"The House of Gelovani (Georgian) is a Georgian princely family from the lower part of the mountainous province of Svaneti – formerly rulers of Svaneti.

The family can be traced back to the 11th century: one of the princes (mtavari) Gelovani is mentioned as a minister in the Government of Queen Tamar. The origin of the surname is very ancient. The local Svanetian tradition holds it that the Gelovani arrived in the early Mediaeval Age from the Arabian peninsula, where they had been the keepers of the sacred Black Stone of Kaaba before the era of Islam. The etymological provenance of the surname appears to confirm this as G(a)L(a)VAN means "stone" or "stone hedge" in the old Svanetian language (note that "-ani" means "of", i.e. implying "the son of"). Similarly, the local Svanetian epic poem "The song about Giga Glvan" mentions one of the Gelovani ancestors. There is another theory - now discredited - that the princes Gelovani branched off the Kvenipneveli dynasty, which also produced the line of the Eristavi of Ksani and that of the Princes Ratishvili"

[link to en.m.wikipedia.org (secure)]

Thinking about the Russian Orthodox vestments, artifacts, books and German crown/sword with Arabic



Just reminded me