Sasanian Iberia
Sasanian Iberia | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
255/6–299a 363–580b 580–627c | |||||||||||
Status | Province of the Sasanian Empire | ||||||||||
Capital | Armazi Mtskheta Tbilisi | ||||||||||
Common languages |
| ||||||||||
Government | Fully subordinate monarchy (up to 580), governorate | ||||||||||
Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||||||
• Established | 255/6 | ||||||||||
299 | |||||||||||
• Sasanian reconquest under Shapur II | 363 | ||||||||||
• Marzbanate period starts | 580 | ||||||||||
declares independence | 627 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
|
Part of a series on the |
History of Georgia |
---|
Sasanian Iberia (
History
The Georgian kingdoms were contested between the Sasanids and the neighboring rivalling Roman-Byzantine Empire ever since the 3rd century.[1] Over the span of the next hundreds of years, both the Byzantines and the Sasanids managed to establish hegemony over these regions. At the few remaining times, the Georgian kings managed to retain their autonomy. Sasanian governance was established for the first time early on in the Sasanian era, during the reign of king Shapur I (r. 240-270). In 284, the Sasanians secured the Iberian throne for an Iranian prince from the House of Mihran, subsequently known by his dynastic name Mirian III.[2][3][4][5] Mirian III became thus the first head of this branch of the Mihranid family in the Kingdom of Iberia, known as the Chosroid dynasty (otherwise known as the Iberian Mihranids, or Mihranids of Iberia), whose members would rule Iberia into the sixth century.[5] In 363, Sasanian suzerainty was restored by king Shapur II (r. 309-379) when he invaded Iberia and installed Aspacures II as his vassal on the Iberian throne.[6][7]
The continuing rivalry between Byzantium and Sasanian Persia for supremacy in the
The Iberian nobles acquiesced to this change without resistance, came to be under Byzantine control.
Guaram's successor, the second presiding prince Stephen I (Stephanoz I), reoriented his politics towards Persia in a quest to reunite a divided Iberia, a goal he seems to have accomplished, but this cost him his life when the Byzantine emperor Heraclius attacked Tbilisi in 626,[12] during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, marking the definite Byzantine predominance in most of Georgia by 627-628 at the expense of the Sasanids until the Muslim conquest of Persia.[13]
Protection, construction activities and settlers
As the Sasanians established predominance in the Caucasus, they obtained an additional weapon that could be used against the Roman-Byzantines.
The kingdoms of the Caucasus, as well as Armenia, had acquired an Iranian population element from the time of the early Scythian invasion of the area in the 1st millennium BC.[15] By the time of Khosrow I's fortification activities, a large number of Iranians were settled in this region, including Iberia.[14] The imposition of direct Sasanian rule by Khosrow I meant that, in all likelihood, numerous non-combatant settlers alongside troops and officials were moved to the area.[14] It is due to these developments that the Georgian Passion of St. Eusthatius of Mtskheta makes mention of (amongst others) Persian shoemakers living in Mtskheta who adhered to the Zoroastrian religion and their own practises.[14] Following conversion to Christianity, a number of these immigrants to this northwestern part of the empire could have adapted to the local culture.[14]
Sasanian coinage of Iberia (Georgia)
Although various hoards have been found in what is present-day Georgia containing regular Sasanian coinage, no local mint mark has been identified thus far for these regular Sasanian coins. However, so-called Kartvelo-Sasanian coins were produced locally in Kartli during the later period of Sasanid suzerainty and rule over central-eastern Georgia (Iberia of the classical authors), that is, in the late 6th and first half of the 7th century. As all extant coins of this type are decorated on the obverse with an image of either Hormizd IV or Khosrow II, there are no Kartvelo-Sasanian coins that predate Hormizd IV's rule (which started in 579). The production of Kartvelo-Sasanian coins commenced after the suppression of the Iberian monarchy by the Sasanids, dated by Cyril Toumanoff to c. 580.[16]
Kartvelo-Sasanian coins are usually decorated with asomtavruli letters and/or monograms. These monograms usually represented the names of the prominent and contemporaneous eristavis and presiding princes (eristavta-mtavaris) of Iberia. The earliest Kartvelo-Sasanian coins, as part of the first phase, were inscribed JO, which according to Stephen H. Rapp Jr translates as “O, Cross”. Once the Principality of Iberia was firmly established, the inscriptions, in this second phase, shifted to monograms which mentioned the name of the presiding princes. Examples amongst such are GN and GRG, i.e. "Gurgen/Guaram" respectively; both abbreviations are identified with prince Guaram I (r. 588-590). Presiding princes who followed after this phase were even bolder in the presentation of their religious affiliation. In this third and final phase of Kartvelo-Sasanian coins a small cross can be distinguished as a replacement for the sacred Zoroastrian flame atop the fire altar. This series commences with the abbreviation SPNS, i.e. "Stepanoz I", positioned around the image of the Sasanian Shahanshah Hormizd VI. The text does not obstruct the reading of the typically used Middle Persian legend. These adaptations develop further during Stepanoz I's reign (590–627), or perhaps during the reign of Stepanoz II (642–650). In this sub-phase, the full inscription of the name "Stepanoz" can be viewed on both sides of the head of the Sasanian Shahanshah, and the Middle Persian inscription depicting the name and regnal year of the Shahanshah is eliminated.[17]
-
Sasanian type coin of prince Guaram I, with obverse bust of Hormizd IV and asomtavruli inscription GRG, i.e. Gurgen
-
Sasanian type coin of prince Stephen I, with obverse bust of Khosrow II and asomtavruli inscription STEP'ANOS
Sasanian governors of Iberia
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2016) |
See also
- Atashgah of Tbilisi
- Vistahm
- Georgia in the Roman era
- Muslim conquest of Persia
- Principality of Iberia
- Arab rule in Georgia
References
- ^ Rapp 2003, p. 12.
- ^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Georgetown University Press. p. 149.
(...) Sasanian diplomacy was successful in securing, at that very time, the throne of Iberia for a branch of the Iranian house of Mihran (...)
- ISBN 978-9042913189.
Mirian III, the first Christian king of the K'art'velians. He was a Mihranid Iranian prince who became king through his marriage to a K'art'velian princess.
- ISBN 978-0521301992.
In 284 the Iberian throne passed to Meribanes III, a member of the Iranian Mihranid family.
- ^ ISBN 978-0520928534"(...) they successfully asserted their claim by crowning a Persian dynast named Mirian III. Mirian, founder of the Mihranid dynasty, which ruled Iberia into the sixth century (...)"
- ^ Baumer 2021, p. 188.
- ^ Daryaee 2009, p. 19.
- ^ a b Rayfield 2013, p. 51.
- ^ a b c Suny 1994, p. 25.
- ^ Yarshater 2001, p. 465.
- ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 529.
- ^ Suny 1994, p. 26.
- ^ Mikaberidze 2015, p. 28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Perikhanian 1983, p. 764.
- ^ Perikhanian 1983, p. 763.
- ^ Rapp 2014, pp. 323–329.
- ^ Rapp 2014, pp. 326–329.
Sources
- Baumer, Christoph (2021). History of the Caucasus. Vol. 1: At the Crossroads of Empires. I.B. Tauris.
- Brunner, Christopher (1983). "Geographical and Administrative divisions: Settlements and Economy". The Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods (2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 747–778. ISBN 978-0-521-24693-4.
- Daryaee, Touraj (2009). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B. Tauris.
- ISBN 978-1-4422-4146-6.
- ISBN 0-521-24693-8.
- Rapp, Stephen H. (2003). Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts. Peeters. ISBN 978-2-87723-723-9.
- ISBN 978-1472425522.
- Rayfield, Donald (2013). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1780230702.
- ISBN 0-253-20915-3.
- ISBN 978-0-933273-56-6.