Akhaltsikhe

Akhaltsikhe (Georgian: ახალციხე [äχäɫt̪͡s̪ʰiχe̞]), formerly known as Lomsia (Georgian: ლომსია [ɫo̞ms̪iä]), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region (mkhare) of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is the administrative center of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality and the Samtskhe–Javakheti region. It is situated on both banks of the small river Potskhovi (a left tributary of the Kura), which divides the city between the old city in the north and new in the south.

The 9th-century Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle, which was recently restored, is located in the old part of the city. It is one of the main attractions of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region, along with Vardzia, Vale, Okrostsikhe and Zarzma.

Akhaltsikhe is the Georgian name of the town, which literally means "new fortress". It is attested in Arabic sources as Akhiskha (and Akhsikhath), in Persian as Akhesqeh (also spelled as Akheshkheh), and in Turkish sources as Ahıska. The Azerbaijani village of Axısxa is also named after it, due to the population of the village originating from Akhaltsikhe.

The town is mentioned among the settlements conquered by general Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya I (661–680). During the Mongol domination of Georgia, local rulers of the House of Jaqeli, who ruled the feudal principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago, were invested with the title of atabeg and were allowed to be autonomous. In contemporaneous Persian and Turkish sources, these Jaqeli rulers were referred to as Ḳurḳūra, which derives from Qvarqvare—the name of several Jaqeli rulers.

In 1579, during the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590, the Ottomans took the town. In the ensuing period, the Ottomans implanted Islam and Ottoman customs. In 1625, the town became the centre of the Akhalzik Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire known as Ahıska and it held a resident Ottoman pasha. The town rose to strategic importance and became a leading hub of the Caucasian slave market. By the late 17th century, the town was home to 400 households, consisting of a mixed population of Turks, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks and Jews.

In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Russian troops under the command of General Ivan Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople, it was ceded to the Russian Empire. The city initially become part of the Kutaisi Governorate, then of the Tiflis Governorate, becoming the administrative centre of the Akhaltsikhe uezd.

In the late 1980s the city was host to the Soviet Army's 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which became a brigade of the Georgian land forces after the fall of the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]}

The highland environment between Akhaltsikhe and Aspindza presents a varied and complex array of archaeological features in different locations, elevations and topographies. This includes the alluvial flood-plain of the Kura River, all the way to the high grasslands.^{[citation needed]}