Kartlos or K'art'los was the legendary establisher and eponymous father of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

, and the mythic ancestor of Georgians

Georgians

The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

, namely its nucleus Kartli

Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...

 (Caucasian Iberia

Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

). His story is narrated in the compilation of the medieval Georgian chronicles, Kartlis Cxovreba, taken down from oral tradition by Leonti Mroveli

Leonti Mroveli

Leonti Mroveli was the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, presumably an ecclesiastic. Mroveli is not his last name, but the adjective for the diocese of Ruisi, whose bishop he probably was...

 in the 11th century.

The legend has it that he was a son of Targamos

Togarmah

Togarmah third son of Gomer, and grandson of Japheth, brother of Ashkenaz and Riphat...

 and, thus, brother of Haos

Haik

Hayk Nahapet is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the History of Armenia attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi .- Etymology :...

, Movakos, Lekos

Lak people

There are two different people known as the Laks:* The Lak people living in Dagestan, a Republic officially autonomous within the Russian Federation.* The Lak people living in Iran....

, Heros

Hereti

Hereti was a historic province in the medieval Caucasus on the Georgian-Albanian frontier. It roughly corresponds to the southeastern corner of Georgia's Kakheti region and a portion of Azerbaijan's northwestern districts.-History:...

, Kavkasos

Caucas

Caucas or Kavkasus was the purported ancestor of Caucasians. His story is narrated in the compilation of the medieval Georgian chronicles, Kartlis Cxovreba, taken down from oral tradition by Leonti Mroveli in the 11th century...

, and Egros

Egrisi

Lazica or Egrisi in Georgian |Georgia]], named after the Laz tribe, which at some time dominated the local ruling élite.The kingdom flourished between the 6th century BC and the 7th century AD. It covered part of the territory of the former kingdom Colchis and subjugated the territory of modern...

 from whom other Caucasian

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

 peoples took their origin. Kartlos united his people to become their chieftain and founded the city of Kartli.

According to some modern scholars, Kartlos seems initially to have been a contrivance of early Georgian folklore, though he later came to be regarded in the medieval epoch as a real historical figure and the genuine founder of the Georgian nation.

Descendants

He had several sons:

• Mtskhetos
• Gardabos
• Kakhos
• Kukhos
• Gachios
• Uphlos
• Odzrkhos
• Javakhos

– who became eponymous founders and the first rulers of Mtskheta

Mtskheta

Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...

, Gardabani

Gardabani (historic district)

Gardabani was a region in medieval Georgia, in the extreme southeast of the country, centered at the fortress of Khunani. This land roughly corresponds to a district lying south of Tbilisi, west of the Mtkvari River....

, Kakheti

Kakheti

Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...

, Kukheti

Kukheti

Kukheti was a historical region in eastern Georgia, between Kakheti and Hereti....

, Gachiani

Gachiani

Gachiani was a historical city and district in Lower Iberia/Kvemo Kartli in southeast Georgia. Its exact location and boundaries remain unclear. The medieval tradition of Leonti Mroveli ascribes the foundation of Gachiani to an eponymous mythic lord, Gachios, son of Kartlos...

, Uplistsikhe

Uplistsikhe

Uplistsikhe is an ancient rock-hewn town in eastern Georgia, some 10 kilometers east of the town of Gori, Shida Kartli.Built on a high rocky left bank of the Mtkvari River, it contains various structures dating from the Early Iron Age to the Late Middle Ages, and is notable for the unique...

, Odzrkhe

Odzrkhe

Odzrkhe or Odzrakhe was a historic fortified town and the surrounding area in what is now Abastumani, Samtskhe-Javakheti region, southern Georgia. According to medieval Georgian historic tradition, it was founded by the mythic hero Odzrakhos of the Kartlosid line. The ruins of old fortifications...

, and Javakheti

Javakheti

Javakheti is a historical region of the nation of Georgia, in the southeastern part of the country's Samtskhe-Javakheti province. Today it comprises the Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda municipal territories. It was historically bordered in the west with both sides of the Mtkvari river, in the north,...

, respectively.

The 3rd-century BC Iberian

Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

 king Pharnavaz

Pharnavaz I of Iberia

Pharnavaz I was the first king of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia to the Classical sources, who is credited by the medieval Georgian written tradition with founding the kingship of Kartli and the Parnavaziani dynasty...

is said to have claimed his descent from Kartlos, being called Kartlosiani (Kartlosid) after him.