This latter change of power took place sometime after 1569, when an obscure nobleman of the Sidamoni clan, with the aid of the dukes of the Ksani, massacred the Tumanisdze family and took control of their possessions.

In the process of time, the tenure of a duke of Aragvi became hereditary, and the eristavi ranked as mtavari, one of the "undivided" princely houses of Georgia.

[1] Their possessions extended from the main ridge of the Great Caucasus in the north to the left bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) in the south, and from the Liakhvi River in the west to the mountains of Alevi and Gremi in the east – which formed the watershed between the valleys of the Ksani and the Aragvi.

The energetic 17th-century dukes of Aragvi – Nugzar, Zurab, and Zaal – waged a relentless struggle to achieve more autonomy from the royal authority of Kartli as well as to subdue the free mountainous communities of Pshavi-Khevsureti and Ertso-Tianeti.

The surviving members of the ducal family were later removed by Teimuraz's son Erekle II to Kakheti and granted a smaller estate.