Pharnavaz I of Iberia

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Pharnavaz I (also written Parnavaz, P’arnawaz, or Farnavaz) (Georgian: ფარნავაზი) (ca 335-237 BC) was the first king of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia (Kartli) in ca 302-237 BC. Founder of the royal dynasty of Pharnavazians, he is also said to have established a new official religion, a variation of Zoroastrianism, and to have reformed a Georgian alphabet and written language.

Descriptions of the epoch of Pharnavaz provided by the early-medieval Georgian sources, is a mixture of fact and legend. There is also an inconsistency in the dates of his life and reign, which seems implausibly long for this period.

The legend has it that he was a nephew of Samara, a chief (mamasakhlisi) of the Mtskheta tribe and descendant of Kartlos, an eponymous father of Kartli/Iberia. Azo, an officer of Alexander the Great, killed Samara and massacred his family and many of his people, and seized the power in the area. Little Pharnavaz survived however. He later served to Azo, setting a plan of his people's liberation. Fortune was good to him, and he found a huge amount of a treasury while hunting in a forest. He used this to create an army and rose against the tyrant. Azo died on the battlefield and Pharnavaz was crowned the king of Iberia.

Although Alexander’s invasion of Georgia is completely rejected by modern historians, they believe one of the diadochoi from Asia Minor could have sent in an army to conquer the area. The story might also reflect a struggle for power for the title of tribal leader. The local patrician Pharnavaz could have won this struggle to become a king, the fact that seems to have been recognized by the Seleucids. He also established friendly relations with the neighbouring North Caucasian mountainous people Dzurdzuks, thought to be the ancestors of Vainakh peoples, and married their princess.

Upon his ascent to the throne, Pharnavaz divided his kingdom into several counties (saeristavo), including Egrisi, Argveti, Odzrkhe, Klarjeti, Tsunda, Samshvilde, Khunani, Kakheti, and a special military district (saspaspeto) of Kartli. Of them, Egrisi (part of Colchis) was given to a local prince, Kuji, his borther-in-law and ally. Now Pharnavaz focused on social projects, including the creation of a new official cult of Armazi to whom a colossus was erected at the citadel of Armaztsikhe, and the restoration of towns and villages.

Tradition ascribes to him a substantial reform of the Georgian alphabet and written language. Although the most ancient Georgian inscriptions known date back to the 5th century A.D., recently found inscriptions at Nekresi site are now claimed to be even older dating from the 1st to the 3rd A.D.

According to the Georgian chronicles, he died at the age of 92, in ca 237 BC, to be succeeded by his son Saurmag I.

[edit] Bibliography

Pavle Ingorokva. Old Georgian chronicle "Moktsevay Kartlisay" and the List of the Kings of Iberia. In: Bulletin of the State Museum of Georgia, vol. XI-B, Tbilisi, 1942, pp. 259-320 (in Georgian)
Leonti Mroveli. "Tskhovreba Kartvelta Mepeta". In: "Kartlis Tskhovreba" (edited by Simon Kaukhchishvili), Tbilisi, 1942, pp. 14-19 (in Georgian)