George I (Georgian: გიორგი I, romanized: giorgi I) (998 or 1002 – 16 August 1027), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 2nd king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1014 until his death in 1027.

George I ascended the throne when he was still too young to equal his father Bagrat III, must first suffer a first defeat against the nobles who imposed on him the return to the independence of Kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti.

The latter, representing the old Georgian upper class before unification, decided to attack the most vulnerable region of the kingdom because it had joined it last and in great difficulty: Kakheti.

Against all contrary sources, the Georgian language is still used by the Kakhetians and politically, he later finds himself allied with Georgia against two common enemies: the Alans, living on the other flank of the Greater Caucasus, and the Shaddadids, and this from the reign of the successor of George I, Bagrat IV.

However, his eldest son and designated successor, Hovhannes-Smbat III, hardly lived up to his father, which aroused the anger of his younger brother Ashot, nicknamed the Valiant.

The king of Vaspurakan, Senekerim-Hovhannes, ingeniously decided to pose as a arbitrator of the two brothers to avoid a civil conflict in the region which could subsequently prompt Byzantine Empire to intervene.

As arbiter, he divided the Armenia of Gagik I and gave the region of Ani to Hovhannes-Smbat III, while Ashot received the lands located between Georgia and the Abbasid Caliphate.

Subsequently, nobles loyal to the legitimate successor of Gagik I changed sides and delivered Hovhannes-Smbat to George, who freed him in exchange for several fortresses and vassalage to Ani.

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 been experiencing imperialist pressures in this region of the Caucasus since at least the reign of Justinian I (527-565).

[11] »Following this refusal, Basil II intervened directly, despite his difficulties in Bulgaria, but the renewal of the alliance between Georgia and Byzantium's main enemy, the Fatimid Caliphate (against whom the Byzantine emperor had waged war between 992 and 995), repulsed the Greek troops for the first time.

[12] The two armies met on the plains of Basiani, in Tao, but George I retreated, burning the town of Oltisi to throw the Greeks off course, before being caught again at Cola.

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

Officially, the reason for the revolt was that the two Nikephoroses had not been called by Constantinople to lead the Transcaucasian campaign; but in reality, the real instigator of the rebellion was George I of Georgia, who had taken advantage of the jealousy of the Byzantine generals.

His brother Constantine VIII succeeded him on the imperial throne, just as the three-year period during which Crown Prince Bagrat was to remain in Constantinople had come to an end.

The catapan Nikita tried to recover the prince by force, but it was already too late: an innumerable Georgian army, ready for battle to defend the future king, stood in front of him.

Diplomatically, he also succeeded in taking control of the internal affairs of his Armenian neighbor, but also made alliances that enabled him to avoid a first invasion by Byzantium.

But this did not prevent his distant eighteenth-century descendant Vakhushti Bagrationi from venerating him to the point of praising him in the Georgian Chronicles: " King George I died, still young and full of all sorts of qualities.

The main one is the construction of the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral on the site of the former wooden church built under the protection of the Iberian rulers Mirian III and his wife Nana, in the 4th century.

From the time of George I onwards, almost all future Georgian kings were crowned in the town of Mtskheta, the former administrative and now religious capital of Georgia.

George I married Mariam of Vaspurakan, the youngest daughter of King Senekerim-Hovhannes Artsruni, who had allied himself with the Georgian monarch during the Armenian affair.

In any case, it is certain that at least one son was born of this marriage: The most important representation of Giorgi I in historical fiction is probably in Konstantine Gamsakhurdia's magnum opus, The Hand of the Great Master.

The author has often noted that he has been deeply interested in George's character and historical figure for a long time, as well as his reign full of turmoil and turbulence.

The author seems to be emphasizing on the king's human, fleshly wishes and desires, despite his position on the social ladder, such as lust, love, loathing and compassion.