Avag Zakarian
politician
Avag Zakarian (Georgian: ავაგ მხარგრძელი, romanized: avag mkhargrdzeli; Armenian: Ավագ Զաքարյան) (died 1250 AD) was an Armenian noble of the Zakarid line, and a Court official of the Kingdom of Georgia, as atabeg and amirspasalar of Georgia from 1227 to 1250.
The eastern areas Bjni, Gegharkunik, Vayots-dzor, Artsakh, Siunik, Nakhichevan, Dvin and Yerevan were under the jurisdiction of the atabeg Ivane Mkhargrdzeli and his son Avag. First Dvin and later Bjni were centres of this division. The subjects of Ivane's family were the Orbelians, Khaghbakians, Dopians, Hasan-Jalalyan and others.
Biography
During Mongol invasion of Georgia in 1238-39 Queen Rusudan had to evacuate Tbilisi for Kutaisi, leaving eastern Georgia in the hands of atabeg Avag Mkhargrdzeli and Kakhetian lord, Egarslan Bakurtsikheli. The Mongol general Toghta was sent by Chaghatai to assault Avag's troops at the fortress of Kayan. After some resistance, Avag surrendered, and had to agree to pay tribute to the Mongols, and to provide let his troops join the Mongol army. Avag was the first of the Caucasian princes to submit to the Mongols, and was treated with great honor for his reddition, triggering the surrender of may more nobles in the rest of the campaign. The combined troops went on to Ani, the Armenian capital defended by Shahnshah Zakarian, but the city was eventually captured and destroyed.
Following this disastrous campaign of 1238-1239, the Armenians and Georgians made peace with the Mongols and agreed to pay them tribute and supply their troops (Georgian–Mongolian treaty of 1239).
The public source identifies “Avag Zakarian” as politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Avag, Zakarian and politician.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12861375. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1250, 1227, 1238 and 1239.
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This entry incorporates text from “Avag Zakarian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.