Akhaltsikhe ( ), formerly known as Lomsia (), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region (mkhare) of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is situated on both banks of a small river Potskhovi (a left tributary of the Kura), which divides the city between the old city in the north and new in the south. The 9th-century Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle, which was recently restored, is located in the old part of the city. It is one of the main attractions of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, along with Vardzia, Vale, Okrostsikhe and Zarzma. Toponymy Akhaltsikhe is the Georgian name of the town, which literally means "new fortress". It is attested in Arabic sources as Akhiskha (and Akhsikhath), in Persian as Akhesqeh (also spelled as Akheshkheh), and in Turkish sources as Ahıska. History The town is mentioned among the settlements conquered by general Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya I (661–680). During the Mongol domination of Georgia, local rulers of the House of Jaqeli, who ruled the feudal principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago, were invested with the title of atabeg and were allowed to be autonomous. In contemporaneous Persian and Turkish sources, these Jaqeli rulers were referred to as Ḳurḳūra, which derives from Qvarqvare—the name of several Jaqeli rulers. In 1579, during the Ottoman-Safavid War (1578-1590), the Ottomans took the town. In the ensuing period, the Ottomans implanted Islam and Ottoman customs. From 1625 the town became the centre of the Akhalzik Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire known as Ahıska and it held a resident Ottoman pasha. The town rose to strategic importance and became a foremost hub of the Caucasian slave market. In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Russian troops under the command of General Paskevich captured the city and, as a consequence of the 1829 Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne), it was ceded to the Russian Empire. The city initially become part of the Kutaisi Governorate, then of the Tiflis Governorate, becoming the administrative centre of the Akhaltsikhe uezd. In the late 1980s the city was host to the Soviet Army's 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which became a brigade of the Georgian land forces after the fall of the Soviet Union. Population Climate Archaeology The highland environment between Akhaltsikhe and Aspindza presents a varied and complex array of archaeological features in different locations, elevations and topographies. This includes the alluvial flood-plain of the Kura River, and all the way