Chosroids

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Mirian III on a mural in Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

The Chosroids ( Georgian ხოსრო [ვ] იანი , Khosro [v] iani ) were a dynasty of kings and princes who ruled the early Georgian Empire of Iberia from the 4th to the 9th centuries AD . Probably of Iranian origin and a branch of the Mihranids , the Chosroids adopted Christianity in 337 , and paced between the Byzantines and Sassanids to maintain a degree of independence. After the abolition of kingship in Iberia by the Sassanids in 580, the dynasty survived in two closely related but sometimes competing lines of the Elder Chosroids and the Younger Guaramids until the early 9th century when they were replaced by the Georgian Bagratids .

origin

According to early medieval Georgian lore, the first king of the chosroids was Mirian III. (r. 284–361) by his father, who appears in the sources as Chosrau, Great King of Iran (cf. Chosrau I ). Mirian was married to an Iberian princess and daughter of the last Georgian Arsakid king, Aspacures I. This happened during the Sassanid rule in Iran and it is believed that the Iberian dynasty was related to the Sassanid. Nevertheless, the exact relationship between the two dynasties is unclear. Sassanid kings with the name Chosroes / Chosrau appear much later; so that either the Georgian annals are wrong with the name of Mirian's father or the name Chosroes was used as a general term for king .

Cyril Toumanoff assumed that the Chosroids were a branch of the noble Mihranids. These were one of the great seven families of Iran and distantly related to the Sassanids. Two of its other branches soon came to the thrones of Gogarene and Gardman, two Caucasian principalities whose residents were Georgians, Armenians, and Albanians . Whereby this does not mean the Albanians of the same name from the Balkans in Southeast Europe, but an ancient tribe from the Caucasus.

Georgian historian Giorgi Melikishvili, however, doubts the Iranian origin of the chosroids and sees them as a local dynasty that invented a mythological alien origin, which is not uncommon for feudal genealogies. On the other hand, Georgian tradition could have exaggerated Mirian's family tree in such a way as to make him the son of a great Iranian king.

The early chosroids

Iberia under Vakhtang I. Gorgassali

The rise of the Mihranids to the thrones in the Caucasus was in fact a manifestation of the victory of the Sassanids over the remnants of the Parthian Arsacids in the region, whose Armenian branch was in decline and whose Georgian line was already extinct.

As an Iranian vassal king, the founder of the chosroids Mirian III participated. (r. 284–361) in the Sassanid war against Rome . Nevertheless, Rome got sovereignty over eastern Georgia in the Peace of Nisibis in 298, but recognized Mirian as King of Iberia. Mirian quickly adapted to the new balance of power and built close ties to Rome. That connection was later strengthened when missionary Nino Mirian, his wife Nana, and the household converted to Christianity in about 337. Nevertheless, the Sassanids continued to vie with Rome for influence over Iberia and were in the meantime successful when they deposed the pro-Roman successor Mirians Saurmag II in favor of the pro-Iranian Aspacur II in 361.

The Roman Emperor Valens intervened and reinstated Saurmag II. 370, becoming Aspacur's son and successor Mithridates III. (ruled 365-380) allowed to control the eastern areas of the empire. Nevertheless, the Sassanids were able to enforce their claims in 380 and united Iberia under the rule of Aspacur III. (r. 380–394) and began to take tributes from Iberia. Apparently the Romans recognized the loss of Iberia in the Treaty of 387 to partition Armenia. The Christian church and part of the nobility resisted the growing Iranian influence in eastern Georgia, which also included the promotion of Zoroastrianism ; the invention of the Georgian alphabet as an important instrument for the spread of Christian teaching is the most important cultural legacy of this struggle. Regardless of their Christian religion, the Chosroid kings of Iberia generally remained loyal to their Iranian overlords until Vakhtang I. Gorgassali (r. 447-522), the most famous ruler of the Chosroids and alleged founder of Tbilisi , changed his political orientation in 482 and oriented his empire and church to Byzantine politics. He then led an open revolt against the Sassanids together with the Armenian prince Vartan Mamikonian and continued this desperate but ultimately unsuccessful fight until the end of his life.

The late chosroids

After Wachtang's death in 522, the family was in decline and exercised only limited authority over Iberia, the government being led by the Iranian viceroy in Tbilisi in compromise with the local princes. As Bakur III. 580 died, the Sassanids took the chance to abolish the kingship without much resistance from the Iberian aristocracy. Removed from the crown, the heirs of Vakhtang remained in their mountain fortresses - the older chosroids in the province of Kakheti and the lesser line of guaramids in Klardschetia and Javakheti . A member of the latter line named Guaram I (ruled 588-590) revolted against the Sassanids in 588 and swore allegiance to the Byzantine emperor Maurikios and received from him the high Byzantine title of Kuropalates . He was successful in restoring Iberian autonomy in the form of a principate. This was a new agreement that Iran accepted in Peace Treaty 591, dividing Iberia between Byzantium and Iran at the level of Tbilisi. Guaram's son and successor Stephen I (r. 590-627) switched to the side of the Sassanids and united Iberia, which ultimately provoked an energetic reaction from the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610-641), who together with the Khazars in Iberia invaded and Tbilisi took after a heavy siege in 627. Herakleios had Stephen I flayed alive and gave his office to the probyzantine prince Adarnase I (r. 627–637 / 642).

Reinstated by Herakleios, the Chosroids dynasty vigorously maintained its probyzantine line, but Stephen II (r. 637/642-c. 650) was forced to submit to the Arab caliphate , which became the dominant regional power. After Adarnase II. (R. C. 650–684) death, the rival guaramids came with Guaram III. (r. 684-c. 693) returned to power, and the older Chosroids retired to their apanage in Kakheti, where their prominent member and saint of the Georgian Church Artschil was martyred in 786 by the hands of the Arabs. After Artschil's death, his son Iovane († c. 799) left his homeland for the Byzantine Egrisi ( Lasika ) in western Georgia, while his younger son Juanscher (r. 786-c. 807) stayed in Kakheti and married Latavri, the daughter of Prince Adarnase of Erusheti-Artani, who founded the Georgian Bagratids.

The main line of chosroids outlived the younger line of guaramids, which died out in 786, for two decades. With Dschuanscher's death c. In 807 she also died out. The chosroid properties in Kakheti were taken over by local aristocratic families who formed a succession of choir bishops up to the 11th century, while the property of the guaramids passed into the possession of the related Bagratids.

List of Chosroid Rulers

Kings of Iberia

Princes of Kakheti and presiding princes of Iberia

  • Adarnase I. , Prince of Kakheti, approx. 580–637; presiding Prince of Iberia, 627–637
  • Stephen I (II.) , Prince of Kakheti and presiding Prince of Iberia, 637 – approx. 650
  • Adarnase II , Prince of Kakheti and presiding Prince of Iberia, approx. 650–684
  • Stephen II , Prince of Kakheti, 685–736
  • Mihr , Prince of Kakheti, 736–741
  • Artschil the Martyr , Prince of Kakheti, 736–786
  • Iovane , Prince of Kakheti, 786–790
  • Juanscher , Prince of Kakheti, 786–807

Guaramids

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert W. Thomson (1996): Rewriting Caucasian History: The Medieval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles: The Original Georgian Texts and the Armenian Adaptation , pp. 74-75. ISBN 0198263732 .
  2. ^ Cyril Toumanoff (1969): Chronology of the Early Kings of Iberia . Published in Traditio 25, p. 22.
  3. ↑ М. Лордкипанидзе, Д. Мусхелишвили (Ред., 1988), Очерки истории Грузии. Т.2: Грузия в IV-X веках. АН ГССР, Ин-т ист., Археол. и этнографии - Тб .: Мецниереба: Тип. АН ГССР. Online version in Russian
  4. ↑ Stephen H. Rapp (2003): Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts , p. 154. Peeters Bvba, ISBN 90-429-1318-5 .
  5. ^ Cyril Toumanoff (1961): Introduction to Christian Caucasian History, II: States and Dynasties of the Formative Period . Published in Traditio 17, p. 38.
  6. ^ Ronald Grigor Suny (1994): The Making of the Georgian Nation , p. 15. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3 .
  7. ↑ Saurmag is strangely not mentioned by Georgian chroniclers, but can be found in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus '. Stephen H Rapp, p. 488
  8. ↑ Geoffrey B. Greatrex (2000): The Background and Aftermath of the Partition of Armenia in AD 387. , Published in The Ancient History Bulletin 14.1-2, pp. 35-48, Dalhousie University
  9. ↑ Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), p. 22.
  10. ↑ Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), p. 24.
  11. ↑ Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), p. 25.
  12. ↑ Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), p. 26.
  13. ↑ Stephen H Rapp (2003), p. 475
  14. ↑ Ronald Grigor Suny (1994), p. 29.