Tamar of Georgia

Tamar the Great (c. 1160–1213), daughter of George III, was Georgia's first ruling queen, styled mepe, or king, from 1184. She overcame aristocratic opposition, divorced Yury Bogolyubsky of Vladimir, and in 1191 married the Alan prince David Soslan.

Her armies defeated the Eldiguzids at Shamkor in 1195 and the Seljuk sultan of Rum at Basian around 1202. Her reign was the peak of the Georgian Golden Age, her empire spanning the Black Sea to the Caspian, when Shota Rustaveli composed The Knight in the Panther's Skin.