Zurab Eristavi was amongst the highest ranking Georgian nobles at the time. He was the son of
Nugzar I (1600-1611) and had one older brother named Baadur (Bahadur). In 1619, with the help of the
Safavid troops and the Safavid-appointed ruler in
Tiflis,
Semayun Khan (Simon II), Zurab managed to drive his elder brother Bahadur out of
Bazaleti. Receiving further aid from them, he started to conduct raids against the people of
Mtiuleti and the
Khevi; he managed to submit these countries, and became notoriously powerful. Through the marriage of his daughter to Giorgi Saakadze, Saakadze had become the son-in-law of Zurab Eristavi. Zurab himself was the son-in-law of Teimuraz I, through his marriage to
Darejan in 1623. When in 1624 Safavid king
Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) decided to marry his granddaughter to Semayun Khan, the Safavid ruler of Kartli, Sohrab Eristavi and
Abd-ol-Ghaffar Amilakhori entertained the guests in the third term of the wedding party on the order of Murav Beg. During the
Battle of Martqopi, Zurab and Giorgi Saakadze led the Georgian troops. Zurab led a charge with his main forces after
Qarachaqay Khan and the other Safavid Iranian commanders had been killed by Saakadze and his son Avtandil (supported by his Georgian escorts), which resulted in the virtual annihilation of the leaderless Iranian troops. When in the summer of 1626 the final "rupture" between Teimuraz I and Giorgi Saakadze occurred, Zurab Eristavi joined the side of the Teimuraz. However, in 1630 Zurab was killed on the orders of Teimuraz I, shortly after the king had instigated the duke to murder the Safavid-sponsored ruler of Kartli, Semayun Khan. Zurab was succeeded as duke (
eristavi) of Aragvi by his younger brother, known by his dynastic name of David I. ==References==