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The Caucasian Iberians was a Greco-Roman designation for ancient Georgians
Georgians

The Georgians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the South Caucasian peoples people mainly centered in Georgia , but also living in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries....
, Ibero-Caucasian people
Ibero-Caucasian languages

The term Ibero-Caucasian was proposed by Georgia linguist Arnold Chikobava for the union of the three language families that are specific to the Caucasus area, namely...
 (South Caucasian
South Caucasian peoples

South Caucasian peoples is a general term for the ethnic groups and subgroups that historically spoke the South Caucasian languages, namely:*Georgian people...
 or Kartvelians) who inhabited the east and southeast of the Transcaucasus region in prehistoric and historic times. Ancient Iberians are identified as modern eastern Georgians
Georgians

The Georgians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the South Caucasian peoples people mainly centered in Georgia , but also living in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries....
 who have originated from the early Georgian state of Iberia-Karli
Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Ancient Greece and Roman Empire to the ancient Georgia kingdom of Kartli corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia....
. Caucasian Iberians should not be confused with some of the ancient inhabitants of the Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 Hispania
Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
, the Iberians
Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Ancient Greece and ancient Rome sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC....
 of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
, or today's Spanish
Spanish people

Spanish people or Spaniards are a nation or ethnic group native to Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula of southwestern Europe. They are often considered an amalgam of different ethnic groups, rather than an ethnic group by itself....
 and Portuguese
Portuguese people

The Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of Southern Europe-Western Europe Europe....
 who are also referred to as Iberians.

History
The area was inhabited in earliest times
Ancient history

Ancient history is the history from the History of writing until the Early Middle Ages in Europe, the Qin Dynasty in China, the Chola Empire in India, and some less defined point in the rest of the world ....
 by several relative tribes of Tiberani, Moschi
Moschi

Moschi or Moschoi is a term from ancient records and may refer to one of the following peoples:*Mushki were an Iron Age people of Anatolia, known from Assyrian sources....
, Saspers, Diaokhi, etc collectively called Iberians (the Eastern Iberians) by ancient Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 (Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
, Strabo
Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
, etc) and Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 authors.






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Encyclopedia


The Caucasian Iberians was a Greco-Roman designation for ancient Georgians
Georgians

The Georgians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the South Caucasian peoples people mainly centered in Georgia , but also living in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries....
, Ibero-Caucasian people
Ibero-Caucasian languages

The term Ibero-Caucasian was proposed by Georgia linguist Arnold Chikobava for the union of the three language families that are specific to the Caucasus area, namely...
 (South Caucasian
South Caucasian peoples

South Caucasian peoples is a general term for the ethnic groups and subgroups that historically spoke the South Caucasian languages, namely:*Georgian people...
 or Kartvelians) who inhabited the east and southeast of the Transcaucasus region in prehistoric and historic times. Ancient Iberians are identified as modern eastern Georgians
Georgians

The Georgians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the South Caucasian peoples people mainly centered in Georgia , but also living in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries....
 who have originated from the early Georgian state of Iberia-Karli
Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Ancient Greece and Roman Empire to the ancient Georgia kingdom of Kartli corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia....
. Caucasian Iberians should not be confused with some of the ancient inhabitants of the Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 Hispania
Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
, the Iberians
Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Ancient Greece and ancient Rome sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC....
 of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
, or today's Spanish
Spanish people

Spanish people or Spaniards are a nation or ethnic group native to Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula of southwestern Europe. They are often considered an amalgam of different ethnic groups, rather than an ethnic group by itself....
 and Portuguese
Portuguese people

The Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of Southern Europe-Western Europe Europe....
 who are also referred to as Iberians.

History


The area was inhabited in earliest times
Ancient history

Ancient history is the history from the History of writing until the Early Middle Ages in Europe, the Qin Dynasty in China, the Chola Empire in India, and some less defined point in the rest of the world ....
 by several relative tribes of Tiberani, Moschi
Moschi

Moschi or Moschoi is a term from ancient records and may refer to one of the following peoples:*Mushki were an Iron Age people of Anatolia, known from Assyrian sources....
, Saspers, Diaokhi, etc collectively called Iberians (the Eastern Iberians) by ancient Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 (Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
, Strabo
Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
, etc) and Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 authors. Iberians called their country Kartli
Kartli

Kartli is the largest and most populated province of Eastern Georgia . It includes the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and two other major cities, Gori and Rustavi....
 after a mythic chief, Kartlos
Kartlos

Kartlos or K'art'los was the legendary establisher and eponymous father of Georgia , and the mythic ancestor of Georgians, namely its nucleus Kartli ....
. One of the Iberian tribes of Mtskheta
Mtskheta

Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers....
 (the future capital of the Iberian kingdom) dominated the early Kingdom. The Mtskheta tribe was later ruled by a principal locally known as mamasakhlisi (“the father of the household” in Georgian
Georgian language

Georgian is the official language of Georgia , a country in the Caucasus .Georgian is the primary language of about 3.9 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad ....
).

Georgian chronicle Kartlis Tskhovreba (“History of Kartli”) claims that a Persian general Azo of Alexander
Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
’s army massacred a local ruling family and conquered the area, until being defeated at the end of the 4th century BC by Prince Pharnavaz
Pharnavaz I of Iberia

Pharnavaz I was the first List of the Kings of Georgia of Kartli, an ancient Georgia kingdom known as Caucasian Iberia to the Classical antiquity sources, who is credited by the medieval Georgian written tradition with founding the kingship of Kartli and the Pharnabazid dynasty....
, who was at that time a local chief. Pharnavaz, victorious in power struggle, became the first king of Iberia (ca. 302
302 BC

Events...
-ca. 237 BC). Driving back an invasion, he subjugated the neighbouring areas, including significant part of the western Georgian state of Colchis
Colchis

In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgia , state monarchy and region in the Western Georgia , which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgians and its subgroups....
 (locally known as Egrisi
Egrisi

Egrisi is a medieval Georgian language name for the region and kingdom in the western part of modern-day Georgia , known to the Byzantine Empire authors as Lazica and to Persian Empire as Lazistan after the Laz people tribe, which at some time dominated the local ruling ?lite....
). Now Pharnavaz focused on social projects, including the citadel of the capitol, the Armaztsikhe, and the idol of the god Armazi
Armazi

Armazi was, according to the medieval Georgia chronicles, the supreme god in a paganism pantheon of ancient Georgians of Kartli .Georgian literary tradition credits the first king of Kartli, Parnavaz I of Iberia , with the raising of the idol Armazi ? reputedly named after him ? on a mountain at his capital, and the construction of a Arm...
 (derived from Iranian god Ahura-Mazda). He also reformed the Georgian written language
Georgian alphabet

The Georgian alphabet is the writing system currently used to write the Georgian language and other South Caucasian languages , and occasionally other languages of the Caucasus ....
, and created a new system of administration subdividing the country in several counties called saeristavo
Eristavi

Eristavi was a Georgia feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine Empire strategos and normally translated into English language as "duke"....
s. His successors managed to gain control over the mountainous passes of the Caucasus
Caucasus Mountains

The Caucasus Mountains is a Mountain range in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea sea in the Caucasus region.The Caucasus Mountains are made up of two separate mountain systems:...
 with the Daryal (also known as the Iberian Gates) being the most important of them.

Roman
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 general Pompey
Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....
 invaded Iberia in 65 BC, during his war with Mithradates VI of Pontus, and Armenia; but Rome did not establish her power permanently over Iberia. Nineteen years later, the Romans again marched (36 BC) on Iberia forcing King Pharnavaz II to join their campaign against Albania
Caucasian Albania

Caucasian Albania was an ancient kingdom that existed on the territory of present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan and came under strong Armenian religious and cultural influence....
 as their ally. While another Georgian kingdom of Colchis
Colchis

In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgia , state monarchy and region in the Western Georgia , which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgians and its subgroups....
 was administered as a Roman province, Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection and became her ally.

During the Byzantine rule, the Iberian Mirian III
Mirian III of Iberia

Mirian III in 4th century AD, , was King of eastern Georgian Kingdom of Caucasian Iberia . In 327 A.D., King Mirian became the first Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church monarch of Georgia and established Christianity as the official state religion....
 and the Iberian Kingdom adopted Christianity in 327 AD (the event is related with the mission of a Cappadocia
Cappadocia

Cappadocia, Wikipedia:IPA for English /k?p?'do???/ , was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor . The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christianity tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international Tourism in Turkey concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by...
n woman, Saint Nino
Saint Nino

Saint Nino , Equal to the Apostles and the Enlightener of Georgia , was a woman who preached and introduced Christianity in Georgia.According to most widely traditional accounts, she was from Kolastra, Cappadocia , was a relative of Saint George, and came to Georgia from Constantinople....
, who since 303 preached Christianity in the Georgian kingdom of Iberia (Eastern Georgia)) and allied itself with the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. The religion would become a strong tie between Georgia
Georgia (country)

Georgia is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, located at the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by the Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia to the south, and Turkey to the southwest....
 and Rome (later Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
) and have a large scale impact on the state's culture and society. However, after the emperor Julian
Julian the Apostate

Flavius Claudius Julianus, known also as Julian or Julian the Apostate , was Roman Emperor of the Constantinian dynasty. He was the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and expended much energy during his reign attempting to supplant the growing power of Christianity within the empire with officially revived Religion in ancient Rom...
 was slain during his failed campaign in Persia in 363
363

Events...
, Rome ceded control of Iberia to Persia, and King Varaz-Bakur I (Asphagur) (363
363

Events...
-365
365

Events...
) became a Persian vassal, an outcome confirmed by the Peace of Acilisene
Hachdeanq

Hachdeanq was a region and family of the old Armenia c. 400-800. It is also known as Acilisene...
 in 387
387

Events...
.

The early reign of the Iberian king Vakhtang I dubbed Gorgasali (447
447

Events...
-502
502

Area code of northern central Kentucky, including Louisville, Kentucky...
) was marked by relative revival of the kingdom. Formally vassal of the Persians, he secured the northern borders by subjugating the Caucasian mountaineers, and brought the adjacent western and southern Georgian lands under his control. He established an autocephalic
Autocephaly

Autocephaly, in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop....
 patriarchate at Mtskheta
Mtskheta

Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers....
, and made Tbilisi
Tbilisi

Tbilisi , is the capital city and the largest city of Georgia , lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form Tpilisi and it was officially known as ?????? in Russian, until 1936....
 his capital. In 482
482

Events...
, he led a general uprising against Persia. A desperate war for independence lasted for twenty years, but he could not get the Byzantine support, and was defeated dying himself in battle in 502
502

Area code of northern central Kentucky, including Louisville, Kentucky...
.

Origins


The origins of Caucasian Iberians are traced back to 5,000 BC. The Iberian tribes have been an indigenous people of the Caucasus
Caucasus

The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region located between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is home to Europe's highest mountain ....
 region united by the common language, the Ibero-Caucasian language group. The origins of the name Iberian has many theories of which the most accepted for scholars is the tribe of Tiberani (from the annals of the Assyrian Kings) or Tubal-kain from which name allegedly Iberian has derived. The name itself is used by ancient Greek authors who identify these early Georgian (Kartvelian) tribes as Iberoi and also in the Roman annals of Plutarch
Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
. The Iberians called their kingdom Kartli and their nation Kartlians. There are many theories among the scholars which claim that there are common ethnic and linguistic origins of Caucasian Iberians with the Pre-Indo European ancient Iberians
Iberians

The Iberians were a set of peoples that Ancient Greece and ancient Rome sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC....
 of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
 or the modern Basques in Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....