Adarnase II of Tao-Klarjeti

Adarnase II, sometimes known as Adarnase I,^[1] (Georgian: ადარნასე) was a Georgian Bagratid prince and a co-ruler of Tao-Klarjeti with his brothers — Bagrat I Kuropalates and Guaram Mampali — with the title of eristavt-eristavi ("duke of dukes") (830-c. 870).

The name Adarnase derives from Middle Persian Ādurnarsēh, with the second component of the word (Nase) being the Georgian attestation of the Middle Persian name Narseh, which ultimately derives from Avestan nairyō.saŋya-.^[2] The Middle Persian name Narseh also exists in Georgian as Nerse.^[2] The name Ādurnarsēh appears in the Armenian language as Atrnerseh.^[3]

Adarnase was the oldest son of the Georgian presiding prince Ashot I and inherited all the lands west to the Arsiani Range with the exception of Shavsheti and Lower Tao (now in Turkey).^[4]

Adarnase was married to "Bevreli", a daughter of the Abasgian king Bagrat I. At some point, she was forced by Adarnase into retirement to a monastery where she lived and died as Anastasia. After Adarnase's death c. 870, his possessions were equally divided among his sons: Gurgen obtained Tao, while Sumbat received Klarjeti. Adarnase's second son Ashot the Beautiful, died in 867. This must have occurred in Adarnase's lifetime as Ashot is not listed among his heirs.^[5]

References

1. The numbering of successive rulers in the early Bagratid period is very confused in that it moves between the different branches of the family.
2. Chkeidze, Thea (2001). "GEORGIA v. LINGUISTIC CONTACTS WITH IRANIAN LANGUAGES". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. X, Fasc. 5. pp. 486–490.
3. Rapp, Stephen H. Jr (2014). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature. Routledge. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-4724-2552-2.
4. Ronald G. Suny (1994). The making of the Georgian nation. Indiana University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-253-20915-3.
5. Cyril Toumanoff (1967). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press. p. 453.