cousins of the Bagratid family. Toumanoff has inferred that the Samanazus, a name of the Iberian "king" found in John Malala's list of rulers contemporary with Justinian and reported by Theophanes the Confessor and Georgios Kedrenos to have visited Constantinople in 535, might have been a corruption of words meaning "brother of Dachi" and so perhaps refers to Mihrdat. Will of Vakhtang Before his death, the wounded King Vakhtang left the will to his son Dachi and to the Georgians: He also called on Georgians not to abandon ties with the Byzantine Empire: Legacy Vakhtang entered a pantheon of Georgian historical heroes already in the Middle Ages. A royal oriflamme of the Georgian Bagratids was known as "Gorgasliani", i.e., "of Gorgasali". It is sometimes supposed to be the earliest model of the current Georgian national flag. In popular memory, his image has acquired a legendary and romantic façade. Vakhtang is a subject of several folk poems and legends, extolling the king's perceived greatness, enormous physical strength, courage and devoutness to Christianity. Vakhtang has been credited with the foundation of several towns, castles, and monasteries across Georgia, including the nation's capital Tbilisi, where a street and a square bear his name, and a 1967 monument by the sculptor Elguja Amashukeli tops the Metekhi cliff. A legend has it that when King Vakhtang was in the forest, his falcon chased a pheasant. The bird fell into a hot water spring and the king and his servants saw the steam come out of the water. Surprised by the abundance of hot water, Vakhtang gave orders to build a city on this site and named it "Tbilisi", that is, "the site of warm springs". Vakhtang was officially included in the Georgian Orthodox calendar—and a church built in his honor in the city of Rustavi—early in the 1990s, but he had presumably been considered a saint long before that. The Vakhtang Gorgasal Order, created in 1992, is one of the highest military decorations in Georgia. References Further reading ჯუანშერი, "ცხოვრება ვახტანგ გორგასლისა/ქართლის ცხოვრება, ს. ყაუხჩიშვილის გამოც. ტ. I, თბილისი, 1955 ლ. ჯანაშია, ლაზარ ფარპეცის ცნობები საქართველო შესახებ, თბილისი, 1962 ლ. ჯანაშია, ქართლი V საუკუნის მეორე ნახევარში/ საქართველოს ისსტორიის ნარკვევები, ტ. II, თბილისი, 1973 ბ. ლომინაძე, საქართველოს მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესიის ადმინისტრაიული ორგანიზაცია V საუკუნეში, საქართველოს ფეოდალური ხანის ისტორიის საკითხები, VII, გამომცემლობა "ცოტნე" ვ. გოილაძე, ვახტანგ გორგასალი და მისი ისტორიკოსი, თბილისი, 1991 ზ.ალექსიძე, ვახტანგ გორგასალსა და მიქაელ მთავაეპისკოპოსს