Pacorus of the Lazi

Pacorus was a 2nd-century king of the Lazi, a people in Colchis. His appointment to kingship by the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161) is mentioned in the Historia Augusta, possibly written in the 4th century, immediately after reporting a visit to Rome by Pharasmanes, king of Iberia.[1] Pacorus' accession might have marked the beginning of ascendancy of the Lazi in Colchis and solidification of a centralized Lazic kingdom.[2]

Pacorus is identified by the Georgian scholars Tedo Dondua and Akaki Chikobava with the "king Pacuros" of a Greek inscription on a silver cup found by a team of Russian archaeologists in a grave at Achmarda, in north Abkhazia, in 2005.[2] The text conveys an Oriental-style royal message: "I, Pacuros, the king, gave to [my] sheep," apparently addressed to the king's subjects living in the area.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Magie, David (1967). The Scriptores historiae Augustae, Volume 1. Harvard University Press. pp. 122–123.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dundua, Tedo; Chikobava, Akaki (2013). Pacorus, the Lazi King, who was Overlord of Colchis/Western Georgia. Tbilisi: Meridian Publishers. pp. 9–13. ISBN 978-9941-10-718-4.
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