Stephen I of Iberia

Who was Stephen I of Iberia?

Stephen I, of the Guaramid Dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from c. 590 to 627. He was killed during the battle with the invading Byzantine army.

The son and successor of Guaram I of Iberia, Stephen reversed his father’s pro-Byzantine politics to pro-Iranian and, through loyalty to his Sassanid suzerains, succeeded in reuniting Iberia under his sway. He made Tbilisi his capital and defended it with a Georgian-Iranian force when the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, in alliance with the Khazars, attacked Iberia in 626. Stephen was taken captive in the fighting and Heraclius had him flayed alive. His office was given to Adarnase I, his relative of the old Chosroid house.

The period of Stephen's rule coincided with another crucial moment in the history of Georgia. When Stephen switched from a pro-Byzantine position to cooperation with Iran, his religious sympathies shifted toward anti-Chalcedonism, leading to its official adoption by the catholicos of Iberia in 598 or 599. By 608, however, the Georgian Orthodox Church returned to a Chalcedonic position, prompting the sister church of Armenia to break communion with the Georgian church and excommunicate its catholicos Kirion I.