Giorgi Melikishvili

Who was Giorgi Melikishvili?

Giorgi Melikishvili was a Georgian historian known for his fundamental works in the history of Georgia, Caucasia and the Middle East. He earned an international recognition for his research of Urartu.

He was born in Tbilisi and graduated, in 1939, from the Tbilisi State University and earned a professor’s degree. From 1954 to 1988, he chaired the Department of Ancient History at the Institute of the History of Georgia. From 1965 to 1999, he directed this Institute and remained its Honorary Director until his death. He was also the first Soviet historian to be awarded a Lenin Prize.

He probed ancient Georgia’s connection to the Anatolian and Mesopotamian worlds and made an invaluable contributions to the studies of Urartu. His Russian-language К истории древней Грузии to this day remains a standard reference in the ancient history of Georgia. Some of Melikishvili's most influential essays were published, in the early 2000s, in the collection Researches in the Ancient History of Georgia, Caucasia and the Near East.