Borena of Alania

Queen Borena

Borena (Georgian: ბორენა) was a sister of the Alan king Durgulel "the Great", and the Queen consort of Georgia, as the second wife of Bagrat IV (r. 1027-1072).

The medieval Georgian historical tradition exposes little information about Borena. Bagrat married her, in the early 1030s, after the death of his first wife, Elene (niece of the Byzantine emperor Romanos III Argyros). This was just one of the several intermarriages between the medieval Georgian Bagratids and their natural allies, the royal house of Alania. Borena seems to have retained some contacts with her native Alania: the Georgian chronicles report that when Durgulel paid a visit to Bagrat IV, he also arranged an audience with his sister Borena. The last we hear about Borena is her presence at Bagrat's deathbed in 1072.^[1]

Borena is primarily known as a patron and promoter of Georgian Orthodox culture and monastic life. She sponsored the construction of the Georgian Kapata Monastery on Mount Sion at Jerusalem. She is frequently identified with the Borena who was an author of a passionate and moving hymn to Virgin Mary, which is found as an inscription on the Theotokos icon from that time (now preserved at the Lenjer Church in highland Svaneti).^[2]

Bagrat IV and Borena were the parents of:

• George II of Georgia, Bagrat's successor to the throne of Georgia
• Martha-Maria, the future queen consort of the Byzantine Empire

In addition to these well-documented children, the couple may have had a daughter, Mariam, possibly a wife of the Byzantine dignitary Theodore Gabras.^[1]

References

1. Lynda Garland & Stephen Rapp. Mary 'of Alania': Woman and Empress Between Two Worlds, pp. pp. 94-95, 120-121. In: Lynda Garland (ed., 2006), Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience, 800-1200. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0-7546-5737-X.
2. Rayfield, Donald (2000), The Literature of Georgia: A History, p. 28. Routledge (UK), ISBN 0-7007-1163-5.