According to the legends, connected with the name of Tbilisi, it is clear, that the surrounding of Tbilisi was covered with forests. Once when the king Vakhtang Gorgasali was hunting, he wounded the victim, which fell into the water and the hot water healed it. Excited with what the witnessed, the king decided to build a city on the hot waters. The etymology of Tbilisi is explained like following: in Georgian "tbili" means hot. Starting from 12th century and up to the October of 1917, from 47 mayors of Tbilisi 45 were Armenians. The majority of the population was Armenian, followed by Georgians, Russians and other nationalities.
During 6-12 centuries the city was under the Persian, Arabic as well as Seljuk-Turkish rule. In 1122 Davit 4 the Constructor liberated Tbilisi from the rule of seljuk-turks and made Tbilisi the capital of united Georgia. The epoques of David 4 the Constructor and the queen Tamara are considered and known as the "Golden ages" or "Rebirth of Georgia".
Starting from the 40s of 12th century up to 18th century Tbilisi was attacked by mongolian and Turkish tribes, as well as received numerous attacks from Ottomans and Persians. In 1795 the Shah of Iran Agha-Mahmed attacked Tbilisi. Sayat-Nova died during the protection process of Tbilisi. After the death of Georgi the 12th in 1801, Georgia was attached to the Russian Empire, after which Tbilisi became the centre of the Caucasus.