, forever young, with a rebellious soul. Deciding to go across fate, she paid dearly for it.
The second is standing in the garden with a rake in a coat with cut off sleeves, very plump and aged. And he looks at me with unrecognizable eyes.
They are somewhat similar - their beauty, the eternal desire for sublime love and even their eyes. They just look in different directions.

Image of Queen Tamara by contemporary Russian artist Nadezhda Antipina.

Today in the Orthodox calendar is the day of memory of Blessed Tamara, Queen of Georgia.

Avoiding complications within the kingdom, the queen waged a series of wars with neighboring states.

Tamara, having entered into a new marriage with the Ossetian ruler David Soslani, with whom she grew up in childhood, ten years after her accession to the throne, opens an offensive policy.

Georgian kingdom at the end of Tamara's reign.

Having given Georgia the predominant political importance in all of Asia Minor, subduing internal and external enemies, expanding the boundaries of the kingdom, Tamara took care of the spiritual development of her country. At her court, a galaxy of glorious writers is gathering, who have brought the Georgian literary language to perfection. Her century was marked by the poetic activity of Shavteli and Chakhrukh, who dedicated enthusiastic odes to the “god-like queen”. She created secular romantic literature in prose, whose representatives are Khoneli, the author of Amiran Darejani, and Sargis Tmogveli, the translator of the Persian story about Vis and Ramin. Finally, in her reign, the poet Shota Rustaveli became famous, whose magnificent poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" is all imbued with love for Queen Tamara. We find her features at once in two beautiful heroines: princesses Tinatin and Nestan-Darejan, and Tariel and Avtandil express the poet's love for her at the same time.

From the book Elena Grushko, Yuri Medvedev. Dictionary of names. Nizhny Novgorod: Russian merchant, Brothers Slavs, 1996. Pages 603 - 606.

Let me touch on one more point.

Many lovers of poetry from the school bench remember the lines of Lermontov:

In the deep gorge of Darial,
Where the Terek digs in the mist,
The old tower stood
Blackening on the black rock.

In that tower high and cramped
Queen Tamara lived:
Beautiful like an angel in heaven
Like a demon, insidious and evil.

So, "cunning as a demon" Tamara, who killed her lovers, and ordered the corpses to be thrown into the Terek, has nothing to do with the historical Queen Tamara!

A selection of images of Queen Tamara:

1. On a fresco in Vardzia Monastery.

8. Monument to Queen Tamara.

10. Painting by Yesadze. 1913

11.

7. Copy of a fresco from the Hermitage (my photo).

10.

11. Painting by artist Alexei Vepkhadze.

If scientists invented a time machine, you would hardly want to visit Georgia in the 11th century. A bloody war with the Byzantine Empire, which ended in defeat, civil strife, the invasion of the Turks and an unbearable tribute - these are the realities of this time. However, everything changed with the accession to the throne of Tamara. The reign of the wise and fair queen is rightfully called the "golden age" of Georgia, a period of brilliant rise. The great accomplishments of the ruler eventually turned into legends and myths.

Biography of Queen Tamara

The ascension to the throne of a woman in the 12th century is an extraordinary phenomenon both for and for the whole world. The heirs and the elite, as a rule, prevented this outcome in every possible way. However, Tamara's father George III was not initially going to give the reins of government to his daughter. He was the guardian of David, the son of his elder brother, and cherished the idea that the young man would become the next ruler. However, fate decreed otherwise - civil strife broke out, and David disappeared. Either he was killed, or he disappeared under a false name. Historians are still arguing about his fate.

In 1178, George III made Tamara his co-ruler. He decided not to tempt fate, guessing what obstacles the nobility would build in her path after his death. The king did not place special hopes on his daughter, but in vain. First, she was well educated. Secondly, she had the talent of a diplomat. Given that Georgia was surrounded by the Muslim world, this was a necessity. Thirdly, Tamara combined seemingly incompatible qualities: mercy, purely feminine gentleness and, at the same time, the unbending will of a military leader, the desire to go to the bitter end.

A fragile, shy girl, when necessary, stood her ground to the last. Singing these qualities in poems, the Georgian people often went too far, which makes it difficult to objectively assess the personality of Tamara. Thus, praising the queen, the Georgian chroniclers claimed that she forbade the use of corporal punishment and the death penalty. “In the days of Tamar’s reign, there was not a single person who, with her knowledge, was subjected to violence, and no one who would be punished, except for the cases of applying the old law that is laid down for robbers - hanging on a tree,” wrote Basili Ezosmodzgvari (XIII century ) in the work "History of Queen Tamar". Meanwhile, this information does not correspond to historical reality. Punishments were used, although rarely.

Queen Tamara. (wikipedia.org)

Tamara gained fame as a great ruler thanks to her conquests. After the death of her father, she was re-crowned. Wasting no time, the queen got down to business: she reformed the army according to the feudal system, introduced a system of military districts and military service; soldiers, before being sent to the battlefield, were taught their craft. Special attention was now paid to intelligence.

Tamara understood that the attack of the Turks on Georgia was inevitable: the location of the kingdom was too favorable. She chose offensive tactics. It was a bold step, because the number of Turkish troops significantly exceeded the number of Georgians. However, severe discipline and experienced military leaders did their job, and the Georgian army defeated the Turks in southern Armenia. The list of conquests over the 27 years of the reign of the legendary queen is impressive: almost the entire Caucasus, former Byzantine provinces, several Iranian cities. Tamara's troops successfully repulsed the attacks of the united Muslim army. The Georgian kingdom has never been so powerful. Alas, there will be no trace of this power when the most dangerous enemy comes - the Mongols.

The territory of Georgia at the beginning of the XIII century. (wikipedia.org)

How Tamara fought with her ex-husband

The queen's first marriage was unsuccessful. Her wife was chosen by the religious elite. Of course, he had to profess Orthodoxy. The choice fell on George (Yuri), the son of Andrei Bogolyubsky. Unlike his father, George did not possess the talent of a commander and politician. He preferred taverns, booze and women (according to some legends, men) to battles. Tamara quickly became disillusioned with her husband and demanded a divorce two and a half years later. It must be understood that divorce was then unthinkable. However, the church agreed. Perhaps the reason for this was the reforms initiated by Tamara at the beginning of her reign. She put at the head of the church people devoted to her who were not seen in extorting money and abusing their power. In addition, churches were exempted from duties, generous funds were allocated from the treasury for their existence. The queen also enlisted the support of the elite - she significantly expanded the powers of the councils of the nobility. The lower strata of the population were also satisfied with their fate, they were freed from heavy requisitions.

The Georgian Church canonized Tamara as a saint. (wikipedia.org)

So, no one interfered with Tamara's divorce. And here the most interesting begins: the queen sent George into exile, while providing a large amount of money. A noble act. The rejected husband went to Constantinople, and then, together with the army, returned to Georgia for revenge. Tamara had to fight with her ex-husband. True, the army devoted to her quickly expelled the unlucky spouse from the kingdom.

Legends attribute numerous lovers to the beautiful Tamara. But this is nothing more than fiction, a sort of attribute of a romantic image. One thing is certain: the young widow was looking for a husband on her own. Her chosen one was the Ossetian prince David-Soslan. There were no disagreements with the second spouse; in addition, he was a talented military leader.

The reign of Queen Tamara

Tamara, among other achievements, patronized the arts, literature and science. It should be noted that the cultural heritage of Georgia in the XII century was unique. The kingdom was located at the crossroads of trade routes, and the culture combined Christian and Persian traditions in an amazing way. However, after numerous enemy raids, the vast property was seriously damaged.

During the reign of Tamara, monasteries and churches were built in all corners of the country, their walls were painted by the best masters. The ruler surrounded herself with poets and writers who, in the process of their creativity, formed norms Georgian language.

Many legends tell about the romantic relationship between Tamara and the outstanding poet Shota Rustaveli.

Shota Rustaveli. (wikipedia.org)

And indeed, between the lines of his poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" reckless love is read. Tamara clearly favored the poet and appointed him state treasurer. But researchers say that there was no romantic connection between the queen and the poet. In general, information about Rustaveli's biography is scarce and contradictory. There are several versions recent years his life, starting from monastic vows and ending with marriage to a beautiful Georgian woman.

The great ruler died between 1209 and 1213. The place of her burial is unknown. Tamara is still the favorite heroine of Georgian folklore, and not only Georgian. Each nationality of the Caucasus has a couple of stories about Tamara, a fair and courageous queen.