Ashot the Immature

Ashot I also known as Ashot Kukhi (Georgian: აშოტ I კუხი, romanized: ashot' I k'ukhi) (died 918) was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and hereditary ruler of Tao with the title of eristavt-eristavi, "duke of dukes". He was nicknamed kukhi, meaning "the Immature".

Ashot I აშოტ I
Ashot I of Tao, the Kukhi
Duke of Upper Tao
Reign	908 – 918
Predecessor	David I
Successor	Gurgen II
Dynasty	Bagrationi
Religion	Eastern Orthodox Church

Ashot was the younger son of Gurgen I of Tao. After the death of his elder brother Adarnase in 896, he probably stepped in and co-reigned with his nephew David who was still underage at that time. When David died in 908, Ashot became a sole ruler which he remained until his own death in 918.^[1]

The Georgian chronicles Kartlis Tskhovreba and contemporary hagiography such as the Vita of Grigol Khandzteli by Giorgi Merchule evidence that Ashot was a keen supporter of monasticism and cultural projects in Tao-Klarjeti. He sponsored the construction of a cathedral at Tbeti in Shavsheti (now Cevizli, Turkey) and installed as its first bishop Stepane Mtbevari from whom Ashot commissioned the hagiographic novel Martyrdom of Mikel-Gobron. A statue purportedly showing Ashot Kukhi which was removed from Tbeti towards the end of World War I is now on display at the Art Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi.^[2]