#cave complex

[sixteenseveredhands]

Vardzia, a Medieval Cave City in Georgia (South Caucasus), built in 1150-1200 CE: Vardzia was designed to be used as a fortress/monastery; it was accessible only through hidden passageways, and it contained more than 6,000 caves, 15 chapels, 25 wine cellars, an apothecary, a forge, a bakery, farming terraces, and an irrigation system

The monastic caves at Vardzia cover an area of about 500 meters. They are carved into the cliffs along the Erusheti mountains, which are located in Javakheti (a southern province near the borders between Georgia, Turkey, and Armenia).

Vardzia was originally meant to serve as a fortress, particularly in the event of a Mongol Invasion. It was protected by defensive walls, and the cave system itself was largely concealed within the mountain (though much of it is now exposed); it also contained a secret escape tunnel and several dead-end tunnels that were designed to delay/confuse enemy forces. The cave city could only be accessed through a series of hidden passageways that began near the banks of the Mtkvari River (which runs through the valley below the cave complex). Water was supplied through an irrigation system that was connected to the river, providing the inhabitants with both drinking water and agricultural irrigation, as the site contained its own terraced farmland.

The cave complex also functioned as a monastery, with a large collection of manuscripts and relics ultimately being housed at the site.

In its prime, the complex at Vardzia was inhabited by tens of thousands of residents.

Unfortunately, most of the original structures at Vardzia were destroyed by an earthquake that struck the region in 1283 CE, just a century after its construction; the earthquake sheared away the outer layer of the cliffside, exposed many of the caves, and demolished almost two-thirds of the site. The surviving structures represent only a fraction of the cave complex that once existed at Vardzia, with only about 500 caves still intact.

When the earthquake tore through the site in 1283, much of the fortress and many of its defenses were also destroyed, and Vardzia lost most of its military/defensive purposes. Still, it continued to operate as a Georgian Orthodox monastery for several hundred years after that. It narrowly escaped the Mongol Invasions of the 1290s, but it was raided by the Persians during the 16th century; the invading forces burned many of the manuscripts, relics, and other items that were stored within the cave system, leaving permanent scorch marks along the walls of the inner chambers. The site was abandoned shortly thereafter.

Medieval portrait of Queen/King Tamar: this portrait is one of the Medieval frescoes that still decorate the inner chambers of Vardzia; Tamar was the first queen regnant to rule over Georgia, meaning that she possessed the same power/authority as a king and, as a result, some Medieval sources even refer to her as "King Tamar"

Vardzia is often associated with the reign of Queen Tamar the Great, who ruled over the Kingdom of Georgia from 1184 to 1213 CE, during a particularly successful period that is often known as the "Golden Age" of Georgian history. Queen Tamar was also recognized as the Georgian King, with Medieval sources often referring to her as King Tamar. She possessed the powers of a sovereign leader/queen regnant, and was the first female monarch to be given that title in Georgia.

The initial phases of construction at Vardzia began under the command of King George III, but most of the complex was later built at the behest of his daughter, Queen Tamar, who owned several dedicated rooms at Vardzia and frequently visited the cave city. Due to her relationship with the cave complex at Vardzia, Queen Tamar is sometimes also referred to as the "Mountain Queen."

Despite the damage that the site has sustained throughout its history, many of the caves, tunnels, frescoes, and other structures have survived. The site currently functions as a monastery once more, with Georgian monks living in various chambers throughout the cave system.

I visited Vardzia back in 2011, during my first trip to Georgia. It's an incredible site, though some of the tunnels are very narrow, very dark, and very steep, which can get a bit claustrophobic.

Sources & More Info:

Atlas Obscura: Vardzia Cave Monastery

CNN: Exploring Vardzia, Georgia's Mysterious Rock-Hewed Cave City

Lonely Planet: Vardzia

Globonaut: 5 Facts about Vardzia, Georgia's Hidden Cave City

Wander Lush: Vardzia Cave Monastery (complete visitor's guide)

#archaeology #anthropology #history #vardzia #georgia #caucasus #cave city #cave complex #monastic caves #artifact #architecture #military history #Tamar #religon #comparative religion #medieval fortress #middle ages #medieval church #medieval europe #travel #I think I'd need #all 25 wine cellars #just to get through a Mongol invasion

[hoofpeet]

I have drawn Ingo getting possessed by at least 3 different ghosts at this point

#hoof draws #also like the idea of ingo valuing safety but ALSO being exceedingly reckless with his personal health when it comes to pokemmon #.sees a wild persian and goes ohhh kitty . i have to pet it (gets mauled) #lets any and every wild ghost type possess him because they're cute #sees a wild trubbish eating dumpster garbage behind his and emmet's apartment complex in college #and puppy eyes emmet for 3 days straight until he caves and lets him adopt it

[shima-draws]

I just got to the whole Fogbound Lake part of the story where Team Skull is about to gang up on you and your partner and like. Idk if this is a common headcanon or just smth I’ve personally believed for years but. When Wigglytuff comes charging out of the woods chasing his Perfect Apple at the EXACT moment Team Skull was about to attack you…that cannot be a coincidence. I bet you he was probably standing by the entire time, probably even before Team Skull came out of hiding, watching his apprentices solve the mystery of the Groudon Statue…and then when Team Skull revealed what absolute assholes they were, and even hinted at what took place in Apple Woods…he was probably like oh NO they don’t. Not MY apprentices. Not MY guild. So he chose to come running in at that exact moment. And played the oblivious buffoon card right up until the very end, and promptly served Team Skull’s asses to them on a platter.

I mean we get lots of little hints within the game (especially his special episode) that Wigglytuff is way smarter and way more resourceful than he lets on. I just love the idea of him jumping in to protect his apprentices and thrashing Team Skull to hell for not only being bullies but also for lying to the guild? And playing Chatot for a fool? NOT gonna stand. Nothing but respect for MY Guildmaster

#Pokemon #PMD #Wigglytuff #PMD Sky #Team Skull #Pokemon Mystery Dungeon #I love Wigglytuff sm he’s such a complex character :’) #Shima speaks #I made a post a while ago about my theory of how Wigglytuff met Grovyle and I just. Yeah. He makes me soft #He loves his guild and his partner and his apprentices so much #I also really love the idea of the Waterfall Cave investigation to be a test from Wigglytuff #Like yeah obviously he went there before. But he wants to know if these rookie apprentices have what it takes #By discovering the secrets of a place that only a Guildmaster has found #YOU KNOW??? YOU KNOW!!!

[locusfandomtime]

Okay I know some guy lives in a hole every season however I feel like there are more hole-dwellers this time. Please tell me I’m not imagining things.

#btw because I can already see the replies: #Yes Tango’s base is technically the Decked out castle but be real with yourself he doesn’t leave the Decked out hole. he lives there #Xisuma’s base is a skeleton cave thing but at the end of the day it is just a massive complex hole #I wonder if the reason for this is because they don’t have to build a back? #in order (L to R): Tango; Hypno; Grian’s rift (Grumbot); Zedaph; Xisuma #locus fandom time #hermitcraft #hermitblr #mcyt #hermitcraft memes #cub’s only official homes this season have been basements too. do these count as holes? #memes

[seahdalune]

saw the tweet and couldn't resist

#tf2 #which teams? idk you decide (i hate coloring) #this is my second time drawing Engie. i'm getting the hang of his chin. #he is very nice to draw. i hate drawing faces still so the goggles help tons #does this count as ship? what was the ship name again? uhhh #napoleon complex #engiespy #practical espionage #tbh i prefer to watch the shipping scene from a distance but i like to do it for the sake of funny (and cute) #tf2 spy #tf2 engineer #awight! off to crawl back in my cave and lurk again! #artofdalune #<- FORGOR TO ADD THAT TAG

[brzatto]

tbh i think one of the things that upsets me the most is when people misinterpret richie’s character or take him for what he is at face value because the creators and most especially ebon did such a good job creating a character who is supposed to be fundamentally unlikeable but also giving him all this crazy nuance that make him every single bit as complex and complicated and layered as carmy. the teeny tiny sneak peeks to what richie’s typical demeanor is like when he isn’t being an asshole (the easy way he greets and interacts with the regular customers and remembers details/asks them about their lives, the way he greets marcus with a hug and a kiss in e1, the way he banters with tina and the other guys during family, the softness he takes in his tone when he speaks to his daughter) and the MULTIPLE moments we get to see him be open and emotionally vulnerable around carmy (when he tells carmy about tiff referring to him as richie bad news, richie admitting to carmy that he’s all he has left, richie admitting he kept mikey’s letter from him because he couldn’t get over his own grief) even though carmy rarely ever is around him—richie feels comfortable enough with carmy to be able to show him that sort of honesty and vulnerability without ever once pressuring carmy or asking that of him back. yes richie is an asshole to carmy, yes they scream and yell and argue but the show is about FAMILY and trauma and healing and there’s so much specific trauma surrounding mikey that’s shared by carmy and richie and the two of them alone and the show has shown us in literally every single episode that ultimately at the end of the day richie and carmy’s bonds with each other are unbreakable, they don’t hold grudges with each other and they’ll always return to support and be there for each other at the end of the day

#finally caved in and made a proper blog to talk about the bear so here’s my first official contribution #am i immensely biased towards richie? yes! and idc i understand his complexities #ebon does such an amazing job at bringing richie to life too.. like sincerely nobody else could’ve done it like him #the bear #the bear fx #the bear hulu #richie jerimovich #carmy berzatto #ebon moss bachrach #my txt

[noelletism]

stitches

#my cleft nepeta hc has become so complex #in order to avoid culling she used to hide her face with her scarf and living isolated in a cave helped #at some point in my hc she either fixes it herself (like here) or gets kanaya or equius to fix #I need to write a fic #homestuck #my art #doodle #homestuck fanart #nepeta leijon #nepeta #cleft lip #needle tw #she’s so metal :3 #fanart #nepeta leijon fanart

[welcometoteyvat]

jing yuan and yanqing are giving zhongli and xiao if the latter’s canon relationship was Actually fanon’s made up father figure/adopted child dynamic

#idkkkkkkkkkkkkk who looks at zx and is like 'you know what. this is a healthy parent child relationship' #like girl by fitting them into father son boxes you are actively making their relationship imbalance Worse #if you do that and dont shy away from it i respect that but if you say dad/son makes their relationship more wholesome or whatever like WHY #now i wont deny shippers might do that too but i see the dad son version so much i think im just averse to it by default #also because i think father son makes people actively Try to make their relationship something that its not and it erases a bunch of subtlet #subtleties in it. it's the nuanced r/ship -> entirely unproblematic and flavorless r/ship that i hate #also the number of people who'll block if you ship zx. like damn thats crazy you guys really think theyre father son (fake)??? #at their peak they're like. 4000 year old guys who have too much history and repression and some weird entanglement of 'nah im bothering him #too much' and 'gotta protect him w my life' complexes. and then this devolves into theyre never gonna kiss until 3000 more years have passed #listen they just Contain Multitudes idc if you dont ship it just dont make it into dad and son and we will be so gucci #jing.yuan and yanqing are like different i think mostly bc yanqing is actually like a minor and jing yuan is also a normal ish person #plus the light cone and the abouts?? yeah this is an actual like adopted parent/child thing #also good or bad news i caved and am now playing hsr. the plan is to pull yanqing and then go on infinite hiatus in the game 👍 #JWKFLJWEK i dont think theres really any draws for me besides him. personally neutral on turn based combat and the open world isn't giving #the only saving grace i have rn is 1) ive gotten to the part where bron.seele is real and man theyre gay 2) trailblazer trio 3) tall female #mc 4) everyone has way better emoting abilities than genshin 5) su.shang's really cute <3 #the story doesnt really interest me though its like cool but not mindgrippingly interesting #tbf i think genshin is the same way storyline wise (at the beginning) but the difference is that turn based combat isnt really my thing LMAO #ramblings! #zhongxiao #if you want to filter it out ??

[moonscape]

thinking about that one person in the pmd tag a few years ago who was like "if you like gates and super you're an IDIOT who only likes them for nostalgia" like. what. first of all who fuckin cares if somebody likes something for nostalgia it's no big deal. and secondly who's to say you don't like rt and explorers for nostalgia? they came out first after all.

#bwark #i think as long as you can accept its faults it's okay to like something for nostalgia #and ive seen gates and super fans do that time and time again. they can admit that the games have problems but still love them #it's explorers fans who can't seem to do that?? people act like explorers of sky is the most perfect game and like. no it's not #i'm saying this as somebody whose favourite game ever is eos and considers it a work of art: it's not perfect #on my most recent playthrough the dialogue was especially grating good lord it's so bad #i know hero and partner are gay and in love but can partner please stop repeating hero's name every 5 seconds #not even getting into how bad aegis cave is and how darkrai is an utter failure of a villain #and rt just has first game syndrome. i can't be too harsh on it but there are a lot of glaring problems #and ofc gates and super have their problems. gti haters never fucking shut up about them #tldr all of the games are wonderful while simultaneously sucking shit at certain aspects and i wish pmd fans would stop splitting hairs over #their superiority complex over it. pmd fans stop talking forever please and thank you <3

[starstaiined]

*deep inhale*

I LOVE THE CARPENTER SISTERS SO FUCKING MUCH, LIKE YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW

#did i cave today and rewatch it in theaters #yes yes i did #the angst potential i have for both of them #im working on full character studies rn #idk if ill post them but god they gut me #scream vi #scream #tara carpenter #sam carpenter #like please #lets talk about sams parentification and guilt complex #or taras suffocating abandonment issues and thinly repressed fucking rage #or how they both love each other SO MUCH but have such drastically different ways of showing it #and so they're stuck in this cycle of miscommunication #and thinking the other hates them #god im on the floor

[buysomecheese]

Y’all ever spend.. 2+ hours consuming fan content for a ship for a show you Refuse to watch?

Anyways Tweek and Craig are so cute together and they love each other

#no one’s written the smut about them that I want to read yet #or at least I can’t find it idk #like Craig just absolutely grounding Tweek by bringing him so far out of his brain he has no choice but to chill #idk I love them for some reason #OH is this because I have a savior complex #mm probably #damn #anyways #creek #craig x tweek #I will NEVER watch South Park though I don’t think #I caved with Rick and Morty. I willingly went after Bojack Horseman. I will NOT succumb to South Park #I’ve watched like the first and most recent episodes and I’ve watched a good few clips on TikTok but NEVER full eps chronologically #some of those fics were pretty damned good #I now also know Tolkien and Clyde and am fans of those guys as well

[impossible-rat-babies]

there are several good side quests in HW, but there’s this one that gets me in the hinterlands. it’s started with “saro roggo’s average life” which is an aether current quest. simple enough?

WRONG!

it turns into a chain of quests where poor saro struggles to make sense of his existence now that he is no longer just a frog. he has no instructions, thus he doesn’t know what to do. what gives his life meaning? it’s being told what to do and he doesn’t have that, so he’s scared he’s going to be turned back into a normal frog. thus he enlists your help to discover the deepest desire of master matoya and give it to her. through this quest chain you ask a bunch of the brooms what master matoya desires and they spend you off on their own quests. (they are fun lil you only get directions from the journal kind of quests). but eventually one of the brooms tell you of their sister who might know what matoya desires, but she is hidden away and can only be summoned by a special word. another broom tells you that it’s the word of what is dearest to master matoya, and another tells you it doesn’t know what is dearest to matoya, but it is certain that matoya hates y’shtola above all else. she doesn’t talk of her, so of course she must hate her? right?

you go and find the broom anyway and find out this funny hidden away broom holds matoya’s memories of a young Y’shtola. all the joys of her growing up into a fine young woman to the sharp pain of her sudden departure. matoya cannot bear to have the memories close, but she doesn’t wish to forget them. so these memories get tucked away—hidden just close enough.

#ITS SO….im GRABBING THIS SIDE QUEST CHAIN AND SHAKING IT #Y’shtola and matoya’s relationship is complex in MSQ but GOD this is just an added layer #how much matoya was/is a maternal figure to Y’shtola and all the joy and sorrow that comes with it #I love matoya so much as a scholar. as the one who put her foot down to what her country did and how they fled #she’s the only one to stay. she is the keeper #her cave is her home and her grave and she is content in the way cranky old snarky women are #I LOVE HER SO MUCJ AJSJSJD #owen talks #ffxiv #yes I am working on a doc of gold quests that are worth it imo #it will be weird considering I did so many ARR ones when i was first playing and didn’t think to write them down #but it’s pretty comprehensive of HW to ShB thus far #also there will be EW areas missing (mostly thavnair/radz-at-han and a bit of sharlayan) #bc I am a goober and didn’t keep track of them

[nomoretumbler]

// AVM 31 SPOILERS? //

I KNOW THIS IS A STRECH BUT PLEASE,,,,, I’m choosing to believe this is the same place of the lush caves episode they just explored it and terraformed it,, pls guys I swear I’m not insane I’m just obsessed with that episode 🙏🙏🙏 guys pleas

#I WANTED FOR SECOND AND RES TO GO IN TOGETHER SO BAD #Yes lush caves is still my favorite episode #even when noteblock universe exists #ITS JUST SO GOOD AT SHOWING THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS IN THE GROUPP IM SOOO #CANT BELIEVE ITS GOING TO BE 2 YEARS PLD IN LIKE 3 WEEKS 😭😭😭😭😭 #anyways the race was RIGGED red should have won he’s the winner in my heart #animation vs minecraft #animator vs animation #animation vs animator #ava #avm #ava shorts #avm shorts #alan becker #avm spoilers #I MISSED THIS TYPE OF EPISODES SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭 #THYERE JUST HANGING OUT AND BEING SILLY AND #the cave in rp 21 is the lush caves to ever exists in my mind im sorry #I see a lush caves biome and I just cry

[shima-draws]

Wow the writer of this game REALLY does not like Chatot

#So much Chatot hate;; it makes me sad bc he's my BOY #If you're a fan of Sky and you still think Chatot's just an asshole. You're not a real fan of Sky lmao #Chatot's a really complex character and I FUCKIGN. God. I care him #Is he an uptight little prick sometimes? Yes. Is he ALSO a very loyal and kind person who cares endlessly #about his guildmembers and his guildmaster? ALSO yes. #Shrek voice: They don't even remember Brine Cave and Bidoof's Wish 😔 #Listen I love this game but I don't like the direction they went with Chatot 🤧 #Making him out to be a total irredeemable jerk is just. I don't want to say bad writing. But it's definitely not in character #WHO KNOWS maybe he'll be better towards the end #It definitely feels skewed too bc the protag and Breloom really don't like him #Shima speaks #Pokemon #PMD #PMD EotS #PMD Explorers of the Spirit #Chatot

[newts-and-sharks]

I have never been so tempted to take a nap in my entire life

#I hate naps #I only take one when I have a headache #but I really want to take one #but I have work and exams today #I was not meant for this human life I was built for the beetle life #eat some algea lick some stalactites and eventually get eaten by a bird or something #I wasn’t built for complex living situations like ‘work’ and ‘a healthy living style’ and ‘exams’ #please some one pick me up like a little bug and deposit me in a cave

[sannin-three]

Is it weird that I like Jiraoro, Orotsu, and Jiraorotsu, but really dislike Jiratsu by themselves?

#i think its because of stuff like...tsunades flashback after jiraiya dies #where its just him hitting on her over the years #like yeah they had good times but the fact thats her primary memory of him is telling #their dynamic deserved more complexity #like the flashback scene of Orochimaru and Tsunade arguing in the cave during the war singlehandedly clears the majority of jiratsu moments