Stephen III ( ka, სტეფანოზ III, ''Step'anoz III''), of the

Guaramid dynasty The Guaramid dynasty or Guaramiani ( ka, გუარამიანი)The dynastic name "Guaramids" is a modern designation introduced by Professor Cyril Toumanoff based on Prince Vakhushti's reference to the dynasty as ''Guaramiani''. It is not ...

, was a presiding prince 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 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 ...

, 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 779/780 to 786. He was the son of Guaram IV of Iberia. Stephen was installed by the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

in the place of his maternal uncle Nerse, who had revolted against the Arab rule. By 786, when Nerse's

Christianized Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

Arab servant,

Abo The ABO blood group system is used to denote the presence of one, both, or neither of the A and B antigens on erythrocytes (red blood cells). For human blood transfusions, it is the most important of the 47 different blood type (or group) cla ...

, was

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial ...

, 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 ibn Khazim Khuzayma ibn Khazim ibn Khuzayma al-Tamimi () (died 818/9) was a powerful grandee in the early Abbasid Caliphate. The son of the distinguished military leader Khazim ibn Khuzayma, he inherited a position of privilege and power, and served early o ...

Toumanoff, Cyril Cyril Leo Toumanoff ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...

(1963). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', p. 410.

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Georgetown University Press Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political s ...

References

Princes of Iberia 8th-century monarchs in Asia Guaramid dynasty Vassal rulers of the Abbasid Caliphate 8th-century executions by the Abbasid Caliphate {{Georgia-royal-stub