Sauromaces I ( ka, საურმაგ I, tr) was a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

(''

mepe ''Mepe'' (Old Georgian: ႫႴ; ka, მეფე ; ) is a royal title used to designate the Georgian monarch, whether it is referring to a king or a queen regnant. The title was originally a male ruling title. Etymology The word is derived from ...

'') of

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

(an ancient Georgian kingdom known as

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 ...

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 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 Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...

. 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 (ancestors of modern-day

Vainakhs The Nakh peoples are a group of North Caucasian peoples identified by their use of the Nakh languages and other cultural similarities. These are chiefly the ethnic Chechen, Ingush and Bats peoples of the North Caucasus, including closely re ...

), 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. The chronicle also states that Saurmag remained adherent to the pro-

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, a ...

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 from

Scytho-Sarmatian The Scythian languages are a group of Eastern Iranic languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle Iranic period), spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their desce ...

. Saurmag also reportedly married a daughter of the Iranian official based at Partaw. He is reported to have died without a male heir, and succeeded by his adopted son and son-in-law Mirian. Saurmag is also credited with the introduction of the cult of Ainina and Danina.

References

Bibliography

* * {{s-end Pharnavazid kings of Iberia 3rd-century BC monarchs in Asia 2nd-century BC monarchs in Asia