Guaram I.
Guaram I ( Georgian გუარამ I ) was a Georgian prince who led the principate of Iberia (ქართლის საერისმთავრო, translit .: kartlis saerismtavro) and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) title of Kuropalates (588-590). He is usually identified with the Gurgenes (Γουργένης, Hellenized form of the Middle Persian Gurgēn ) of the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes .
Life
Guaram was the son of Leo , the younger son of King Wachtang I Gorgassali , and his Roman wife Helene and thus belonged to the younger, non-royal branch of the Chosroids ( Guaramids ). His family included the southwestern Iberian principalities of Klardscheti (კლარჯეთი, [kʼlard͡ʒɛtʰi]) and Odsrche (ოძრხე, Odzrkhe, Samtskhe -Javakheti ). The medieval Georgian writer Sumbat Dawitis Dse (სუმბატ დავითის ძე, Sumbat Davitis-Dze) calls him the first prince of the Bagrationi , which is hardly credible.
In the Persian War (572–591) between the Eastern Roman Empire and the New Persian Sassanid Empire , which was started by Justin II (r. 565–578), Guaram / Gurgenes allied themselves in 572 with the Armenian prince Vardan III. Mamikonian and the Eastern Romans in a desperate attempt to break out of Sassanid control. Apparently he fled to Constantinople when the uprising was crushed and stayed there until he reappeared on the political stage in 588. The Georgian chronicler Juansher reports that the Iberians rose again against the Sassanid rule. The Iberian nobles asked the Eastern Roman Emperor Maurikios (r. 582–602) for a ruler from the Iberian royal family. Maurikios sent Guaram, made him a Kuropalate and sent him to Mtskheta . The established principality of Iberia replaced the chosroid kingship, which had been suspended since the occupation by the Sassanids around 580. Guaram is traditionally credited with founding the Jvari Monastery in Mtskheta.
legacy
Guaram was followed by his son, Stefanos I.
Guaram I was the first Georgian ruler to have his own coins minted based on the Persian silver drachma. These coins, the so-called “Iberian Sassanids”, bear the initials “GN” for “Gurgen”. It appears that "Guaram" in the Georgian Chronicles was a name for domestic use only, while "Gurgen" was the official international name and can be found both on the coins and in foreign sources.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stephen H. Rapp: Sumbat Davitis-dze and the Vocabulary of Political Authority in the Era of Georgian Unification. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society , Oct.-Dec., 2000, Vol. 120, No. 4: pp. 570-576.
- ↑ Theophanes of Byzantium, fragment 3.
- ^ John Robert Martindale: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press 1992: p. 558. ISBN 0-521-07233-6 .
- ↑ Ronald Grigor Suny : The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition. Indiana University Press 1994: pp. 23-25. ISBN 0-253-20915-3
- ^ Cyril Toumanoff : Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press 1963: p. 434.
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Sassanid viceroy |
Prince of Iberia 588-590 |
Stefanos I. |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Guaram I. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | გუარამ I (Georgian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prince of Iberia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 6th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 590 |