Amazasp II ( ka, ამაზასპი, sometimes Latinized as ''Amazaspus'') was a king of

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

(

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role ...

, modern central and eastern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) and the last in the P’arnavaziani line according to the medieval Georgian chronicles. A son and successor of P’arsman III, he is assumed to have ruled in the latter quarter of the 2nd century, from 185 to 189 according to

Cyril Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...

. The name Amazasp derives from

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

''*Hamazāsp'', ultimately from

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...

''Hamāzāspa''. Although the precise etymology of ''*Hamazāsp''/''Hamāzāspa'' remains unresolved, it may be explained through

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''*hamāza-'', "colliding/clashing" + ''aspa-'', "horse" i.e. "one who possessed war steeds". The Georgian chronicles describe, in detail, Amazasp’s victory over the invading

Alans The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Al ...

and his reciprocal raid into the Alan lands. His four-year-long reign is reported to have terminated in a revolt of his nobles supported by

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and the Alans. Amazasp was killed in battle and succeeded by his rebel nephew,

Rev I Rev I the Just ( ka, რევ I მართალი, tr) was a king of Iberia (natively known as Kartli, i.e., eastern Georgia) from 189 to 216. His reign inaugurated the local Arsacid dynasty. The name "Rev" derives from Middle Iranian ''Rēw ...

. In 1996, an incomplete Greek inscription mentioning "Amazaspos, great king of the Iberians" was discovered at Bagineti in

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა, tr ) is a city in Mtskheta-Mtianeti province of Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World. Itis located approximately north of T ...

, the ancient capital of Iberia. According to Tinatin Kaukhchishvili's reconstruction of the damaged text, Amazasp appears to have been married to the daughter of Vologases, king of Armenia. This can be either Amazasp II or the earlier Iberian king Amazasp I, while Vologases is

Vologases I Vologases I ( xpr, 𐭅𐭋𐭂𐭔 ''Walagash'') was the King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 51 to 78. He was the son and successor of Vonones II (r. 51). He was succeeded by his younger son Pacorus II, who continued his policies. Name V ...

( r. 117–138/140) or Vologases II (r. c. 180–191).T'amila Mgaloblishvili and Stephen H. Rapp Jr. (2011), "Manichaeism in Late Antique Georgia?," pp. 272–274, in ''In Search of Truth: Manichaica, Augustiniana & Varia Gnostica'', Jacob Albert van den Berg ed. Leiden—Boston: Brill, . Another related Greek inscription unearthed at Bagineti mentions Queen Drakontis, identified by David Braund with the queen mentioned in the first inscription. These inscriptions also bring into light a high courtier of Amazaspus, the "rearer" or "foster-father" (τροφεύς) Anagranes.

References

189 deaths 2nd-century monarchs in Asia 2nd-century births Pharnavazid kings of Iberia {{Georgia-royal-stub