Battle of Ertsukhi

Battle of Ertsukhi
Part of the Georgian-Seljuk wars
Date 1104 Location Near Ertsukhi Result Decisive Georgian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Georgia	Seljuk Empire
Commanders and leaders
David IV	Atabeg of Ganja
Strength
unknown	unknown
Casualties and losses
Probably much fewer	Almost all force destroyed

The Battle of Ertsukhi (Georgian: ერწუხის ბრძოლა) was battle was fought in Southeastern Georgia near the Georgian border in Ertsukhi.

In 1104 C.E., David IV, king of Georgia, reunified the Kakhetian Kingdom with Georgia. The king of Kakheti, Agsartan II, was captured by the Georgian nobles Baramisdze and Arshiani and was imprisoned in Kutaisi. Kakheti was a vassal state of the Turk-Seljuk empire, and from 1099 Georgia was fighting against the Turk-Seljuk empire.

The Turk-Seljuk emperor Barkiyaruq sent a large army to Georgia to retake Kakheti and to defeat the Georgian army. A battle was fought in Southeastern Georgia near the Georgian border in Ertsukhi. King David of Georgia personally took part in the battle, where the Seljuks were decisively defeated.

Folklore

According to a legendary tradition described in The Georgian Chronicles, when David removed his armor after the battle, piled up blood splashed down from behind his armor plate. This led the by-standers to believe that their king was wounded, when in fact the blood belonged to the Turks that the king had slain in battle.^[1]

Notes

1. "Kartlis Tskhovreba" (PDF).The Georgian Chronicles, Chapter 6, pg 346.