King
Bagrat III, the first monarch of unified Georgia was ruthless in his state administration. While visiting Castle of Panaskerti in Tao, king summoned his two cousins, Sumbat III and Gurgen. They were arrested and executed. Sumbat’s son Bagrat, and Gurgen’s son Demetrius, escaped to the
Byzantine Empire. The Bagrationi line of Tao was already extinct since 941;
[7] now with purging his own cousins the line of Klarjeti was also gone and no rival could ever claim the Georgian throne.
[8]