Pharnavaz II ( ka, ფარნავაზ II) (died 30 BC), of the
Artaxiad dynasty, was a king (''
mepe'') of
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
(
Kartli, eastern
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
) from 63 to 30 BC. He is known as Pharnabazus in
Classical sources, and is commonly identified with the Bartom or Bratman of the medieval Georgian chronicles.
He succeeded upon the death of his father
Artag who had been defeated by the
Roman general
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...
in 65 BC. However, Roman hegemony over Iberia proved to be impermanent, and, in 36 BC, the
legate Publius Canidius Crassus led his army into Iberia, forcing Parnavaz to make an alliance against Zober, king of neighboring
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. Canidius and Parnavaz marched to Albania and subdued its people. Incidentally, no Georgian source documents these events reported by
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
in his ''Roman History'' Instead, the Georgian annals concentrates upon the homecoming of
Mirvan, the exiled son of
Parnajom, who had been brought up in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. Mirvan returned to Kartli at the head of an Iranian army, killed Bartom and became a king.
Bartom is said to have adopted
Kartam, the descendant of
Kuji (the alleged ruler of
Egrisi in the time of the first Iberian king
Parnavaz). But Kartam had also been killed in battle against Mirvan. Nevertheless, Kartam's pregnant wife – the daughter of Bartom – fled to
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
where she gave birth to a son named Aderki.
[ Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', p. 284. Peeters Bvba .]
References
30 BC deaths
Kings of Iberia
Caucasian Albania
1st-century BC monarchs in Asia
Year of birth unknown
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