page_title: Khevsureti
section_title: Ethnography
hierarchical_section_title: Khevsureti / Ethnography
caption_attribution_description: Khevsur clansmen in Georgia
context_page_description: Khevsureti is a historical-ethnographic region in eastern Georgia. They are the branch of Kartvelian people located along both the northern and southern slopes of the Great Caucasus Mountains.
context_section_description: The territory of Khevsureti, together with the neighboring area of Pshavi, was known to medieval writers under the joint designation Pkhovi or in the Georgian language: ფხოვი. Chronicler Leonti Mroveli mentions that after the conversion of the King Mirian III of Iberia and the Queen Nana into Christianity in the early 4th century, St. Nino continued to preach among Georgian highlanders (მთიულნი, mtiulni) including Pkhovi.
  Medieval Georgia was never able to establish a typical feudal system. The civil code of the community remained based on the ancient traditions and values. Children of the noble families and lords were brought up by the families of peasants (გლეხი, glekhi) who were known for their wisdom and human qualities. These people introduced youth to their culture, history, traditions and all aspects of human knowledge and experiences based on Christian Orthodox values. (See Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church)
  Historically, Georgian highlander communities enjoyed a degree of autonomy. Khevsurs never accepted local lords; they elected their leaders or Khevisberi (ხევისბერი, elder) and council of elders and submitted themselves only to the monarch (see List of the Kings of Georgia). They were exceptional warriors with traditional Georgian qualities of courage, openness and honesty, fraternity, independence and love of freedom, who were often promoted as royal bodyguards. Kings regarded them as reliable guardians of the Caucasus Mountains and the northern border of the kingdom. In the battles Khevsurs wore flags adorned with crosses and considered themselves permanent members of the army of the sacred flags and guardians of Georgian Kings.
  There was a suggestion by Russian serviceman and ethnographer Arnold Zisserman who spent 25 years (1842–67) during Russian expansion in the Caucasus (see Georgia within the Russian Empire), that these Georgian highlanders were descendants of the last European Crusaders because their folk culture – the material, social, and religious practices – resembled those of the Crusaders. Although claiming to have arrived at the speculation himself, the meme appears in earlier sources and was a popular story among non-Georgians in Tbilisi.
  Zisserman also writes that 'concerning their origin the Khevsurs have preserved a tradition: they consider a certain man by the name of Gudaneli as their first ancestor. He was a peasant vassal of a landlord in Kakheti, and to escape punishment for some crime which he had committed, he found refuge in the Pshav village of Apsho. From his two sons, Arabuli and Chinchara, originated the family of Arabuli, consisting of 320 homes, and the family of Chincharauli, with 210 homes.' American traveler Richard Halliburton (1900–1939) saw and recorded the customs of the Khevsur tribe in 1935. 
  The Khevsur men, dressed in chain mail and armed with broadswords, wore garments full of decoration made up of crosses and icons, which served as a means of protection according to Christianity which Georgia adopted early in 4th century. Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BC) notes that the Caucasian highlanders of that time, were brilliant knitters and embroiders of their dress or Chokha, which wore out but never faded from frequent usage. Young girls started knitting at the age of 6-7, but men studying and military training, because according to their tradition women were deprived from education and higher social status.
  The suggestion that any historical evidence indicates that Khevsurs may have descended from crusaders has been thoroughly discredited, and Georgian scholars have universally derided the story. 
  They had a strict system of physical training in martial arts preserved as a Khridoli martial art, and which is a part of the rich Georgian military tradition.
  Khevsur dances also preserved in the national dances as a warrior dance Khevsuruli.
caption: Khevsur clansmen, c. 1910
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