Abstract

An Aramaic inscription found in the necropolis of Armazisxevi, near the ancient royal citadel of Caucasian Iberia, brings a remarkable testimony about the political and military situation in Southern Caucasia during the last decades of the 1st century CE, insofar as this stele defends the contested legitimacy of King Mihrdat involved through several wars and conflicts. This epigraphic document also provides information on the power and values of the Iberian aristocracy, on the institutions of the Iberian kingdom influenced by Iranian culture, notably on the official duties of the pitiax􀆝s, 􀄝argas, assisting the King, as well as on the role of Aramaic writing in the scriptural practices of an Iberian society inserted in a multicultural context. The stele of 􀄝argas is all the more estimable as it expresses an Iberian point of view on historical events still poorly known and constitutes one of the first milestones in the development of epic genre and historiographies in Southern Caucasia.