On the Origin of Mtskheta (Urban Space, Time and Geography)

Abstract

The article presumes that the river Aragvi changed its direction in the late 1st c BC and before that its bed directed to a totally different direction. Thus, if that was the actual state of affairs, the kings settled in Armaztsikhe could not have designated any urban area on the territory of modern Mtskheta. Without the r. Aragvi it would have been entirely unattractive for urban development.

Only later, when the Aragvi created an unequaled environment for urban development, the kings of Armazistsikhe immediately started building a new capital of Kartli.

The history of Leonti Mroveli, according to which Mtskheta had been the capital of Kartli from the very beginning, can be explained by his desire to involve the capital of Georgia into the cultural-historical processes from the very start.