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Arab rule in Georgia refers to the period in the History of Georgia when all or part of the country was under political domination of Muslim Arab rulers, from the first Arab incursions in the mid-7th century until the final defeat of the Emirate of Tbilisi at the hands of King David IV in 1122. This period is called Araboba (არაბობა) in Georgian. Compared with other regions which endured Muslim conquests, Georgia's culture, and even political structure was not much affected by the Arab presence, as the people kept their faith, the nobles their fiefdoms, and the foreign rulers mostly insisted on the payment of tribute, which they could not always enforce. Still, repeated invasions and military campaigns by the Arabs devastated Georgia on many occasions, and the Caliphs retained suzerainty over large parts of the country and exerted influence over the internal power dynamics during most of the period. The history of Arab rule in Georgia can be divided into 3 main periods: 1. from the first appearance of Arab armies around 645 until the establishment of the Emirate of Tbilisi in 736. Those years saw the progressive installation of political control over the Georgian lands by the Umayyad Caliphate. 2. from 736 until 853, when the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad destroyed Tbilisi to quell a rebellion by the local emir, ending a period of domination of all Eastern Georgia by the Emirate. 3. from 853 until the 2nd half of the 11th century, when the Great Seljuq Empire replaced the Arabs as the main force in the Middle East. Before that, the power of the emirate of Tbilisi had already declined in favor of independent Georgian states. Tbilisi remained however under Arab rule until 1122. ==First conquests and installation of Arab domination (645–736)== In the first decades of the 7th century, most of present-day Georgia was under the authority of the Principate of Iberia. This state, like its predecessors, continually played the two main powers of the time, the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires, to guarantee its own survival as an independent state. Allegiances were regularly switched, but from 626, when Byzantine Emperor Heraclius attacked Tbilisi and installed as presiding prince Adarnase I of the pro-Byzantine Chosroid Dynasty, Byzantine influence was dominant. From the next decade however, the Muslim conquests of the Middle East started, upsetting that balance. The first Arab incursions in present-day Georgia happened approximately between 642 and 645, during the Conquest of Persia. It soon turned into a full-scale invasion, and Tbilisi was taken in 645. The presiding prince Stephen II had to recognize the suzerainty of the Rashidun Caliph. The region still remained marginal in the eyes of the Caliphate, and although it was officially integrated into the newly created province of ''Armīniya'', local rulers retained at first as much autonomy as they had enjoyed under the Byzantine and Sassanid protectorates. The Caliphate was then still in its first decades, very unstable politically, and had not yet developed a system of administration able to keep their numerous conquests under control. The main manifestation of Arab power over a region was at the same time a religious command of Islam: the payment of a tax (for territories under direct rule), or a tribute (for vassal states), by non-believers, called the ''jizya''. Payment of it symbolized submission to the Islamic state, but was also, for the Christians of the Caucasus, a way to avoid new invasions, or punitive expeditions by the Arabs against those who did not pay. In Iberia as in Armenia, revolts against the tribute were frequent during the second half of the 7th century, each time the local nobility and presiding princes felt internal weakness in the Caliphate. The most significant of those uprisings, which engulfed the whole Caucasus region, happened in 681–682, and was led in Georgia by presiding prince Adarnase II. Despite a two-year-long struggle, the revolt was quelled, Adarnase was killed, and the Arabs installed in his place Guaram II of the rival Guaramid Dynasty.〔Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition'', pp. 27-28. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253209153〕 In their efforts to assert their rule over Iberia, the Arabs also had to contend with two other major powers in the region, the Byzantine Empire and the Khazars. The latter, a confederation of semi-nomadic Turkic peoples, ruled over the steppes north of the Greater Caucasus range. They had played a role in Caucasian history since the beginning of the 7th century, when they assisted the Byzantines against Persia. Later, they successfully halted the Muslim armies in a series of wars, but also helped them suppressing the Georgian revolt of 682.〔Toumanoff, Cyril, "Armenia and Georgia", in ''The Cambridge Medieval History'', Cambridge, 1966, vol. IV, p. 606. Accessible online at ()〕 The Georgian lands suffered from the confrontation between Arabs and Khazars, as they served a strategic role as a foothold for the Arabs in those repeated confrontations, and also suffered destructive incursions by the Khazars from across the mountains. As for Byzantium, it had not given up hope of reestablishing its suzerainty over Iberia, and responded to the new Arab power by first strengthening its control over the Black Sea coastal regions, Abkhazia and Lazica, which had not yet been reached by the Arabs. Around 685, the Emperor Justinian II concluded a truce with the Caliph, in which they agreed on joint possession of Iberia and Armenia. However, the Arab victory at the Battle of Sebastopolis in 692 upset the balance, and led to a new Arab conquest of Armenia, and their reaching the Black Sea and vanquishing the Kingdom of Lazica (around 697).〔1911 Encyclopædia Britannica ()〕 A new status quo, more favourable to the Arabs, was now in place. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arab rule in Georgia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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