Stephen III of Iberia

Stephen III (Georgian: სტეფანოზ III, Step'anoz III), of the Guaramid dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia (Kartli, eastern Georgia) from 779/780 to 786.

Stephen was installed by the Caliph in the place of his maternal uncle Nerse who had revolted against the Arab rule. By 786, when Nerse’s Christianized Arab servant, Abo, was martyred, both Nerse and Stephen had disappeared from history, and the Guaramid power had vanished once and for all.[1]

Stephen is probably the unnamed young Iberian prince mentioned by the Armenian chronicler Ghevond Yerets among the Caucasian dynasts executed at the hands of the Arab viceroy Khuzayma b. Khazim.[2]

References

  1. ^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p. 399. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.
  2. ^ ibid, p. 410
Preceded by
Nerse
Prince of Iberia
779/80-786
Succeeded by
Ashot I