Kingdom of Iberia
In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: Ἰβηρία Iberia; Latin: Hiberia) was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli (Georgian: ქართლი), known after its core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages was a significant monarchy in the Caucasus, either as an independent state or as a dependent of larger empires, notably the Sassanid and Roman empires.[8] Iberia, centered on present-day Eastern Georgia, was bordered by Colchis in the west, Caucasian Albania in the east and Armenia in the south.
For other uses, see Kingdom of Iberia (disambiguation) and Iberia (disambiguation).
Kingdom of Iberiaქართლის სამეფო
kartlis samepo
kartlis samepo
- Vassal state of the Seleucid Empire
(302–159 BC)
- Client state of the Roman Republic[1]
(65–63 BC, 40–36 BC, 30–1 AD)
- Client state of the Roman Empire[2][3][4]
(1–129 AD, 131–260 AD)
- Vassal state of Sassanid Persia
(260–265 AD)[5]
- Client state of the Eastern Roman Empire[6]
(298–363 AD)
- Vassal state of Sassanid Persia
(363–482 AD, 502–523 AD)
- Direct Sassanid Persian rule
(523–580 AD)
c. 302 BC
317 AD[7]
580 AD
Its population, the Iberians, formed the nucleus of the Kartvelians (i.e. Georgians). Iberia, ruled by the Pharnavazid, Artaxiad, Arsacid and Chosroid royal dynasties, together with Colchis to its west, would form the nucleus of the unified medieval Kingdom of Georgia under the Bagrationi dynasty.[9][10]
In the 4th century, after the Christianization of Iberia by Saint Nino during the reign of King Mirian III, Christianity was made the state religion of the kingdom. Starting in the early 6th century AD, the kingdom's position as a Sassanian vassal state was changed into direct Persian rule. In 580, king Hormizd IV (578–590) abolished the monarchy after the death of King Bakur III, and Iberia became a Persian province ruled by a marzpan (governor).
The term "Caucasian Iberia" is also used to distinguish it from the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe.[11]
Eastern and Western Iberians[edit]
The similarity of the name with the old inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula, the 'Western' Iberians, has led to an idea of ethnogenetical kinship between them and the people of Caucasian Iberia (called the 'Eastern' Iberians).
It has been advocated by various ancient and medieval authors, although they differed in approach to the problem of the initial place of their origin. The theory seems to have been popular in medieval Georgia. The prominent Georgian religious writer George the Hagiorite (1009–1065) wrote about the wish of certain Georgian nobles to travel to the Iberian peninsula and visit the local Georgians of the West, as he called them.