Background
He was the only son and heir of King David V of Georgia who had deposed his father, Demetrius I, in a palace coup in 1155.
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Demna Georgia
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The medieval Georgian and Armenian chronicles are confused about the circumstances in which David died. According to the medieval Armenian historians, George was somehow implicated in his murder though Georgian sources say nothing about lieutenant An Armenian chronicler, Vardan Araveltsi, says that David was murdered “by Sumbat and Ivane in a plot of the Orbels.
They had made an agreement with Giorgi, Davit’s brother, that he would appoint them generals”.
Ivane Orbeli was indeed rewarded by George III with the title of amirspasalar on his coronation. He claims that the Orbelis had been the witnesses of this vow and that they led the 1177 revolt to restore Demna, who was now adult, to his rightful position.
Either way, Demna was considered by many as a lawful pretender to the Georgian crown and victim of injustice. Demna was also sympathized by several high-ranking courtiers and military officers who had their fiefdoms mainly in southern Georgian and Georgian-dominated Armenian lands.
The rebellion led by Ivane Orbeli broke out in 1177.
The insurgents crowned Demna the king at the Agara Castle and marched, with 30,000 men, to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. However, Orbeli’s plan of a surprise attack failed. George III relied mainly on crack troops provided by the Kipchak mercenaries and Caucasian mountaineers.
By force and diplomacy, he induced many of rebelled nobles to surrender.
Orbeli, however, refused to comply and retired to the Lorhe fortress (now Lori, Armenia). The royal army quickly overran the fiefdoms of rebel lords and put Lorhe under siege.
Orbeli requested aid from the neighbouring Seljuk rulers but his forces completely exhausted before the reinforcements could arrive. Demna was the first to surrender.
Imprisoned, Demna did not survive the punishment and soon died.
