The chief town of Imeritia is mentioned by Procopius' as Khytaea, the residence of ^etes, which reminds us of the expedition of Jason, who, 3,000 years ago, descended in Colchis at the head of the heroes of Greece, and, with the assistance of the bewitching daughter of the old king, secured possession of the coveted golden fleece. The origin of the fable is given by Strabo, who relates that the torrents from the mountains of the Soanes (Swanny) brought down gold, which the barbarians collected in troughs pierced with holes and lined with fleeces.' Reineggs asserts that in the last century the kings of Imeritia employed people to search for gold by sifting the sand carried down the stream in the rivers Tzhenystzkalys and Abasha, and of late years gold has actually been found near the Eytz, a tributary of the Ingour, at a place named Zolot^ye rSssypy, 'gold fields,' on the Russian maps. Gold was also discovered in 1865 between Hondo and Djouary on the Ingour, in the district of Sougdydy, by M. Castaing, a Frenchman.*
The most ancient name of Imeritia, as we read in the annals of Georgia, was Egris,* at a time that it formed part of the kingdom of B^ros, who was one of the sons of the patriarch Thai|^mos. In the sixth century, Egris belonged to the Lazi, Khytsea being then called Koutatisium; the city was destroyed at the approach
' Procop. Df idl Goth., iv, 14.
' When Pompey conquered Colchb, he received from Orodes Ihekin^'a couch of gold in token of submission.
' In 1874, small nuggets were found at Dsnibloutt near Tchetah', about 50 mikt from Tiflis. •
* Mii^relia and Swanndf were iocluded in Egris. Mas. Char. pp. 89, 356.
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of the Persians, who rebuilt it in S5i. and it subsequently again became the residence of the kings of the Lazi. Having fallen to the Abhases in the eighth century, E^ris was thereafter known as Abhkhaseth until 1259, at which period the province received the name of Imier, 'beyond,' because it was beyond the Likh' (the Souram spur), and to distinguish it from Georgia, Amier, ' on this side ' of the mountain. Since 1469, the province has been called Imeritia.'
Levan the first king of Abhkhaseth, 786-806, built a city in his new province at a place called Kotez, protected it with a citadel, and made it his second capital after Anacophia; that city is now Koutals on the banks of the Rion, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery. The plains to the south-west, extendii^ into Mingrelia, yield cotton and hemp in abundance, and the highlands, covered with noble forests, supply our markets with walnut and boxwood.
The massive remains scattered over the brow of the hill on the right bank of the Rion, are in all probability those of the fortress of Ouchimerion, also mentioned by Procopius, The last fortification on this commanding position was destroyed in 1769 by General Todleben, who entered Imeritia at the head of a Russian force as the ally of the king against the Turks, whom his own subjects, in a state of revolt, had invited to their aid.
On the summit of this hill are the ruins of a superb cathedral,' dedicated by B^rat III., king of Geoi^ia, to the Holy Virgin. It was built in the form of a Byzantine or ' Roman cross, the extreme length of the nave being 112 feet, and width
' Brosset, //isl. tie la Glor. ii. p. 239. Dtse. Giog. p. 337.
* The metropoliUfl of Cotyaium nas fifiieth in precedence in the reign of Leo t, Google at the transepts 83 feot; it is a mixture of the Armenian and Byzantine, and was the first building in the style of architecture thenceforth denominated Geoigian, after whfch all later churches were designed. While from the magnificent arched windows and noble pilasters some idea may be formed of the original proportions of this edifice, we read that 'the interior was adorned with mosaics, with white, red, and variegated marliles, and pillars and ornaments of striking grandeur,' the whole having been a noble example of the high appreciation of art in Georgia during the eleventh century, at which period the reign of Bagrat marks an epoch in the history of the kingdom; for that monarch, who was king of Colchis, succeeded by right of inheritance to the crown of Georgia, his sovereignty extending from the co-ist ofAbhase to the Caspian Sea. His successors secured to themselves the dominion over Armenia. The edicts of those sovereigns were headed in the following proud style; —