Pharasmanes I of Iberia

Pharasmanes I (P’arsman) (died 58) was a king of Iberia (Kartli, modern eastern Georgia) who plays a prominent role in Tacitus’ account of Rome’s eastern policy and campaigns under Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero. According to Professor Cyril Toumanoff, he reigned from A.D. 1 to 58, and was a member of the third Pharnabazid Dynasty.

Pharasmanes, as an ally of Rome, invaded Armenia and captured the capital city of Artaxata in 35. He left his brother Mithridates on the Armenian throne; and when the Parthian prince Orodes attempted to dispossess him of his newly-acquired kingdom, Pharasmanes assembled a large army, with which he totally defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle (Tacitus, "Annals". vi. 32-35). At a later period (c. 52) he instigated his son Rhadamistus, whose ambitious and aspiring character began to give him umbrage, to make war upon his uncle Mithridates, and supported him in his enterprise; but when Rhadamistus was in his turn expelled by the Parthians, after a short reign (AD 55), and took refuge again in his father's dominions; Pharasmanes, in order to curry favor with the Romans, who had expressed their displeasure at the proceedings of Rhadamistus, put his son to death ("ib". xii. 42-48, xiii. 6, 37.). Pharasmanes was apparently succeeded by his son Mithridates (Mirdat) II.Toumanoff, Cyril (1967). "Studies in Christian Caucasian History", p. 101. Georgetown University Press.] Toumanoff has tentatively suggested the identification of Pharasmanes with the Aderki (or Rok) of the medieval Georgian chronicles whose reign is said to have coincided with the appearance of the first Christian communities in Georgia, and the travel of the Jews from Mtskheta to Jerusalem whence they witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus and brought the Holy Tunic to Iberia. According to the Georgian chronicles, Aderki’s division of his kingdom between his two sons, Kartam (Kardzam) and Bartom (Bratman), inaugurated the start of dyarchy in Iberia which would last for five generations. Many modern scholars, however, doubt the existence of the diarchy, for the contemporary foreign source make references only to sole monarch. [Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), "Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts", pp. 285-287. Peeters Publishers, ISBN 90-429-1318-5.]

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