'Lost' Remains Of Ancient Georgian Queen Ketevan Unearthed In India

The remains of a woman kept in an Indian church likely belong to an ancient queen executed about 400 years ago, a new DNA analysis suggests.

The DNA analysis suggests the remains are those of Queen Ketevan, an ancient Georgian queen who was executed for refusing to become a member of a powerful Persian ruler's harem. The findings are detailed in the January issue of the journal Mitochondrion.

Tumultuous life

Ketevan was the Queen of Kakheti, a kingdom in Georgia, in the 1600s. After her husband the king was killed, the Persian Ruler, Shah Abbas I, besieged the kingdom.

"Shah Abbas I led an army to conquer the Georgian kingdom and took Queen Ketevan as prisoner," said study co-author Niraj Rai, a researcher at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India.

Queen Ketevan languished in Shiraz, Iran, for about a decade. But in 1624, Shah Abbas asked the queen to convert to Islam from Christianity and join his harem. She refused, and he had her tortured, then executed on Sept. 22, 1624.

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What a brave woman she must have been for refusing to become part of a harem, even if she probably knew she would get tortured and killed.


RR

reply to post by Rainbowresidue


Nothing like that from queens or first ladies should be expected in our days.

First flag on me.

reply to post by Rainbowresidue


I have never heard of this before OP.

I'll have to read more on this, very interesting.

S & F

Very Interesting. I haven't heard about this before. I'm going to do some research on it. Thanks for the post!!

reply to post by Rainbowresidue


Thank you for posting this. Some history that doesn't get put into the school books and I doubt ever will.

The quote by Shah Abbas,

Shah Abbas asked the queen to convert to Islam from Christianity and join his harem.

clearly shows his total lack of understanding both of a Queen and a Christian woman (superficially). It was a foregone conclusion that the answer would be NO on both accounts. Harem or not, you never ask a Queen to become a prostitute for your pleasure. And the Queen was a Christian and he was stupid enough to ask her to deny Christ which she would not do being a believer even though it meant death.

On the other hand he could have known that this would be the answer and since he might be tired of feeding, clothing and providing a house for her, ask her the two questions that he knew would be rejected. Thus giving him Islamic grounds to have her tortured and then murdered.