The Bagratids at first (after 772) lost all their domains, save Syspiritis, whither Smbat VII's son Ashot IV fled after the disaster. But the silver mines he possessed there enabled him to purchase from the tottering Kamsarakans the principalities of Arsharunik' and Siracene. He wrested some Mamikonid territory from the Arab amir Jahhaf the 'Qaysid' and, directly from the Mamikonids, Taraun and southern Tayk'. Other successes awaited his dynasty. His cousin Adarnase, son of Smbat VII's younger brother Vasak, removed to Iberia after 772. There he acquired the lands of Erushet'i and Artani (Ardahan), and, at the turn of the century, inherited the state of the Guaramids, comprising Cholarzene, Javakhet'i, and northern Tayk', or Tao, taken earlier from the Mamikonids. With the extermination of many Iberian princes in 786, this younger Bagratid branch became the leading house of Iberia.
