Ashot is the son of the Iberian nobleman Adarnase who had founded the Bagratoni hereditary fiefdom in Tao-Klarjeti (now northeast Turkey) and bequeathed to his son extensive possessions acquired upon the extinction of his Guaramid and Chosroid cousins.
Ashot initially had failed to gain a foothold in central Iberia (Shida Kartli), his efforts being dashed by the Arab control of Tiflis.
Ashot has established himself in his patrimonial duchy of Klarjeti, where he has restored the castle of Artanuji said to have been built by the Iberian king Vakhtang I Gorgasali in the fifth century, and received imperial protection, being recognized as the presiding prince and curopalates of Iberia.
To revive a country devastated by the Arabs and cholera epidemics, he patronized the local monastic communities established by Grigol Khandzteli, and encouraged the settlement of the Georgians in the region.
As a result, the political and religious center of Iberia is effectively transferred from central Iberia to the southwest, in Tao-Klarjeti.
From his base in Tao-Klarjeti, Ashot fights to recover more Georgian lands from the Arab hold and, though not always successful, succeeds in taking much of the adjoining lands from Tao in the southwest to Shida Kartli in the northeast, including Kola, Artani, Javakheti, Samtskhe, and Trialeti.
Of the former Chosroid possessions, only Kakheti to the east eludes him.
With local Arab emirs in the Caucasus growing ever more independent, the Caliph recognizes Ashot as the prince of Iberia in order to counter the rebellious emir of Tiflis Isma’il ibn Shu’aib around 818.
The emir had enlisted support of Ashot’s foe—the Kakhetian prince Grigol—and the Georgian highland tribes of Mtiulians and Tsanars.
Ashot, joined by Constantinople’s vassal king of Abasgia, Theodosius II, meets the emir on the Ksani, winning a victory and pushing the Kakhetians from central Iberian lands.
