Resumé

Our project aimed at preparing a new online methodological and conceptual basis for the University handbook on the history of ancient Georgian literature. We envisaged preparation of a handbook designed for the first level students of higher education institutions as one of the most important issues of modern Georgian Studies (Kartvelology), with the main aim of promoting employment of recent methodological approaches in the process of teaching and learning ancient Georgian literature.

A History of ancient Georgian literature generally encompasses Late Antique and Medieval hagiography and secular literature of the Middle Ages. There are many recent studies on the history of ancient Georgian ecclesiastical literature. In spite of their great value, none of these works can be used as a handbook for the BA level students, because they are usually descriptive and their authors do not take into consideration results obtained by recent studies that employ different methodologies or interdisciplinary analysis. The same could be said with respect to the secular Georgian literature of the period; among recent editions that examine ancient Georgian secular writings, we cannot single out the one that treats the subject under scrutiny simultaneously in its entirety and in detail. Respectively, our aim was to produce a new, up-to-date study on the ancient Georgian literature, that encompasses an overview of the ancient Georgian narrative sources and that of the secular literature.

Our project aimed at analyzing the ancient Georgian literature as a unified (and, simultaneously diverse) esthetical phenomenon based on methodologies pertaining to interdisciplinary, comparative, intercultural, semiotic, and cultural studies. Ancient Georgian ecclesiastical and secular writings represent an original cultural phenomenon nurtured by both Western and Eastern oikumene. Therefore, we tried to pay equal attention and to reveal elements and tendencies of both, Occidental and Oriental literary traditions within the works of Medieval Georgian authors.

Our project aimed at:

Providing a detailed analysis of recent scholarly literature on each particular hagiographical or secular text.
Taking into consideration methodological novelties introduced into the field via recent scientific research, such as gender, identity, cultural studies, etc.
Employing inter-, multi- and cross-disciplinary methodological approaches in analyzing the works of ancient Georgian literature. Apart from the traditional descriptive method that is usually used while treatingLate Antique and Medieval original Georgian literature, we employed methodologies pertaining to historical and cultural anthropology, necessary for studying narrative sources. We also took into account methods and concepts employed in studies of individual, or collective memory, identity, narratology, transmission of ideas during the Middle Ages, and semiotics.
Utilizing interdisciplinary analysis allowed us to avoid a long-lasting debate among Georgian scholars on the genre of hagiographical writings. We aimed at presenting a balanced view on literary and historiographical peculiarities of Georgian hagiography. Comparative analysis of Georgian hagiographical works with Byzantine and Eastern Christian texts allowed us to better understand the genesis of the process that conditioned peculiarities of the development of Georgian ecclesiastical literature.
Employing methodologies pertaining to narratology and identity studies was envisaged for treatment of the works of secular literature apart from the methods traditionally used for literary analysis. Although we paid special attention to the traditional comparative analysis, the interdisciplinary character of our research, we believe, has yielded new significant results, as our work includes an overview of interrelations of the original Georgian works with the 10^th-11^th century Arabic-Persian literary norms, and the issue of transmission of ideas between Christian and Islamic oikumene. The literary heritage of the later period (16^th) is treated through the lenses of juxtaposition of the methodology used for studies of cultural and historical memory and identity studies with those of literary studies.
Using the intertextual methodological approaches we interpret similarities of the nuances in the plots of Medieval Persian love poetry, ancient Georgian writings concerning love and the works of medieval European writers. We re convinced that such comparative analysis has revealed new, hitherto unnoticed features of ancient Georgian secular literature.

Variety of qualifications of the members of the research team ensured the interdisciplinary character of research itself, and at the same time allowed the members of the research team to present outcomes of their research at different events dedicated to completely different topics (narrative sources, hagiography, Medieval secular literature, transmission of ideas in the Late Antiquity and Middle Ages, literary studies, history of Christian-Muslim relations, history of medieval Christian and Islamic literary norms, European Renaissance and Eastern Christian high Middle Ages, etc.). Each member of the research team participated in various international conferences, locally or abroad. International seminars provided the best opportunity for presenting the intermediary results of our research to the scholarly community in order to get feedback and for sharing the knowledge related to the research topic and accumulated by various scholars in different cross-disciplines. Simultaneously, we had a chance of improving and enriching the topic presented at the conference before its publication on the basis of comments and suggestions received at the conference.

During the implementation of our project we did organize a workshop Ancient Georgian Literature in National and Global Context (Tradition, Innovation, Tendencies), which took place in March 2004 at Ilia State University (https://iliauni.edu.ge/ge/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/vorkshopi-dzveli-qartuli-mwerloba-erovnul-da-globalur-konteqstshi-tradicia-inovacia-tendenciebi.page). Various Georgian and some foreign scholars participated at this event, which provided an excellent opportunity for the participants to exchange the results of their teaching and scientific activities to each other, to define the problems that occur during teaching and to devise theoretical or practical means to overcome them.

The implementation of the project implied receiving important outcome: first of all, we prepared a detailed analysis of each particular text from the research topic/or of several thematic texts with an overview of all major Georgian and foreign publications. We did our best to ensure that it reflects the most recent methodological approaches and simultaneously is written in a manner that is interesting and accessible for wider circles interested in ancient Georgian literature. Secondly, the members of the research team have published several scholarly works related to the topic they had been exploring.

The final outcome of our project, presented on the web-site, is divided into several sub-groups. It contains an introductory part, where the state of art, together with some general material, is presented. It encompasses the following topics: a) Georgian alphabet and theories related to its creation; b) periodization of ancient Georgian literature.

The next sub-group encompasses an overview of ancient Georgian narrative sources and contains files prepared by the principal investigator, Irma Karaulashvili. She has analyzed Late Antique and Medieval narrative sources, and their inter-relation with Greek, Latin, Syriac and Armenian sources, as well as has explored reverberations, related to the events described in the Georgian narratives, are found in the Medieval Islamic sources. This sub-group, in its turn, is divided into two parts: Ancient Georgian historiography and ancient Georgian hagiography. It also contains a general introduction, where the nature and characteristics of narrative sources are briefly described, and a file, containing bibliographical data of the most cited scholarly works.

The first part, i.e. an overview of ancient Georgian hagiography comprises several introductory files, and overviews of the texts themselves. Introductory files to this part include a) a brief file describing the nature and characteristics of hagiography; b) a brief overview of the genres of ecclesiastical literature, c) a brief overview of the first seven ecumenical councils acknowledged by the Orthodox Church, as well as a short history of the Georgian-Armenian ecclesiastical schism, d) a study of the Moktsevay Karthlisay (Conversion/Christianization of Karthli). It continues with two sub-groups, first of which includes overviews of the Martyrdoms of saints of the Georgian Church, while the second – those of the Vitae. The first sub-group comprises several parts:

Martyrdoms describing passions of the Saints that happened when Eastern Georgia was under Sasanian pressure, i.e. the work by Iacob Tsurtaveli, the Martyrdom of Shushanik dated to the fifth century, and the texts belonging to the so-called Persian Martyr Cycle, i.e. a) the work of an anonymous author, the Martyrdom of Eustathius of Mtskhetha, dated to the second half of the sixth, or the beginning of the seventh century; b) the work of an anonymous author dated to the seventh century, the Martyrdom of Abibos of Nekresi, who was one of the thirteen Syrian fathers, that came to Georgia in the sixth century, and c) the eighteenth century text, written by the Cathalicos of Georgia Besarion Baratashvili-Orbelishvili, the Martyrdom of Razhden, the Proto-martyr of the Georgian Church.
Martyrdoms describing passions of the Saints martyred by the Muslim invaders. This part includes: a) the Martyrdom of Abo Tbileli, a work by Ioane Sabanis-dze, written in appr. 786; b) the Martyrdom of Konstanti Kakhay, written in the ninth century by an anonymous author; c) the Martyrdom of Mikael-Gobron, written by Stephane Mtbevari (bishop of Tbethi) in 914-914; d) the Martyrdom of King Archil, written by Leonti Mroveli (bishop of Ruisi) in the eleventh century, and e) the Marturdom of David and Constantine, written by an anonymous author in the twelfth century.

The second sub-group, i.e. an overview of the vitae of Georgian saints, begins with a short file on the history of monasticism in Eastern Christendom. This sub-group is also divided into two parts:

Vitae of the monastic leaders active on the territory of Georgia. This part includes: a) the so-called Acts of the Thirteen Syrian Fathers, the old cycle of which contains the Deeds of Ioane Zedazneli and His Disciples, the Life of Shio Mghmileli, the Life of David Garejeli, and the Martyrdom of Abibos of Nekresi, written separately during the seventh-ninth centuries; b) the Life of Serapion Zarzmeli; written by his nephew, Basil Zarzmeli in the first half of the tenth century c) the Life of Grigol Khandztheli, written by Giorgi Merchule in 951. It also provides an overview of the scholarly literature on the Life of Mikhael Parekheli, the text mentioned in the last two narratives that has not came down to us.
Vitae of the monastic leaders active on the territory of Georgia. This part includes: a) the Life of Ilarion Karthveli, he oldest version of which, as estimated, has been written in the tenth century; b) the Lives of Ioane and Ekvthime Athoneli (Athonite), written by the Hagiorite father Giorgi Athoneli in 1042-1044; and b) the Life of Giorgi Athoneli, written by his disciple Giorgi Mtsire in 1966-1068.

This part ends with a brief overview of the so-called later Georgian hagiographical literature, namely, the vita and martyrdoms of the fathers active in the Monastery of the Holy Cross near Jerusalem, namely, a) the Life of Giorgi Prokhore, the founder of the monastery, written by an anonymous author in 1066-1070; b) the Martyrdom of Luke Mukhays-dze, written by an anonymous author sometime during the thirteenth-fourteenth century, and c) the Martyrdom of Nikoloz Dvali, written by an anonymous author in the fourteenth century. This file ends with an overview of the hagiographical works written during the eighteenth century, mainly by the catholocoi of Georgia Besarion Baratashvili-Orbelishvili and Anton I Bagrationi.

The second part of the section devoted to the narrative sources, i.e. an overview of ancient Georgian historiography comprises a general brief review of the main source, i.e. the corpus, titled the Kartlis Tskhovreba (Life of Karthli), as well as a study on each work included in the so-called old cycle of this corpus. The latter is divided into several groups: a) pre-Bagratid historiography, comprising the works known as the Life of the Kings, attributed to the eleventh century author, bishop of Ruisi Leonti Mroveli, the Life of Vaktang Gorgasali, attributed to the eleventh century author, Juansher (which also contains the continuation of this work), and the Martyrdom of King Archil, authorship of which is ascbired to Leonti Mroveli; b) historiography reflecting the process of unification of the country, comprising the so-called Matiane Kartlisa by an anonymous author, written in the eleventh century, and the text, titled as the Life and Tale of the Bagrationi’s, or the Chronicle by the eleventh century author, Sumbat Davitis-dze; c) historiography, revealing influence of Byzantine narrative sources, i.e. sources created during the so-called golden age of the united Georgian feudal state. This group consists of the works written in the twelfth-thriteent centuries, namely, the history of David the Builder, written by an anonymous author, two histories of the King Tamar (the so-called Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Second History of Tamar by Basili Ezosmodzghvari), and the text known in Georgian scholarly literature, as the history of the times of Lasha-Giorgi, and mentioned by foreign scholars, as the History of Five Reigns. The last work included in the old cycle of Karthlis Tskhovreba, the so-called Hundred Years History, dated to the fourteenth century. Each group is preceded by an overview that briefly describes characteristics of the works grouped together.

The next sub-group of the web-site contains an overview of the secular Georgian literature. It should be stated here that studying ancient Georgian literature almost from its inception took into consideration plausible Christian and Islamic influences and tendencies. Our research team included specialists in Medieval and Literary Studies and two Orientalists, the specialists of Arabic and Persian studies, Darejan Gardavadze and Tea Shurgaia. In doing so, we aimed at offering novelties of approach: as is well-known, Medieval Persian literature is based on the Arabic literary norms. Respectively, we deemed it essential to explore plausible connections of Georgian secular writings with Medieval Arabic literature, especially in case of the texts Persian influence on which has already been established. Another novelty concerned our specialist of Literary Studies, Tamar Lomidze, who is a renowned scholar of the theory of ancient Georgian poetry and of the history of Romanticism. Her combined expertise helped her to elucidate some hitherto unknown features of late medieval Georgian poetry thanks to its juxtaposition to the literary heritage of Medieval Europe and to the local literature of the early nineteenth century, i.e. Georgian Romantics. Finally, we provided an opportunity to a young scholar of Literary Studies, Tamta Surmava, to present her own version of an overview of scholarly literature on the earliest work of Georgian secular literature that came down to us, namely, the Amirandarejaniani.

This sub-group starts with an introductory overview by Thea Shurgaia concerns reconstruction of a socio-cultural portrait of Georgian society between the 11th and 13th centuries, focusing on the three major literary works: Amirandarejaniani, Visramiani, and The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli. This section discusses the issue of the worldview of Georgian secular writing and examples of the organic and harmonious compatibility of the Western worldview with elements of Eastern aesthetics on the example of monuments of Georgian secular literature; two markers of medieval Georgian writing - a Christian foundation and a tendency to overcome Orientalism, which significantly expands the context of the study of Georgian writing and gives it a cross-cultural and intercultural direction in the cultural-civilizational area in which Georgian secular writing developed, as the writing of a country located at the crossroads of cultures.

An entry related to the first work of Georgian secular literature, a n heroic epic titled Amiramdarejaniani contains two files. Tea Shurgaia discusses the problem of its origin (Persian or Georgian), its genre classification (chivalric romance or fairy tale), its relationship to the national epic Amiraniani and to The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli, as well as issues of structure and dating. Consequently, the text continues to invite diverse interpretations and hypotheses.

Through an analysis of the Oriental realia and genre conventions present in Amirandarejaniani, this chapter seeks to define the extent and nature of its “Oriental” character. Particular attention is given to details that have either been overlooked or interpreted differently in previous scholarship. Within this framework, it is argued that the work was significantly shaped by the principles of oral epic composition, including formulaic structures such as patterned beginnings and endings, repetition, symbolic numerology, and schematic narrative design. Special emphasis is placed on the “Oriental” topos of the text and on broader patterns of cultural interaction, especially the mutual influences between medieval Georgian and Persian literary traditions, both written and oral.

As mentioned above, a young scholar, Tamta Surmava had presented her own vision on an overview of the scholarly literature related to the subject.

Thea Shurgaia has treated the next piece of Georgian secular literature, "Visramiani," the Georgian prose translation of Fakhr ad-Din Gurgani's poem "Vis o Ramin" (12th c.), which proved to be a work equivalent to the original monument for Georgians. It is an adequate rendering of the original both substantively and conceptually, with a profound understanding of its cultural and psychological layers. The main idea of the romance is the supremacy of love, the inevitability of fate, and the victory of justice.

Taking into account D. Davis's hypothesis (2002), according to which "Vis o Ramin" may be regarded as a product of Hellenistic–Iranian cultural syncretism, the importance of the Georgian "Visramiani" in the context of East–West cultural dialogue increases further, and the basis of Georgian society's sympathy and readiness to receive this monument becomes clearer.

Analysis of the characters in "Visramiani" reveals their complexity, highlights several narrative arcs (C. Cross's approach), and demonstrates the monument's particular significance for the study of the development of medieval love romances.

Tamar Lomidze presented her view on ancient Georgian panegyric poems. She has examined the ancient Georgian poems "Tamariani" (by Chakhrukhadze) and "Abdulmesiani" (by IoaneShavteli). The dates of their creation are given, and their content, structure, and variations are discussed in detail. The article advances the idea that the poetic form of these works is not random, but rather shaped by the authors’ Neoplatonic worldviews.

An entry related to the most famous work of Georgian secular literature, a famous chivalric poem Vepkhistkaosani (A Knight in the Panter’s Skin) is presented by several files: Tamar Lomidze provides a concise overview of the scholarly literature related to the subject. Namely, she treats the issues related to…

Darejan Gardavadze reviews the popular collections of the medieval classical Arabic genre of "Adab", which were considered an integral part of "court life" and were considered a sign of public etiquette, morality, good manners and education, emphasizing the high public interest in love stories and strange, extravagant or extraordinary stories of "wise fools" driven mad by love; the universal attraction to love imbued with divine madness, which turns this love into a mystical union and the mad poet into a universal literary symbol.

This section discusses the cultural model of "death by love" in Nizami Ganjavi's "Leyli and Majnun", based on the Arabic legendary narratives of Majnun and Layla, against the background of sociologist Niklas Luhmann's theory - which views love as a communication medium, a social system of interpretation, and a behavioral model - and compares it to the concept of affection in Vepkhistkaosani (A Knight in the Panter’s Skin) and the Rustaveli model of love, which is essentially different from it.

In result, we would like to say, that the versatile nature of the topic under scrutiny (Medieval narrative sources and secular literature) conditioned the interdisciplinary character and international scope of the project. The research methodology, apart from different conceptual approaches related to those texts, also included issues related to the transmission of ideas from West to East and vice versa. We believe that precisely this aspect has made the final outcome of our project especially interesting not only for the specialists dealing with Late Antique, Medieval and Renaissance Christianity, but equally for those studying the Islamic literature of the period. The ambivalent character of Georgian literature - where the ecclesiastical literature at different levels of its development reveals traces of active interrelations with Byzantium, the Latin West, and the Christian East, while the inception and development of secular literature was conditioned by adoption of literary norms from both the Islamic and Christian oikumene – ensures interest of scholars dealing with the relationships between the Christian East and West, and the history of the Islamic-Christian contacts.

Tea Shurghaia's chapter summarizes the views of Georgian scholars, as expressed in the scientific literature, regarding the pseudo-Persian plot of Shota Rustaveli's The Knight in the Panther’s Skin."

The next entry, prepared by Tamar Lomidze, is related to the literary works of the King-Poets active during the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries, and includes the following:

Teimuraz I (Life and Works). This file presents the biography of Teimuraz I and examines his works. Specifically, it briefly examines the dates of composition, genres, sources, compositional features, and content of his works, as well as Sufi motifs and "Europeanism" in Teimuraz's work. It emphasizes that Teimuraz I enriched Georgian literature with his original and translated works and new literary genres. The article draws on classical and recent scholarship on Teimuraz I. A bibliography of referenced scholarly works is included.

Archil II (Life and Works). This entry examines the biography and works of Archil II, a prominent poet of the 17th-18th centuries and the King of Kartli. Archil's work is defined by the principle of "truthfulness." This quality distinguishes Archil's work from that of his immediate predecessor, Teimuraz I. The article provides the dates of Archil's works, defines their genres, compositional structures, and individual artistic features, outlines the content and highlights the main artistic features of Archil's works, and emphasizes the closeness of Archil's poetics to Baroque poetics. The article draws on classical and recent studies of Archil II's work. A bibliography of the cited scholarly works is included.

Vakhtang VI (Life and Works). This file presents the biography of Vakhtang the Sixth, a prominent poet of the 17th and 18th centuries, and examines his socio-cultural activities and works. In particular, Vakhtang initiated the founding of the field of Rustvelology. He was the first to publish, edit, and comment on Rustaveli's poem. Furthermore, Vakhtang compiled a Code of Laws, engaged in translation and scholarly work, and wrote original poetry. The article analyzes the poetics of Vakhtang's lyrical works, emphasizing the affinity of his work with Baroque aesthetics. The article draws on classical and recent research on the work of Vakhtang the Sixth. A bibliography of the cited scholarly works is included.

Teimuraz II (Life and Works). This file presents the biography of Teimuraz II and examines his work, specifically the dates of his composition and the genres of his works. It also provides summaries of his poems and analyzes their poetics. A bibliography of referenced scholarly works is included.

The next entry, written by Tamar Lomidze, examines life and works of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani. It presents Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani's biography and examines his work. Specifically, it analyzes the poetics of his work "The Wisdom of Lies," defines the genre and composition of this work as a frame narrative, classifies the so-called inserted fables and the moralizing conclusions of each, characterizes the work's overall idea, and highlights the baroque elements of "The Wisdom of Lies." Separate consideration is given to the memoir "Journey through Europe," "Dictionary of the Georgian Language," and the writer's spiritual works. The article draws on classical and recent scholarship on Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani's work. A bibliography of referenced scholarly works is included.

It is followed by a description of life and works of David Guramishvili, written by Tamar Lomidze. This entry examines the biography and works of David Guramishvili, the greatest Georgian poet of the 18th century. It determines the composition date of Guramishvili's work "Davitiani," describes its composition and main motifs, discusses the work's originality and artistic style, explains some of the symbols found in the text, and presents the contents of the section "Georgia's Woes." The article also examines David Guramishvili's figure against the backdrop of modern literary theories, particularly Roland Barthes's concept of the "death of the author." A bibliography of the cited scholarly works is included.

The next entry by Tamar Lomidze explores life and works of Besarion Gabashvili (Besiki). This entry examines the life and work of the prominent 18th-century Georgian poet Besiki (Besarion Gabashvili), who had a significant influence on Georgian poetry. His work was highly valued by his contemporaries and poets of later eras. Key moments in the poet's biography, the genres of his works, and the specific features of his poetics are highlighted. Besiki's enormous contribution to Georgian poetry is emphasized.

The last entry by Tamar Lomidze, titled the Concept of Classical Episteme and Georgian Alphabet Poems (Abecedaria), examines and classifies (based on formal and substantive features) alphabet verses by 18th-century Georgian poets. It is emphasized that the form and content of alphabet verses changed over time. The constituent elements of the alphabet initially distinguished the stanzas of works (the so-called "strophic form of alphabet verse"), later they distinguished lines (the so-called "line forms"), and, ultimately, began to distinguish individual words. The article emphasizes that at the very beginning of this genre, in "strophic form," alphabet verses were distinguished by a spiritual character and, in particular, were used to list saints and other celestial beings in alphabetical order. In such works, the alphabet serves to classify the celestial world; perhaps, they embody the concept of the divine origin of the alphabet, through which it is possible to imagine and understand the world of celestial beings. This conception implies a continuous relationship between the earthly and celestial worlds. It is interesting that in the 18th century, a large French encyclopedia was created in France, in which objects and phenomena were arranged according to the alphabetical principle. In Georgian literature during the same period, the genre of alphabetical verses, in which celestial beings are classified according to the same principle, became popular. Perhaps this similarity is due to the "classical episteme," characterized in 1966 by Michel Foucault in his famous work "Words and Things (Archaeology of the Human Sciences)" and is a natural phenomenon in 18th-century culture in both France and Georgia.

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