The Legend of Tbilisi
The foundation myth of the city takes us back to the reign of Georgia’s mighty fifth century monarch Vakhtang Gorgasali. Out hunting with his falcon in the wooded Mtkvari valley, just a short distance from his then capital city of Mtskheta, the king noticed a pheasant. Sending off his falcon to retrieve the bird, he suddenly lost sight of it. After searching for a while, he found the pheasant had fallen into a hot spring, and had been cooked to perfection. Seeing the tremendous benefits of having such wondrous springs close at hand, he decided to found a new capital city on the site, and name it Tbilisi, or warm waters. Another version of the tale says Gorgasali shot a deer, who fell into the spring only to reemerge unharmed, either way, it was the benefits of the hot spring water that convinced the king to move his capital here.
While the city may have been founded due to the sulphur springs, there were a number of other factors that recommended it too. It’s defensible position between two mountain ranges, its position on a trade route and its strategic location, to name a few. In fact, archaeology tells us that the site was settled long before Vakhtang Gorgasali started hunting in the area, but the Tbilisi’s days as a capital started with him and his missing pheasant.
