By the Georgian Chronicles, the founder of the Kingdom of Iberia (Kartli); tradition links him to the Georgian script.
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Pharnavaz I (c. 302–237 BC) is the legendary founder of the kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) in eastern Georgia and the first king of the Pharnavazid dynasty.
According to the Kartlis Tskhovreba chronicle, he united the Kartlian lands after the weakening of Alexander's successors, made Mtskheta his capital and set up a division into eristavates (duchies).
The chronicle tradition credits Pharnavaz with spreading Georgian as the language of state and, in one version, with creating the Georgian script; thus eastern Georgian statehood took shape.