Zestafoni (Georgian: ზესტაფონი) is the administrative center of Zestafoni Municipality in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti/Argveti province which is a part of Imereti Region. The town is situated in the furthest east of the Kolkheti Plateau and is built on the both banks of the river Kvirila.
Zestafoni lies 2 kilometres south of the small, but ancient fortress town of Shorapani, founded by Pharnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC. The town of Zestafoni is firstly mentioned in historical records in the 1560s. The name of the town is connected with the bank of river Kvirila (Georgian: Foni), upper bank (Georgian: Zeda Foni, that was used by the local population and foreign travelers from ancient times.
There are lots of historical monuments in the Zestafoni Municipality: Zeda Saqara (11th century), Tabakini (6th century), Tseva (11th century), Sanakhshire and other churches, castles from early Middle Ages in Shrosha and Shorapani. Shorapani (Sarapanis) is the toponymy, that is mentioned in old Greek mythology. That was Sarapanis that Jason and his Argonaut friends approached during their travel in old Colchis (Kolkhida).