Pharnabazid Dynasty
Encyclopedia
The Pharnabazid or P’arnavaziani is the name of the first dynasty
of Georgian
kings of Kartli
(Iberia
) preserved by the Georgian historical tradition. 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 Pharnabazid rule came to an end and the Arsacid Dynasty
took over the crown of Iberia.
Georgian chronicle, The Life of the Georgian Kings, the dynasty descended from Parnavaz (I), the founder of the Iberian kingship, who ousted Azo, a ruler allegedly left by Alexander the Great to govern the country. Parnavaz, whose story is saturated with legendary imagery and symbols, is not attested directly in non-Georgian sources and there is not definite contemporary indication that he was the first of the Georgian kings. However, the Georgian dynastic tag Parnavaziani ("of/from/named for Parnavaz"), which the early Armenia
n histories have preserved as P’arnawazean (Faustus 5.15; 5th century) and P’arazean (Primary History of Armenia 14; probably the early 5th century), is an acknowledgment that a king named Parnavaz was understood to have been the founder of a Georgian dynasty. It seems more feasible that as the memory of the historical facts faded, the real Parnavaz "accumulated a legendary façade" and emerged as the model pre-Christian
monarch in the Georgian annals.
Although Alexander's expedition into the Georgian lands is entirely fictional, Georgian and Classical
evidence suggests that the kings of Iberia cultivated close relations with the Seleucid Empire
, a Hellenistic
successor to Alexander’s short-lived empire centered on Syria
, and at times recognized its suzerainty, probably aiding, as Professor Cyril Toumanoff
has implied, their overlords in holding in check the Orontid Dynasty
of neighboring Armenia
.
Parnavaz is supposed by Toumanoff to have ruled from 299 to 234 BC. His son, Saurmag
(r.
234-159 BC), is reported to have died without a male heir, and the dynasty survived in the female line through the marriage of Saurmag’s daughter to Mirian (I)
(r. 159-109 BC), of the Nimrodids. The Nimrodids, in Georgian Nebrot'iani (ნებროთიანი), which means the "race of Nimrod", is not a dynastic name but the term applied by the medieval Georgian annalists to the ancient Iranians. Hence, the dynasty, although in the female line only, continues to be called by the chronicles as P’arnavaziani ("Second Pharnabazid" as suggested by Toumanoff).
The dynasty, in the person of Mirian's son, P’arnajom (r. 109-90 BC), was dispossessed of the crown by a branch
of the Armenian Artaxiads
whose ascendancy in Iberia lasted from 90 to 30 BC when the Pharnabazids were able to resume the throne. By that time, the South Caucasus
had been brought under Roman
hegemony. However, Iberia succeeded in detaching itself from the Roman dominion in the last decade of the 1st century BC and emerged as a more powerful state in the 1st century AD. Pharasmanes I of Iberia (r. AD 1-58) energetically interfered in the affairs of Armenia which was then a bone of contention between Rome and Parthia
and installed his brother, Mithridates
(AD 35-51), on the throne of Armenia. In 51, however, Pharasmanes instigated his son, Rhadamistus
, to remove Mithridates and occupy the Armenian throne, only to be expelled from his kingdom in 55. Pharasmanes's successor, Mihrdat I (58-106) forged an alliance with Rome to defend the Iberian frontiers from Alans
, nomads from the north. A stone inscription discovered at Mtskheta
, capital of Iberia, speaks of Mihrdat as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians
." In 75, the Roman Emperor
Vespasian
helped the king of Iberia to fortify the acropolis
of Armazi
.
Once the scions
of Parthian Arsacids
had consolidated their hold over Armenia in the 2nd century AD, their branch replaced the Pharnabazids in Iberia. According to the Georgian chronicles, this happened when the nobles staged a revolt against Amazaspus (II) (r. 185-189) and with help of the king of Armenia, probably Vologases II (r. 180-191), who is reported to have been married to Amazasp’s sister, deposed and killed their monarch. Vologases installed his son and Amazasp’s nephew, Rev (I)
(r. 189-216) on the throne of Iberia, inaugurating the local Arsacid dynasty
.
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
of 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...
kings of Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
(Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
) preserved by the Georgian historical tradition. 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 Pharnabazid rule came to an end and the Arsacid Dynasty
Arsacid dynasty of Iberia
The Iberian Arsacids , a branch of the eponymous Parthian dynasty, ruled the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia from c. 189 until 284 AD, when they were succeeded by the Chosroid Dynasty.-History:...
took over the crown of Iberia.
History
According to the early medievalEarly Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
Georgian chronicle, The Life of the Georgian Kings, the dynasty descended from Parnavaz (I), the founder of the Iberian kingship, who ousted Azo, a ruler allegedly left by Alexander the Great to govern the country. Parnavaz, whose story is saturated with legendary imagery and symbols, is not attested directly in non-Georgian sources and there is not definite contemporary indication that he was the first of the Georgian kings. However, the Georgian dynastic tag Parnavaziani ("of/from/named for Parnavaz"), which the early Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n histories have preserved as P’arnawazean (Faustus 5.15; 5th century) and P’arazean (Primary History of Armenia 14; probably the early 5th century), is an acknowledgment that a king named Parnavaz was understood to have been the founder of a Georgian dynasty. It seems more feasible that as the memory of the historical facts faded, the real Parnavaz "accumulated a legendary façade" and emerged as the model pre-Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
monarch in the Georgian annals.
Although Alexander's expedition into the Georgian lands is entirely fictional, Georgian and Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
evidence suggests that the kings of Iberia cultivated close relations with the Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
, a Hellenistic
Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
successor to Alexander’s short-lived empire centered on Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and at times recognized its suzerainty, probably aiding, as Professor Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Toumanoff
Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...
has implied, their overlords in holding in check the Orontid Dynasty
Orontid Dynasty
The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty The Orontid Dynasty (also known by their native name, Yervanduni was a hereditary Armenian dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Ararat...
of neighboring Armenia
Satrapy of Armenia
The Satrapy of Armenia , also known as Orontid Armenia after the ruling Orontid Dynasty, was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, which later became an independent kingdom...
.
Parnavaz is supposed by Toumanoff to have ruled from 299 to 234 BC. His son, Saurmag
Saurmag I of Iberia
Saurmag was a monarch of Kartli listed as the second king in the traditional royal list of medieval Georgian chronicles. Professor Toumanoff suggest the years 234-159 BC as the period of his reign.The Life of Kings, written c...
(r.
Reign
A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation or of a people . In most hereditary monarchies and some elective monarchies A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office...
234-159 BC), is reported to have died without a male heir, and the dynasty survived in the female line through the marriage of Saurmag’s daughter to Mirian (I)
Mirian I of Iberia
Mirian I was a monarch of Kartli listed as the third king in the traditional royal list of medieval Georgian chronicles...
(r. 159-109 BC), of the Nimrodids. The Nimrodids, in Georgian Nebrot'iani (ნებროთიანი), which means the "race of Nimrod", is not a dynastic name but the term applied by the medieval Georgian annalists to the ancient Iranians. Hence, the dynasty, although in the female line only, continues to be called by the chronicles as P’arnavaziani ("Second Pharnabazid" as suggested by Toumanoff).
The dynasty, in the person of Mirian's son, P’arnajom (r. 109-90 BC), was dispossessed of the crown by a branch
Artaxiad dynasty 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...
of the Armenian Artaxiads
Artaxiad Dynasty
The Artaxiad Dynasty or Ardaxiad Dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in AD 12. Their realm included Greater Armenia, Sophene and intermittently Lesser Armenia and parts of Mesopotamia...
whose ascendancy in Iberia lasted from 90 to 30 BC when the Pharnabazids were able to resume the throne. By that time, the South Caucasus
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
had been brought under Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
hegemony. However, Iberia succeeded in detaching itself from the Roman dominion in the last decade of the 1st century BC and emerged as a more powerful state in the 1st century AD. Pharasmanes I of Iberia (r. AD 1-58) energetically interfered in the affairs of Armenia which was then a bone of contention between Rome and Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
and installed his brother, Mithridates
Mithridates of Armenia
Mithridates of Armenia was an Iberian prince and a king of Armenia under the protection of the Roman Empire.Mithridates was installed by his brother Pharasmanes I of Iberia who, encouraged by Tiberius, invaded Armenia and captured its capital Artaxata in 35...
(AD 35-51), on the throne of Armenia. In 51, however, Pharasmanes instigated his son, Rhadamistus
Rhadamistus
Rhadamistus was an Iberian prince who reigned in Armenia from 51 to 53 and 54 to 55 CE. Considered to be an usurper and tyrant, he was overthrown in a rebellion supported by the Parthian Empire.- Life :...
, to remove Mithridates and occupy the Armenian throne, only to be expelled from his kingdom in 55. Pharasmanes's successor, Mihrdat I (58-106) forged an alliance with Rome to defend the Iberian frontiers from Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
, nomads from the north. A stone inscription discovered at Mtskheta
Mtskheta
Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...
, capital of Iberia, speaks of Mihrdat as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians
Caucasian Iberians
Caucasian Iberians was a Greco-Roman designation for ancient Georgians, Ibero-Caucasian people who inhabited the east and southeast of the Transcaucasus region in prehistoric and historic times...
." In 75, the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
helped the king of Iberia to fortify the acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...
of Armazi
Armazi
Armazi was, according to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the supreme deity in a pre-Christian pantheon of ancient Georgians of Kartli ....
.
Once the scions
Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia
The Arsacid dynasty or Arshakuni dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Formerly a branch of the Iranian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty...
of Parthian Arsacids
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
had consolidated their hold over Armenia in the 2nd century AD, their branch replaced the Pharnabazids in Iberia. According to the Georgian chronicles, this happened when the nobles staged a revolt against Amazaspus (II) (r. 185-189) and with help of the king of Armenia, probably Vologases II (r. 180-191), who is reported to have been married to Amazasp’s sister, deposed and killed their monarch. Vologases installed his son and Amazasp’s nephew, Rev (I)
Rev I of Iberia
Rev I, "the Just" was a king of Iberia from 189 to 216 AD. His reign inaugurated the local Arsacid dynasty....
(r. 189-216) on the throne of Iberia, inaugurating the local Arsacid dynasty
Arsacid dynasty of Iberia
The Iberian Arsacids , a branch of the eponymous Parthian dynasty, ruled the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia from c. 189 until 284 AD, when they were succeeded by the Chosroid Dynasty.-History:...
.
Nimrodids or Second Pharnabazid Dynasty
- Mirian I of IberiaMirian I of IberiaMirian I was a monarch of Kartli listed as the third king in the traditional royal list of medieval Georgian chronicles...
(son-in-law and adopted son), 159-109 BC - Parnajom of Iberia (son), 109-90 BC
- Mirian II of IberiaMirian II of IberiaMirian II or Mirvan was a king of Iberia from 30 to 20 BC. His reign marked the reinstatement of the Nimrodid Dynasty, a continuation of the P'arnabazids....
(son), 30-20 BC - Arshak II of IberiaArshak II of IberiaArshak II or Arsuk , of the Nimrodid Dynasty, was a king of Iberia from c. 20 BC to AD 1....
(son), 20 BC-AD 1
Third Pharnabazid Dynasty
- Pharsman I of IberiaPharsman I of IberiaPharasmanes I was a king of Iberia who plays a prominent role in Tacitus’ account of Rome’s eastern policy and campaigns under Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero...
, 1-58 - Mihdrat I of Iberia, 58-106
- Amazasp I of IberiaAmazasp I of IberiaAmazasp I was a king of Iberia whose reign is placed by the early medieval Georgian historical compendia in the 2nd century...
(son), 106-116 - Pharsman II of Iberia (son), 116-132
- Rhadamistus of Iberia (son), 132-135
- Pharsman III of Iberia (son), 135-185
- Amazasp II of IberiaAmazasp II of IberiaAmazasp II |Latinized]] as Amazaspus) was a king of Iberia and the last in the P’arnavaziani line according to the medieval Georgian chronicles...
(son), 185-189