This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(May 2024) |
Aspacures I | |
---|---|
King of Iberia | |
Reign | 265-284 |
Predecessor | Mihrdat II |
Successor | Mirian III |
Dynasty | Arsacid dynasty of Iberia |
Aspagur I (Georgian :ასფაგურ I, Latinized as Aspacures), of the Arsacid dynasty, was a king ( mepe ) of Iberia (natively known as Kartli; ancient Georgia) from 265 to 284.
According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, Aspagur was either 23rd or 25th king of Iberia and, together with the Armenians, resisted the Sassanid Iranian expansion into the Caucasus. His reign probably coincided with the temporary reassertion of Roman control of the region under emperors Aurelian and Carus. He is reported to have been defeated by an Iranian invasion and died in exile in Alania. According to the chronicle Life of the Kings, he was last in his line, but his daughter, Abeshura, is claimed to have been married to Mirian III, who would succeed him on the throne and become the first Georgian king to espouse Christianity. [1]
In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known after its core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages was a significant monarchy in the Caucasus, either as an independent state or as a dependent of larger empires, notably the Sassanid and Roman empires. Iberia, centered on present-day Eastern Georgia, was bordered by Colchis in the west, Caucasian Albania in the east and Armenia in the south.
Pharnavaz I was a king (mepe) of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia in classical antiquity. The Georgian Chronicles credits him with being the first monarch founding the kingship of Kartli and the Pharnavazid dynasty, while other independent chronicles, such as The Conversion of Kartli make him the second Georgian monarch. Based on the medieval evidence, most scholars locate Pharnavaz's rule in the 3rd century BC: 302–237 BC according to Prince Vakhushti of Kartli, 299–234 BC according to Cyril Toumanoff and 284–219 BC according to Pavle Ingoroqva. Pharnavaz's rise, advent and imperial expansion of the Iberian monarchy was directly tied to the victory of Alexander the Great over the Achaemenid Empire. Pharnavaz ruled under the suzerainty of the Seleucid Empire.
Mirian III was a king (mepe) of Iberia or Kartli (Georgia), contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. He was the founder of the royal Chosroid dynasty.
Mirian I was a king (mepe) of Iberia who reigned in the 2nd century BC. An adopted son of his father-in-law King Sauromaces I, he was a Persian-born prince but governed over Iberia as a member of the Pharnavazid dynasty.
Pharnajom or Pharnajob was a king (mepe) of Iberia from 109 to 90 BC, the fourth in the P'arnavaziani line. He is known exclusively from the royal list included in the medieval Georgian chronicles.
Parnavaz II, of the Artaxiad dynasty, was a king (mepe) of Iberia from 63 to 30 BC. He is known as Pharnabazus in Classical sources, and is commonly identified with the Bartom or Bratman of the medieval Georgian chronicles.
Artavasdes I was the Artaxiad king of Armenia from approximately 160 BC to 115 BC. He was the son and successor of Artaxias I. Little is known about his reign. He is the subject of ancient Armenian folk traditions, which are recorded by later Armenian authors.
According to the medieval Georgian Chronicles, Armazi was the supreme deity in the pantheon of pre-Christian Caucasian Iberia.
The Chosroid dynasty, also known as the Iberian Mihranids, were a dynasty of the kings and later the presiding princes of the early Georgian state of Iberia from the 4th to the 9th centuries. The family, of Iranian Mihranid origin, accepted Christianity as their official religion c. 337, and maneuvered between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Iran to retain a degree of independence. After the abolition of the Iberian kingship by the Sassanids c. 580, the dynasty survived in its two closely related, but sometimes competing princely branches—the elder Chosroid and the younger Guaramid—down to the early ninth century when they were succeeded by the Georgian Bagratids on the throne of Iberia.
Amazasp II was a king (mepe) of Iberia and the last in the P'arnavaziani line according to the medieval Georgian chronicles. A son and successor of P'arsman III, he is assumed to have ruled in the latter quarter of the 2nd century, from 185 to 189 according to Cyril Toumanoff.
Aryan Kartli or Arian Kartli was a country claimed by the medieval Georgian chronicle "The Conversion of Kartli" to be the earlier homeland of the Georgians of Kartli.
The Pharnavazid is the name of the first dynasty of Georgian kings of Kartli (Iberia) preserved by The Georgian Chronicles. Their rule lasted, with intermissions, from the 3rd century BC to the 2nd century AD. The main male line is reported to have become extinct early on and followed by houses related to it in the female line. By the close of the 2nd century AD, the Pharnavazid rule came to an end and the Arsacid dynasty took over the crown of Iberia.
The Artaxiads, a branch of the eponymous dynasty of Armenia, ruled Iberia from c. 90 BC to 30 AD. According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, they acquired the crown of Iberia after the Iberian nobles revolted against their king P’arnajom, of the Pharnabazid dynasty, and petitioned the king of Armenia to send his son, who was married to a Pharnabazid princess, as their new monarch. Both the king of Armenia and his son are referred to in the chronicles as “Arshak”, probably a confusion with Artaxias which seems to be taken as a general term about the Artaxiad kings of Armenia. Professor Cyril Toumanoff identifies the king of Armenia of this account as Artavasdes I and considers the newly installed Iberian king, Artaxias I, to have been his son. The chronicle goes on to describe a great battle between a combined Iberian-Armenian army against P’arnajom and his followers. In the end, P’arnajom was defeated and killed, and thereafter the Armenian prince was the king of Iberia.
The Arsacid dynasty or Arshakiani, a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia, ruled the ancient Kingdom of Iberia from c. 189 until 284 AD. The Arsacid dynasty of Iberia was succeeded by the Chosroid dynasty.
Amazasp III or Hamazasp I was a king of Iberia from 260 to 265 AD. According to Cyril Toumanoff he may have been a scion of the Pharnavazid dynasty, while Richard N. Frye states that he was an Iranian, possibly related to the royal Sasanian family.
Aspacures II, of the Chosroid Dynasty, was the king (mepe) of Iberia from c. 363 to 365. He was the second son of Mirian III of Iberia and Nana of Iberia.
Dachi, of the Chosroid Dynasty, was the king (mepe) of Iberia reigning, according to a medieval Georgian literary tradition, for 12 years, from c. 522 to 534. He was given a territorial epithet Ujarmeli for having spent years at his residence at Ujarma.
Adarnase was a late 8th-century nobleman of Iberia and the founder of the Georgian Bagratid dynasty. He established himself in Tao-Klarjeti as a vassal of the Chosroid dynasty of Iberia and, as a matter of inheritance, acquired more lands, setting stage for the elevation of the Bagratids—in the person of his son Ashot I—to the principate of Iberia.
Sasanian Iberia was the period the Kingdom of Iberia was under the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire. The period includes when it was ruled by Marzbans (governors) appointed by the Sasanid Iranian king, and later through the Principality of Iberia.
The Christianization of Iberia refers to the spread of Christianity in the early 4th century as a result of the preaching of Saint Nino in the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known as Iberia in classical antiquity. The then-pagan king of Iberia Mirian III declared Christianity to be the kingdom's state religion. Per Sozomen, this led the king's "large and warlike barbarian nation to confess Christ and renounce the religion of their fathers", as the polytheistic Georgians had long-established anthropomorphic idols, known as the "Gods of Kartli". The king would become the main sponsor, architect, initiator and an organizing power of all building processes.