Rev I the Just ( ka, რევ I მართალი, tr) 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 ...

(natively known as

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 rol ...

, i.e., 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 ...

) from 189 to 216. His reign inaugurated the local

Arsacid dynasty The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...

. The name "Rev" derives from

Middle Iranian The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are groupe ...

''Rēw'', itself from the Avestan adjective ''raēva'', meaning "rich, splendid, opulent". He is known exclusively from the medieval Georgian annals which make him a son of the

king of Armenia This is a list of the monarchs of Armenia, for more information on ancient Armenia and Armenians, please see History of Armenia. For information on the medieval Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia, please see the separate page Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. ...

, whom the historians

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, ...

and Stephen H. Rapp identifies with the

Arsacid The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquer ...

, Vologases II (). Rev was enthroned by the rebellious Iberian nobles who deposed his maternal uncle, Amazasp II, last of the Pharnabazids. Rev is reported to have married a "Greek" princess Sephelia who is said to have brought an idol of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

to Iberia, but there is no indication of a local cult of this Greek goddess having ever existing. The Georgian chronicle ''Life of the Kings'' says that Rev, albeit pagan, was sympathetic to the doctrines of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and came to be known as ''martali'', or "the Just" for his patronage of a local embryonic Christian community. Toumanoff illustrated that this sobriquet is a direct translation of '' dikaios'', an epithet frequently used in the titulature of the Arsacid kings of

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

References

Sources

* * * * 216 deaths Arsacid dynasty of Iberia 3rd-century monarchs in Asia 2nd-century monarchs in Asia 2nd-century Iranian people 3rd-century Iranian people Year of birth unknown {{Georgia-royal-stub