Editing Tamar of Georgia (section)

=== Medieval ===
[[File:Vepkhistkaosani zichy.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Shota Rustaveli]] presents his poem to Queen Tamar'', a painting by the [[Hungary|Hungarian]] artist [[Mihály Zichy]] (1880s).]]
[[File:The XIIc. cross of Queen Tamara of Georgia - Gold, rubies, emerald and pearls.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Golden cross of Queen Tamar, composed of [[rubies]], [[emeralds]], and large [[pearls]]]]
Over the centuries, Queen Tamar has emerged as a dominant figure in the Georgian historical [[Pantheon (religion)#Extension of the concept into structures and celebrities|pantheon]]. The construction of her reign as a "Golden age" began in the reign itself and Tamar became the focus of the era.<ref name="Eastmond-97">{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|p=97}}.</ref> Several medieval Georgian poets, including Shota Rustaveli, claimed Tamar as the inspiration for their works. A legend has it that Rustaveli was even consumed with love for the queen and ended his days in a monastery. A dramatic scene from Rustaveli's poem where the seasoned King Rostevan crowns his daughter Tinatin is an allegory to George III's co-option of Tamar. Rustaveli comments on this: "A lion cub is just as good, be it female or male".<ref>{{harvnb|Rayfield|1994|p=74}}.</ref>

The queen became a subject of several contemporary [[panegyric]]s, such as [[Chakhrukhadze]]'s ''Tamariani'' and [[Ioane Shavteli]]'s ''Abdul-Mesia''.<ref>{{harvnb|Rayfield|1994|pp=82–85}}.</ref> She was [[eulogy|eulogized]] in the chronicles, most notably in the two accounts centered on her reign – ''The Life of Tamar, Queen of Queens'' and ''The Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns'' – which became the primary sources of Tamar's sanctification in Georgian literature. The chroniclers exalt her as a "protector of the widowed" and "the thrice blessed", and place a particular emphasis on Tamar's virtues as a woman: beauty, humility, love of mercy, fidelity, and purity.<ref name="{{harvnb|eastmond|1997|pp=111–112}}." /> Although Tamar was [[canonization|canonized]] by the Georgian church much later, she was even named as a [[saint]] in her lifetime in a bilingual [[Greek language|Greco]]-Georgian [[colophon (publishing)|colophon]] attached to the manuscript of the [[Vani Gospels]].<ref name="Eastmond-97" />

The idealization of Tamar was further accentuated by the events that took place under her immediate successors; within two decades of Tamar's death, the [[Khwarazmian dynasty|Khwarezmian]] and [[Mongol invasions of Georgia|Mongol]] invasions brought Georgian ascendancy to an abrupt end.<ref>{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|pp=97–98}}.</ref> Later periods of national revival were too ephemeral to match the achievements of Tamar's reign. All of these contributed to the cult of Tamar which blurred the distinction between the idealized queen and the real personality.<ref>{{harvnb|Eastmond|1998|p=98}}.</ref>

In popular memory, Tamar's image has acquired a legendary and romantic façade. A diverse set of folk songs, poems and tales illustrate her as an ideal ruler, a holy woman onto whom certain attributes of [[Georgian paganism|pagan deities]] and Christian saints were sometimes projected. For example, in an old [[Ossetians|Ossetian]] legend, Queen Tamar conceives her son through a sunbeam which shines through the window. Another myth, from the Georgian mountains, equates Tamar with the pagan deity of weather, Pirimze, who controls winter.<ref>{{harvnb|Sikharulidze|1979|pp=167–176}}.</ref> Similarly, in the highland district of [[Pshavi]], Tamar's image fused with a pagan goddess of healing and female fertility.<ref>{{harvnb|Dragadze|1984|p=179}}.</ref>

While Tamar occasionally accompanied her army and is described as planning some campaigns, she was never directly involved in the fighting.<ref name="Eastmond-94" /> Yet, the memory of the military victories of her reign contributed to Tamar's other popular image, that of a model warrior-queen. It also echoed in the ''[[The Tale of Tsaritsa Dinara|Tale of Queen Dinara]]'', a popular 16th-century [[Russian literature|Russian]] story about a fictional Georgian queen fighting against the [[Iran|Persians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Čiževskij|1971|p=236}}; {{harvnb|Suny|1994|p=49}}.</ref> [[Tsar]] of All the Russias [[Ivan the Terrible]] before the [[Siege of Kazan|seizure of Kazan]] encouraged his army by the examples of Tamar's battles<ref>История русской литературы, Дмитрий Дмитриевич Благой, Volume 1, p. 208.</ref> by describing her as "the wisest Queen of [[Kingdom of Georgia|Iberia]], endowed with the intelligence and courage of a man".<ref>{{harvnb|Salia|1983|p=189}}</ref>