Trdat

Trdat, (b. c. 395), founder of the Revian branch of the Pharnavazid dynasty. He was the son of Mirian III's eldest son, Rev II. Trdat and his mother, Salome, ruled Kakheti and Kukheti and lived in Ujarma. Around 338–341, they attempted to overthrow King Bacurius with the help of the Armenians, but were defeated. In 368, with the help of the Romans and Armenians, Trdat became king of Kartli, but was soon forced to abdicate. After the division of Kartli between Rome and Iran, from 369, Trdat reigned in the part of Kartli that fell under Roman influence. Since Varaz-Bakur, the King of Kartli (who was under Iranian influence), left underage sons at the time of his death, Trdat — as Varaz-Bakur’s father-in-law and already “an elderly man” — also became King of Kartli, which remained within Iran’s sphere of influence. Around 395, with the help of the White Huns, Varaz-Bakur's eldest son, Parsman, overthrew Trdat from the throne of Kartli, which belonged to the Bakarians.

According to the Lives of the Kings, Trdat was “a man of faith, wisdom and understanding”, who “pacified the Persians with wisdom, built and adorned churches”. He built a church in Nekresi, and began construction in Rustavi. Trdat is an identical figure to Sauromaces, named by Ammianus Marcellinus as the king of Kartli.

 

Source: ლეონტი მროველი, ცხოვრება ქართველთა მეფეთა, წგ.: ქართლის ცხოვრება, ს. ყაუხჩიშვილის გამოც. ტ. 1, თბ., 1955; „მოქცევაჲ ქართლისაჲ", შატბერდის კრებული, თბ., 1979.

Literature: გოილაძე ვ., ფარნავაზიანთა სახლის ქრისტიან მეფეთა ქრონოლოგია, «მნათობი», 1988, N3.

 

V. Goiladze