King George I, still young and proud of his few exploits, decided to rekindle the old tensions between his nation and the Byzantine Empire, which had experienced imperialist surges in this region of the Caucasus since at least the reign of Justinian I (527-565).

Moreover, he truly considered himself the successor of the one who tried to unify the Georgian lands, and the loss of the Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti led him to seek new domains in the southwest.

[1] This is how he thinks of the Tao, ancient Kingdom of the Georgians and hereditary domain of the first Bagrations, which had been bequeathed by will to Emperor Basil II by David III Kurapalates as the term of a punishment due to the support of the latter for the rebel Bardas Phokas, and part of which was offered by Byzantine Empire to Bagrat III.

[3] The two armies then meet on the plains of Basiani, in Tao, but George I retreats, burns the town of Oltisi to divert the path of the Greeks, before being caught at Cola.

The Georgian troops quickly left the region to take refuge in Samtskhe, but the Byzantines still pursued them and ravaged Javakheti, before burning the town of Artaani.