261 CE – Revolution in Caucasian Iberia

Abstract

The Caucasian kingdom of Iberia had been, at first, relatively preserved from the profound mutations that accompanied the overthrow of Arsacids by the new Sasanian power in Iran. The builder of the new Empire, Ardaxšīr I (r. 224- 242), did not interfere with the ruling dynasties in Media Atropatene, Armenia, Albania and the rest of South Caucasia. It was during the reign of his successor, Šāpūr I (r. 239-270), that the Sasanian revolution affected this part of Asia. The Roman Empire was again struggling with an Iranian expansionism much more assertive than under the last Arsacids. For Caucasian history, this period marked by profound upheavals remains quite obscure, not only due to the lack of sources, but also to the contradictions between divergent documents. However, some testimonies found in chronicles, epigraphy and archaeology are likely to cast new light on the events which changed Caucasus during the period that scholars have traditionally referred to as the “Third Century Crisis”.