СПИСОК СОКРАЩЕНИЙ

Мацне – Известия АН ГССР, Серия истории, археологии, этнографии и истории искусства.

МИГК-материалы по истории Грузии и Кавказа.

СМОМПК – Сборник материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа.

Труды ИЯИМК – Труды Института языка, истории и материальной культуры Грузинского филиала АН СССР.

Труды ТГУ – Труды Тбилисского государственного университета.

ТРАГФ – Тексты и разыскания по армяно-грузинской филологии.

«The History and narrative about the Bagrations, our Georgian kings, from whence they came to this country since when they have been in possession of the Georgian Kingdom» by Sumbat Davitis-dze (Son of David) is a historical work of the 11-th century (Sumbat died in the 1030 s).

The purpose of Sumbat's «History» is to present the genealogy of the Bagrationi, to prove the divine origin of that dynasty, to determine the period when it received sovereignty in Kartli (Eastern Georgia), and to tell the story of its reign.

Sumbat's «History» has not come down to us as a separate work, it is included in the corpus of «Kartlis tskhovreba» (History of Georgia). «Kartlis tskhovreba» began to be compiled in the 11-th century (according to a number of authors in the 8-th century) and continued into the 18-th century.

«Kartlis tskhovreba» was written at the instance of the ruling, monarchs, hence it reflects the ideology of the official historiography.

Writing his work Sumbat used Georgian and foreign written sources. «History» is rich in factual and chronological evidence, which is often corroborated by foreign sources, epigraphic data and material culture.

Sumbat's «History» (especially beginning of the 6-th century) is a highly valuable historical source for the history of Georgia and neighboring countries.

Sumbat's «History» is contained in the 17-th and the 18-th centuries Mss of «Kartlis tskhovreba». It has been published separately (in 1890 and in 1949), as well as in the corpus publication of «Kartlis tskhovreba» (in 1906 and 1955). The text has been translated into Russian (1900) and French (1849).

The present Russian translation has been made from the 1955 edition with account of the variants readings of the oldest MS.