5th-early 6th century (traditionally died 502; scholarly estimates of his death range from c. 502 to c. 527)
King of Kartli who defended and strengthened Christian Georgia amid Persian, Ossetian, and Byzantine pressures.
The Holy Right-Believing King Vakhtang Gorgasali of Georgia
Vakhtang I Gorgasali was a king of Kartli (Iberia), the kingdom of eastern Georgia, who ruled in the second half of the fifth century and into the early sixth. He is remembered as a defender and consolidator of Christian Georgia at a time when the kingdom was pressed between the Sassanid Persian empire to the south and the Ossetians to the north, with the Byzantine empire also active in the Caucasus. Tradition credits him with strengthening the organization of the Georgian Church, building fortresses, monasteries, and churches, and laying the foundations of Tbilisi, which became the Georgian capital. The Georgian Orthodox Church venerates him as a holy and right-believing king, commemorating him on November 30 (December 13 on the civil calendar).
Vakhtang is universally known by the epithet 'Gorgasali'. The Georgian and Orthodox tradition explains it from his military helmet, on the brow of which was depicted a wolf and on the back a lion; on seeing it the Persians are said to have cried out 'Beware of the wolf's head!' (rendered 'Dar' az gurgsar!'), and this became the source of his appellation. Scholars more often connect the name to an Iranian form meaning 'wolf-bodied'.
Vakhtang's reign fell in a period when Kartli was caught between the Sassanid Persian empire and the peoples to its north. He waged war against the Ossetians as a young man, secured alliances with Caucasian tribes, and is credited with freeing western Georgia from Byzantine control. His open break with his Persian overlord around 482 provoked devastating Iranian reprisals against Iberia, and he is remembered as having died in arms defending his Christian kingdom against Persia.
Vakhtang married Helen (Elene), described in the sources as a Byzantine princess and a putative daughter of the emperor Zeno. His relations with Constantinople were closely bound up with the reorganization of the Georgian Church, for which he sought and received recognition from the Byzantine capital.
The Georgian Orthodox Church venerates Vakhtang as a holy and right-believing king. His feast is kept on November 30 (December 13 on the civil calendar). He remains one of the most celebrated figures of Georgian national and ecclesiastical memory, associated above all with the founding of Tbilisi and the strengthening of the Georgian Church.