View source for Pharnavazid dynasty

{{Short description|Georgian kings of Kartli (Iberia)}}
{{Royal house
| surname            = Pharnavazid dynasty
| estate             = [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Iberia]]
| coat of arms       = [[File:State Museum of History of Georgia (Tbilisi Archaeological Museum) 4.jpg|200px]] <br/>[[Claw]] foot of the royal [[throne]] found at [[Mount Bagineti]], 2nd century AD. Kept at the [[Georgian National Museum]] in [[Tbilisi]].<ref>[http://museum.ge/index.php?lang_id=GEO&sec_id=121&info_id=992 Royal throne] Official site of the [[Georgian National Museum]].</ref>
| country            = [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Iberia]]<br/>[[Colchis]]<br/>[[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]]
| styles             = [[Style of the Georgian sovereign]]
| founder            = [[Pharnavaz I of Iberia|Pharnavaz I]]
| final ruler        = [[Amazasp II of Iberia|Amazasp II]] <br/>[[Aspacures I of Iberia|Aspacures I]] (through female line)
| current head       =
| founding year      = 3rd century BC
| cadet branches     = [[Arsacid dynasty of Iberia]]<br/>(through female line)
}}
{{History of Georgia (country)}}
The '''Pharnavazid''' ({{lang-ka|ფარნავაზიანი|tr}}) is the name of the first [[dynasty]] of [[Georgians|Georgian]] kings of [[Kartli]] ([[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberia]]) preserved by ''[[The Georgian Chronicles]]''. 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 Pharnavazid rule came to an end and the [[Arsacid dynasty of Iberia|Arsacid dynasty]] took over the crown of Iberia.

== History ==

According to the [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] Georgian chronicle, ''The Life of the Georgian Kings'', the dynasty descended from [[Pharnavaz I of Iberia|Pharnavaz I]], the founder of the [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Iberia]], who ousted [[Azoy|Azo]], a ruler allegedly left by [[Alexander the Great]] to govern the country. Pharnavaz, 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 the Byzantine|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 Pharnavaz 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 Pharnavaz "accumulated a legendary façade" and emerged as the model pre-[[Christianity|Christian]] monarch in the Georgian annals.<ref>Rapp (2003), p. 276.</ref>

Although Alexander's expedition into the Georgian lands is entirely fictional, Georgian and [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] evidence suggests that the kings of Iberia cultivated close relations with the [[Seleucid Empire]], a [[Hellenistic civilization|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 [[Satrapy of Armenia|Armenia]].<ref>Toumanoff (1963), p. 185.</ref>

Pharnavaz is supposed by Toumanoff to have ruled from 299 to 234 BC.<ref>[[Pavle Ingoroqva]] suggests 284–219 BC as the years of Pharnavaz's reign. However, all these dates remain largely speculative. Rapp, p. 274.</ref> His son, [[Saurmag I of Iberia|Saurmag]] ([[reign|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 of Iberia|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, [[Parnajom of Iberia|P’arnajom]] (r. 109–90 BC), was dispossessed of the crown by a [[Artaxiad dynasty of Iberia|branch]] of the Armenian [[Artaxiad dynasty|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 [[Ancient Rome|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 of Armenia|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.<ref>Suny (1994), p. 14.</ref> Pharasmanes's successor, [[Mihrdat I of Iberia|Mihrdat I]] (58–106) forged an alliance with Rome to defend the Iberian frontiers from [[Alans]], nomads from the north. [[Armazi stele of Vespasian]] discovered at [[Mtskheta]], capital of Iberia, speaks of Mihrdat as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving [[Caucasian Iberians|Iberians]]." In 75, the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Vespasian]] helped the king of Iberia to fortify the [[acropolis]] of [[Armazi]].<ref>Suny (1994), p. 15.</ref>

Once the [[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia|scions]] of [[Parthia|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 of Iberia|Amazaspus (II)]] (r. 185–189) and with help of the king of Armenia, probably [[Vologases V of Parthia|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 of Iberia|Rev (I)]] (r. 189–216) on the throne of Iberia, inaugurating the local [[Arsacid dynasty of Iberia|Arsacid dynasty]].

== Pharnavazid kings of Iberia ==
{{see also|Georgian monarchs family tree of Iberia|l1=Pharnavazid monarchs family tree}}

===First dynasty===
*[[Pharnavaz I of Iberia]], 302–236/4 BC
*[[Sauromaces I of Iberia]] (son), 234–159 BC

===Second dynasty ===
*[[Mirian I of Iberia]] (son-in-law and adopted son), 159–109 BC
*[[Pharnajom of Iberia]] (son), 109–90 BC
*[[Mirian II of Iberia]] (son), 30–20 BC
*[[Artaxias II of Iberia]] (son), 20 BC–AD 1

===Third dynasty===
*[[Pharasmanes I of Iberia]] (son of [[Kartam of Colchis|Kartam]], descendant of [[Pharnavaz I of Iberia|Pharnavaz I]]'s sister and [[Sauromaces I of Iberia|Sauromaces I]]'s daughter), 1–58
*[[Mihrdat I of Iberia]] (son), 58–106
*[[Amazasp I of Iberia]] (son), 106–116
*[[Pharasmanes II of Iberia]] (son), 116–132
*[[Ghadam of Iberia]] (son), 132–135
*[[Pharasmanes III of Iberia]] (son), 135–185
*[[Amazasp II of Iberia]] (son), 185–189

== Pharnavazid kings of Armenia ==
*[[Mithridates of Armenia|Mithridates I]] (brother of [[Pharasmanes I of Iberia|Pharasmanes I]]), 35–37; 42–51
*[[Rhadamistus]] (nephew, brother-in-law and son-in-law), 51–53; 54–55

== Notes ==

{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*[[Ronald Grigor Suny|Suny, Ronald Grigor]] (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition''. [[Indiana University Press]], {{ISBN|0-253-20915-3}}
*[[Stephen H. Rapp Jr|Rapp, Stephen H.]] (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts''. Peeters Bvba {{ISBN|90-429-1318-5}}.
*Toumanoff, Cyril (1963), ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History''. [[Georgetown University Press]].

==Further reading==
* {{in lang|de}} Fähnrich, Heinz (2020), ''Die Könige der Parnawasiden. Georgien in der Weltgeschichte.'' Reichert. {{ISBN|978-3-95490-525-6}}
*{{in lang|ru}} [[Giorgi Melikishvili|Melikishvili, Giorgi]] and [[Otar Lordkipanidze|Lordkipanidze, Otar]] (ed., 1989). Очерки истории Грузии (''Studies in the History of Georgia''), Vol. 1: [http://www.nplg.gov.ge/ic/DGL/work/Ocherki_istorii_gruzii/Ocherki_istorii_gruzii_II/1/1.htm Грузия с древнейших времен до IV в.н.э. (''Georgia from the Beginnings to the 4th century AD'')]. Metsniereba, {{ISBN|5-520-00498-6}}.
{{Royal houses of Georgia}}

[[Category:Pharnavazid dynasty| ]]
[[Category:Georgian people of Iranian descent]]