Prince of Georgia. He was the Royal Prince, or the Batonishvili, of the nation of Georgia. By being the first author to document the critical history and culture of Georgia, he received recognition for being the nation's historian. The Bagrations, the oldest Christian dynasty of Europe, reigned as kings in Georgia from the 9th to the 19th centuries. After his older brother was under house arrest in St. Petersburg in 1801, he was the heir-apparent to George XII, the last king of Georgia, who had a two-year reign during a very unstable political era. Born one of five siblings, he had a twin sister, Nina Georgievna. His mother died a month after the twins were born. After his father married for the second time, he gained three half-siblings. He was educated at the Telavi Seminary. At age 13, he fought in the three-day Battle of Krtsanisi, alongside his grandfather King Heraclius II, fighting the invading army of Agha Mohammad Khan Qaja of the Qajar dynasty. They were defeated with many Georgians captured and their capital city of Tbilisi destroyed. The eastern parts of Georgia were absorbed into Persia or the 21st century country of Iran. After his father's December 28, 1800 death, he did not accept the 1801 Russian annexation of Georgia and escaped to Persia. Living eleven years in exile, he became an artillery commander in the Persian army during the Russo-Persian War. On October 16, 1810 he surrendered to Russian authorities and by January of 1811 had settled in St. Petersburg, receiving a state pension and acquired a mansion. His step-mother and other siblings were in Russia. At this point, he concentrated on scholarly work, collected ancient Georgian chronicles. He developed a circle of colleagues who were focusing on preserving the culture of Georgia and following his lead. He taught several students. He published articles in the French "Journal Asiatque," becoming an elected member in 1831 in this organization. One of his articles included Shota Rustaveli's medieval poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin." In 1837 he became a member of the Russian Academy of Science, and upon his death bequeathed his library of ancient manuscripts to the academy.