He inherited a part of the domains of his father, Prince Grigor Hamam, out of which he founded Hereti as an independent kingdom, as well as the Sumbatishvili dynasty.
He ruled over a chaotic period in the history of the region and faced several enemies, including the Principality of Kakheti, the Kingdom of Abkhazia and the Emirate of Tiflis.
Marie-Félicité Brosset, who studied the Caucasus in the 19th century, believed that Adarnase came from a cadet scion of the Bagrationi dynasty, the family that was already governed several other Georgian territories at the time.
[1] According to this version, Adarnase was a descendant of a younger brother of Prince Guaram I of Iberia, himself the founder of the Bagrationi dynasty according to medieval chronicler Juansher Juansheriani.
[1] Historian and an expert on the ancient history of the South Caucasus, Robert H. Hewsen, considers Atrnerseh and his father as members of a branch of the Armenian House of Syunik.
[4] No matter which version is true, the descendants of Adarnase remain known today as the Sumbatishvilis (Georgian translation of "Smbatean", or "children of Sumbat").
Based on the most widespread theory, Adarnase was the oldest son of Grigor Hamam, a Mihranid prince controlling large swaths of lands in Eastern Transcaucasia, from Lake Sevan to Partav.
[6] In the spring, the allies besieged Vezhini, where the patrician had found refuge, with the Abkhazians attacking from the north and the Kakhetians capturing the south.