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vi.
IRANIAN
STUDIES
AND
COLLECTIONS
IN
GEORGIA
The
institutional
foundations
of
Iranian
studies
in
Georgia
were
laid
after
the
Russian
Revolution
of
1917.
Two
centers
emerged,
namely
the
University
of
Tbilisi
and
the
Georgian
branch
of
the
Academy
of
Sciences
of
the
USSR,
which
later
became
the
Georgian
Academy
of
Sciences.
Scholars
in
both
institutions
recognized
that
a
knowledge
of
Eastern
languages,
especially
Persian,
was
essential
for
the
study
of
Georgian
history,
literature,
and
language.
From
these
beginnings
Iranian
studies
expanded
within
the
general
framework
of
research
and
teaching
on
the
Near
East.
At
the
university,
courses
in
the
Iranian
languages
and
the
history
of
Persian
literature
were
offered
in
1938
by
the
chair
of
Iranian
Philology
and
in
1945
by
the
Department
of
Oriental
Studies.
At
the
Academy
of
Sciences
Iranian
studies
from
1960
on
came
under
the
Institute
of
Oriental
Studies,
whose
sections
have
functioned
as
a
kind
of
area
program:
languages
of
the
Ancient
East,
Persian
philology,
Indo-Iranian
languages,
Medieval
history
of
the
Near
East,
and
modern
and
contemporary
history
of
the
Near
East.
Iranists
are
also
active
in
other
institutes
of
the
Academy:
history,
archeology,
and
ethnography;
manuscripts;
and
history
of
Georgian
literature.
Georgian
specialists
in
the
humanities
and
social
sciences
have
at
hand
a
rich
store
of
Persian
materials.
The
libraries
and
archives
in
Tbilisi
hold
some
1,800
Persian
manuscripts.
The
larger
collection,
1,237
documents,
is
housed
in
the
Central
State
Historical
archive,
while
the
Institute
of
manuscripts
has
422
manuscripts,
consisting
of
works
of
poetry,
philosophy,
theology,
history,
and
science.
They
are
divided
into
two
sections:
the
Central
Asian
and
Qajar.
Among
the
treasures
of
the
former
are
d^va@ns
of
H®a@fezá
(copied
1461)
and
Sa¿d^
and
an
illuminated
K¨amsa
of
Nezáa@m^
(copied
1428;
Mamatsashvili,
ed.,
1977b,
pp.
50,
53,
103-5;
Abuladze
et
al.,
p.
167).
Georgian
scholars
have
published
critical
editions
of
Persian
historical
documents
dealing
with
Georgian-Persian
political
and
economic
relations.
One
edition,
containing
the
texts
of
fifty
ordinances
in
Persian
issued
between
1626
and
1756
concerns
such
matters
as
deeds
of
gifts
by
Georgian
landlords
and
appointments
to
official
posts
(Hubua).
A
more
extensive
edition
reproduces
the
Persian
texts
of
some
two
hundred
documents,
mainly
firmans
issued
by
the
shahs
between
the
second
half
of
the
16th
century
and
the
middle
of
the
18th
century
and
dealing
with
the
granting
of
fiefs
and
Safavid
policies
toward
the
Georgian
Church
(Puturidze,
1961-77).
Of
particular
interest
are
collections
of
bilingual
Georgian-Persian
documents.
Issued
by
Georgian
rulers
between
1581
and
1758,
they
are
useful
for
the
study
of
various
aspects
of
Georgian-Persian
relations,
including
trade
and
landholding
in
Georgia
and
Persia
(Puturidze,
1955;
Dundua).
The
issuance
of
bilingual
documents
after
the
Treaty
of
Amasya
in
1555
(q.v.),
which
awarded
Persia
the
eastern
part
of
Georgia,
was
but
one
aspect
of
the
Safavids'
efforts
to
consolidate
their
control
over
eastern
Georgia
(Gabashbili,
pp.
268-307;
Abashidze,
pp.
3-8).
The
majority
of
the
documents
date
from
the
era
of
Rostom
as
wa@l^
(1632-58),
who
followed
a
policy
of
reconciliation
with
Persia.
Georgian
scholars
have
made
extensive
use
of
Persian
historical
works
in
studying
the
history
of
their
own
country.
It
is
a
tradition
that
goes
back
at
least
to
the
17th
century
when
the
famous
Georgian
historian
Parsadan
Gorgijanidze
(1626-96),
assembled
a
large
number
of
Persian
and
other
foreign-language
sources
for
his
history
of
Georgia
(Alasania,
p.
109).
Georgian
historians
have
drawn
particularly
upon
Persian-language
narrative
sources
produced
from
the
times
of
Timurids
and
Safavids
to
the
end
of
the
18th
century
in
order
to
confirm
or
supplement
information
from
native
Georgian
sources
(Tabatadze,
pp.
96-106;
on
Persian
sources
for
the
history
of
Georgia
from
the
12th
to
the
15th
century,
see
Anchabadze
and
Guchua,
eds.,
III,
pp.
51-62;
Dumbadze,
ed.,
pp.
67-74).
After
the
Russian
annexation
of
Georgia
in
1801
until
1917
the
practice
of
using
Persian-language
sources
languished.
Georgian
scholars
have
accorded
great
importance
to
numismatics
for
the
study
of
their
country's
history.
They
have
focused
particularly
on
hoards
of
Sasanian
coins
discovered
in
Georgia
in
order
to
clarify
the
relations
between
eastern
Georgia
and
Persia
between
the
3rd
and
7th
centuries.
They
suggest
that
the
Sasanian
derham
dominated
foreign
and
domestic
trade
in
eastern
Georgia
(Tsotseliya,
1975,
pp.
25-37).
An
analysis
of
the
collection
of
Sasanian
coins
in
the
State
Museum
of
Georgia
in
Tbilisi,
the
most
extensive
in
Georgia,
confirms
that
derhams
circulating
in
eastern
Georgia
were
produced
mainly
by
mints
in
southwest
Persia
(Tsotseliya,
1981,
p.
21).
Similar
investigations
of
Persian
coins
in
Georgia
between
the
16th
and
the
first
half
of
the
18th
century
have
revealed
much
about
Perso-Georgian
commercial
and
financial
relations.
The
first
coins
minted
in
the
name
of
the
Safavid
shahs
appeared
in
Georgia
in
the
middle
of
the
16th
century
and
after
the
1630s
drove
out
their
Ottoman
and
European
competitors.
In
the
process
Persian
terms
for
calculating
sums
of
money,
notably
the
toman
and
¿abba@s^,
were
introduced
in
Georgia,
and
the
Safavid
monetary
system
in
Georgia
survived
the
collapse
of
the
dynasty
(Kuteliya,
pp.
8-65).
Georgian
historians
have
also
investigated
the
history
of
Persia
itself
since
the
18th
century,
especially
those
aspects
related
to
the
history
of
Georgia
or
to
the
ideological
concerns
there
during
the
Soviet
period.
On
political
history
they
have
focused,
for
example,
on
the
reign
of
Kar^m
Khan
Zand
and
the
seizure
of
power
by
the
Qajars
and
on
the
participation
of
Georgians
in
the
Constitutional
Revolution
(q.v.)
of
1905-11
(e.g.,
Shengeliya
and
Chinashvili).
On
social
history
they
have
produced
valuable
studies
of
the
Turkmens
and
of
the
effects
of
administrative
centralization
on
these
and
other
nomadic
tribes
(Gvilava,
1968
and
1981).
Georgian
linguists
have
studied
the
influence
of
Persian
elements
on
the
Georgian
language
in
order
to
deepen
their
understanding
of
how
modern
Georgian
developed.
Characteristic
of
their
approach
to
the
problem
is
the
fundamental
work
by
Mzia
Andronikashvili,
which
identifies
Iranian
elements
in
the
vocabulary
of
Georgian
and
suggests
when
and
how
they
entered
the
language.
Georgian
linguists
have
also
contributed
substantially
to
the
study
of
the
Persian
language.
Notable
is
the
work
of
Sh.
G.
Garpridashvili
and
Dzh.
Sh.
Giunashvili,
which
uses
oscillographic
and
spectrographic
analysis
to
study
the
acoustics
of
the
Persian
literary
language.
T.
A.
Chavchavadze
has
examined
noun
formation
in
Persian,
while
T.
D.
Chkheidze
has
studied
onomastics.
Of
all
the
branches
of
Iranian
studies
that
have
flourished
in
Georgia,
perhaps
the
most
productive
has
been
Perso-Georgian
literary
relations.
Investigations
of
the
influence
of
Persian
literary
classics
on
Georgian
medieval
literature
have
yielded
especially
valuable
results.
Indeed,
the
work
that
inaugurated
the
modern
discipline
of
Iranian
studies
in
Georgia
was
the
article
published
by
N.
Y.
Marr
in
1891
on
the
connection
between
Ferdows^'s
ˆa@h-na@ma
and
its
Georgian
version.
Georgian
Iranists
have
given
special
attention
to
the
artistic
and
historical
significance
of
Fakòr-al-D^n
Gorga@n^'s
V^s
o
Ra@m^n
and
its
place
in
both
Persian
and
Georgian
literature.
Using
the
Georgian
version,
Visramiani,
they
have
amended
and
completed
the
Persian
text
(Kobidze,
pp.
7-92;
Mamatsashvili,
1977b)
and
have
published
a
critical
edition
of
the
Persian
text
(M.
Todua
and
A.
Gwakharia,
ed.,
Tehran,
1349
ˆ./1970).
Georgian
scholars
have
also
investigated
the
Persian
and
the
Georgian
versions
of
numerous
Eastern
classics,
notably
the
Georgian
versions
of
Kal^la
wa
Demna,
which
were
composed
between
the
16th
and
18th
centuries
(N.
G.
Chkheidze;
Todua,
I,
pp.
212-57;
Baramidze,
VI,
pp.
158-244).
They
have
shown
that
the
Georgian
translators,
King
David
of
Kakheti
(d.
1602)
and
King
Vakhtang
VI
(1711-14,
1719-23),
used
a
more
reliable
Persian
text
than
the
one
that
has
come
down
to
us.
In
similar
fashion,
they
have
analyzed
the
Georgian
versions
of
Yu@sof
o
Zolaykòa@,
composed
in
the
16th
and
17th
centuries,
and
have
concluded
that
they
were
not
based
on
the
poem
of
¿Abd-al-Raháma@n
Ja@m^
but
on
a
version
written
by
one
of
his
imitators
(Gvakharia,
1958).
Georgian
scholars
have
also
studied
the
Persian
sources
of
the
Georgian
versions
of
Nezáa@m^'s
Layl^
o
Majnu@n
(Jakobia,
pp.
221-84;
Mamatsashvili,
1967),
Záah^r^
Samarqand^'s
Sendba@d-na@ma
(Teimuraz),
Moháammad
Daqa@yeq^'s
Bakòt^a@r-na@ma
(q.v.;
Gvakharia,
1968),
and
Nezáa@m^'s
Haft
peykar
(Kobidze,
1969,
pp.
136-63).
Of
all
the
Persian
classics,
perhaps
Ferdows^'s
ˆa@h-na@ma
had
the
greatest
influence
on
Georgian
literature
and
folklore.
It
has
been
the
object
of
continuous
study
by
Georgian
literary
scholars
in
the
20th
century.
They
have
published
a
critical
edition
of
the
Georgian
versions
(Shah-names
anu
mepeta
tsignis
kartuli
versiebi)
and
have
made
important
discoveries
concerning
the
varied
Persian
sources
which
their
translators
used.
They
have
shown,
for
example,
how
the
Georgian
texts
contain
numerous
interpolations
from
the
imitators
of
Ferdows^
(D.
Kobidze).
Georgian
scholarship
on
modern
Persian
literature
has
focused
on
realism
in
prose
and
the
treatment
of
social
issues
(Giunashvili).
There
are
also
monographs
on
S®a@deq
Heda@yat
(Keshalava)
and
¿Al^-Akbar
Dehkòoda@
(Fatemi).
Bibliography:
T.
Abashidze,
"Gruzino-persidskie
dvuiazychnye
dokumenty
kak
diplomaticheskoe
iavlenie"
(Georgian-Persian
documents
as
a
diplomatic
phenomenon
researches
in
sources),
Istochnikovedcheskie
razyskaniya
1979
(Tbilisi,
1984.
Ts.
Abuladze
et
al.,
eds.,
K.
Kekelidzis
sakhelobis
khelnatserta
institutis
arabul,
turkul
da
sparsul
khelnatserta
katalogi:
K
kolektsia
(Catalogue
of
Arabic,
Turkish,
and
Persian
manuscripts:
The
K
Collection),
Tbilisi,
1969.
G.
G.
Alasania,
Klassifikatsiya
gruzinskikh
pis'mennykh
istoricheskikh
istochnikov
(The
classification
of
Georgian
written
historical
sources),
Tbilisi,
1986.
Z.
Anchabadze
and
V.
Guchua,
eds.,
Sakartvelos
istoriis
narkvevebi
(Studies
on
the
history
of
Georgia)
III,
Tbilisi,
1979.
M.
Andronikashvili,
Narkvevebi
iranul-kartuli
enobrivi
urtiertobidan
(Studies
of
Iranian-Georgian
linguistic
relations),
Tbilisi,
1966.
A.
Baramidze,
"Kilila
da
Damanas
sakitkhebi"
(Versions
of
Kalila
and
Dimna)
in
A.
Baramidze,
Narkvevebi
kartuli
literaturis
istoriidan
(Studies
of
Georgian
literature)
VI,
Tbilisi,
1975.
D.
Barrett,
Catalogue
of
the
Wardrop
Collection
and
of
Other
Georgian
Books
and
Manuscripts
in
the
Bodleian
Library,
Oxford,
1973.
T.
A.
Chavchavadze,
Imennoe
slovoslozhenie
v
novopersidkom
iazyke
(Noun
word-formation
in
modern
Persian),
Tbilisi,
1981.
G.
S.
Chinashvili,
Segro
Gamdlishvili
("Segro
Gurdzhin")
i
ego
iranskie
dnevniki
(Segro
Gamdlishvili
and
his
Iranian
notebooks),
Tbilisi,
1983.
N.
G.
Chkheidze,
Versiya
"Kalily
i
Dimny
(David
i
anonim),"
Tbilisi,
1986.
T.
D.
Chkheidze,
Ocherki
po
iranskoi
onomastike,
Tbilisi,
1985.
M.
Dumbadze,
ed.,
Sakartvelos
istoriis
narkvevebi
(Studies
on
the
history
of
Georgia)
IV,
Tbilisi,
1973.
N.
Dundua,
Kartul-sparsuli
orenavi
istoriuli
sabutebi
XVI-XVIII
ss.
(Georgian-Persian
bilingual
historical
documents,
16th-18th
centuries),
Tbilisi,
1984.
M.
M.
Fatemi,
Zhizn'
i
tvorchestvo
Ali
Akbar
Dekhkhoda
Tbilisi,
1975.
V.
Gabashbili,
Kartuli
peodaluri
tskhobileba
XVI-XVII
saukuneebshi
(The
Georgian
feudal
regime
in
the
16th-17th
centuries),
Tbilisi,
1958.
S.
G.
Garpridashvili
and
Dzh.
Sh.
Giunashvili,
Fonetika
persidskogo
iazyka
(Phonetics
of
the
Persian
language)
Tbilisi,
1964.
L.
S.
Giunashvili,
Problemy
stanovlenii
i
razvitii,
realizma
v
sovremennoi
persidskoi
proza,
Tbilisi,
1985.
A.
A.
Gvakharia,
Persidskie
istochniki
gruzinskikh
versii
"Iusufa
i
Zulikhi",
Tbilisi,
1958.
Idem,
Sparsuli
khalkhuri
dastanebis
kartuli
versiebi.
Bakhtiar-name,
Tbilisi,
1968.
O.
M.
Gvilava,
Iranskie
turkmeny,
Tbilisi,
1968.
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Tsentralizatorskaya
politika
iranskogo
pravitel'stva
i
problema
kochevykh
plemen
(The
centralizing
policy
of
the
Persian
government
and
the
problem
of
nomadic
tribes),
Tbilisi,
1981.
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Jakobia,
"Teimuraz
pirvelis
targmaniebi"
(The
translations
of
Teimuraz
I),
in
A.
Baramidze
and
G.
Jakobia,
Teimuraz
I,
Tbilisi,
1934.
T.
G.
Keshalava,
Khudozhestvennaya
proza
S.
Khedayata
(The
artistic
prose
of
S.
Hedayat),
Tbilisi,
1958.
M.
Khubua,
Persidiskie
firmany
i
ukazy
muzeia
Gruzii
(Persian
decrees
and
edicts
of
the
Museum
of
Georgia),
Tbilisi,
1949.
D.
Kobidze,
Persidskie
istochniki
gruzinskikh
versii
Shakh-name
(The
Persian
sources
of
the
Georgian
versions
of
the
ˆa@h-na@ma),
Tbilisi,
1959.
Idem,
"Visramianis
sakitkhebi"
(Questions
about
V^s
o
Ra@m^n)
in
D.
Kobidze,
Kartul-sparsuli
literaturuli
urtiertobani
(Georgian-Persian
literary
relations)
II,
Tbilisi,
1969.
Idem,
Iranskaya
filologiya
v
Gruzii,
Tbilisi,
1971.
T.
S.
Kuteliya,
Gruziya
i
Sefevidskii
Iran
(po
dannym
numizmatiki),
Tbilisi,
1979.
D.
M.
Lang,
Catalogue
of
Georgian
and
Other
Caucasian
Printed
Books
in
the
British
Museum,
London,
1962.
M.
Mamatsashvili,
Teimuraz
privelis
"Leil-Majnunianis"
sparsuli
tsqaroebi
(The
Persian
sources
of
Teimuraz
I's
Layla@
and
Majnu@n),
Tbilisi,
1967.
Idem,
"Vis
o
Ramin"
Gurgani
i
gruzinskii
"Visramiani",
Tbilisi,
1977a.
Idem,
ed.,
K.
Kekelidzis
sakhelobis
khelnatserta
institutis
sparsul
khelnatserta
katalogi:
AC
kolektsia
(Catalogue
of
Persian
manuscripts
in
the
Kekeledzi
Institute:
the
AC
collection),
Tbilisi,
1977b.
N.
Y.
Marr,
"Rostamiani,"
Iveria,
nos.
132,
133,
135,
1891.
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(KEITH
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