Ilia Abuladze ( ka, ილია აბულაძე) (November 24, 1901 – October 9, 1968) was a distinguished

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, philologist and public figure, a Corresponding Member of the

Georgian 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 ...

(GAS) (1950), Meritorious Science Worker of Georgia (1961), Doctor of Philological Sciences (1938), and professor (1947). Abuladze was born in a small village in

Imereti Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...

(Western Georgia). In 1927 he graduated from the

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

(TSU) and engaged in academic work in 1932. He was a scholar specializing in the history of old Georgian literature and the

Armeno Armeno (Piedmontese and Lombard: ''Armagn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Novara. Armeno borders the following municipaliti ...

-Georgian literary and cultural relations. He is also renowned for having rediscovered the lost alphabet of Caucasian Albanians. In 1950 Abuladze was elected a Corresponding Member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. In 1958 he organized the Institute of Manuscripts of the GAS (now the

Georgian National Center of Manuscripts The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts ( ka, საქართველოს ხელნაწერთა ეროვნული ცენტრი; formerly the ''Institute of Manuscripts''), located in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a repository ...

) and became its lifelong director. From 1938 to 1968 Abuladze was a professor of the Tbilisi State University. Abuladze published critical editions of all major Georgian

hagiographical A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies mig ...

works in the monumental series of ''Works of Old Georgian Hagiographical Literature'' (ძველი ქართული აგიოგრაფიული ლიტერატურის ძეგლები). Having taken a special interest in Armenian sources, he edited the medieval Armenian adaptation of the ''

Georgian Chronicles ''The Georgian Chronicles'' is a conventional English name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts, natively known as ''Kartlis Tskhovreba'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება), literally "Life of Ka ...

''. He also discovered and studied the ancient Old Udi script (1937) and compiled ''Dictionary of the Old Georgian Language'' (ძველი ქართული ენის ლექსიკონი; appeared posthumously in 1973).Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', p. 16. Peeters Bvba

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abuladze, Ilia 1901 births 1968 deaths 20th-century historians from Georgia (country) Philologists from Georgia (country) Lexicographers from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State University faculty Udi language Soviet philologists Soviet lexicographers Honoured Scientists of the Georgia (country) Corresponding Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences Soviet historians

See also

References