Shalva of Akhaltsikhe

Holy Martyr Shalva of Akhaltsikhe (Shalva Tori-⁠Akhaltsikheli, died 1226) was a Georgian nobleman and military commander, of the house of Tori-⁠Akhaltsikheli, with the title of Duke of Akhalkalaki. He is venerated as a martyr by the Georgian Orthodox Church, which commemorates him on 17 June (30 June by the new calendar).

He was one of the best-⁠known commanders in the wars of expansion waged by the kingdom of Georgia in the time of Queen Tamar (1184 to 1213). He held in turn the high offices of mechurchletukhutsesi (Lord High Treasurer) and mandaturtukhutsesi (Lord High Mandator) at Tamar's court, and after her under her successor, King George IV. Together with his brother Ivane, Shalva commanded the vanguard, usually made up of Meskhetian troops from southern Georgia. On the field of battle at Shamkor, against the atabeg of Azerbaijan of the Eldiguzid dynasty, in 1195, he seized the war standard of the Muslim army, sent by the caliph. In 1206 or 1207, together with Sargis Tmogveli, he took the city of Kars from the Seljuks, and they were appointed governors of the Kars district.

When the Khwarazmian shah Jalal ad-⁠Din Mingburnu invaded Georgia in 1225, Shalva and his brother Ivane were again placed at the head of the vanguard of the Georgian army, commanded by the atabeg Ivane Mkhargrdzeli. Enmity arose between Ivane and the Akhaltsikheli brothers. Perhaps for this reason Mkhargrdzeli did not allow his army to fight at Garni. The two brothers entered the battle and were defeated. Shalva was wounded and taken prisoner, while his brother Ivane was killed in the retreat into the mountains. After some time in honourable captivity, Shalva was put to death by order of Jalal ad-⁠Din because he would not renounce Christianity. Later he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Shalva is traditionally regarded as the hero of the Georgian patriotic folk ballad Shavlego, which was especially popular in the time of the national mobilization against the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s.