diff --git a/kallithea/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py b/kallithea/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
--- a/kallithea/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
+++ b/kallithea/lib/vcs/backends/hg/repository.py
@@ -422,11 +422,16 @@ class MercurialRepository(BaseRepository
         if self._empty:
             raise EmptyRepositoryError("There are no changesets yet")
 
-        if revision in [-1, 'tip', None]:
+        if revision in [-1, None]:
             revision = 'tip'
 
         try:
-            revision = self._repo[revision].hex()
+            if isinstance(revision, int):
+                return self._repo[revision].hex()
+            try:
+                return scmutil.revsymbol(self._repo, revision).hex()
+            except AttributeError: # revsymbol was introduced in Mercurial 4.6
+                return self._repo[revision].hex()
         except (IndexError, ValueError, RepoLookupError, TypeError):
             msg = ("Revision %s does not exist for %s" % (revision, self))
             raise ChangesetDoesNotExistError(msg)
@@ -434,8 +439,6 @@ class MercurialRepository(BaseRepository
             msg = ("Ambiguous identifier `%s` for %s" % (revision, self))
             raise ChangesetDoesNotExistError(msg)
 
-        return revision
-
     def get_ref_revision(self, ref_type, ref_name):
         """
         Returns revision number for the given reference.