Zaza Aleksidze

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Doctor of Sciences

Zaza Aleksidze
ზაზა ალექსიძე
Born (1935-08-03) August 3, 1935 (age 86)
Telavi, Georgia SSR
OccupationHistorian, Linguist, Armenologist
Known forDecipherement of Caucasian Albanian language
Academic background
Alma materTbilisi State University
InfluencesIlia Abuladze
Academic work
InstitutionsTbilisi State University

Zaza Aleksidze (Georgian: ზაზა ნიკოლოზის ძე ალექსი���ე, romanized: zaza nik'olozis dze aleksidze) — Georgian historian, Armenologist, linguist. Best known for deciphering Caucasian Albanian language.

Biography[]

He was born on 3 August 1935 in Telavi, Georgia SSR to Nikoloz and Eugenia Aleksidzes.[1] His father was a scientist, had earned a doctorate in agriculture, mother was a pianist. He had two brother - Thengiz and Guram, both of them academics as well. Georgian linguist Givi Machavariani was also their relative.

Zaza studied the history and philology of the early Middle Ages in the Caucasus at the University of Tbilisi. He earned doctorate in 1969 and post-doctorate in 1984. He serves as professor at Tbilisi University and Head of the Department of Armenian Studies. He is also Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia. He was director of the Institute of Manuscripts of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in 1989-2006.[2] Along these, he is also a professor of the Tbilisi Theological Academy.

Decipherment of Caucasian Albanian language[]

He is best known for deciphering Caucasian Albanian language using Matenadaran MS 7117. In 1996, when he was working as Centre of Manuscripts in Tbilisi, Georgia, discovered a palimpsest[3] at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, Egypt, with an unknown script.[4] He went on to identify the alphabet as Caucasian Albanian,[5] and to identify the manuscript as an early Christian lectionary from about the 5th or 6th century. The lectionary may be the earliest extant lectionary in the Christian religion.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ "11.3 Zaza Aleksidze, Decipherer - Glimpses of Childhood by Betty Blair". www.azer.com. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  2. ^ "ზაზა ალექსიძე (1935)". www.nplg.gov.ge. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  3. ^ Zaza Aleksidze, "Caucasian Albanian Script: The Significance of Decipherment," Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), p. 56.
  4. ^ Zaza Aleksidze and Betty Blair, in "Caucasian Albanian Alphabet, Ancient Script Discovered in the Ashes," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 38-41.
  5. ^ Zaza Aleksidze and Betty Blair, "Quick Facts: The Caucasian Albanian Script," Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), p. 43.
  6. ^ Zaza Aleksidze and Betty Blair, in "The Albanian Script: The Process - How Its Secrets Were Revealed," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 41-51..
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