In 131 AD, the Kingdom of Lazica was formed in the territory of Imereti as a vassal of the Roman Empire.
In the III century AD, Lazica gained independence and maintained it until the Arab invasion in the VIII century.
After that, the peoples of the Caucasus gradually began to reclaim the region devastated by the Arabs, and Imereti became the eastern frontier of the large Kingdom of Abkhazia.
The capital of this kingdom was located in Kutaisi.
Thus began the golden age in the history of Imereti, when it was effectively the capital region of the Kingdom of Abkhazia, and later, for a time, the capital region of a Unified Georgia.
It was only in 1125 that the capital was moved to Tbilisi.
In 1262, King David Narin (1225–1293), the last king of the medieval Georgian kingdom, re-established a state with its capital in Imereti after refusing to accept Mongol hegemony in the region.
The Second Kingdom of Imereti lasted until the early XIX century.