Zaza Aleksidze (, also transliterated as Zaza Alexidze; 18 October 1935 – 24 January 2023) was a Georgian historian and linguist who specialized in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

and

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

studies. He is best known internationally for deciphering the

Caucasian Albanian script The Caucasian Albanian script was an alphabetic writing system used by the Caucasian Albanians, one of the ancient Northeast Caucasian peoples whose territory comprised parts of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. It is one of t ...

Biography

Zaza Aleksidze was born on 18 October 1935 in Telavi in then-Soviet Georgia, into the family of agricultural scientist Nikoloz Aleksidze and his wife, pianist Eugenia Aleksidze. He graduated from

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

with a degree in history in 1958 and earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1969 and a

post-doctorate A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

in 1984. Aleksidze worked at the Georgian Institute of Manuscripts (now the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts) from 1958 to 1968 and the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography from 1968 to 1979. Later, from 1979 to 2006, Aleksidze chaired the Department of Armenian Studies at the Tbilisi State University. He then served as director of the Institute of Manuscripts from 1989 to 2006 and as head of the Department of Codicology at the National Center of Manuscripts from 2006 until his death in 2023. Aleksidze was also professor emeritus of the Tbilisi State University and academician at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. He was decorated with the Order of Honor of Georgia in 2002 and several other academic awards. Aleksidze died in

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

on 24 January 2023, at age 87.

Works

Aleksidze's research interests were focused on the social and cultural history of the medieval Caucasus. He authored several works on the medieval Georgian and Armenian inscriptions and manuscripts as well as commentaries on the medieval Armenian literary sources, such as the ''Book of Letters'' and Ukhtanes, which he also translated into Georgian. Aleksidze's best known achievement is his contribution to the decipherment of the Caucasian Albanian script — a long-defunct alphabet of the

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus, mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...

ns — which he owed to his 2003 discovery of a Georgian-Albanian

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...

at the

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( , ), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai ...

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksidze, Zaza 1935 births 2023 deaths 20th-century historians from Georgia (country) 21st-century historians from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State University alumni Academic staff of Tbilisi State University Armenian studies scholars Linguists from Georgia (country) Recipients of the Order of Honor (Georgia) People from Telavi