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The younger son of the Abkhazian king Leon II. Inherited his brother Theodosius. Demetrius entered into open struggle for Kartli. He was the first of the rulers of Transcaucasia to manage to resist the new Arab invasion of the Georgian principality of Kartli. In 853, the Arabs decided to strengthen their domination in the Georgian lands, besieged and devastated Tiflis under the leadership of their commander, a Turk by origin, which is why he was called Bugha al-Turki.

The Abkhazian king marched against the Arabs and encamped with his troops in Kvertskhobi. Bugha sent troops against him under the command of Zirak and Bagrat, son of Ashot Kurpalates. The Abkhazians were broken and retreated along the Dvaleti road, suffering heavy losses. Although Demetrius suffered defeat, he confirmed the seriousness of Abkhazian intentions to advance eastward, which was embodied in the subsequent activities of the Abkhazian kings.

Brother of Theodosius and Demetrius, son of Leon II. Received the nickname George of Agtsepi, because before ascending the throne he ruled the region of Agtsepi (presumably Agatsa in the area of the historical capital of the Abkhazian Kingdom, Anacopia). Inherited his brother Demetrius and continued the struggle for possession of Kartli. George conquered Kartli and over part of it, or more precisely, over the region of Chikhi, he appointed as ruler his nephew Tinen, son of King Demetrius.

After George's death, a fierce struggle for succession unfolded. Tinen was killed by the wife of King George. In his place was appointed the younger brother of the slain, the younger son of Demetrius — Bagrat. However, fearing reprisals against him, he was saved by his adherents and taken to Constantinople.

Usurper. He seized the Abkhazian throne as a result of bloody palace intrigues instigated by the widow of George I of Abkhazia.
George I's wife, after her husband's death, removed the hereditary nephews and brought a certain ruler John from the Shavliani clan. This alien John, having become the illegal king of Abkhazia, decided to strengthen his precarious position on the Abkhazian throne through dynastic ties. To this end, he married his son Athanasius (Adarnase) to the daughter of the ruler of the East Georgian kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti — Guaram.

Inherited his usurper father John. Expelled by his stepmother, the legitimate heir to the Abkhazian throne, Bagrat, returned to Abkhazia. The Byzantine emperor gave Bagrat an army, at the head of which Bagrat invaded Abkhazia, killed Athanasius and by right of inheritance regained the throne. He took as his wife the widow of the slain Athanasius. Thus, the interrupted by the usurpers Shavliani was restored to the rule of the Abkhazian royal dynasty of the Leonids.

Son of King Demetrius II. By force of arms he ascended to the throne in Abkhazia after 9 years of exile. The Byzantine emperor, at whose court the legitimate heir to the Abkhazian throne had been all these years, gave Bagrat troops and ships. Bagrat landed on the Abkhazian coast with a landing force, killed Athanasius and seized the throne. He married Athanasius's widow and thereby maintained relations with Tao-Klarjeti.

Bagrat summoned from Constantinople his new brother-in-law Nasr, who was also in exile, and helped Nasr to ascend to the throne in Tao-Klarjeti, for which he gave him troops. As a result of the supposed victory, Bagrat I hoped to strengthen his position in the East Georgian lands, for which the Armenians also fought. However, Nasr suffered defeat in the decisive battle on the banks of the Kura. Against him marched Adarnase, son of David Kurpalates killed by Nasr, and the Armenian king Ashot. On Nasr's side, as allies, fought with their detachments the ruler of the Ossetians, Bakatar, and a certain Abkhazian eristav, apparently the leader of the Abkhazian army proper. This happened in 880.

The efforts of the Abkhazian kings to gain possession of the central Georgian region of Kartli were continued by the following successors to the Abkhazian throne.

Son of Bagrat I. Inherited his father. In 904, Constantine conquered Kartli, which aroused the displeasure of the Armenian king Smbat, who proposed to the Abkhazian king to voluntarily liberate Kartli. The King of Abkhazia was not slow to send an indignant reply: I will not give you the region from my fatherland.

Smbat marched against the Abkhazians in alliance with the king of Tao-Klarjeti Adarnase. Constantine avoided battle and entered into negotiations, during which he was captured by the Tao-Klarjeti feudal lords led by Adarnase. However, after some time, the Armenian king Smbat learned that in Abkhazia they intended to place on the throne in place of Constantine the decisive and energetic son of Constantine — Tsarevich George. Then Smbat released Constantine, made peace with him, especially since a new Arab aggression was looming and the Abkhazians, having united with the opponents of Armenia, could settle accounts with the latter. As a result, Smbat renounced Kartli in favor of the Abkhazian king, ceded the occupied fortress of Uplistsikhe and gave his daughter in marriage to Constantine. Meanwhile, the sovereigns of Armenia and Abkhazia had been related even before, since Smbat's son Mushegh was married to the daughter of the Abkhazian king Constantine. Now their kinship became even closer. And from his Armenian wife, Constantine had a son named Bagrat.

After these events, Smbat himself had to take refuge in Abkhazia twice for several months from Arab reprisals.
In 908, when a conspiracy was being plotted against Smbat among the Armenian nakharars, Constantine of Abkhazia rendered him considerable assistance. Then in 909, Constantine of Abkhazia sided with Smbat against the Arab emir Yusuf. In 914, Smbat was nevertheless captured by the Arabs and executed. Subsequently, the struggle against the enemies of the fatherland was led by Smbat's son — Ashot the Iron. He in 920 went to the Abkhazian Kingdom and asked for help in accordance with the friendly alliance concluded by his father with the King of Abkhazia in 906 on the eve of the Arab aggression.

In 906, Constantine by force of arms conquered and annexed to the Abkhazian Kingdom the East Georgian region of Hereti. By order of the King of Abkhazia, here in the village of Eredvi (modern South Ossetia) a church was laid in honor of the victorious expedition. The church inscription reads: "In the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the intercession of the Holy Virgin, the help of St. George, in the reign of the God-confirmed King Constantine, who deigned and arrived in Heretia, put to flight the king of the Heretians and, returning from there in peace, prayed in the morning at Alaverdi, spent the night in Bredza. Again he rose and destroyed the fortress of Vedzhini. Under the rule in Kartli of Ivan Tbeli, under the archbishop of the blessed one, by his cross, by the design of the blessed Stephen of Nikosi, bishop, by the efforts and with the help of his relatives, I, Theodorus Taplaisdze, laid the foundation. The summer was 6510 (906 AD)." The capture and inclusion in the composition of his possessions of the East Georgian lands carried out by Constantine III is confirmed by another inscription from the Samtsevrisi Cathedral, located in the Khashuri district on the banks of the Kura: "In the 20th year of King Constantine, I, Domninos, abbot of the Samtsevrisi church, and George Tualaidsdze led a canal here to the fortress..."
The name of King Constantine is mentioned by a stele of the Medzhuda Gorge, dated to 923–926. His name is engraved on a bishop's staff of remarkable workmanship in the Shemokmedi Monastery, the inscription of which reads: "Christ, glorify the King of Abkhazia Constantine." These epigraphic monuments testify that the Abkhazian king firmly held inner Kartli and significantly expanded the borders of the Abkhazian Kingdom to the east.

Constantine III is mentioned in church inscriptions, icons and utensils. He was an active promoter of Christianity among the peoples of the North Caucasus. It is possible that it was with his activity that the beginning of the construction of Christian churches in the upper reaches of the Kuban, typologically related to the Abkhazian architectural school, is connected. Constantine III earned the praise of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, who wrote him a letter of thanks and noted the missionary merits of the Abkhazian king in establishing Orthodox Christianity in Alania: "To the most glorious ruler of Abasgia... testimony of piety — your God-inspired zeal, which you have shown and are showing in the matter of salvation and bringing the people of Alans to the truth; we have learned from various well-informed people about your successes, that you, with God's help, have taken great care for the enlightenment of the ruler of Alania and of those who with him have been vouchsafed holy baptism."

It is obvious that this was not the only letter of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch to King Constantine, for in the letter of Nicholas Mystikos to the Armenian Catholicos Johannes Draskhanakerttsi there is a reference to a letter to the Abkhazian king, the theme of which does not coincide with the letter quoted here. In a letter to the Armenian primate around 915, Nicholas Mystikos consoles the Catholicos in connection with the devastation of Armenia by the Arabs and says that he called upon "the elder of Abkhazia" to forget quarrels and act together against the Arabs.

On page 383 of "Kartveli eris istoria. I. Javakhishvili" it is said: "in 904, Constantine, the Abkhazian king, went out and took possession of Kartalinia. And he became the enemy of the king of Armenia, Smbat Tiezarak." Further, on page 385, about the final unification of the Kartlian tribes, the following is said: "The chorepiscopus of Kakheti, Kvirike, invited the king of Abkhazia Constantine and with united troops marched on Hereti; fearing the Abkhazian king, Kvirike kept only one part for himself, and ceded two parts to Constantine; Kvirike took for himself the fortress of Orchomi, and Constantine – the fortress of Arishi and Gavazi. Thus, now the Abkhazian king stood firm not only in Kartalinia, but also in Hereti; and so, the Abkhazian kings received primacy in Georgia."

During the reign of King Constantine III of Abkhazia, the rivalry between the Armenian and Abkhazian kingdoms over Kartli continued. At the end of the 90s, Constantine gave his daughter in marriage to the son of the Armenian king Smbat, and in 904, taking advantage of the collapse of the Armenian kingdom, under conditions of Arab invasion, the Armenian king Smbat I ceded Kartli to Constantine III, and cemented this alliance by giving his daughter in marriage to Constantine III. From that moment on, the Abkhazian kings sat in Kutaisi, and sent their elder sons to Kartli. Kakheti and Hereti were also subject to the Abkhazian king.

Materials:

All rulers of Abkhazia

Abkhazian Kingdom. 786 CE
Anthroponymic repertoire of the "Divan of the Abkhazian kings". G. A. Amichba
Chronicle of the Abkhazian kings. F. Jordania 1902
Bgazhba O. Kh., Lakoba S. Z. History of Abkhazia from ancient times to the present day. 2007
Culture and ideology of early medieval Abkhazia (5th–10th centuries). Amichba 1999
"History of Abkhazia in dates". T. A. Achugba 2011
Circumnavigation of the Euxine Sea. Flavius Arrian
Naturalis Historia. Pliny the Elder 77–79. Latin-English 1969
Reports of ancient Greek and Latin writers about Scythia and the Caucasus. Latyshev 1947
Constantine Porphyrogenitus. On the Administration of the Empire: Text, translation, commentary. Litavrin 1991

"Kartveli eris istoria." I. Javakhishvili
Ways of development of Abkhazian history. S.M. Ashkhatsava. 1926