Alexander (Alesha) Svanidze – at the Origins of Georgian Assyriology

Abstract

There are scholars whose existence becomes known to us only belatedly—if at all—despite the significant mark they have left on the public life of the country and the development of particular academic disciplines. At the origins of Georgian Assyriology — which inherently entails the study of the ancient history of the Caucasus in the context of Near Eastern civilizations—stood several scholars whose names have only recently begun to gain recognition within the Georgian academic sphere. For some reason, and seemingly not by coincidence, the fate of each of these figures became entangled with the Soviet repressions: Mikheil Tsereteli, for well-known reasons, ended his life in exile, and his name remained banned in Georgia almost until the end of the twentieth century; Tite Margvelashvili likewise fell victim to Soviet repression; and Aleksandre Tsereteli spent many years banished from his homeland. I believe the list of repressed Georgian scholars of the Ancient Near East under the Soviet regime should rightfully include the name of yet another Georgian public figure, orientalist, assyriologist, and later economist and financier — Aleksandre (Alyosha) Svanidze. Mentions of him are scattered and rare, and unfortunately, his biography and both scholarly and civic contributions remain largely unstudied to this day; only fragmentary and often inaccurate information is available. Alexander Svanidze studied in Leipzig and Halle, Germany, studied history, philosophy and social. Economics. Periodically he returned to Georgia, where he gave lectures at meetings of the Historical and Ethnographic Society. He tried to acquaint the Georgian scientific community with foreign literature on Assyriology, the ancient history of the Caucasus and Georgia, which, in his opinion, should be useful for further research by the Georgian scientific community. In this years he has pulished several important assyriological researches. In 1936, at the invitation of the People's Commissar of National Education of the USSR Bubnov and A. Svanidze, the famous Hittologist, Professor Bedřich Hrozny, visited the Soviet Union. In 1936-37, he gave lectures on the Hittites in various cities of the USSR - Moscow (17, 20, 11.1936; 20.11.1937), Leningrad (21.23.11.1937), Baku (30.11.1937), Tbilisi (2,4.12.1937), Yerevan (7,8.12.1937) and Kiev (14,15.12.1937). After that, Prof. Hrozny was invited to Tbilisi University for a whole semester to teach the Hittite language, and especially the Khaturi and Hurrian languages (unfortunately, this did not happen, presumably due to the arrest of A. Svanidze). Later, when in 1937 the journal “Vestnik DrevneyThe first issue of ""History"" was published, Alexander translated Hrozny's article, as well as his memoirs about his travels published in ""Archive Oriental"", and printed them in ""Vestnik"". On January 27, 1937, a meeting of the Prague Institute of Oriental Studies was held in Prague, where B. Hrozny made a report on his travels and lectures in the republics of the Soviet Union. The same journal indicates that on March 1, 1937, at a meeting of the Prague Institute of Oriental Studies, Prof. A. Svanidze, along with Professors A. Shanidze, V. Struve, I. Meshchanov, K. Together with Oragvelidze (then rector of TSU) and others, he was elected a scientific member-correspondent of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Prague. This, of course, was supposed to be Hrozny's initiative and an expression of his sympathy, first of all, for Alexander. After that Svanidze established the journal „Vestkink Drevnei Istorii” and invited B. Hrozny and other famous Assyriologists to collaborate with the journal. The life of Alexander Svanidze is divided into two parts – socio-political and socio-scientific. These two spheres alternated periodically in his life, although, I think, if he had continued, his scientific potential would have brought much more to scientists. On November 1 (14), 2024, Alexander Svanidze will have turned 140 years old. Hopefully, the restoration of his biography will raise many new interesting questions in various directions when studying the history of the early 20th century, and his name will take its rightful place in Georgian historiography, which will be very important for the Georgian scientific community.