Amazasp III of Iberia

Who is Amazasp III of Iberia?

Aamazasp III or Hamazasp was a king of Iberia from 260 to 265 AD. He probably belonged to the Arsacid dynasty.

Amazasp is unknown to the medieval Georgian literary tradition, although the Georgian chronicles do record two earlier kings named Amazasp. However, Amazasp is attested in the contemporaneous Sassanid epigraphic sources. The trilingual inscription from Ka'ba-ye Zartosht lists Iberia among Iran's dependencies and testifies to a privileged position of its king, Hamazasp, in the hierarchy of the Sassanid court in which he follows King Ardashir of Adiabene, King Ardashir of Carmania, and Queen Denag of Mesene, and precedes a long list of princes, ministers, and satraps of the royal cities. Professor Cyril Toumanoff of Georgetown University suggested that Amazasp was installed by the energetic Sassanid shah Shapur I as an antiking to the Romanophile king Mihrdat II of Iberia, who is known exclusively from the Georgian chronicles. Another Sassanid inscription, that of the high priest Kartir indeed alludes to an Iranian invasion of Iberia some time after 260. Amazasp seems to have been dispossessed of the throne in 265, the moment, precisely, when Shapur’s imperial activity was definitely coming to an end.