Iberia

The ancient name of eastern Georgia (Kartli) used by classical and Byzantine authors.

At the turn of the fourth century B.C. a state was founded in Iberia. Some of the farmers, united in communes, were free, while others were subordinate to the royal family and nobility. Slave labor, drawn mainly from prisoners of war, was employed in construction and other heavy work, as well as in the king’s household. The most important city was the Iberian capital, Mtskheta. Crafts and trade flourished there and in the cities of Urbnisi and Uplistsikhe. In the first centuries A.D. , the Iberians wrote in the Greek and Aramaic scripts. At this time, Iberia was very powerful, particularly during the reign of Pars man II (second century A.D.). Feudalism developed in Iberia in the fourth century A.D.; Christianity was declared the state religion in 337. Toward the end of the fourth century, Iberia was subjugated and heavily taxed by Persia. During the fifth century, King Vakhtang I Gorgasal led a rebellion against the Sassanids. The Persians, crushing the rebellion, abolished the Iberian monarchy and made Iberia a Persian province.