Giorgi Melikishvili ( ka, გიორგი მელიქიშვილი; russian: Гео́ргий Алекса́ндрович Меликишви́ли; December 30, 1918 – March 27, 2002) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

historian known for his fundamental works in the history of Georgia, Caucasia and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. He earned international recognition for his research on

Urartu Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of Va ...

. He was born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

and graduated in 1939, from the

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

and earned a professor’s degree (1956). From 1954 to 1988, he chaired the Department of Ancient History at the Institute of the History of Georgia. From 1965 to 1999, he directed this Institute and remained its Honorary Director until his death. He was also the first Soviet historian to be awarded a Lenin Prize. He probed ancient Georgia’s connection to the

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

n worlds and made an invaluable contributions to the studies of Urartu. His

Russian-language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is one of four living Eas ...

К истории древней Грузии (''Towards the History of Ancient Georgia''; 1959) to this day remains a standard reference in the ancient history of Georgia. Some of Melikishvili's most influential essays were published, in the early 2000s, in the collection ''Researches in the Ancient History of Georgia, Caucasia and the Near East'' (ძიებანი საქართველოს, კავკასიისა და ახლო აღმოსავლეთის ძველი ისტორიის დარგში). Melikishvili became a member of the

Georgian National Academy of Sciences The Georgian National Academy of Sciences (GNAS) ( ka, საქართველოს მეცნიერებათა ეროვნული აკადემია, tr) is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian S ...

in 1960.

Notes

References

* Гамкрелидзе Т. В., Гиоргадзе Г. Г. Памяти Георгия Александровича Меликишвили // Вестник древней истории, 2003, № 3. 1918 births 2002 deaths 20th-century historians from Georgia (country) Lenin Prize winners Writers from Tbilisi Orientalists from Georgia (country) Soviet historians Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences {{Georgia-historian-stub