Zaden Shehkhets`ighwe ” that can be translated into
English as:
Zaden help him/her/them . In our opinion, on the postament, there is written the prayer existing in
Kartli of antique period (Iberia Caucasica). As mentioned above, Georgian word “
shekhets`ie ” was frequently
used in Georgia, it was used in early medieval period in prayers and even now it is included into some Georgian
prayer texts; and now, we can propose that it comes from the pagan epoch and sounded in that epoch as
“
Shehkhets`ighwe ” (“
შეჰხეწიღ
ჳ
ე
”).
Many researchers regard that
Zaden was one of the main deities of pre-Christian Kartli. According to
medieval Georgian historical source
“History of the Kings and Patriarchs of the Georgians” (by
Leonti Mroveli, the chronicler of XI century; supposedly, Mroveli relied on the earlier sources that have not survived
up to date; many medieval Georgian sources also mentioned this deity), idol of Zaden was erected by King of
Kartli
Pharnajom (II-I centuries BC). According to the archeological materials, Grakliani Hill settled much
earlier than the mentioned centuries, in certain periods was well developed culturally and economically
(Licheli 2020), consequently, we are of the view that further researches could be conducted to clarify, whether
we can offer that cult of Zaden existed even before
Pharnajom’s reign in Kartli (and possibly, this specific
temple at Grakliani Hill can be confirmation) and the mentioned king, by erecting the idol, has further glorified
him. In the vicinity of
Mtskheta, ancient Georgian capital city, there is a place called
Zedazeni
