successor title article_title name reign
tzath i king of lazica damnazes
 damnazes ? -- 522
damnazes

damnazes -lrb- ; ; died 522 -rrb- was a 6th-century king of lazica -lrb- western georgia -rrb- , a contemporary of the sassanid king of iran kavadh i. damnazes , like other kings of late antique lazica , are mentioned by the contemporary chronicles in the context of the rivalry between the eastern roman -lrb- byzantine -rrb- empire and sassanid iran in the caucasus .
damnazes is known to the byzantine historian john malalas as the father and predecessor of tzathius , king of the lazi .
the anonymous `` chronicon paschale '' -lrb- `` chron .
pasch . ''
s.a. 522 -rrb- renders his name as `` zamnaxes '' .
according to a genealogical hypothesis by professor cyril toumanoff , damnazes might have been a son of the lazic king gubazes i , who is known to have had his son as co-ruler 456 .
damnazes was a subject of the sassanid king and , although ruling over a christian country , professed zoroastrianism .
on his death , his son and successor , tzathius , rejected an iranian coronation and repaired to constantinople to have his accession validated by the byzantine emperor justin i.
