Pharnabazus I, king of Iberia

There is no contemporary source for his ancestry. His father is said to have been a Georgian prince (the brother of Samara), and his mother was a Persian woman whom Prince Teimuraz of Georgia and Patriarch Anton I of Georgia identify with a daughter of King Darius III.

Wikipedia

Pharnavaz I of Iberia
Pharnavaz I (Georgian: ფარნავაზ I Georgian pronunciation: [p%CA%B0%C9%91rn%C9%91v%C9%91z]%29 also transliterated as Parnavaz or Farnavaziv[%E2%80%BA] was a king of Kartli, an ancient Georgian kingdom known as Iberia to the Classical sources. The Georgian Chronicles credits him with being the first monarch founding the kingship of Kartli and the Pharnavazid dynasty, while another independent chronicles, The Conversion of Kartli makes him the second Georgian monarch. Based on the medieval evidence, most scholars locate Pharnavaz’s rule in the 3rd century BC: 302–237 BC according to Prince Vakhushti of Kartli, 299–234 BC according to Cyril Toumanoff and 284–219 BC according to Pavle Ingoroqva.[5] Pharnavaz's rise and the advent of the Iberian monarchy was directly tied to the victory of Alexander the Great over the Achaemenid Empire.[6]

Life

According to the Georgian royal annals, Pharnavaz descended from Uplos, son of Mtskhetos, son of Kartlos, who was one of the powerful and famous eight brothers, who from their part were descendants of Targamos, son of Tarsi, the grandson of Japheth, son of the Biblical Noah. He is not directly attested in non-Georgian sources and there is no definite contemporary indication that he was indeed the first of the Georgian kings. His story is saturated with legendary imagery and symbols, and it seems feasible that, as the memory of the historical facts faded, the real Pharnavaz "accumulated a legendary façade" and emerged as the model pre-Christian monarch in the Georgian annals.[7]

According to the c. 800 chronicle The Life of Kings, Pharnavaz had a distinguished genealogy, tracing back to Kartlos, the mythical ethnarch of Kartli. His paternal uncle, Samara, held the position of mamasakhlisi ("father of the house") of the Georgian tribes around Mtskheta.[8] Pharnavaz’s mother is claimed to have been a Persian woman from Isfahan,[4][9] whom Prince Teimuraz of Georgia and Patriarch Anton I of Georgia identify with a daughter of King Darius III.[10]

• Wikipedia: Pharnavaz I of Iberia

Other

According to [Bal%C3%A1zs Déri] (11 Aug. 2016): "the main source on Iberian history, Kharthlis Chxovreba ( Georgia's Life ) ,and especially its Armenian translation that says he was the maternal nephew ( distsuli ) of Samara, who was Mchxetha's chief at the arrival of Alexander,who was then killed. It also says his mother was Persian from Aspan ( some say it is Isfahan ), and a result of a dream he himself moved to Persia to her kinship."

More Information

• Wikipedia: Georgian monarchs family tree of Iberia.
• Wikipedia: Pharnavazid dynasty.