Kingdom of Iberia

The Iberia Caucasian during the Roman Empire.

Iberia (in ancient Greek, Ἰβηρία, in Latin: Hiberia) was the exonymous name used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to designate the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli (Georgian: ქართლი) (4th century BC to 5th century AD).), which occupied eastern and southeastern present-day Georgia.

The terms Caucasian Iberia, Eastern Iberia or Asian Iberia are used to distinguish this Caucasian region from the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberians of the Caucasus formed a base for the future Georgian state and, at the same time as the Colchis of Colchis (another ancient kingdom located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea), the nucleus of the present Georgian population.

History

Early days

The area was inhabited by several related tribes, generally called Iberians by ancient authors. The local kingdom of Kartli is named after a mythical chief, Kartlos.

The flies (tubal and mesec) mentioned by various classical historians and the sasper, their possible descendants (named by Herodotus), could have played a relevant role in the consolidation of the region's tribes. Probably, the etymological origin of “Iberia” derives from its name (Sasper >Speri >Hberi >Iberi). The flies would have moved northeast on a migration. The main tribe were the mtskheta, which would give its name to the capital. Georgian medieval authors called their first settlement Arrian-Kartli, under the Persian rule of the Achaemenid dynasty. After that, they were ruled by a local prince known as Mamasakhlisi.

The medieval source Moktsevai Kartlisai ("Conversion of Kartli") further tells of Azo and his people, who settled in the future capital of Mtskheta. Another chronicle of the country, Kartlis Tskhovreba ("History of Kartli"), says that Azo would be an officer of Alexander the Great who assassinated a local ruler and conquered the territory, being expelled by Pharnawaz I of Iberia.

The Fall of the Kingdom

The continuing rivalry between Byzantium and Persia for supremacy in the Caucasus, and the failed insurrection (523) of the Georgians, led by Gurgen, brought tragic consequences for the country. Since then the King of Iberia had only formal power, while the country was administered by the Persians. In 580 Hormizd IV (578-590) abolished the monarchy after the death of King Bakur III, and Iberia became a Persian province, administered by a marzpan (governor). Georgian nobles asked Emperor Maurice of Constantinople for help in reviving the kingdom of Iberia in 582, but in 591 Byzantium and Persia agreed to the division of Iberia, Tiflis falling into Persian hands and Mtskheta under Byzantium's control.

At the beginning of the 7th century, the truce between Byzantium and Persia came to an end. The prince of Iberia Stephanos I (c. 590-627) decided in 607 to join his forces with Persia to reunite all the territories of Iberia, a goal which he seemed to accomplish. However, Emperor Heraclius' offensive in 627-628 led to the defeat of the Georgians and Persians, and ensured Byzantine dominance in eastern and western Georgia until the Arab invasion of the Caucasus.

The Arab Period

The Arabs arrived in Iberia around 645 and forced its eristavi (prince) Stephanoz II (637-ca. 650) to cease his allegiance to Byzantium and recognize the Caliphate as his protector. Iberia thus became a tributary state, and the Arab emir was installed in Tiflis around the year 653. At the beginning of the IX, Prince Ashot I (813-830), of the new Bagrationi dynasty, took advantage of the weakening of Arab rule to establish himself, from his base in southwestern Georgia, as crown prince (kouropalates) from Iberia. A successor, Adarnase II of Tao, a formal vassal of Byzantium, was crowned "king of the Georgians" in 888 his descendant Bagrat III (975-1014) reunited the various principalities and created a united Georgian kingdom.

Kings of Iberia

• Mtsjeta Samara (355-322 BC)
• Azone of Mtsjeta (322-302 a. C.)

Parnavazian dynasty

• Parnavaz I (302-237 BC)
• Saurmag I (237-162 BC)
• Mirian I (162-112 BC)
• Parnadjom (112-93 BC)

Arshaqid dynasty

• Arshak I or Arsaces I (93-81 B.C.)
• Artag (81-63 BC)

Nimrodid or Parnavazian dynasty (restoration)

• Parnavaz II (63-32 B.C.)
• Mirian II (32-23 BC)
• Arshak II or Arsaces II (23 B.C.-2d.)

Parnavazian dynasty (restoration)

• Parsman I or Farasmanes I (2-58 AD)
• Mitrídates I (58-106)
• Amazaspo I (106-116)
• Parsman II or Farasmanes II Kvéli, Good (116-132)
• Radamisto I (132-135)
• Parsman III or Farasmanes III (135-185)
• Amazaspo II (185-189)

Arsacid dynasty

• Rev I The Right (189-216)
• Vache I (216-234)
• Bakur I (234-249)
• Mitrídates II (249-265)
• Amazaspo III, antirrey (260-265)
• Aspacures I de Iberia (265-284)

Cosroid dynasty

• Mirian III, who introduced Christianity in Georgia (284-361)
• Rev II, correy (345-361)
• Sauromaces II (361-363)
• Varaz-Bakur I (Asphagur II, 363-365)
• Mitrídates III (365-380)
• Varaz-Bakur II (Asphagur III, 380-394)
• Tiridates (394-406)
• Parsman IV or Farasman IV (406-409)
• Mitrídates IV (409-411)
• Archil (411-435)
• Mithridates V (435-447)
• Vakhtang I (447-502)
• Vache II, or Dachi II, or Darchi II, or Darchil II (502-514)
• Bakur II or Bacurio II (514-528)
• Parsman V or Farasman V (528-542)
• Parsman VI or Farasmanes VI (542-547)
• Bakur III or Bacurio III (547-580)

East and West Iberians

The similarity of the term "Iberia" with the ancient inhabitants of Iberia, the 'west' Iberians, has given rise to the idea of an ethnic and genetic relationship between them and the populations of Caucasian Iberia, the Iberians of the 'east'.

Several authors of Antiquity and the Middle Ages supported this idea, although they differed in relation to the problem of the place of its origin. The theory seems to have become popular in medieval Georgia. The prominent Georgian religious writer George the Hagiorite (1009-1065) wrote of the desire of some Georgian nobles to travel to the Iberian Peninsula and visit the "Georgians of the West", as he put it.