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Pharnavaz I

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Pharnavaz
Relief of King Pharnavaz
1st King of Iberia
Reign302–237 BC[i]
299–234 BC[ii]
284–219 BC[iii]
PredecessorAzo of Iberia
(office created)
SuccessorSaurmag I of Iberia
Born326 BC[1]
Mtskheta, Kartli
Died237, 234 or 219 BC
Mtskheta, Kingdom of Iberia
Burial
Armazi, Kingdom of Iberia (undisclosed)
SpouseDurdzuk woman
IssueSaurmag I of Iberia
DynastyPharnavazid dynasty
FatherGeorgian prince[2]
MotherPersian woman[3]
ReligionGeorgian paganism (God Armazi)

Pharnavaz (Georgian: ფარნავაზი Georgian pronunciation: [pʰɑrnɑvɑzi]) also transliterated as Parnavaz or Farnavaz[iv] was the first king of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia to the Classical sources, who is credited by the medieval Georgian written tradition with founding the kingship of Kartli and the Pharnavazid dynasty. Based on the medieval evidence, most scholars locate Pharnavaz’s rule in the 3rd century BC: 302–237 BC according to Prince Vakhushti of Kartli, 299–234 BC according to Cyril Toumanoff and 284–219 BC according to Pavle Ingoroqva.[4]

Life

According to the Georgian royal annals, Pharnavaz descended from Uplos, son of Mtskhetos, son of Kartlos, who was one of the powerful and famous eight brothers, who from their part were descendants of Targamos, son of Tarsi, the grandson of Japheth, son of the Biblical Noah. He is not directly attested in non-Georgian sources and there is no definite contemporary indication that he was indeed the first of the Georgian kings. His story is saturated with legendary imagery and symbols, and it seems feasible that, as the memory of the historical facts faded, the real Pharnavaz "accumulated a legendary façade" and emerged as the model pre-Christian monarch in the Georgian annals.[5]

According to the c. 800 chronicle The Life of Kings, Pharnavaz had a distinguished genealogy, tracing back to Kartlos, the mythical ethnarch of Kartli. His paternal uncle, Samara, held the position of mamasakhlisi ("father of the house") of the Georgian tribes around Mtskheta.[6] Pharnavaz’s mother is claimed to have been a Persian woman from Isfahan.[3] The entire story of Pharnavaz, although written by a Christian chronicler, abounds in ancient Iranian-like imagery and mystic allusions, a reflection of the archaeologically confirmed cultural and presumably political ties between Iran and Kartli of that time. The name "Pharnavaz" is also an illustrative example with its root par- being based upon the Persian farnah, the divine radiance believed by the ancient Iranians to mark a legitimate dynast (cf. khvarenah).[7] The dynastic tag Parnavaziani ("of/from/named for Pharnavaz") is also preserved in the early Armenian histories as P'arnawazean (Faustus 5.15; fifth century) and P'arazean (Primary History of Armenia 14; probably the early fifth century), an acknowledgment that a king named Pharnavaz was understood to have been the founder of a Georgian dynasty.[5]

Perhaps the most artistically rounded section of the Georgian annals, the narrative follows Pharnavaz's life from birth to burial.[8] Aged 3,[9] small Pharnavaz's family is destroyed, and his heritage is usurped by Azon installed by Alexander the Great during his campaign in Kartli. Alexander's invasion of Iberia, remembered not only by the Georgian historical tradition, but also by Pliny the Elder (4.10.39) and Solinus (9.19), appears to be memory of some Macedonian interference in Iberia, which must have taken place in connection with the expedition mentioned by Strabo (11.14.9) sent by Alexander in 323 BC to the confines of Iberia, in search of gold mines.[1]

Pharnavaz is brought up fatherless, but a magic dream, in which he anoints himself with the essence of the Sun, heralds the peripeteia. He is persuaded by this vision to "devote [himself] to noble deeds". He then sets off and goes hunting. In a pursuit of a deer, he encounters a mass of treasure stored in a hidden cave.[10] Pharnavaz retrieves the treasure and exploits it to mount a loyal army against the tyrannical Azon. He is aided by Kuji of Colchis, who eventually marries Pharnavaz's sister. The rebels are also joined by 1,000 soldiers from Azon's camp; they are anachronistically referred to by the author as Romans, and claimed to have been entitled by the victorious Pharnavaz as aznauri (i.e., nobles) after Azon (this etymology is false, however).[5]

Reign

Kingdom of Iberia during the reign of Pharnavaz I

In the ensuing battle, Azon is defeated and killed, and Pharnavaz becomes the king of Kartli at the age of 27.[1] He is reported to have acknowledged the suzerainty of the Seleucids, the Hellenistic successors of Alexander in the Middle East, who are afforded by the Georgian chronicles the generic name of Antiochus.[5]

ფარნავაზ წარავლინნა მოციქულნი წინაშე მეფისა ანტიოქოს ასურასტანისა, და წარსცა ძღუენი დიდ-ძალი. და აღუთქუა მას მსახურება, და ითხოვა მისგან შეწევნა ბერძენთა ზედა. ხოლო ანტიოქოს შეიწყნარა ძღუენი მისი, და უწოდა შვილად თჳსად, და წარმოსცა გჳრგჳნი.
Pharnavaz sent his apostles towards the King Antiochus, and gave him huge gifts. And promised to serve him, and asked him for help against the Greeks. And Antiochus received his gifts, and called him a son, and gave him the crown.[11]

Pharnavaz is also said to have patterned his administration upon an "Iranian" model.[12]

ესრეთ განაწესა ესე ყოველი ფარნავაზ მიმსგავსებულად სამეფოსა სპარსთასა.
And here Pharnavaz made all and everything alike the Kingdom of the Persians.[13]

Pharnavaz had introduced a military-administrative organization based on a network of regional governors or eristavi.[14] The insignia of the eristavi, received from the king, constituted a sceptre, a special signet ring, belt and armament.[15] Iberia had in total seven eristavis, in Colchis,[16] Kakheti,[17] Khunani[18] (modern-day northern Azerbaijan), Samshvilde[19] (Kvemo Kartli), Tsunda[20] (included Javakheti, Kola and Artaani), Odzrkhe[21] and Klarjeti.[22] The kingdom had one spaspet who was under the direct control of the royal power based in Inner Kartli.[23]

The hierarchic structure created by Pharnavaz was the following: king; commander-in-chief (spaspet) of the royal army; eristavis; middle commanders (atasistavis tsikhistavis) of the garrisons stationed in the royal strongholds; junior commanders (asistavis) who were the younger sons of the aristocratic families; mercenary professional warriors from the neighboring countries and all the soldiers organized around the entire kingdom.[24]

It is evident that the division of Iberia by Pharnavaz into saeristavos served first and foremost a military aim, namely the organization of people for the purpose of defence. This organization was not so much directed against other countries. Back then the total population of the kingdom would have been, including foreign captives and the population of the tributary areas, about 600,000, which could raise a fairly big army not less than 100,000. According to Strabo the Iberian army numbered 70-80,000 so it appears that each saeristavo had 10,000 soldiers.[25]

While Georgian and Classical evidence makes the contemporaneous Kartlian links with the Seleucids plausible (Toumanoff has even implied that the kings of Kartli might have aided the Seleucids in holding the resurgent Orontids of Armenia in check[26]), Pharnavaz's alleged reform of the eristavi fiefdoms is most likely a back-projection of the medieval pattern of subdivision to the remote past.[27]

Pharnavaz is then reported to have embarked on social and cultural projects; he supervised two building projects: the raising of the idol Armazi – reputedly named after him – on a mountain ledge and the construction of a similarly named fortress.[27]

Pharnavaz made alliances with various North Caucasian peoples during his reign, to whom he called upon for help against both Macedonia and internal foes.[28] He took a Durdzuk woman in marriage, in order to consolidate the alliance of Iberia with the Durdzuks, who helped him consolidate his reign against his unruly vassals.[29] Similarly he married his sister to a Sarmatian chief.[28]

According to the Georgian royal annals he also created the Georgian script and made the Georgian language an official language of the kingdom:[30]

და ესე ფარნავაზ იყო პირველი მეფე ქართლსა შინა ქართლოსისა ნათესავთაგანი. ამან განავრცო ენა ქართული, და არ-ღა-რა იზრახებოდა სხუა ენა ქართლსა შინა თჳნიერ ქართულისა. და ამან შექმნა მწიგნობრობა ქართული. და მოკუდა ფარნავაზ, და დაფლეს წინაშე არმაზისა კერპისა.
And here Pharnavaz was first king of Kartli from race of Kartlos. He spread the Georgian language, and there was no language but Georgian only in land of Kartli. And he created the Georgian script. And died Pharnavaz, and he was buried in front of Armazi.

This account is now considered legendary, and is rejected by scholarly consensus, as no archaeological confirmation has been found.[31][32][33] Georgian linguist Tamaz Gamkrelidze offers an alternate interpretation of the tradition, in the pre-Christian use of foreign scripts (alloglotography in the Aramaic alphabet) to write down Georgian texts.[34] The existence of a peculiar local form of Aramaic in pre-Christian Georgia has been archaeologically documented.[35]

The chronicles report Pharnavaz's lengthy reign of 65 years.[5][36][1]

ამან ფარნავაზ მოზღუდა ქალაქი მცხეთა მტკიცედ, და ყოველნი ქალაქნი და ციხენი ქართლისანი, მოოჴრებულნი ალექსანდრესგან, ამან აღაშენნა. და ვერ-ღა-რა იძიეს შური ბერძენთა მის ზედა, რამეთუ უცალო იყვნეს ბერძენნი ბრძოლისაგან ჰრომთასა.
Pharnavaz took the city of Mtskheta firmly, and all the cities and castles of Kartli, destroyed by Alexander, he rebuilt them. And the Greeks could not avenge upon him, as the Greeks had warriors no more.[37]

Upon his death, he was buried in front of the idol Armazi and worshipped. His son Saurmag succeeded him to the throne.[38]

Pharnavaz and Arrian's Pharasmanes

Several modern scholars have been tempted to make identification between the Pharnavaz of the medieval Georgian tradition and the Pharasmanes of the Greco-Roman historian Arrian, a 2nd-century AD author of Anabasis Alexandri. Arrian recounts that "Pharasmanes (Фαρασμάνης), king of the Chorasmians", visited Alexander the Great with 15,000 horseman, and pledged his support should Alexander desire to campaign to the Euxine lands and subdue Colchians, whom Pharasmanes names as his neighbors. Apart from the similarity of the names of Pharasmanes and Pharnavaz (both names are apparently based on the same root, the Iranian farnah), it is interesting to note that the king of Chorasmia in Central Asia reports Colchis (today’s western Georgia, i.e., the western neighbor of ancient Kartli/Iberia) to be a neighboring country.[39] Some Georgian scholars have suggested that the Greek copyists of Arrian might have confused Chorasmia with Cholarzene (Chorzene), a Classical rendering of the southwest Georgian marchlands (the medieval Tao-Klarjeti), which indeed bordered with Colchis and Pontus.[38][40]

According to Arrian:[41]

At this time also came Pharasmanes, king of the Chorasmians, to Alexander with 15,000 horsemen, who affirmed that he dwelt on the confines of the nations of the Colchians and the women called Amazons, and promised, if Alexander was willing to march against these nations in order to subjugate the races in this district whose territories extended to the Black Sea, to act as his guide through the mountains and to supply his army with provisions. Alexander then gave a courteous reply to the men who had come from the Scythians, and one that was adapted to the exigencies of that particular time; but said that he had no desire for a Scythian wedding. He thanked Pharasmanes and concluded a friendship and alliance with him, saying that at present it was not convenient for him to march towards the Black Sea. After introducing Pharasmanes as a friend to Artabazos II of Phrygia, to whom he had intrusted the government of the Bactrians, and to all the other viceroys who were his neighbours, he sent him back to his own abode. He told Pharasmanes that his mind at that time was engrossed by the desire of conquering India; for when he had subdued them, he should possess the whole of Asia. He added that when Asia was in his power he would return to Greece, and thence make an expedition with all his naval and military forces to the eastern part of the Black Sea through the Hellespont and Propontis. And he desired Pharasmanes to reserve the fulfilment of his present promises until then.

Legacy

King Pharnavaz's street in Batumi.

The third and last Georgian royal dynasty, Bagrationi dynasty, claims descent directly from Pharnavaz.[42] During the continuity of monarchy in Georgia, all Georgian kings saw themselves as heirs to the Kingdom of Iberia founded by King Pharnavaz.[43]

In Tbilisi there is a King Pharnavaz Street, Avenue, and also a statue of Pharnavaz. Also, there are streets named after Pharnavaz in Batumi, Kutaisi, Khashuri, Gori, Gurjaani, Sachkhere, Zestaponi and others. Some buildings, including schools and hotels, also bear his name, as well as about five hundred Georgians.[44]

King Pharnavaz was subject of the film Pharnavaz (2013), directed by Amiran Amiranashvili.[45]

See also

Notes

^ i: according to Prince Vakhushti of Kartli
^ ii: according to Cyril Toumanoff
^ iii: according to Pavle Ingoroqva
^ iv: alternative name forms can be Pharnabaz, Pharnabazus or Pharnaoz

References

  1. ^ a b c d Toumanoff, p. 9
  2. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 20, line of edition 17
  3. ^ a b Georgian royal annals, page of edition 20, line of edition 18
  4. ^ Rapp, p. 274.
  5. ^ a b c d e Rapp, p. 276.
  6. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 20, line of edition 17-18-19
  7. ^ Rapp, pp. 275-276.
  8. ^ Rayfield, p. 60.
  9. ^ Toumanoff, p. 8
  10. ^ Rayfield, p. 61; Rapp, p. 276.
  11. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 23, line of edition 12-13-14-15
  12. ^ Rapp, p. 275.
  13. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 25, line of edition 4
  14. ^ Rapp, p. 277; Suny, p. 12.
  15. ^ Gamkrelidze, p. 134
  16. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 9–11
  17. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 12–13
  18. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 14–15
  19. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 16–17
  20. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 18–19
  21. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 20–21
  22. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 22–23
  23. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 24, line of edition 24–25; page of edition 25, line of edition 2–3
  24. ^ Gamkrelidze, p. 135
  25. ^ Henri J. M. Claessen, Peter Skalnik, The Early State, p. 263
  26. ^ Toumanoff, p. 185.
  27. ^ a b Rapp, p. 277.
  28. ^ a b Anchabadze, George. The Vainakhs. Page 19: "In the end of the 4th century B.C., Pharnavaz, an Iberian of noble family rose in rebellion against the placeman of the Macedonian conquerors and called to the Sarmatians and highlanders for help. Having gained a victory over the enemies and proclaimed himself King of Iberia, Pharnavaz concluded a long-term military and political alliance with the tribes of the Northern Caucasus. According to custom of those times the alliance was strengthened with dynastic marriages; so, Pharnavaz married his sister to one of the Sarmatian chiefs and he got married himself to the Durdzuk woman."
  29. ^ Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Chechens: A Handbook. Page 31: "They [the Dzurdzuks] helped Pharnavaz, first King of Georgia, against his unruly vassals and consolidated his reign. The marriage of Pharnavaz to a Durdzuk princess cemented the Iberian-Kartvelian alliance with the Durdzuks."
  30. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 26, line of edition 8-9-10
  31. ^ Stephen H. Rapp Jr (2010). "Georgian Christianity". In Ken Parry (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9.
  32. ^ Seibt, Werner. "The Creation of the Caucasian Alphabets as Phenomenon of Cultural History".
  33. ^ Donald Rayfield The Literature of Georgia: A History (Caucasus World). RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-7007-1163-5. P. 19. "The Georgian alphabet seems unlikely to have a pre-Christian origin, for the major archaeological monument of the 1st century 4IX the bilingual Armazi gravestone commemorating Serafua, daughter of the Georgian viceroy of Mtskheta, is inscribed in Greek and Aramaic only. It has been believed, and not only in Armenia, that all the Caucasian alphabets—Armenian, Georgian and Caucaso-Albanian—were invented in the 4th century by the Armenian scholar Mesrop Mashtots.<...> The Georgian chronicles The Life of Kartli - assert that a Georgian script was invented two centuries before Christ, an assertion unsupported by archaeology. There is a possibility that the Georgians, like many minor nations of the area, wrote in a foreign language—Persian, Aramaic, or Greek—and translated back as they read."
  34. ^ Nino Kemertelidze (1999). "The Origin of Kartuli (Georgian) Writing (Alphabet)". In David Cram, Andrew R. Linn, Elke Nowak (ed.). History of Linguistics 1996: Volume 1: Traditions in Linguistics Worldwide. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 228. ISBN 978-90-272-8382-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  35. ^ Lang, David Marshall. Iran, Armenia and Georgia. In: Yar-Shater, p. 515.
  36. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 25, line of edition 14
  37. ^ Georgian royal annals, page of edition 25, line of edition 6-7-8-9
  38. ^ a b Rapp, p. 280.
  39. ^ Rapp, p. 279.
  40. ^ Giorgi L. Kavtaradze. The Interrelationship between the Transcaucasian and Anatolian Populations by the Data of the Greek and Latin Literary Sources. The Thracian World at the Crossroads of Civilisations. Reports and Summaries. The 7th International Congress of Thracology. P. Roman (ed.). Bucharest: the Romanian Institute of Thracology, 1996.
  41. ^ Arrian, Alexander the Great: The Anabasis and the Indica, p. 118 4-5-6
  42. ^ Salia, p. 129
  43. ^ Salia, pp. 130-133
  44. ^ Statistics Public Service Hall
  45. ^ Pharnavaz GDS TV (Ad)

Bibliography

  • Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts. Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5.
  • Georgian royal annals, "Life of Pharnavaz" The first Georgian king of Kartli, Part IV
  • Rayfield, Donald (2000), The Literature of Georgia: A History. Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-1163-5.
  • Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), The Making of the Georgian Nation (2nd edition). Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-20915-3.
  • Toumanoff, Cyril (1963), Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press.
  • Salia, Kalistrat, Histoire de la nation géorgienne, 1980
  • Gamkrelidze, Gela Researches in Iberia-Colchology, David Braund ed. 2012
  • Yar-Shater, Ehsan (ed., 1983), The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-24693-8.
  • ქართლის ცხოვრება, ს. ყაუხჩიშვილის რედაქციით, ტ. 1, განათლება, თბ., 1955
  • შატბერდის კრებული X საუკუნისა, ბ. გიგინეიშვილისა და ელ. გიუნაშვილის გამოც., თბ., 1979
  • «Обращение Грузии», перевод с древнегрузинского Е. С. Такаишвили. Редакционная обработка, исследование и комментарии М. И. Чхартишвили. Тбилиси — 1989
  • Стефан Х. Рапп, (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts. Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5.
  • Otar Lordkipanidze, « La Géorgie à l'époque hellénistique », dans Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 9, 1983, pp. 197–216.
  • Marie-Félicité Brosset, Histoire de la Géorgie, Saint-Pétersbourg, 1849.
  • Toumanoff Chronology of the early Kings of Iberia Traditio, Vol. 25 (1969), pp. 1–33
Pharnavaz I
Born: 326 BC Died: 234 BC
Preceded by
Azon
(office created)
 King of Kartli
299 BC - 234 BC 		Succeeded by
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