{{Short description|Prince of Guria (r. 1534–1564)}}{{Infobox royalty | name = Rostom Gurieli | succession = [[Principality of Guria|Prince of Guria]] | reign = 1534–1564 | predecessor = [[Mamia I Gurieli|Mamia I]] | successor = [[George II Gurieli|George II]] | death_date = 1564 | issue = {{plainlist| * Kaikhosro * [[George II Gurieli|George II]] }} | issue-link = #Family | issue-pipe = Among others | house = [[House of Gurieli|Gurieli]] | father = [[Mamia I Gurieli]] | mother = Ketevan | religion = [[Georgian Orthodox Church]] ([[Catholicate of Abkhazia]]) }} '''Rostom Gurieli''' ({{lang-ka|როსტომ გურიელი}}; died 1564), of the [[House of Gurieli]], was [[Principality of Guria|Prince of Guria]] from 1534 until his death in 1564. Alongside his royal suzerain, [[Bagrat III of Imereti]], Rostom fought against the expanding [[Ottoman Empire]] to which he lost parts of his principality. Rostom's relations with Bagrat III subsequently deteriorated over his support to the king's defiant vassal, [[Levan I Dadiani]].
== Accession == Rostom was a son of [[Mamia I Gurieli]] by his wife Ketevan. In 1533, Mamia was taken captive during his disastrous expedition against the [[Circassians]] in which Rostom's brother George was killed. Rostom had to ransom his father, on whose death he succeeded as Prince of Guria a year later. By that time, Guria, a principality on Georgia's southwestern [[Black Sea]] coast, had been menaced by the resurgent [[Ottoman Empire]], then [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555)|being in war]] with [[Safavid Iran]] over hegemony in the [[Caucasus]]. Rostom stood by the side of his official royal suzerain, King [[Bagrat III of Imereti]], in his struggle against the Ottoman encroachment.<ref name=ray>{{cite book|last=Rayfield|first=Donald|author-link=Donald Rayfield|title=Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia|year=2012|publisher=Reaktion Books|location=London|isbn=1780230303|pages = 168–170}}</ref>
== Ottoman wars == In 1535, Rostom joined forces with Bagrat in an invasion of the [[Samtskhe-Saatabago]], ruled by the pro-Ottoman [[Atabeg]] [[Qvarqvare III Jaqeli]]. At the [[battle of Murjakheti]], the atabag was defeated, captured by Gurieli's [[cup-bearer]] Isak Artumeladze, and eventually delivered to Bagrat. Qvarqvare died in prison, while Rostom was awarded his share of Samtskhe: [[Adjara]] and [[Chaneti]], long sought after by the Gurieli dynasty. The Ottomans retaliated with a major invasion: Bagrat and Rostom were victorious at [[Battle of Karagak|Karagak]] in 1543, but decisively defeated, in 1545, at [[Battle of Sokhoista|Sokhoista]], where Rostom's son Kaikhosro was killed.<ref name="Vakh">{{cite book|last=Bagrationi|first=Vakhushti|script-title=ru:История Царства Грузинского|trans-title=History of the Kingdom of Georgia|year=1976|publisher=Metsniereba|location=Tbilisi|pages=133–135|url=https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/3067/1/Istoria_Carstva_Gruzinskogo.pdf|authorlink=Prince Vakhushti of Kartli|editor=Nakashidze, N.T.|language=ru}}</ref><ref name=ray/>
In 1547, the Ottoman military imposed a blockade of Guria's coastline and occupied the maritime settlements of [[Gonio (settlement)|Gonio]] and [[Batumi]]. Rostom appealed for help to Bagrat of Imereti and [[Levan I Dadiani]], [[Prince of Mingrelia]]. However, the king of Imereti, indignant at Rostom's earlier decline of a combined attack on Mingrelia, disrupted the nascent Dadiani–Gurieli accord. Left to his own devices, Rostom attacked, pushed the Ottoman forces beyond the [[Çoruh|Chorokhi]] and forced them to evacuate Batumi, but he failed to prevent the loss of Adjara and Chaneti; the Gonio fortress became an important Ottoman outpost in southwestern Georgia.<ref name="Vakh"/><ref>{{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |last=Church |first=Kenneth |date=2001 |title=From dynastic principality to imperial district: the incorporation of Guria into the Russian Empire to 1856 |publisher=University of Michigan|pages=127–129}}</ref> Rostom died in 1564 and was buried at the [[Shemokmedi Monastery]]. He was succeeded by his son, [[George II Gurieli]].<ref name="DRRI">{{cite book|last1=Grebelsky|first1=P. Kh.|last2=Dumin|first2=S.V.|last3=Lapin|first3=V.V.|script-title=ru:Дворянские роды Российской империи. Том 4: Князья Царства Грузинского|date=1993|publisher=Vesti|language=ru|trans-title=Noble families of the Russian Empire. Vol. 4: Princes of the Kingdom of Georgia|pages = 36–37}}</ref>
== Family == Rostom Gurieli was married twice, first to Princess Tinatin (fl. 1534), a member of the Imeretian royal family, and secondly, to Princess Tamar (fl. 1562). He fathered three sons and two daughters:<ref name="DRRI"/> * Kaikhosro (died 1545), killed in the battle of Sokhoista with the Ottoman army; * [[George II Gurieli]] (died 1600), Prince-regnant of Guria ({{Reign|1566|1583|1587|1600}}); * Rodam, the first wife of [[George III Dadiani]], Prince of Mingrelia (divorced in 1564); * A daughter, who married [[Mamia IV Dadiani]]; * Possibly, [[Vakhtang I Gurieli]] (died 1587), Prince-regnant of Guria ({{Reign|1583|1587}}).
== References == {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-hou|[[House of Gurieli]]}} {{s-reg}} {{s-bef | before = [[Mamia I Gurieli]] }} {{s-ttl | title = [[Prince of Guria]] | years = 1534–1564 }} {{s-aft | after = [[George II Gurieli]] }} {{s-end}}
[[Category:1564 deaths]] [[Category:House of Gurieli]] [[Category:16th-century people from Georgia (country)]]