Guaram I

Historical Sources

Guaram I is mentioned in several medieval Georgian historical sources , including in the Life of Vakhtang Gorgasal by ^1] , in the Appeal of Georgia ^[2] and in the History and Narrative of the Bagration by ^[3] . Guaram is also reported in the writings of his contemporaries living in Byzantium : in the "History" of Theophanes the Byzantine, he is called Gurgen ( cf. Greek Γουργένης ) ^[4] , and in the Church History of John of Ephesus - Gorgonius ^{[5] [6]} . The events in which Guaram I participated were also described in the works of other medieval authors: Menander Protector , Theophylact Simocatta , Evagrius Scholastic , Sebeos , Theophanes the Confessor , Ibn Jarirah at-Tabari , Hovhannes Draskhanakertzi , Stepanos Taronetsi , as well as in “ Shahinam ” ^7] .

Origin

According to the testimony of Juansher Juansheriani, Guaram I was the grandson of the king of Iberia Vakhtang I Gorgasali from the Khosroid dynasty and his second wife, the Byzantine Elena. However, the work of this author does not say who was the father of Guaram. In turn, Sambat Davitis-dze, who lived in the 11th century, wrote that Guaram was the grandson of Vakhtang I by mother, that his father was called Bagrat, and his grandfather was Guaram, and that he was the first to be called Bagration by the name of his father. The same author cited the ancestors of Guaram, raising it to the Israeli kings David and Solomon . The Byzantine emperor Konstantin VII Bagryanorodny also mentioned the Jewish origin of the Georgian Bagration in the work “ On the management of the empire ” ^[8] . Vahushti Bagrationi adhered to the same opinion about the ancestors of Guaram ^[9] . According to these sources, Guaram I is often referred to as the first ruler of Georgia from the Bagration family ^{[10] [11] [12] [13] [14]} .

However, a number of historians consider this evidence to be erroneous, since the earliest reliable evidence of Georgian Bagration dates back to the second half of the VIII century ^{[15] [16] [17]} . They suggest that the first representatives of this genus settled in Georgia were either Vasak, the younger brother of ^[18] , or Ashot I Kuropalat ^{[13] [19] [20]} . These researchers adhere to the point of view first expressed by Kirill Tumanov , according to which the father of Guaram was Leon, the youngest son of Vakhtang Gorgasali. According to this opinion, Guaram belonged to that branch of the Khosroid dynasty, whose representatives were deprived of the opportunity to claim the throne of the Iberian kingdom ^{[21] [22] [23] [24] [25]} .

The early years

Almost nothing is known about the early years of Guaram I. The legacy data on the death of the grandfather and father of Guaram allow us to attribute the beginning of his reign with his hereditary possessions to the 540th years ^[26] . However, this assumption is most likely unlikely ^[6] . There is also an opinion that Guaram could be the heir to the throne of Iberia during the time of ^[27] , but it is also hardly true ^[23] . It is only known for certain that by the beginning of the 570s Guaram ruled over the western regions of the Iberian kingdom: Khardzhkom and Javakheti ^{[7] [23] [27]} .

Anti-Sasanian Rebellion in Iberia (571-572)

The first dated evidence of Guaram I dates back to 571, when he, along with other rulers of the joined the rebellion raised against the Sassanian state by the prince . It is assumed that in the same year at a meeting of Aznauri, Guaram was elected ruler of the lands belonging to the Iberian kingdom. In Georgian sources, Guaram I is referred to as an erismtavar ("primitive prince" or "head of the people"). That is, contrary to the reports of medieval authors, he was not a king, but only a prince, "the first among equals." This limitation of Guaram’s power, according to some sources, was connected with the struggle for power still waged then between the Eristavs , and according to others, with the unwillingness of the Iberian nobility to submit to the sovereign monarch. According to a number of evidences, Guaram gained power only by agreeing not to deprive possessions and not punish the eristavs defiant to him ^{[7] [11] [23] [24] [28] [29] [30]} .

Soon after the uprising began, his leaders turned to Emperor Justin II for help, which was one of the reasons for the start of a new Iranian-Byzantine war in 572. Probably, at that time the Byzantine emperor recognized the rights of Guaram I to power over Iberia ^{[6] [7] [24] [28] [29] [31] [32]} .

In contrast to the actions of the Armenians, medieval authors very briefly describe the acts of the Iberians during this uprising. It is only reported that, despite the help of Byzantium, already in 572 the uprising in Iberia ended in failure. Although the Armenians continued for some time to resist the invasions of the Iranians, in the end they were forced to submit again to the power of the Sassanids . The leaders of the rebels fled to Byzantium. So, Guaram first took refuge in the subservient to the Byzantine emperor Lazic , and from there he moved to Constantinople . In the capital of Byzantium, Guaram spent at least several years ^{[6] [7] [23] [24] [32] [33] [34]} .

Ruler of Kartli

The following news of Guaram I dates back to the reign of the Emperor of Mauritius , who ascended the throne in 582. According to medieval Georgian sources, no later than 586 an Iberian embassy arrived at the court of Mauritius, raising a new rebellion against the Sassanids. Ambassadors on behalf of the eristavs asked the emperor to give them to the rulers of one of those descendants of Vakhtang I Gorgasali who were in Byzantium. The choice of Mauritius fell on Guaram: he was endowed with the title of Kurapalat and sent to Iberia. Upon arriving in Mtskheta, Guaram overthrew the Iberians who ruled the Iberians, the Sasanids, and himself became the ruler of the surrounding lands. According to Theophanes of the Byzantine and Juansher Juansheriani, Tbilisi became the capital of Guaram ^{[6] [11] [24] [29] [35]} . However, according to other sources, Guaram could return to Iberia as far back as 582, and with the consent of the Shahinshah Ormizd IV, first get Khardzhk, and then Kartli ^[7] . There is no doubt only that in 586, Guaram was already recognized as the ruler of Kartli both in Byzantium and in the Sasanian state ^{[7] [31]} .

Additional information about Guaram I is given by numismatic studies . According to them, he was the first ruler of Kartli, who began to mint . Several silver coins have been preserved, made under Guaram and his successors in imitation of the Sasanian drachmas. One of them, dated to “the seventh year of Hormizd” (that is, 586), at the same time depicts the shahinshah Ormizd IV, Zoroastrian symbols and the Christian cross , as well as the abbreviation “GN”, that is, “Gurgen” ^{[7] [10] [ 21] [31]} . On this basis, it is concluded that the name Guaram (or Guram) was the personal name of this Kartlian ruler, and the name Gurgen was used as a throne name, which was reflected on coins and in the writings of Byzantine authors ^[36] . However, it is also possible that the word "Gurgen" coined on coins was not a name, but a toponym , the name of Kartli in its Middle Persian form : "Gorgan" or "Gurgan" ^[7] . The use of Guaram I for their coins of the Sassanian specimens by several historians is interpreted as a fact confirming the subordination of the Kartli erismtavar to the power of the Shahinshahs. According to other scholars, Guaram’s use of his own monogram and Christian symbols on coins should most likely indicate the Byzantine orientation of the ruler of the Kartli Erismismo ^{[7] [11] [23] [29]} .

It is assumed that Guaram I skillfully took advantage of the war that was waged for many years between Byzantium and the Sassanid state: first he achieved the location of Hormizd IV, and when in 588 and 589 the Sasanian army suffered several serious defeats from the Byzantines and the Khazars , he acknowledged his submission to Mauritius. Perhaps these events should include the acquisition of the title of Kurapalat by Guaram. As a ruler subject to the Byzantine emperor, Guaram is mentioned in a report on the raid carried out at that time by the army of “oats, durdzuks and dido ” on Adurbadagan . This attack was organized by the ruler of Kartli on the money received from the Byzantines. According to the testimony of Juansher Juansheriani, it was precisely the threat of the Sassanid invasion that forced Guaram to launch extensive construction activities in his possessions, during which the erismtavar “began to strengthen the fortresses and cities”. According to L. N. Gumilyov , Guaram I was also a mediator in the coordination of anti-Sasanid actions between the rulers of Byzantium and the Turkic Kaganate ^{[7] [23] [24] [37] [38] [39]} .

Guaram I probably survived to the end of the Iran-Byzantine war of 572-591. It is assumed that after the partition of Iberia under the Ctesiphon Treaty, he was forced to leave Tbilisi, which remained under the Sassanid rule, and transfer his residence to Mtskheta, which was transferred to the Byzantines. Thus, by the end of his reign, the power of Guaram I extended only to a part of the former Iberian kingdom, later called Kartli ^{[23] [40] [41]} .

Other events of the reign of Guaram I in medieval sources are not very much reported. He is credited with the foundation of the Jvari monastery in Mtskheta and the beginning of the construction of the Sioni church in Tbilisi. The construction of both of these temples was completed after his death ^{[6] [10] [26] [42]} .

The date of death of Guaram I is not exactly known. Opinions are expressed that this could happen in approximately 591 ^{[23] [34] [39]} or 602 ^[24] . The first date is determined by the evidence in the “Appeal of Georgia” that Guaram was still alive when became the Iberian Catalikos in 591. The second date is determined by the first reliable mention of the successor of Guaram in the post of ruler of the Kartli Erismismo, his eldest son Stefanoz I the Great ^{[6] [10] [14] [24] [43] [44]} . Demeter, the youngest son of Guaram, is mentioned in sources with Byzantine titles honorary consul and ipat ^{[32] [45]} . The descendants of Guaram I are known as Guramides ^[46] .

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