| Heraclius II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| King of Kartli-Kakheti | |
| Reign | 8 January 1762 – 11 January 1798 |
| Predecessor | Unification of Kartli and Kakheti |
| Successor | George XII |
| King of Kakheti | |
| Reign | 1744–1762 |
| Predecessor | Teimuraz II |
| Successor | Unification of Kartli and Kakheti |
| Born | 7 November 1720 Telavi |
| Died | 11 January 1798 (aged 77) |
| Burial | |
| Consort | Ketevan Orbeliani or Ketevan Pkheidze Anna Abashidze Darejan Dadiani |
| Issue among others... | George XII of Georgia |
| Dynasty | Bagrationi |
| Father | Teimuraz II of Kakheti |
| Mother | Tamar of Kartli |
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
| Khelrtva |  |
Heraclius II, also known as Erekle II (Georgian: ერეკლე II) and The Little Kakhetian[1] (Georgian: პატარა კახი [pʼatʼaɾa kʼaχi]; 7 November 1720 or 7 October 1721 [according to C. Toumanoff[2]] – 11 January 1798), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Kakheti from 1744 to 1762, and of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti from 1762 until his death in 1798. In the contemporary Persian sources he is referred to as Erekli Khan (ارکلی خان), while Russians knew him as Irakly (Ираклий). Heraclius is the Latinized form of his name.
From being granted the kingship of Kakheti by his overlord Nader Shah in 1744 as a reward for his loyalty,[3] to becoming the penultimate king of the united kingdoms of Kakheti and Kartli in eastern Georgia, his reign is regarded as the swan song of the Georgian monarchy.[4] Aided by his personal abilities and the unrest in Iran following Nader Shah's death, Heraclius established himself as a de facto autonomous ruler, unified eastern Georgia politically for the first time in three centuries,[5] and attempted to modernize the government, economy, and military. Overwhelmed by the internal and external menaces to Georgia's precarious independence and its temporary hegemony in eastern Transcaucasia, he placed his kingdom under the formal Russian protection in 1783, but the move did not prevent Georgia from being devastated by the Persian invasion in 1795. Heraclius died in 1798, leaving the throne to his moribund heir, George XII.
- ^ Suny 1994, p. 56.
- ^ Hitchens, Keith (1998). "Erekle II". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ Ronald Grigor Suny. "The Making of the Georgian Nation" Indiana University Press, 1994. p 55
- ^ Lang, David Marshall (1951), Count Todtleben's Expedition to Georgia 1769–1771 according to a French Eyewitness, p. 878. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 13, No. 4.
- ^ Yar-Shater, Ehsan. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 8, parts 4–6 Routledge & Kegan Paul (original from the University of Michigan) p. 541