George succeeded as
King of Georgia upon the death of his father in 1072 and received the title of
nobelissimos and later that of
sebastos from the
Byzantine emperor. A year later, he faced a major aristocratic revolt led by Niania Kvabulis-dze,
Ivane Liparitis-dze, and Vardan of
Svaneti. Although victorious, the king had to buy the rebels’ loyalty through generously awarding them additional estates. Soon, Georgia was attacked again by the
Seljuks, a nomadic
Turkic people, who would prove to be a major menace to George II's reign. Following the 1073 devastation of
Kartli (central Georgia) by the Seljuk
sultan Alp Arslan, George
successfully repelled an invasion commanded by a Turkish general left by the sultan in charge of the
Caucasus. The king also secured the formal return of
Upper Tao/
Tayk (
Theme of Iberia), a frontier region which had been a bone of contention between Georgia and the Byzantine Empire early in the 11th century, by the Byzantine governor,
Gregory Pakourianos, who began to evacuate the region shortly after the 1071 disaster inflicted by the Seljuks on the Byzantine army at
Manzikert. On this occasion, George was bestowed with the Byzantine title of
caesar, granted the fortress of
Kars and put in charge of the Imperial Eastern limits. This did not help to stem the Seljuk advance, however. In 1076, the Seljuk sultan
Malik Shah I surged into Georgia and reduced many settlements to ruins. Harassed by the massive Turkic influx, known in Georgian history as
didi turkoba, or the
Great Turkish Invasion, from 1079/80 onward, George was pressured into submitting to Malik-Shah to ensure a precious degree of peace at the price of an annual tribute. George II was even able to garner the Seljuk military support in his campaign aimed at bringing the eastern Georgian
Kingdom of Kakheti, which had long resisted the Bagratid attempts of annexation, within a unified Georgian realm. However, tired with a protracted siege of the Kakhetian stronghold of
Vezhini, George abandoned the campaign when snow fell, and headed for the Ajameti forests to ease his disappointment by hunting. The Seljuk auxiliaries also lifted the siege and plundered the fertile Iori Valley in Kakheti.
Aghsartan I, king of Kakheti, went to the sultan to declare his submission, and in token of loyalty embraced
Islam, thus winning a Seljuk protection against the aspirations of the Georgian crown. ==Deposition==