Georgia: A New Destination for McCracken

My post content

The new McCracken adventure, McCracken and the Lost Crown, takes the hero to one of the most beautiful--and also the least explored--of near-Asian countries, Georgia.

Georgia is divided into a number of regions, some of them profoundly different from the others. Svaneti, for example, is famous for its feuds and its fierce independence; Imereti for its hospitality; Abkhazia formed part of the ancient land of Colchis. And Colchis was the destination for Jason and the other heroes on the Argo, when they went in search of the Golden Fleece. One story claims that gold miners in Colchis used to pan the rivers for gold, straining the river sediment through sheep fleeces, possibly indicating a source for the Golden Fleece Jason sought.

Located between the Black and the Caspian Seas, Georgia has experienced many invasions, from the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Turks, the Byzantines, and, more recently, Russia--first as it was annexed as part of the Tsar's Empire and later as part of the USSR.

Georgia is situated between two mountain ranges, the Greater Caucasus to the north and the Lesser Caucasus to the south, joined by the Likhi Range. The Silk Road, which linked east and west and enabled trade to flourish between the two, passed both to the north and to the south of Georgia, beyond both these mountain ranges, as well as through it. Over the centuries, defending these roads and protecting the population helped give Georgia an abundance of castles remarkable in a country the size of Ireland.

Georgia's history has been shaped by foreign invaders, but also by some remarkable people. St. Nino evangelized the country in about 330, making Georgia one of the earliest Christian kingdoms. Vakhtang Gorgasali (c. 440-502), a contemporary of King Arthur and Saint Benedict of Nursia, was the great warrior-king who united several small kingdoms and established the capital city of Tbilisi.

David the Builder founded many monasteries, including the beautiful one at Gelati. Tamar, whose people referred to her as King, not Queen, reigned over what is commonly known as Georgia's Golden Age. Shota Rustaveli wrote an epic story in verse, The Knight in the Panther's Skin, in the early thirteenth century that rivals the more famous poems by Chretien de Troyes and Wolfram von Eschenbach.

In this series of posts, we’ll explore the peoples, history and customs of Georgia, as McCracken follows clues and faces danger in his search for the elusive lost crown.