the valley of manglisi appears in possession of the juansheriani family, a branch of the former royal dynasty of chosroids of iberia, in the middle of the 8th century, and then of the liparitids, whose one member rati, a contemporary of bagrat iii (r. 978/1008–1014), is described by the georgian chronicler to have held "the fortress of ateni and all kartli south of the mtkuari, trialeti, manglis-khevi, and skvireti." at the beginning of the 11th century, the cathedral of manglisi, originally a tetraconch, was substantially reconstructed and refurbished. in 1121, the field of didgori, not far from manglisi, was a scene of the climactic victory of the georgian king david iv over the seljuq turks. after a series of foreign invasions, more so following timur’s campaigns, the valley of manglisi went into gradual decline. by the 1770s, it had been listed among the emptied eparchies of the georgian church. the abandoned cathedral still stood there, undisturbed by georgia's muslim intruders because, as the 18th-century historian prince vakhushti claims, they thought one of the frescoes in the church depicted muhammad seated upon a lion. the fresco is, in fact, an image of st. mammes of caesarea.