Family tree Bas » Mirian III van Iberië (277-361)

Personal data Mirian III van Iberië 

• He was born in the year 277.
• (Geschiedenis) .Source 1

  Mirian III (Georgisch:?????? III) was koning van Iberië (huidige Georgië) van 268-345 volgens Prins Vachusti of 284-261 volgens Cyril Toumanoff.
  
  Volgens de vroeg middeleeuwse Georgische kronieken was Mirian de eerste christelijke koning van Iberië, gekerstend door St. Nino. Hij is gecrediteerd met de invoering van het christendom in zijn koninkrijk als staatsgodsdienst en is heilig verklaard door de Georgisch-Orthodoxe Kerk.
  Naam
  
  De naam van de koning is een aanpassing van de Georgische Iraanse naam "Mihran". De middeleeuwse Georgische kronieken geven andere versies van zijn naam, zowel Georgische als Iraanse naam o.a. Mirean, Mirvan. In het Latijn, gegeven door zijn tijdgenoot en geschiedschrijver Ammanius Marcellinius (XXI.6.8), wordt de Iberische koning Meribanes genoemd.
  Koninklijke oorsprong
  
  Volgens de middeleeuwse Georgische kroniek "Leven van de koningen", was Mirian een Perzische prins die getrouwd met een Iberische prinses Abeshura die een dochter was van de laatste koning van de Arsaciden Aspagoer I. Na de dood van Aspagoer wordt hij als konig van Iberië benoemd door, wie de Georgische middeleeuwse kronieken noemen "K'asre" (Chusro), de Grote Koning van Iran. Maar dit lijkt verzonnen omdat de naam Chusro pas enige tijd later gebruikt werd bij de Parthen.

• (Levens event) .Source 2

  Mirian III (Georgian: ?????? III) was a king of Iberia (or Kartli, modern Georgia), contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337).
  
  According to the early medieval Georgian annals and hagiography, Mirian was the first Christian king of Iberia, converted through the ministry of Nino, a Cappadocian female missionary. He is credited with establishment of Christianity as his kingdom's state religion and is regarded by the Georgian Orthodox Church as saint.[1][2]
  
  Traditional chronology after Prince Vakhushti assigns to Mirian's reign — taken to have lasted for 77 years — the dates 268–345, which Professor Cyril Toumanoff corrects to 284–361. He is also known to the contemporary Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus and the medieval Armenian chronicles.[3][4]
  Contents
  Name
  
  The king's name, Mirian, is a Georgian adaptation of the Iranian "Mihran". The medieval Georgian records give other versions of his name, both in its original Iranian as well as closely related Georgian forms (Mirean, Mirvan). Writing in Latin, the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (XXI.6.8) renders the name of his contemporary Iberian king as Meribanes. The Armenian chronicles, possibly compiled in the 8th century and traditionally ascribed to Moses of Chorene, gives Mihran and speaks about his conversion to Christianity. The regnal numbers as in Mirian III are modern and were not used by the medieval Georgian authors. Since two kings preceded first Christian ruler of Iberia with that name, Mirian has been assigned the ordinal “III” in Georgian historiography.[3][4]
  Dynastic origin
  
  According to the medieval Georgian chronicle Life of the Kings, Mirian was a Persian prince married to an Iberian princess Abeshura, daughter of the last Georgian Arsacid king Aspagur. Upon the death of Aspagur, Mirian was installed on the throne of Iberia by his father whom the medieval Georgian chronicles refer to as "K'asre" (Khosrau), Great King of Iran. This being during the rule of the Sassanid dynasty over Iran, the medieval author of the chronicles assumed (or invented) Mirian's descent from the Sassanids. However, the name Khosrau was not used by the Sassanids till some time later; hence, either the Georgian annals are mistaken in the name of Mirian’s father, or "Khosrau" was taken as a general term meaning "king". Toumanoff inferred that Mirian might have been a scion of the Mihranid family, one of the "seven Parthian clans". Professor Giorgi Melikishvili argues that Toumanoff's assumption is dubious and considers Mirian a representative of the local Iberian élite clan to whom the medieval tradition ascribed an exotic foreign royal ancestry to infuse him with more prestige. Another medieval Georgian account, Conversion of Kartli, is at odds with the tradition of Life of the Kings and identifies Mirian as the son of Lev, who is unattested elsewhere.[3]
  Early reign
  
  The Life of the Kings recount Mirian's reign in much details. While its information about Mirian’s participation — as an Iranian client king — in the Sasanid war against the Roman Empire, and territorial ambitions in Armenia can be true, the claims of Mirian’s being a pretender to the throne of Iran, his being in control of Colchis and Albania, and expansion of his activity as far as Syria is obviously fictional. In the 298 Peace of Nisibis with Iran, Rome was acknowledged their suzerainty over Armenia and Iberia, but Mirian III retained the crown. He quickly adapted to this change in political situation, and established close ties with Rome.[5] This association was cemented by Mirian's conversion to Christianity[6] — according to tradition — through the ministry of Nino, a Cappadocian nun.[1] Nevertheless, as Ammianus Marcellinus recounts, Constantine's successor, Constantius, had to sent in 360 embassies with costly presents to Arsaces of Armenia and Meribanes of Iberia to secure their allegiance during the confrontation with Iran.[7]
  Conversion to Christianity
  The burials of King Mirian and Queen Nana at Samtavro church in Mtskheta
  
  Mirian's conversion to Christianity might have occurred in 334, followed by the declaration of Christianity as Iberia's state religion in 337.[4] He was, thus, among the first monarchs of the ancient world to have adopted this new religion. A legend has it that when Mirian, staunchly pagan, was hunting in the woods near his capital Mtskheta, the darkness fell upon the land and the king was totally blinded. The light did not resume until Mirian prayed to "Nino's God" for aid. Upon his arrival he requested the audience with Nino and converted to Christianity soon after. According to tradition, Mirian's second wife, Nana, preceded her husband in conversion.[3][8]
  
  His conversion fostered the growth of the central royal government, which confiscated the pagan temple properties and gave them to the nobles and the church; the medieval Georgian sources give evidence of how actively the monarchy and the nobility propagated Christianity and of the resistance they encountered from the mountain folk.[9] The Roman historian Rufinus as well as the Georgian annals report that, after their conversion, the Iberians requested clergy from the emperor Constantine, who responded vigorously and sent priests and holy relics to Iberia. The Georgian tradition than relates a story of the construction of a cathedral in Mtskheta at Mirian's behest and the king's pilgrimage to Jerusalem shortly before his death.[8] According to tradition, Mirian and his wife Nana were interred at the Samtavro convent in Mtskheta, where their tombs are still shown.[2]
  Family
  
  The Georgian sources speak of Mirian’s two marriages. His first wife was Abeshura, daughter of the last Arsacid Iberian king who also traced his ancestry to the ancient Pharnabazid dynasty of Iberia. She died without issue when Mirian was 15 years old, in 292 according to Toumanoff. With her death, "the kingship and queenship of the Pharnabazid kings came to an end in Iberia", — the chronicler continues. Mirian subsequently remarried his second queen, Nana "from Pontus, daughter of Oligotos", who bore him two sons — Rev and Varaz-Bakur — and a daughter who married Peroz, the first Mihranid dynast of Gogarene

• He died in the year 361, he was 84 years old.
• A child of Shapur I der Sassaniden and Gurdzag van Zarham
• This information was last updated on December 17, 2012.

Household of Mirian III van Iberië

(1) He is married to Abeshura van Iberië.

They got married before 292.

(2) He is married to Nana van Bosporus.

They got married after 292.

Child(ren):

1. Rev II van Iberië  297-361 
2. Varaz-Bakur I Asphagur II  335-> 378 

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Timeline Mirian III van Iberië

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