Thirty-five meters in overall length (the arch itself is 13.3 m) and eight meters high, this single-arch bridge is one of the most illustrative examples of the medieval bridge design popular during the reign of Tamar of Georgia (r. 1184-1213) who is traditionally credited to have commissioned the construction of the Beslet bridge.
Shavteli's ode is, in fact, a eulogy to the two greatest monarchs of medieval Georgia, David "the Builder" (r. 1089-1125) and the poet's contemporary Queen Tamar (r. 1184-1213).
In 1195, the Georgian Queen Tamar’s commanders destroyed the troops of Azerbaijan’s Atabey Abu-Bakr, who was from Seljuk dynasty of the Ildegizids.
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The Georgian female poet Tamar Eristavi proposed, in 1988, a romantic though unreliable and otherwise unproved hypothesis identifying the famous Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli with Prince Demna who was allegedly in love with his cousin, Princess Tamar; survived the repressions and wrote his poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin (dedicated to Tamar) in exile under the assumed identity of Rustaveli.
In sharp contrast to old, frequently rebellious Georgian feudal lords, Qutlu Arslan represented ennobled commoners and military servicemen, who gained distinction through their loyalty to the Georgian King George III (1156-1184) whom Qutlu served as a vizier and treasurer, a post he held upon Queen Tamar’s ascend to the throne in 1184.
Tamar is said to have departed from Vardzia during her campaign against the Muslims, and her ensuing victory at Basian is celebrated in the Hymns in Honour of the Virgin of Vardzia by Ioane Shavteli.