Georgia occupies the Central and
Eastern parts of the Caucasus. Its neighbor countries
are the Russian Federation (in the North), Azerbaijan
(in the East), Armenia (in the South), Turkey
(in the
South-East) and Western part of the country is washed by
the Black Sea.
The Georgians belong to the southern branch of the
Europeoid great race and take their origin from the
Hetto-Iberians who inhabited vast territory in the
Caucasus and Anterior Asia in the third and second
millennia B.C. Some historians and ethnographers suppose
that it was presisly from here that the peoples of this
stock migrated west-wards. These scholars be lieve that
in the Appenine Peninssula one branch of the
Hetto-Iberians - the Etruscans - established Italy's most
ancient civilization which ezerted a powerful influence
on Roman culture.Asimilar process was in evidence in
the Balcancs where the Greeks came to replace the Pelasgs, the indigenous inhabitants of the balcan
Peninsula related to the Hetto -Iberians. That was the
case , in the opinion of scientists, in the Pyrenees, or
the Iberian Peninsula , where the descendants of the
Iberians have remained to date under the name of the Basques.
The
Georgian nation formed of several related
tribes.
The main of them were the Karts, the Megrels-Chans
(Lazes) and the Svans. The Karts included
the Kartalineans, Kakhetians, Imeretians Gurians,
Adjarians, Meskhians, Mtiulianas, Rachineans, and
others. The Karts, the largest Georgian tribe, gave
their name to the Georgians, that is Kartveli,as
well as Sakartvelo, which means the land
inhabited by Georgians. In ancient Roman sources it is
called Iberia (the Iberians).
Some may associate the Caucasus with
the dove which Noah released from his ark during the
flood. It reached Mount Ararat and when it returned with
an olive branch in its beak Noah understood that peace
had come to the world. Together with his family and all
living things he left the ark.
If your mind is open to the world
of myths, imagine the great Titan chained to one of
these mountain faces, punished for bringing fire to
humanity. Others may recall the Golden Fleece stolen
from the kingdom of Colchis by Jason with the aid of the
king's daughter Medea, who was then taken to Greece
together with Jason's Argonauts.
... and a new life
began.
... In 337 Georgia officially adopted
Christianity.
... By the 6th century it had become a
feudal state and was seized by Arabs in the 7th century.
Georgia was united under the Royal House of Bagrationi.(10th-11th cc.) Before the first half of
 13th
century Georgia was in the golden age in economical and
cultural state.It is the period when Shota Rustaveli
creates his masterpiece ,, Knight in the Panter's
skin" Georgian Architecture
and fresco painting is of special interest. The main
type of churches are the basilica and the central-dome
church. The Georgian style
of painting, based
on Byzantine traditions, formed an original
individual school which reached its climax in the
10th-13th cc. Magnificent murals have been preserved in
the rock-cut complex of Vardzia and the cave
monasteries of David - Gareja, as well as in Svaneti
churches.
The applied art of Georgia, represented in
abundance by articles of metal and ceramics, gold,
silver and bronze jewelry and other objects, beautiful
artifacts of cast and chased metal, original
miniatures, the famous cloisonne enamel, embroidery on silk and
violet, carpets, etc.
The originality of
Georgian musical harmony
lies in its unique and rich polyphony (mainly 3 voices).
Polyphony, as an original type of the Georgian musical
pattern can be traced back to the 6th-5th cc BC in
ritual and celebrity songs.
Georgian choreography
has a special place in the culture of the country. The
dynamism, artistic skill, virtuosity of performance,
gracefulness and lyricism tell you much about life and
traditions of Georgia.
Georgian golden age was
finished by the Mongols, who seized and disintegrated
Georgia into numerous kingdoms and countries. After
Mongol period (15th c.) Georgia fell under Turkish and
Persian domination.
In 1783, Georgian King
established the protectorate of Russia over the Georgian
Kingdom, but in 1801 Russia violated the Treaty,
included Georgia in its empire and abolished the
Georgian Kingdom.
Georgia was declared an
independent Democratic Republic (26 May,1918). In 1921it
was annexed by the Red Army and became a part of the
Soviet Union.
In 1991 Georgia declared its
independence and seceded from the USSR.
The Georgian Language, is the state language of
Georgia.The Georgian alphabet is among the 14
existing ones throughout the world.
The Georgian language belongs to the Kartvelian group of
the Iberian-Caucasian language and is one of the
oldest living languages of the world. To indicate a
place, time and circumstances the Georgians do not use
prepositions but prefix and complete words with
syllables, almost without accentuation or stressing
usually the first syllable when necessary.
Georgian written language dates from the 4th-3th
centuries B.C. The Assyrian manuscript "The Book
of Peoples and Countries" (5th centure) reports
that of the 75 peoples known at that time only 15,
including the Georgian people, has an alphabet of their
own. The Georgian alphabet contains as many
letters (33)as there are sounds in Georgian language,
and that' s way writing is not discrepant with
pronunciation: one writes exactly as one speaks.
Handwritten letters are almost identical with printed
ones. The makes Georgian orthography simple and perfect
at the same time.
The feudal fragmentation of Georgia in the 14th-18th
centuries, the long continued geographical separation of
different historico-ethnical regions (particularly
mountain areas) were responsible for the survival of
various dialects: Kartalinean, Kakhetian, Imeretian,
Gurian, Khevsurian. In addition to the modern
literary language common to the whole of Georgia the
inhabitants of Megrelia and Svanetia have
their oral dialects.
Some historical Georgian toponyms: Colchis (XIII BC),
Tabals and Mushkis (X BC), Suspers (VII BC),
Diaoch (VIII BC), Iberia (IV BC), Kartlin (IV AD),
Abkhazia (VII AD), Tao-Klarjeti (IX AD), Sakartvelo (XII
AD).
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