Mikheil Tamarashvili as the First Georgian Researcher of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani’s Embassy to Europe

Abstract

Sulkhan- Saba Orbeliani played a pivotal role in early eighteenth-century Georgian history, most notably through his diplomatic mission to Europe on behalf of King Vakhtang VI. This mission, aimed at securing European support for Georgia’s liberation from Persian control, was long overlooked in Georgian historiography. Mikheil Tamarashvili was the first Georgian scholar to systematically reveal the details of Orbeliani’s embassy by thoroughly examining European archival sources. By doing so,
Tamarashvili established the embassy’s central importance, demonstrating its significance as a foundational example of Georgia’s diplomatic engagement with Europe. 
The historiographical neglect of Orbeliani’s embassy, rooted in nineteenth-century political realities under Russian rule, obscured Georgia’s historical orientation toward Europe. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Mikheil Tamarashvili changed this narrative. By reintroducing and rigorously documenting the embassy’s historical significance, Tamarashvili provided compelling evidence of Georgia’s long- standing European connections, thereby reasserting this link as a central point in Georgian national history.