Beyond the Life of Vakhtang Gorgasali , the medieval Georgian sources mention Vakhtang only briefly, yet with respect rarely afforded to the pre-Bagratid Georgian monarchs. Notwithstanding its semi-legendary epic character, the LVG provides many important details, which can be combined with the sources closer to the period in question, such as Lazarus of Parpi and Procopius.

Vakhtang is reported by the to have succeeded at the age of 7 his father King Mihrdat (V). His mother, a Christianized Persian Sagdukht, assumed regency in Vakhtang's minority. The author then describes the grave situation in which Iberia was at that time, troubled by the Sassanids' Zoroastrianizing efforts and a ravaging raid by the "Ossetians" from the north, this letter being a possible reference to the invasion by the Huns (which may have included Alans) through the Caspian Gates mentioned by Priscus. At the age of 16, Vakhtang is said to have led a victorious retaliatory war against the "Ossetians", winning a single combat against the enemy’s giant and relieving his sister Mirandukht from captivity. At the age 19, Vakhtang married Balendukht, "daughter" of the Great King Hormizd (apparently Hormizd III, r. 457–459). Soon, upon the Great King's request, Vakhtang took part in the campaign in "India", probably in Peroz's abortive expedition against the Hephthalites in the 460s and, and against the Roman Empire in 472, in which Vakhtang is reported to have gained control of Egrisi (Lazica) and Abkhazia (Abasgia).

Returning to Iberia, Vakhtang took up a series of measures aimed at strengthening the royal authority. Resenting Iranian encroachments on his independence, Vakhtang reversed his political orientation and effected a rapprochement with the Roman government. He married Helena, "daughter" (possibly relative) of Emperor Zeno, and received permission from Constantinople to elevate the head of the church of Iberia, the bishop of Mtskheta, to the rank of catholicos, which he sent, together with newly appointed 12 bishops, to be consecrated at Antioch. These rearrangements did not pass smoothly and the king had to overcome opposition, especially in the person of Mikel, the deposed bishop of Mtskheta. Javakhishvili explains this conflict on account of doctrinal differences between the Monophysite Vakhtang and Diophysite Mikel, a presumption supported by Toumanoff, who points out, that the change of prelate and his subordination to Antioch could "only imply acceptance of Zeno's formulary of faith", i.e., the moderately Monophysite Henotikon of 482. On his part, another Georgian historian, Simon Janashia, argues that Vakhtang was inclined towards Diophysitism while Mikel adhered to Monophysitism.

According to the LVG, Vakhtang was survived by three sons. Dachi, Vakhtang’s eldest son by his first marriage to the Iranian princess Balendukht (who died at childbirth), succeeded him as king of Iberia and had to return to Iranian allegiance. Two younger sons by Vakhtang’s second marriage to the Roman lady Helena – Leon and Mihrdat – were enfeoffed of the southwestern Iberian provinces of Klarjeti and Javakheti in which Leon’s progeny – the Guaramids – traditionally followed pro-Roman orientation. Both these lines survived in Iberia into the 8th century, being succeeded by their energetic cousins of the Bagratid family.Toumanoff has inferred that the Samanazus, a name of the Iberian "king" found in John Malala's list of rulers contemporary with Justinian and reported by Theophanes the Confessor and Georgios Kedrenos to have visited Constantinople in 535, might have been a corruption of words meaning "brother of Dachi" and so perhaps refers to Mihrdat.

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