The Nersianids were an early medieval Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 princely family. Appearing in the late 5th century, in the reign of King Vakhtang I of Iberia (c.

Circa

Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...

 447-522), they figure in the eighth as dukes of Inner Iberia

Shida Kartli

Shida Kartli is a region in Georgia. It consists of the following districts: Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Java, Khashuri.The northern part of the region, namely Java, and northern territories of Kareli and Gori, is controlled by the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia since...

 and twice attained, in the persons of Adarnase III

Adarnase III of Iberia

Adarnase III , of the Nersianid Dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from c. 748 to 760. Originally a hereditary duke of Inner Iberia, he seems to have succeeded the Guaramid ruler Guaram III whose son was married to Adarnase's daughter...

 and his son Nerse

Nerse of Iberia

Nerse , of the Nersianid family, was a ruling prince of Iberia from c. 760 to 772 and again from 775 to 779/80.Nerse succeeded his father, Adarnase III, Curopalates of Iberia, and defied the Arab hegemony in Georgia. In 772, he was summoned by Caliph al-Mansur to Baghdad and cast in prison...

, to the office of Presiding Prince

Principate of Iberia

The Principate of Iberia is a conventional term applied to an aristocratic regime in early medieval Caucasian Georgia that flourished in the period of interregnum between the sixth and ninth centuries, when the leading political authority was exercised by a succession of princes...

 (erismtavari) of Iberia between c. 748 and 779/80. The first occupant of this office, Adarnase, held, in addition, the high Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 title of curopalates

Curopalates

Kouropalatēs, Latinized as curopalates or curopalata and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the time of Emperor Justinian I to that of the Komnenoi in the 12th century...

.

The family was related to another leading Georgian princely family, the Guaramids

Guaramid Dynasty

The Guaramid Dynasty was the younger branch of the Chosroid royal house of Iberia . They ruled Iberia as presiding princes in the periods of 588-627, 684-748, and 779/780-786, three with the dignity of curopalates bestowed by the Byzantine imperial court.- History :This branch descended from the...

, through the marriage of the Guaramid Guaram III

Guaram III of Iberia

Guaram III , of the Guaramid dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from before 693 to c. 748.Guaram III was bestowed with the Byzantine title of curopalates, and thus, must have succeeded his father or grandfather Guaram II shortly before 693, i.e., before the resurgent Caliphate ousted the...

’s son to a daughter of Adarnase III. The second Nersianid ruling prince Nerse was dispossessed by the Arabs and his office was given to his nephew (sister’s son) Stephanus III (r. 779/780-786).