KADMOS

Donald Rayfield – 80

Tinatin Margalitadze — 2022-10-10

Ilia State University and the Editorial Board of Kadmos congratulates distinguished scholar Donald Rayfield, Professor Emeritus at Queen Mary University of London, an outstanding researcher and translator of Georgian literature and member of the Editorial Board of Kadmos, on his 80th birthday. The journal hereby publishes a jubilee letter from Professor Tinatin Margalitadze, Director of the ISU Centre for Lexicography and Language Technologies.

Shukia Apridonidze (1940-2022)

Nino Doborjginidze — 2022-10-10

Ilia State University and the Editorial Board of Kadmos are deeply saddened by the passing of distinguished scholars, ISU Professors Emeriti, Shukia Apridonidze and Zurab Kiknadze. The journal hereby publishes in memoriam tributes and messages of condolence from professors Donald Rayfield, Luigi Magarotto, George Hewitt, Winfried Boeder, Dee Ann Holisky and Rezo Kiknadze.

Zurab Kiknadze (1933-2022)

Nino Doborjginidze — 2022-10-10

Gérard Garitte. Le ménée géorgien de Dumbarton Oaks

Tsisana Bibileishvili — 2022-10-10

ვაშინგტონში, დუმბარტონ ოქსის ბიზანტიურ კვლევათა ცენტრში დაცულია პალესტინაში შედგენილი, XI ს-ის ქართული „თვენი“. მისი არსებობა ჩვენი კოლეგის, ბ-ნ დ. მ. ლანგის წყალობით შევიტყეთ; 1955 წ. ბ-ნმა ლანგმა მოგვაწოდა ქართული კრებულის რამდენიმე გვერდის (f. 63v-66r) ფოტო, რომლებიცშეიცავდნენ იერუსალიმელი პატრიარქების, წმ. მოდესტოსისა და წმ. იოვანესადმი მიძღვნილსაგალობლებს (16 დეკემბერი); შესაძლებლობა მოგვეცა ისინი გამოგვეყენებინა 1958 წ გამოცემულ იოანეზოსიმეს „პალესტინურ-ქართული კალენდრის“ ჩვენეულ კომენტარებში. ცოტა ხნის შემდეგ, 1960 წ. Byzantinisch-neugriechische Jahrbücher, vol. 18, (1945-49) განსვენებული რ. ბლეიკის სახელით გამოქვეყნდახელნაწერის აღწერილობა, რომელიც მაშინ, როცა ბლეიკი ამ წერილს წერდა „დოქტორ გ. ერიკ მატსონს, (გლენდალი, კალიფორნია) ეკუთვნოდა“ (p. 97); სტატია დათარიღებული არაა; იგი ნამდვილად 1950 წლის 9 მაისზე, რ. ბლეიკის გარდაცვალების თარიღზე ადრეულია.3 ხელნაწერი 1952 წლის თებერვალშიდუმბარტონ ოქსში მოხვდა როგორც ბ-ნი და ქ-ნი ბლისების შეწირულება (ეს ცნობა მოგვაწოდა ბ-ნმა პროფ. ერნესტ კიცინგერმა დუმბატონ ოქსის ცენტრიდან, რისთვისაც მას დიდ მადლობას მოვახსენებთ).

The Pope of Rome – a Desirable Celebrant of the Mass for King Davit – in the Prologue of the Poem “The Man in the Panther’s Skin”

Merab Ghaghanidze — 2022-10-10

The text of the famous Georgian poem “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” arrived to us in the present day through relatively different versions, preserved in numerous manuscripts. Respectively, numerous differences can be found in the prologue of the poem (a final version of which has not yet been established), as presented in those various manuscripts. The prologue of the poem in several old manuscripts contains two stanzas dedicated to King Davit, whose identity has yet to be determined, although several opinions have been expressed – e.g. by Sargis Kakabadze – as to who he might be. In the two stanzas, the king is portrayed as a very powerful and influential monarch, to whom even the neighboring monarchs submit. The author of the poem also presents a local monarchical legend, according to which the Georgian king is a descendant of the biblical King David. The poet also opines that a holy mass should be celebrated by the Pope in the name of the king. A scrupulous analysis has allowed me to advance the supposition that the King Davit of the prologue of the poem is King Davit X (1505-1525) of Kartli, who considered himself the King of All Georgia. The statement that it is necessary for a mass in the name of the king to be celebrated by the Pope takes its basis in the close relationship of Georgia with the Roman See, which became especially intense during the reign of King Davit's grandfather Giorgi VIII and his father Konstantine II, and continued during the reign of Davit’s son Luarsab I, and his grandson Svimon I. Some documents about King Davit himself, of which there are few, also support the supposition that King Davit of the prologue of the poem “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” was indeed King Davit X.

Zurab Kiknadze: the Explorer of Georgian Mythic-Religious Ideas

Nino Abakelia — 2022-10-10

This review of Georgian Mythology in two volumes (“Cross and Its Community” and “Parnavaz’s Dream”), issued by Ilia State University in 2016, presents one of the most significant scholarly projects of Zurab Kiknadze, a prominent Georgian thinker and intellectual. Reflections on these books reveal the leitmotif and the essence of the researcher’s entire intellectual heritage: the archetype of irreconcilable oppositions - the two (the real and the beyond) worlds, the visible and the invisible, the spatial and the temporal, the highland and the lowland, the dream and the reality, the sacred and the profane, the intransient and the transient. Z. Kiknadze’s highly influential work: Georgian Mythology(“Cross and Its Сommunity” and “Parnavaz’s Dream”) not only provides diverse interpretations of symbols, myths and patterns of religious behaviors, but also elucidates the dichotomy of the two worlds, the structures of the sacred center and religious models that change in time and space.

Digital Edition of the Inscriptions of Georgia

Tamar Kalkhitashvili — 2023-12-10

The paper presents the corpus of the Inscriptions of Georgia, a result of a PhD research project at the Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. The database, built using the EpiDoc Front-End Services (EFES) platform, combines the EpiDoc editions of hundreds of inscriptions unearthed in Georgia, and published in print during the 18^th-20^th centuries. The paper outlines the main issues addressed during the creation of the database and the encoding of the inscriptions. It illustrates the core features of the corpus, with an emphasis on the advantages of the digital edition of the epigraphic monuments with the TEI-EpiDoc standard and the EFES platform.

The Origins of Sacramental Church Life in Georgia

Ephrem Lomidze — 2022-10-10

In this article, I attempt to answer the question: Who stood at the origins of the sacramental church life in Georgia or, to put it in other words, by the mediation of which apostolic cathedra was the Church of Georgia (Iberia) entitled to apostolic succession?

The study shows indirect apostolic succession transmitted through the mediation of the Antiochene cathedra, which itself was founded by the personal involvement of Christ’s Apostles. This article is the first attempt to provide historical evidence and theological arguments in favour of a paradigmatic shift in the apostolic succession of the Georgian Church from the Andrian to Petrine tradition, which, naturally, requires further study and academic discussion.

Representations of Stalin in Characters’ Dreams According to Zaira Arsenishvili's Prose

Ketevan Katamadze — 2022-10-10

The aim of the article is to show how the trauma caused by the Stalinist regime reflected on the human unconscious in Post-Soviet Georgian literature. The issue, which had not been the subject of special research before, was analyzed according to three prose texts by the modern Georgian writer Zaira Arsenishvili (1933–2015): "Requiem for Bass, Soprano and Seven Instruments or a Portrait of a Young Writer", “Oh, World!", and "When Fear and Trembling are Raging". The theories of trauma and possible worlds were taken as the general context of the research, and, while conceptual metaphor is used as a specific, data diagramming is used as the main method. The study showed that the Georgian literary dreams of Soviet reality reflect the difficult political and social situation of 20th century Georgia; representing Stalin as a dictator and revealing the psychological trauma caused by the Soviet regime.