Principality of Iberia

The Principality of Iberia was an early medieval aristocratic regime in the central Georgian region of Kartli, which classical authors called Iberia. It arose around 580, after the Sassanid government of Persia abolished the local Chosroid monarchy and ruled the country through a marzpan. In 588 the Byzantine emperor Maurice sent Guaram I as presiding prince, and the arrangement was confirmed by the Byzantine-Sassanid treaty of 591. The princes of Iberia were confirmed by Constantinople and held titles such as curopalates, but they often had to recognise the suzerainty of Persia, the Umayyad Caliphate or neighbouring Caucasian rulers. Tbilisi remained the principal seat until the Arabs installed an emir there in the 730s, after which the dynasts sat at Uplistsikhe. The period saw the consolidation of the Georgian Christian Church, the first flowering of Georgian literature and the rise of the Bagratid family. The principality ended in 888, when a Bagratid prince restored the kingship.