Shalva Akhaltsikheli

A commander of Tamar's age, a martyr

d. 1227

Shalva came from the Akhaltsikheli family, a branch of the House of Toreli whose seat stood at Akhaltsikhe. He served at Tamar's court and, together with his brother Ivane, led the central division of the Georgian army at the battle of Basiani, where the Seljuk campaign against Georgia was halted. The brothers later took part in the siege of Kars.

Some twenty years on another war came. In 1225 at Garni the Georgian vanguard under Shalva met the army of the Khwarazmshah Jalal ad-Din; the reinforcements never arrived, the detachment was overwhelmed, Ivane was killed and the wounded Shalva was taken prisoner.

Jalal ad-Din at first kept his captive in honour and offered him conversion to Islam. Shalva refused and was executed. The Georgian church venerates him as a martyr, his feast on 17 June in the old calendar. In Georgian tradition he remained a model of knightly valour: a commander who yielded neither in the field nor in captivity.