- Saurmag I of Iberia
Saurmag ( _ka. საურმაგი) was a monarch of
Kartli (an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia 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 (possible ancestors of modern-dayVainakhs ), 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. [Rapp, p. 280.]The chronicle also states that Saurmag remained adherent to the pro-
Seleucid 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 fromScytho-Sarmatian . [Rapp, p. 276.] Saurmag is reported to have died without a male heir, and succeeded by his adopted son and son-in-law Mirian. [Rapp, p. 281.]Notes
References
*Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), "Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts". Peeters Bvba, ISBN 90-429-1318-5.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.