Peter the Iberian, or Peter of Iberia, had been born around 411 as Murvan (alternatively, Nabarnugios), prince of Iberia, to King Bosmarios, who had invited a noted philosopher, Mithridates, from Lazica to take part in Murvan’s education.

The prince had been sent in 423 as a political hostage to Constantinople, where he had received a brilliant education under the personal patronage of the Roman empress Aelia Eudocia, wife of Emperor Theodosius II.

The young prince, together with his mentor Mithridates, eventually left the palace and escaped to make a pilgrimage to Palestine where he had become a monk at Jerusalem under the name of Peter.

He founds his own monastery in 430 at Bethlehem (later known as the Georgian Monastery of Bethlehem).