The Georgian Chronicles
Georgians call themselves "Kartvelebi" (ქართველები), their land "Sakartvelo" (საქართველო), and their language "Kartuli" (ქართული). According to "The Georgian Chronicles", the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great-grandson of the Biblical Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the "Karts", the latter being one of the proto-Georgian tribes that emerged as a dominant group in ancient times. "Kart" probably is cognate with Indo-European "gard" and denotes people who live in a "fortified citadel". Ancient Greeks (Homer, Herodotus, Strabo, Plutarch etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians.