 After the Russian annexation of Georgian polities, the family was confirmed as Knyaz Abashidze () by the Tsar’s decree of 1825.The Abashidze family possibly derived from the medieval Georgian noble house of Liparitid-Orbeliani, but the family legend holds that it descended from an Abyssinian officer named Abash who had allegedly accompanied Marwan ibn Muhammad’s Arab army to Georgia in the 8th century; Abash is said to have remained in Georgia and ennobled when he saved the life of a Georgian crown prince from a wolf.The first recorded account about the Abashidze dates back to the latter part of the 15th century.