The name of the Bakhtrioni fortress derives from the former village Bakhtriani near which it was constructed in the 1650s. It was garrisoned by a Qizilbash force left by the Iranian government to reinforce its authority in the area and protect the Turkic nomads transplanted into the Georgian lands. The fortress overlooked a strategic locale, controlling roads to the Greater Caucasus mountains, inhabited by the bellicose Georgian highlanders of Tusheti, Pshavi, and Khevsureti.