Battle of Artaan

Much of the accounts of this period stem from the Georgian Chronicles,where strict historical facts are frequently intermingled with mythical ones, making it sometimes difficult to discern true historiography and mythology.[5] The son of an Iberian chieftain, Pharnavaz's family was destroyed when he was 3 years old, and his heritage was usurped by Azo, installed by Alexander the Great during his campaign in Iberia.[6][7][8] According to 9th century writers, Azo was the son of a king from Aryan Kartli whereas the Georgian Chronicles maintain that Azo was neither a king nor even a Georgian but accompanied Alexander the Great from Macedonia.[9][3][10] Azo was deeply unpopular as he instituted heavy taxes and he held the local peoples in contempt. He maintained rule with a standing army of 100,000 Greek soldiers.[11] According to the Georgian Chronicles, Pharnavaz encounters a mound of treasure while hunting, allowing him to finance an army to displace Azo.[12][13]

In BC 284, Pharnavaz mounted an army against Azo. He was aided by Kuji of Colchis, who eventually married Pharnavaz's sister.[14] The rebels were also joined by 1,000 soldiers from Azo's camp; they are anachronistically referred to as Romans, and claimed to have been entitled by the victorious Pharnavaz as aznauri (i.e., nobles) after Azo.[15][16]

With Azo's death, the Greek campaign in Iberia was weakened; however Pharnavaz would continue to recognize Seleucid suzerainty, the successor state to Alexander the Great's Macedon in the Middle East.[4][2] Pharnavaz, whose story is saturated with legendary imagery and symbols, is considered to be the founder of the first dynasty of Georgian kings of Kartli (Iberia).[15]

• Kavtaradze, Giorgi Leon (1997). "The Interrelationship between the Transcaucasian and Anatolian Populations by the Data of the Greeks and Latin Literary Sources". In Roman, Petre (ed.). The Thracian World at the Crossroads of Civilization: Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Thracology, Constanţa, Mangalia, Tulcea, 20-26 May 1996. Vol. 1. Institutul Român de Tracologie. ISBN 9789739833400.
• Rapp, Stephen H. (2003). Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-1318-9.
• Rapp, Stephen (2014). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature. Routledge & CRC Press. ISBN 9781472425522.
• Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia (Kindle ed.). Reakton Books. ISBN 978-1780230306.
• Thomson, Robert W. (1996). Rewriting Caucasian History The Medieval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles (PDF). New York: Clarendon Press Oxford. ISBN 019-826373-2.
• Toumanoff, Cyrille (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press.