From the Historical Geogaphy of the Murghuli Gorge

Abstract

Murghuli Gorge is located on the left bank of the river Chorokhi, in the province of Artvin, Turkey. This Georgian-populated region was one of the corners of historic southwestern Georgia. There were villages in this gorge: Murguli, Korideti, Durcha, Adurcha, Dzansuli, Bujuri, Kamelepi, Changureti, Poroseti, Chkhaleti, Goglieti, Keuli, Ereguna, Juvani, Mcireti, Sokhva. Today the names of these villages are changed to Turkish.

Important is the Gospel with Georgian and Greek inscriptions from the Church of Korideti, one of the villages in the Murguli Gorge. This Gospel is written in Greek. Later the Gospel got to Svaneti. It is kept in Tbilisi today. According to the inscriptions of this gospel, the Murghuli Gorge was ruled by the feudal family of the Chiasdze. In Megrelian-Laz, Murghuli means worm. The ancient Greeks and Romans called this region Drilla. The Greek drill is the same as worm. Chiasdze became the surname of the ruling feudal family according to this historical micro-region.

The village of Durcha is mentioned in the Gospel of Korideti. This village still exists today. The Gospel of Korideti mentions the village of Iremeti, which does not belong to this valley and is located in Mandeti, in the Machakheli valley. The inscription mentions a fortress in the village of Chkhieti – this is the village of Chkhaleti. One of the inscriptions of the Gospel of Korideti mentions a famous Georgian political figure of the 12th century, Kutlu Arslan, Minister of Finance of Queen Tamar. This person in his time organized a political demarche against the king and opposed his one-man rule. It is conceivable that Kutlu-Arslan belonged to the feudal family of Chiasdze.