Maria of Alania[1] (Greek: Μαρία Ἀλανή; born Martha;[2] Georgian: მართა; 1053–1118) was Byzantine empress by marriages to emperors Michael VII Doukas and Nikephoros III Botaneiates.

Her status as empress was considered a significant success for a newly unified Kingdom of Georgia, which would achieve regional influence comparable to that of Byzantium only during the reign of Martha's nephew, King David IV, who refused to carry a Byzantine title.

A daughter of the Georgian monarch Bagrat IV, Martha, at the age of 5 years, was sent as a hostage[3] to Constantinople to ensure her father's good behavior and further her education at the Byzantine court under the patronage of Empress Theodora in 1056.

He otherwise treated Maria generously, granting her extensive lands and property and giving her brother, George II of Georgia, the title of Caesar, to acknowledge his close ties to the imperial family.

This situation changed drastically when Alexios had a son, the future emperor John II Komnenos, by the Empress consort Irene Doukaina in 1087: Anna's engagement with Constantine was dissolved, the latter was deprived of his status of heir-apparent and Maria forced to retire to a monastery.

Despite being officially a nun and wearing a veil, this transition made little difference to Maria's lifestyle and she continued her usual charitable activities, including donations to the Georgian monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos, and the building of a convent named Kappatha at Jerusalem with her mother Borena.

Full many a painter's hand has successfully imitated the colours of the various flowers the seasons bring, but this queen's beauty, the radiance of her grace and the charm and sweetness of her manners surpassed all description and all art.

In a word, she was an incarnation of Love come down to this terrestrial globe.After Maria's son Constantine died in 1096, she finally moved herself to a monastery, purportedly in a heavily Georgian-influenced area like North Eastern Anatolia.