With around 1. Tbilisi was founded in the fifth century AD by Vakhtang I of Iberia and has since served as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Between and , then part of the Russian Empire , it was the seat of the Caucasus Viceroyalty , governing both the northern and the southern sides of the Caucasus. Because of its location at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, and its proximity to the lucrative Silk Road , throughout history, Tbilisi has been a point of contention among various global powers.
To this day, the city's location ensures its position as an important transit route for energy and trade projects.
Tbilisi's history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval , neoclassical , Beaux Arts , Art Nouveau , Stalinist , and Modern structures. Historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though its population is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. The name Tbilisi the place of warmth was therefore given to the city because of the area's numerous sulfuric hot springs. On 17 August , by order of the Soviet leadership, the official Russian names of various cities were changed to more closely match the local language.
Most other languages have subsequently adopted the new name form, but some languages, such as Turkish, Persian, Greek , Spanish , and German , have retained a variation of Tiflis. On 20 September , the Georgian parliament held a ceremony celebrating the 70th anniversary of the renaming.
Some of the traditional names of Tbilisi in other languages of the region have different roots. Archaeologists discovered evidence of continuous habitation of the Tbilisi suburb of Dighomi since the early Bronze Age, and stone artifacts dating to the Paleolithic age. The king's falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a nearby hot spring and died from burns.
