Jump to content

Dzala ertobashia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 71.51.113.204 (talk) at 13:29, 3 January 2008 (touch up). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Dzala ertobashia (Georgian: ძალა ერთობაშია, "Strength is in Unity") is an official motto of Georgia.

It originally comes from a famous fable by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani of the same name. According to this fable once upon a time there lived a king with thirty sons. One day, when he felt the come of death, he called his sons and asked them to bring arrows. Then king asked them to break the arrows one by one, and the sons did. The king then asked them to break the arrows all at once, and they could not. The king said: "teach o my sons from this fact, here is strength of unity. If you are together, an enemy cannot do you wrong, but if you are divided, victory will be on their side."

The problem of unity is very real for the Georgian state, and thus was likely a factor in the decision to make the phrase the national motto.

The Kingdom of Belgium also has a similar motto translating into English as "Strength lies in unity".

The Bulgarian motto is similar translating into English as "The Unity makes the strength". Also there is a popular legend in Bulgaria about Kubrat, ruler of Great Bulgaria, who also gave his sons the same advice by the same example.