Saurmag ( ka, საურმაგი) was a
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
of
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 ...
(an ancient
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
kingdom known as
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 ...
to the
Classical sources) listed as the second king in the traditional royal list of medieval Georgian chronicles. Professor
Toumanoff suggest the years 234–159 BC as the period of his reign.
''The Life of Kings'', written c. 800, identifies Saurmag as the son and successor of
Parnavaz, the founder of the
Parnavaziani dynasty, and establishes a pattern of succession based upon
primogeniture. According to this account, the nobles of the realm united to kill Saurmag. Learning of the plot, Saurmag took refuge in the land of Dzurdzuks (ancestors of modern-day
Vainakhs
The Nakh peoples, also known as ''Vainakh peoples'' (Chechen/Ingush: , apparently derived from Chechen , Ingush "our people"; also Chechen-Ingush), are a group of Caucasian peoples identified by their use of the Nakh languages and other cult ...
), a country of his mother’s origin. With the Dzurdzuk help, Saurmag quashed a revolt, and went on to create a new class of nobles directly dependent on the crown.
The chronicle also states that Saurmag remained adherent to the pro-
Seleucid
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
policy adopted by his father. The contemporary ties with the Iranian world are also emphasized by the name “Saurmag” itself, which is based on a root from
Scytho-Sarmatian
The Scythian languages are a group of Eastern Iranian languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle Iranian period), spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their descend ...
. Saurmag also reportedly married a daughter of the Iranian official based at
Partaw. He is reported to have died without a male heir, and succeeded by his adopted son and son-in-law
Mirian. Saurmag is also credited with the introduction of the cult of
Ainina and Danina.
[Rapp (2003), p. 281.]
References
Sources
*
Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts''. Peeters Bvba, .
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saurmag 01 Of Iberia
Pharnavazid kings of Iberia
3rd-century BC rulers
2nd-century BC rulers