Giorgi Aleksandresdze Melikishvili (; ; 30 December 1918 – 19 April 2002) was a Georgian historian known for his fundamental works in the history of Georgia, Caucasia and the Middle East. He earned international recognition for his research on Urartu.
He was born in Tbilisi and graduated in 1939, from the Tbilisi State University and earned a professor’s degree (1956). 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" (Towards the History of Ancient Georgia; 1959) 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 (ძიებანი საქართველოს, კავკასიისა და ახლო აღმოსავლეთის ძველი ისტორიის დარგში).
Melikishvili became a member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences in 1960.
Notes
References
Гамкрелидзе Т. В., Гиоргадзе Г. Г. Памяти Георгия Александровича Меликишвили // Вестник древней истории, 2003, № 3.
1918 births
2002 deaths
20th-century historians from Georgia (country) Writers from Tbilisi Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Academic staff of Tbilisi State University Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences Tbilisi State University alumni Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Historians from Georgia (country) Orientalists from Georgia (country) Soviet historians