Research Notes:

Son of Amazaspus I... During his reign, the Armenians and the Romans (berjenni) became friends, and the King of Armenia, with Roman aid, fought the Iranians. This must be a reference to the restoration of the Armenian Monarchy in 117, after the momentary annexation of Armenia by Trajan, and to the setting up of Vologases I as King of Armenia. Pharasmanes is said to have married Ghadana, daughter of the King of Armenia (who must have been Vologases I). — Pharasmanes refused in 129 to come and pay homage to the Emperor Hadrian then touring the East, and prompted the Alani to invade the civilized world, even though the Emperor had sent him greater gifts — including an elephant — than to any other king of the East. In his pique, the Emperor dressed some 300 criminals in the gold-embroidered cloaks which were part of the return gift of Pharasmanes, and sent them into the arena. Traditionally he reigned (as the 5th, and last, of the 'diarchal' pairs) for 16 years. ¹

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Amazasp's son Parsman II, soon known as the 'valiant', took the Iberian throne in AD 117. The Georgian chronicles suggest that, because Armenia sided with Rome, Parsman II made overtures to Iran, resulting in a Roman invasion fatal to Parsman. Certainly, Parsman II, a cosmopolitan who, apart from Georgian, spoke Aramaic, Greek and Persian, broke free of Rome, and in AD 129 refused to pay homage to Emperor Hadrian, then in Cappadocia. Hadrian had sent to Parsman gifts (including an elephant) more valuable than to any other king of Asia Minor or Transcaucasia. Parsman II insulted the emperor by giving in return a paltry batch of gold-embroidered cloaks, which Hadrian in pique made 300 criminals wear when he sent them to die in the gladiatorial arena. To deter Rome Parsman II, like his predecessors, opened the Daryal Pass and let Ossetian hordes through Iberia to loot Rome-dominated Caucasian Albania and Armenia, as well as Parthia: King Vologes II of Parthia had to pay a heavy ransom.

Under Hadrian, the Romans established relations with Colchian tribes. In AD 131 Hadrian sent to Iberia his close adviser Flavius Arrian, governor of Cappadocia. Arrian toured Colchis as much out of curiosity to see legendary sites as for political purposes. He depicts a turbulent fluctuation of tribal powers and boundaries: from Trebizond northeast to Dioscourias, Arrian lists the hostile, anarchic Mingrelian and Laz Sannoi, Machelonoi and Henniochs under King Anchialos (whom Trajan recognized), then Zudreitai (an unknown ethnos) on the Çoruh estuary, while the Kartvelian Laz controlled most of coastal Colchis up to Dioscourias. In Dioscourias the Sanigs (Svans) and Abazgs (Abkhaz) escaped Roman jurisdiction. Other Caucasian tribes, like the Apshils, were now powerful: at least one king was recognized by Trajan, Romanizing himself as Julianus and seeking Roman protection. Sixty years later Marcus Aurelius exiled an Armenian satrap, Tiridat, for murdering the Apshil king....

Roman influence left a permanent mark in Iberia. Roman mortar made stone fortifications stronger and taller; Iberian nobles built Roman villas with baths and underfloor heating; Roman silver coins ousted Parthian drachmas from Iberia. In AD 131 Arrian visited Iberia, possibly as ambassador, and drew up a plausible and comprehensive survey of Colchis and Iberia for Hadrian. Either in AD 134, or AD 138 under Antoninus Pius, Parsman II decided to repair Iberia's relations with Rome. He made territorial concessions, then went with his wife and son to Rome, where he was received warmly, was invited to make a sacrifice at the Capitol and saw a statue of himself on horseback erected in the temple to Bellona. The Iberian king Parsman's visit is attested by Cassius Dio and by a semi-legible slab found in the port of Ostia, which dates the visit to the consulate of Fabianus. Yet again, we have a chronological conflict. Fabianus was consul AD 141-4, but Parsman II probably died in 138. If Parsman III, Parsman II's grandson, was Antoninus Pius's guest, he was too young to travel with a wife and child, for he was born in 134 and was under his mother's regency until about 155.

Parsman was quickly followed by King Vologes, either II or III, of Parthia, complaining to Rome of Iberian treachery and asking for the return of his throne. Parsman's diplomacy, however, earned him a place in Georgian folk legend and for single combat with Persian lion-fighters; the chronicles credit him with expelling a Persian-backed usurper. The Parthians, however, had the last laugh; Parsian the Valiant was poisoned by a cook in Parthian pay. ²