Simon Janashia ( ka, სიმონ ჯანაშია; July 13, 1900 – November 5, 1947) was a Georgian historian and public figure. He was a professor of history and one of the founding members of the

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

. Janashia was born in 1900, in Makvaneti in the southwestern Georgian province of

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia (country), Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 104,338 (2023), with Ozurgeti as the regional cap ...

. His father, Nikoloz Janashia (1872-1918), was an educator and ethnographer, born in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

. In 1922, Simon Janashia graduated from the

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი, tr; often shorten ...

. From 1924 to 1947, he served as a lecturer (1924-1930), Associate Professor (1930-1935) and Professor (1935-1947) there. In 1941, he was one of the founders of the

(GAS), and from 1941 to 1947, he was Vice-President of the Academy and Director of the Institute of History of the GAS. In 1943, Janashia was elected as a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (now the

Russian Academy of Science The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

). In the 1940s, he organized archaeological excavations in

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა} ) is a city in the Mkhare, region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Georgia (country), Georgia. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is locat ...

and

Armazi Armazi ( ka, არმაზი) is a locale in Georgia, 4 km southwest of Mtskheta and 22 km northwest of Tbilisi. A part of historical Greater Mtskheta, it is a place where the ancient city of the same name and the original capital of the early ...

in eastern Georgia. Janashia's main fields of his research were the

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is the formation and development of an ethnic group. This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th-century neologism that was later introduce ...

of the Georgians and other Caucasian peoples, the history of feudalism in Georgia and the Caucasus, the history and archaeology of ancient Georgia, the history of

Colchis In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the ...

and

Caucasian Iberia In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; ; Parthian language, Parthian: ; Middle Persian: ) was an exonym for the Georgians, Georgian kingdom of Kartli or Iveria ( or ), known after its Kartli, core province. The kingdom exi ...

, the history of Christianity in Georgia, and source studies of the history of Georgia and the Caucasus. He was an author of more than 100 scholarly works, including about 10 monographs. A full collection of Janashia's works was published in four volumes in Tbilisi between 1949 and 1968. Simon Janashia died in Tbilisi in 1947.

Literature

* ''Simon Janashia'', Tbilisi, 1948 (in Georgian) * ''Shota Meskhia'' Tbilisi, 1960 (in Georgian) * ''Simon Janashia (1900-1947)''. Bibliography, Tbilisi, 1976 (in Georgian, English and Russian)

External links

Biography of Simon Janashia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janashia, Simon 1900 births 1947 deaths 20th-century historians from Georgia (country) People from Guria People from Kutais Governorate Mingrelians Historians of the Caucasus Academic staff of Tbilisi State University Tbilisi State University alumni Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Stalin Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Honoured Scientists of Georgia (country)