Inhabitants of Pkhovi – the Pkhovians (ფხო[ვ]ელნი,
Pkho[v]elni) – were a tribe of
Georgian highlanders known for their warlike character and frequent disobedience to the royal authority. The
toponym Pkhovi, which may derive from a Georgian root meaning "brave, valiant", is first attested in a passage from the seventh-century chronicle
The Conversion of Kartli which refers to the defiance of local highlanders to
Christianizing efforts of the king
Mirian III, and
St. Nino, a 4th-century apostle of
eastern Georgia (
Kartli/
Iberia). These pressures are reported to have forced several Pkhovian families to move southeast to
Tusheti. Although the population of this region was nominally under the direct rule of the
Georgian crown, they had never been completely integrated into the
feudal system of medieval Georgia, and remained relatively little affected by implantation of aristocratic landowners as well as foreign intrusions. However, as Professor
Kevin Tuite of
Université de Montréal has recently suggested, The position of the
Georgian Orthodox Church was also weak, and the Pkhovians professed a curious mixture of
pagan and Christian beliefs. This has reflected in the religious architecture of Pkhovi: whereas each village of other highland provinces of Georgia, such as
Svaneti,
Khevi,
Mtiuleti, and
Racha, has at least one church dating from the 5th to the 18th century, Pkhovi appears to be devoid of Georgian Orthodox churches. Instead, the region abounds in sacred sites, of which the most venerated are referred to as
khati or
jvari, meaning "an icon" and "a cross" in standard Georgian usage, but denoting, beyond these sacred images, the sanctuaries in which they are housed, and the deity believed to preside over the sanctuary in Pkhovi. and the
Vainakh designation for the Khevsurs –
Pkhia (Пхий). == See also ==