Until recently, little was known about the third Sasanian shahanshah, Hormizd I (Hormizd-Ardashir), whose short reign left no royal inscription. Scholars therefore reconstruct his biography through the inscriptipns of other Sassanian rulers and indirect evidences. This article offers an attempt to fill some missing parts of Hormizd I’s life and continues the author’s earlier studies. In previous works, the author identified the “King of the Persians Ardashir”, named by the eleventh-century Georgian historian Leonti Mroveli as the father of Mirian III, the first Christian king of Kartli (Iberia), with Hormizd-Ardashir. According to Leonti Mroveli, Mirian—born from Hormizd’s concubine—ascended the Kartlian throne at the age of seven through an agreement between Georgian and Iranian political elites. Leonti MroveIi describes the mutual benefits of this arrangement: Kartli avoided destructive Iranian raids without losing its religious identity, while Iran secured stability in a strategically crucial region of the Byzantine–Iranian rivalry. Kartli, as Leonti Mroveli notes, could offer the most effective defense of Iran from northern attacks.Although the medieval historian is silent on this point, the author’s earlier studies argue that the agreement also served Hormizd’s personal goal of ensuring that his own son—not his younger brother Narseh, king of Armenia and a likely heir—would succeed to the Sasanian throne. Hormizd’s early death prevented the realization of this plan, but it persisted thanks to the strong military force he left in Kartli and Mirian’s regent Mirvanoz, who governed the kingdom, including its religious sphere, until Mirian came of age.After the Shahanshah Narseh’s death, Mirian, according to Leonti Mroveli, launched a campaign into Iran in an attempt to implement his father’s “Georgian Project” and occupy the imperial throne. This article offers the first detailed analysis of that campaign and its narrative. Though previously dismissed as implausible, the account is shown here to be fully compatible with the historical context and therefore credible, despite the lack of direct corroboration. It reflects both Hormizd’s dynastic strategy and Mirian’s evolving political self-assertion.
Chkhartishvili,M. (2025). Shahanshah Hormizd I’s “Georgian Project” and the Campaign of King Mirian in Iran. Hunara: Journal of Ancient Iranian Arts and History, 3(No. 2), 91-103. doi: 10.22034/hunara.2025.236477
MLA
Chkhartishvili,M. . "Shahanshah Hormizd I’s “Georgian Project” and the Campaign of King Mirian in Iran", Hunara: Journal of Ancient Iranian Arts and History, 3, No. 2, 2025, 91-103. doi: 10.22034/hunara.2025.236477
HARVARD
Chkhartishvili M. (2025). 'Shahanshah Hormizd I’s “Georgian Project” and the Campaign of King Mirian in Iran', Hunara: Journal of Ancient Iranian Arts and History, 3(No. 2), pp. 91-103. doi: 10.22034/hunara.2025.236477
CHICAGO
M. Chkhartishvili, "Shahanshah Hormizd I’s “Georgian Project” and the Campaign of King Mirian in Iran," Hunara: Journal of Ancient Iranian Arts and History, 3 No. 2 (2025): 91-103, doi: 10.22034/hunara.2025.236477
VANCOUVER
Chkhartishvili M. Shahanshah Hormizd I’s “Georgian Project” and the Campaign of King Mirian in Iran. Hunara, 2025; 3(No. 2): 91-103. doi: 10.22034/hunara.2025.236477
