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{{Short description|First Iberian king from the Chosroid dynasty}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name        = Mirian III
| title       =
| image       = King Mirian III.jpg
| image_size  = 255px
| caption     = [[Sarcophagus]] of Mirian III at [[Samtavro Monastery]]
| succession  = [[King of Iberia]]
| moretext = ([[Style of the Georgian sovereign|more...]])
| reign       = 284–361
| predecessor = [[Aspacures I of Iberia|Aspacures I]]
| successor   = [[Sauromaces II of Iberia|Sauromaces II]]
| spouse      = Abeshura<br>[[Nana of Iberia|Nana]]
| issue       = [[Rev II of Iberia|Rev II]] <br>[[Aspacures II of Iberia|Aspacures II]] <br>Anonymous daughter
| dynasty     = [[Chosroid dynasty]]
| father      =
| mother      =
| birth_date  = {{circa|277}} or 258<ref>[http://dspace.gela.org.ge/handle/123456789/5098 მ. გ. ჯანაშვილი „საქართველოს ისტორია უძველეს დროითგან 985 წლ. ქრ. შ.“]. ტომი I. '''საქართველოს ისტორია.''' I. უუძველესი ხანა. '''განყოფილება I.''' თავდაპირვანდელი ცნობები. '''თავი I.''' ქართველთა წინაპრები და სამშობლო. ტფილისი, ელექტრონითმბეჭდავი ამხ. „შრომა“, მიხეილის პრ. № 65. 1906. 139-ე გვერდის შენიშვნა.</ref>
| birth_place = [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian Iran]]{{sfn|Rapp|2014|page=355}}
| death_date  = 361 (aged 83–84)
| death_place = [[Mtskheta]], [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberia]]
| place of burial = [[Samtavro Monastery]], Mtskheta
| religion    = [[Georgian Orthodox Church]] ({{small|after 326}})<br />[[Zoroastrianism]] ({{small|before 326}}){{sfn|Rapp|2014|page=355}}
}}
'''Mirian III''' ({{lang-ka|მირიან III}}) was a king (''[[Mepe (title)|mepe]]'') of [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberia]] or [[Kartli]] ([[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]), contemporaneous to the [[Roman emperor]] [[Constantine the Great]] ([[reign|r.]]  306–337). He was the founder of the royal [[Chosroid dynasty]].
According to the early medieval Georgian annals and hagiography, Mirian was the first Christian king of Iberia, converted through the ministry of [[St. Nino|Nino]], a [[Cappadocia]]n female missionary. After [[Christianization of Iberia]] he is credited with establishment of [[Christianity]] as his kingdom's [[state religion]] and is regarded by the [[Georgian Orthodox Church]] as [[saint]] and is [[Canonization|canonized]] as '''Saint [[Equal to the Apostles]] King Mirian''' ({{lang-ka|წმინდა მოციქულთასწორი მეფე მირიანი}}).<ref name="DML">[[David Marshall Lang|Lang, David Marshall]] (1956), ''Lives and legends of the Georgian saints'', pp. 13-39. London: Allen & Unwin</ref><ref name="pravo">Machitadze, Archpriest Zakaria (2006), [http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/071016173417.htm?/enarticles/070914113836%3f "The Feast of the Robe of our Lord, the Myrrh-streaming and Life-giving Pillar, Equals-to-the-Apostles King Mirian and Queen Nana, and Saints Sidonia and Abiatar (4th century)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306023912/http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/071016173417.htm?%2Fenarticles%2F070914113836%3F |date=2012-03-06 }}, in [http://www.pravoslavie.ru/enarticles/070306192614 ''The Lives of the Georgian Saints''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614125437/http://www.pravoslavie.ru/enarticles/070306192614 |date=2008-06-14 }}. ''Pravoslavie.Ru''. Retrieved on April 15, 2009.</ref>
Traditional chronology after [[Prince Vakhushti]] assigns to Mirian's reign—taken to have lasted for 77 years—the dates 268–345, which Professor [[Cyril Toumanoff]] corrects to 284–361. He is also known to the contemporary [[Roman Empire|Roman]] historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] and the medieval [[Armenia]]n chronicles.{{sfn|Rapp|2003|pp=293–295}}<ref name="Toumanoff ">{{cite book|last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril|author-link=Cyril Toumanoff |date=1967|title=Studies in Christian Caucasian History|pages= 83–84, 377|publisher=[[Georgetown University Press]]}}</ref>
== Name ==
"Mirian" is the [[Georgian language|Georgian]] form of the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] name of ''Mihrān''.{{sfn|Rapp|2014|p=225}} The name is transliterated in [[Greek language|Greek]] as ''Mithranes''.{{sfn|Rapp|2014|p=225}} According to the ''Life of Vakhtang'', his name was also associated with ''Mirdat'', meaning "given by [[Mithra]]",{{sfn|Rapp|2014|p=224, 225 (note 209)}} the name of the ancient Iranian sun god.{{sfn|Mayor|2009|p=1}} His name is rendered as ''Meribanes'' by the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] (XXI, 6, 8).<ref>{{harvnb|Aleksidze|2018}}; {{harvnb|Toumanoff|1969|p=21}}</ref> The [[regnal number]]s as in Mirian III are modern and were not used by the medieval Georgian authors. Since two kings preceded him with that name, Mirian has been assigned the ordinal "III" in Georgian historiography.<ref>{{harvnb|Rapp|2003|pp=293–295}}; {{harvnb|Toumanoff|1967|pp=83–84, 377}}</ref>
== Background and accession ==
Mirian was a member of the [[House of Mihran]], one of the [[Seven Great Houses of Iran]].<ref>{{harvnb|Toumanoff|1969|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Rapp|2014|pp=243–244}}; {{harvnb|Pourshariati|2008|p=44}}; {{harvnb|Lenski|2002|p=157}}; {{harvnb|Bowman|2005|p=489}}; {{harvnb|Stausberg|Vevaina|Tessmann|2015|p=121}}</ref> The family, based at [[Ray, Iran|Ray]] in northern Iran, traced its ancestry back to the ruling [[Arsacid Empire]], the predecessors of the [[Sasanian Empire]].{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=49}} Mirian himself was also born in Iran and was originally a [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]].{{sfn|Rapp|2014|page=355}} In 284, the Sasanian [[King of Kings]] (''[[shah]]anshah'') [[Bahram II]] ({{reign|274|293}}) secured the Iberian throne for Mirian, which laid the foundation for Mihranid rule in Iberia, which would last into the sixth century.{{sfn|Rapp|2014|pp=243-244}} Thus, the Chosroid dynasty of which Mirian became its first head, was a branch of the Mihranid princely family.{{sfn|Rapp|2017|p=9}} The motive behind Bahram II's move was to strengthen Sasanian authority in the [[Caucasus]] and utilize the position of the Iberian capital [[Mtskheta]] as an entrance to the important passes through the [[Caucasus Mountains]].{{sfn|Rapp|2014|pp=243-244}} This was of so high importance to Bahram II, that he allegedly himself went to Mtskheta in order to secure Mirian's position.{{sfn|Rapp|2014|pp=243-244}} He also sent one of his grandees named Mirvanoz (also a Mihranid) to the country in order to act as the guardian of Mirian, who was then merely aged seven.{{sfn|Toumanoff|1969|p=22}} After Mirian's marriage with Abeshura (daughter of the previous Iberian ruler [[Aspacures I of Iberia|Aspacures]]), 40,000 Sasanian "select mounted warriors/cavalry" were subsequently stationed in eastern Iberia, [[Caucasian Albania]] and [[Gugark]]. In western Iberia, 7,000 Sasanian cavalrymen were sent to Mtskheta to safeguard Mirian.{{sfn|Rapp|2014|p=247}}
Other branches of the Mihranid family were a few decades later established on other Caucasian thrones, one of them being in Gugark, and the other in the Armeno-Albania principality of [[Gardman]].{{sfn|Toumanoff|1969|p=22}}
==Early reign==
[[Image:Armenian4thcenturies.gif|thumb|300px|Map of the [[Caucasus]] in the 4th-century]]
The ''Life of the Kings'' recount Mirian's reign in much details. While its information about Mirian's participation—as an Iranian client king—in the Sasanid [[Roman–Persian Wars|war against]] the Roman Empire, and territorial ambitions in [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] can be true, the claims of Mirian's being a pretender to the throne of Iran, his being in control of [[Colchis]] and Albania, and expansion of his activity as far as [[Syria]] is obviously fictional. Mirian inherited a kingdom that had been ruling Iberia since the 4th century BC.{{sfn|Rapp|2017|p=1}} Iberia, like the rest of the Caucasus, was dominated by Iranian cultures and mixtures of the [[Zoroastrian]] religion.{{sfn|Rapp|2017|p=1}} Indeed, according to the modern historian [[Stephen H. Rapp]], the Caucasus was part of the "Iranian Commonwealth", "a massive cross-cultural enterprise stretching from [[Central Asia]] to the [[Balkans]]."{{sfn|Rapp|2017|p=1}} In the [[Paikuli inscription]] of the ''shahanshah'' [[Narseh]] ({{reign|293|303}}), he includes an unnamed king of Iberia as one of his vassals, most likely Mirian.{{sfn|Rapp|2017|p=29}}
Mirian, as a Sasanian vassal, took part in Narseh's brief war against the Romans from 297 to 298.{{sfn|Toumanoff|1969|p=22}} The war ended with a [[Battle of Satala (298)|crushing Sasanian defeat]], forcing Narseh to cede Armenia and Iberia to the Romans.{{sfn|Weber|2016}}{{sfn|Toumanoff|1969|p=22}} Mirian quickly adapted to this change in political situation, and established close ties with Rome.{{sfn|Suny|1994|p=15}} This association was cemented by Mirian's conversion to Christianity{{sfn|Lenski|2002|p=157}}—according to tradition—through the ministry of Nino, a Cappadocian nun.<ref name="DML"/> Nevertheless, as Ammianus Marcellinus recounts, Constantine's successor, [[Constantius II|Constantius]], had to send in 360 embassies with costly presents to [[Arshak II|Arsaces of Armenia]] and Meribanes of Iberia to secure their allegiance during the confrontation with Iran.<ref>Hamilton, Walter (1986), ''The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354-378) By Ammianus Marcellinus'', p. 215. Penguin Classics, {{ISBN|0-14-044406-8}}</ref>
==Conversion to Christianity==
[[File:Tombs of King Mirian III and Queen Nana.jpg|thumb|The burials of King Mirian and Queen Nana at [[Samtavro Transfiguration Orthodox Church|Samtavro church]] in Mtskheta]]
Mirian's conversion to Christianity and adaptation of Iberia's state religion is accepted by scholars to have occurred either in 319<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jefferson Sauter, Irakli Simonia, F. Richard Stephenson, Wayne Orchiston |title=Historical Astronomy of the Caucasus: Sources from Georgia and Armenia |date=2015 |publisher=Springer International Publishing Switzerland |pages=114}}</ref> or 326,<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGuckin |first=John Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqUTAgAAQBAJ&dq=Kartli+326&pg=PA215 |title=The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity |date=2014-02-03 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-75933-2 |language=en}}</ref> thus, making Georgia second kingdom after Armenia to have declared Christianity as a state religion. A legend has it that when Mirian, staunchly [[pagan]], was hunting in the woods near his capital Mtskheta, the darkness fell upon the land and the king was totally blinded. The light did not resume until Mirian prayed to "Nino's God" for aid. Upon his arrival he requested the audience with Nino and converted to Christianity soon after. According to tradition, Mirian's second wife, [[Nana of Iberia|Nana]], preceded her husband in conversion.{{sfn|Rapp|2003|pp=293–295}}<ref name="Thomson">Thomson, Robert W. (1996), ''Rewriting Caucasian History'', pp. 83-90. [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|0-19-826373-2}}</ref>
His conversion fostered the growth of the central royal government, which confiscated the pagan temple properties and gave them to the nobles and the church; the medieval Georgian sources give evidence of how actively the monarchy and the nobility propagated Christianity and of the resistance they encountered from the mountain folk.<ref name="Rufinus">Amidon, Philip R. (1997), ''The church history of Rufinus of Aquileia, books 10 and 11'', p. 48. Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-511031-5}}</ref> The Roman historian [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]] as well as the Georgian annals report that, after their conversion, the Iberians requested clergy from the emperor Constantine, who responded vigorously and sent priests and holy relics to Iberia. The Georgian tradition then relates a story of the construction of a [[Svetitskhoveli Cathedral|cathedral]] in Mtskheta at Mirian's behest and the king's [[pilgrimage]] to [[Jerusalem]] shortly before his death.<ref name="Thomson"/> According to tradition, Mirian and his wife Nana were interred at the Samtavro convent in Mtskheta, where their tombs are still shown.<ref name="pravo"/>
==Family==
The Georgian sources speak of Mirian's two marriages. His first wife was Abeshura, daughter of the last Arsacid Iberian king who also traced his ancestry to the ancient [[Pharnabazid dynasty]] of Iberia. She died without issue when Mirian was 15 years old, in 292 according to Toumanoff. With her death, "the kingship and queenship of the Pharnabazid kings came to an end in Iberia",—the chronicler continues. Mirian subsequently remarried his second queen, Nana "from [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]], daughter of Oligotos", who bore him two sons—[[Rev II of Iberia|Rev]] and [[Aspacures II of Iberia|Varaz-Bakur]]—and a daughter who married [[Peroz (Mihranid)|Peroz]], the first [[Mihranids|Mihranid]] dynast of Gugark.{{sfn|Toumanoff|1969|pp=21–23}}
==References==
{{commons category}}
{{reflist}}
== Sources ==
* {{ODLA|last1=Aleksidze|first1=Nikoloz|title=Mirian (Meribanes)|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-3199}}
* {{cite book | last = Brunner | first = Christopher | chapter = Geographical and Administrative divisions: Settlements and Economy| title = The Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods (2) | year = 1983 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge | chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&pg=PA747 | isbn = 978-0-521-24693-4| pages=747–778 }}
* {{cite book |title=Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. |first=Noel |last=Lenski |publisher=University of California Press |year=2002 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism |first1=Michael |last1=Stausberg|first2=Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw|last2=Vevaina |first3=Anna|last3=Tessmann|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |year=2015}}
* {{cite book|last=Mayor|first=Adrienne|title=The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy|date=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691150260|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKnFZa4LNjQC|pages=1–448}}
* {{cite book|last=Bowman|first=Alan|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=1–965}}
* {{cite book|last=Mikaberidze|first=Alexander|author-link=Alexander Mikaberidze|title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNNQCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-4146-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Rapp|first=Stephen H.|title=Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHIwAAAAYAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Peeters|isbn=978-2-87723-723-9}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rapp|first1=Stephen H.|title=The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1472425522|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8VIBQAAQBAJ&q=rapp+inscription+kartir}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Rapp|first1=Stephen H.| title=Georgia before the Mongols (2017) |date=2017|pages=1–39|publisher= Oxford University Press|url=https://www.academia.edu/32227534|url-access=registration|work=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rayfield|first1=Donald|title=Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia|date=2013|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1780230702|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxQpmg_JIpwC&q=shalikashvili+brother+wife+tahmasp}}
* {{cite book|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny|title=The Making of the Georgian Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riW0kKzat2sC&pg=PA42|edition=Second|year=1994|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-20915-3}}
* {{cite book |last = Pourshariati |first = Parvaneh |title = Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran |location = London and New York |publisher = I.B. Tauris |year = 2008 |isbn = 978-1-84511-645-3 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I-xtAAAAMAAJ }}
* {{cite journal |last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril |author-link= Cyril Toumanoff |year=1959 |title=Introduction to Christian Caucasian History: The Formative Centuries (IVth-VIIIth) |journal=Traditio |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=15 |pages=1–106 |doi= 10.1017/S0362152900008217|jstor=27830383 |s2cid=151606969 }} {{Registration required}}
* {{cite journal |last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril |author-link= Cyril Toumanoff |year=1969 |title=Chronology of the early kings of Iberia|journal=Traditio |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=25 |pages=1–33 |doi= 10.1017/S0362152900010898|jstor=27830864 |s2cid=151472930 }} {{Registration required}}
* {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online | title = Narseh | last = Weber | first = Ursula | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/narseh-sasanian-king | year = 2016 }}
{{s-start}}
{{succession box | before = [[Aspagur I of Iberia|Aspacures I]]| title = [[List of the kings of Georgia|King of Iberia]]|years=284–361<br>(with [[Rev II of Iberia|Rev II]] and [[Salome of Armenia|Salome]] as co-rulers, 345–361) | after = [[Sauromaces II of Iberia|Sauromaces II]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirian 03 of Iberia}}
[[Category:Chosroid kings of Iberia]]
[[Category:Christian saints from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:3rd-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:4th-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:4th-century Christianity]]
[[Category:4th-century monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:3rd-century monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:Converts to Christianity from Zoroastrianism]]
[[Category:House of Mihran]]
[[Category:Vassal rulers of the Sasanian Empire]]
[[Category:People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars]]
[[Category:Christians in the Sasanian Empire]]
[[Category:270s births]]
[[Category:361 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]