Stephen III of Iberia
Encyclopedia
Stephen III of the Guaramid dynasty
, was a presiding prince
of Iberia
(Kartli
, eastern Georgia
) from 779/780 to 786.
Stephen was installed by the Caliph
in the place of his maternal uncle Nerse
who had revolted against the Arab rule. By 786, when Nerse’s Christianized Arab servant, Abo
, was martyred, both Nerse and Stephen had disappeared from history, and the Guaramid power had vanished once and for all.
Stephen is probably the unnamed young Iberian prince mentioned by the Armenian chronicler Ghevond Yerets among the Caucasian dynasts executed at the hands of the Arab viceroy Khuzayma b. Khazim.
Guaramid Dynasty
The Guaramid Dynasty was the younger branch of the Chosroid royal house of Iberia . They ruled Iberia as presiding princes in the periods of 588-627, 684-748, and 779/780-786, three with the dignity of curopalates bestowed by the Byzantine imperial court.- History :This branch descended from the...
, was a presiding prince
Principate of Iberia
The Principate of Iberia is a conventional term applied to an aristocratic regime in early medieval Caucasian Georgia that flourished in the period of interregnum between the sixth and ninth centuries, when the leading political authority was exercised by a succession of princes...
of Iberia
Caucasian Iberia
Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...
(Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
, eastern Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
) from 779/780 to 786.
Stephen was installed by the Caliph
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
in the place of his maternal uncle Nerse
Nerse of Iberia
Nerse , of the Nersianid family, was a ruling prince of Iberia from c. 760 to 772 and again from 775 to 779/80.Nerse succeeded his father, Adarnase III, Curopalates of Iberia, and defied the Arab hegemony in Georgia. In 772, he was summoned by Caliph al-Mansur to Baghdad and cast in prison...
who had revolted against the Arab rule. By 786, when Nerse’s Christianized Arab servant, Abo
Abo of Tiflis
Saint Abo of Tiflis or Abo Tbileli is a Christian martyr and the Patron Saint of the city of Tbilisi, Georgia....
, was martyred, both Nerse and Stephen had disappeared from history, and the Guaramid power had vanished once and for all.
Stephen is probably the unnamed young Iberian prince mentioned by the Armenian chronicler Ghevond Yerets among the Caucasian dynasts executed at the hands of the Arab viceroy Khuzayma b. Khazim.