Kutaisi

Kutaisi (/kuːˈtaɪsiː/ koo-TIE-see,[6] Georgian: ქუთაისი .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced [kʰutʰaisi] ⓘ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia after Tbilisi and Batumi. Situated 221 kilometres (137 miles) west of Tbilisi, on the Rioni River, it is the capital of the western region of Imereti. Historically one of the major cities of Georgia, it served as political center of Colchis in the Middle Ages as capital of the Kingdom of Abkhazia[7] and Kingdom of Georgia and later as the capital of the Kingdom of Imereti. From October 2012 to December 2018, Kutaisi was the seat of the Parliament of Georgia as an effort to decentralise the Georgian government. Archaeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of the Colchis in the sixth to fifth centuries BC.[8] It is believed that, in Argonautica, a Greek epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their journey to Colchis, author Apollonius Rhodius considered Kutaisi their final destination as well as the residence of King Aeëtes.