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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
9 2
tium, which dominated West Georgia, were continually in
conflict over East Georgia, until the Emperor Heraclius
crushed the power of the Persian Sasanids on Nineveh’s
plain of ruins in a.d. 627. This, however, only opened the
way for a more dangerous enemy, the Arabs, who overran
East Georgia from the south fifteen years later, and penetrated
as far as the mountain valleys of the Caucasus, though they
never succeeded in establishing a foothold in West Georgia.
Their suzerainty over East Georgia lasted with interrup
tions for about four hundred years, but did not always embrace
the whole country. The kings were more or less vassais of
the Arabs. In spite of the difference of religion the Arabs
helped to raise the standard of Georgian civilization in more
ways than one.
Under King Bagrat 111 (985-1014), who first was king
of Abkhasia, East Georgia was united, by succession, with
Abkhasia and Meshia, and more or less with Imeretia and
Mingrelia as well. In 1048 the Seljuk Turks made several
incursions into the country, until at length they were defeated
by the powerful chief Liparit Orbulk (Orbeliani). They
returned again in 1064 under the leadership of Alp Arslan,
overran Georgia, and destroyed Tiflis, putting its inhabitants
to the sword. In 1072 the town was destroyed again, and
the country pillaged, by the Seljuk Turks ; and many of the
inhabitants were killed.
In 1089 Georgia passed under the rule of its most powerful
and notable monarch, David 111 (1 089-1 125), known as the
" Renovator " (Daviti Aghmashenebeli). He gathered to
gether the country which came into his hands as a blasted
wilderness, torn asunder by the Arabs, Turks, and Byzantines,
and left it thirty-six years later a flourishing kingdom. After
the conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, he expelled the
last Arab garrison from Tiflis in the year 1100. This ascetic
philosopher-king was a man of high religious culture, yet at
the same time an eminent general who led his troops to
victory in wars of conquest. He introduced discipline, order,
and respect for morality, and was the first to give his people
a good example. He was economical, a wise administrator,
and conspicuously tolerant to people of another faith ; he
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