Person · queen & martyr · Georgia
Ketevan of Kakheti
The dowager queen of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, held hostage by Shah Abbas I and tortured to death at Shiraz in 1624 for refusing to convert to Islam. Augustinian friars took part of her remains to Goa, where they were buried in the convent of St Augustine.
- Date
- 1560–1624
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Confidence
- Not assessed
Worth knowing
A bone fragment excavated at Old Goa in 2005 was matched by DNA in 2013 to the Georgian royal line — one of very few cases where a relic tradition has been tested and held. A portion was formally returned to Georgia in 2017 and 2021.
Connections (1)
- Relic distributed toBasilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa
Queen Ketevan of Kakheti was tortured to death at Shiraz in 1624 for refusing to convert, and Augustinian friars carried part of her remains to Goa, where they were buried in the convent of St Augustine. A bone fragment excavated at Old Goa in 2005 was matched by DNA in 2013 to the Georgian royal line — one of very few relic traditions ever tested and found to hold. Portions were formally returned to Georgia in 2017 and 2021.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Ketevan the Martyr”. Georgian chronicle accounts of Ketevan; Niraj Rai et al., Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the Ketevan relic, Goa (2013).
Open Ketevan of Kakheti in the repository →