I.
An independent republic in Transcaucasia. The Georgian name is Saḳarṭvelo, from “Ḳartveli” = Georgian (after the mythical ancestor Kartlos). The Greeks called the inhabitants ‘Ἱβήροι/Ibēḗroi (Iberians). The Russian “Gruzija” stems from the Arabic and Persian names for Georgia, “al-Kurǧ” or “Gurǧ,” and the western European “Georgia” from St. George, the national saint of Georgia.
Modern-day Georgia, surrounded by Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey, has an area of 69,500 km2 (similar to Bavaria) and …