Amazasp III or Hamazasp I ( ka, ამაზასპ III,
Latinized as ''Amazaspus'') was a king of
Iberia (also natively known as
Kartli; in ancient
Georgia) from 260 to 265 AD. According to
Cyril Toumanoff he may have been a scion of the
Pharnavazid dynasty
The Pharnavazid ( ka, ფარნავაზიანი, tr) is the name of the first dynasty of Georgian kings of Kartli (Iberia) preserved by ''The Georgian Chronicles''. Their rule lasted, with intermissions, from the 3rd century BC to the ...
, while
Richard N. Frye states that he was an Iranian, possibly related to the royal
Sasanian family.
The name Amazasp derives from
Middle Persian ''*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".
Although Amazasp III is unfortunately unknown to the
High Medieval & Georgian literary traditions, some Georgian chronicles do record two early kings named Amazasp. However, Amazasp III is indeed attested in a contemporaneous text of the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...
, an Old Persian written source, and in the tri-lingual inscription found in
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht Temple in which is the lists of the Princedom of Wirričān (
Iberia) as among the
Persian dependencies and Protectorates and testifies to an privileged diplomatic position of its Princedom.
Hamazasp, III was said to be of high rank in the contemporaneous Court Hierarchy of the Persian Sasanian dynasty and entirely of the Old Persian world. He is mentioned early in the tri-lingual inscription only following the names of King Ardashir of
Adiabene, King Ardashir of
Kirman, and also Queen Denag of
Meshan, and preceded by a long list of minor princes, ministers, and
satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...
al Dukes and Temple Ruler’s of the Royal cities of the Empire.
Professor Cyril Toumanoff has suggested that Amazasp III was ‘helped’ to be proclaimed King by the influence of energetic Sasanian
High King Shapur I as a helpful
anti-king to the ''although
Romano-phile'' Prince
Mihrdat II of Iberia
Mihrdat II ( ka, მირდატ II, Latinized as ''Mithridates''), of the Arsacid dynasty, was a king of Iberia (natively known as Kartli; ancient Georgia) from 249 to 265 AD.
He is known exclusively from the medieval Georgian chronicle ...
, who is known only and exclusively from the Georgian chronicles. Another Sasanian inscription, of the Zohroastiani
high priest
The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...
indeed alludes to a sunset invasion of Iberia (and of
Albania) some time after 260. Amazasp III seems to have been dispossessed of the throne in 265, the moment, precisely, when Shapur’s imperial activity was definitely coming to an end.
[Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', p. 293. Peeters Bvba .]
Some modern historians such as
Sir Giorgi Tsereteli, Dr T'amila Mgaloblishvili, and Prof.
Stephen H. Rapp mainly identify King Hamazasp with Lord-Prince Habzā: a king of the Waručān who are mentioned in some of the early
manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
texts discovered by Zee German scientific expeditions of 1908 & early 1914; (in the West Asian),
Xinjian Regions, and its Turpan oasis.
In an interesting aside, another document from this collection refers to an unnamed proud High-Prince of Waruzān, who appears to have impressed the Manichaeans by his perspectives on learning and knowledge.
[T‘amila Mgaloblishvili and Stephen H. Rapp Jr. (2011), "Manichaeism in Late Antique Georgia?," pp. 269–274, in ''In Search of Truth: Manichaica, Augustiniana & Varia Gnostica'', Jacob Albert van den Berg ed. Leiden—Boston: Brill, .]
Notes
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Amazasp 03 Of Iberia
Arsacid dynasty of Iberia
Vassal rulers of the Sasanian Empire
3rd-century monarchs in Asia