Modern Georgians. The most beautiful Georgian women (37 photos)

35th place. Maka Gigauri

34th place. Tamara (Tamriko) Gverdtsiteli(born January 18, 1962, Tbilisi) - Soviet, Georgian and Russian singer, actress, composer, People's Artist Georgian SSR, People's Artist of Russia. Father is from the ancient Georgian noble family of Gverdtsiteli. Mother - granddaughter of an Odessa rabbi. Since Jews consider their nationality according to their mother, and Georgians - according to their father, Tamara Gverdtsiteli can be equally called both a Georgian and a Jew.

33rd place: - Soviet actress. She should not be confused with another Soviet actress Kira Georgievna Andronikashvili (1908-1960), who is her aunt.

32nd place. (February 20, 1923, Tbilisi - March 31, 1994) - Soviet actress, People's Artist of the Georgian SSR.

31st place. Elene Gedevanishvili(born January 7, 1990, Tbilisi) - Georgian figure skater, two-time bronze medalist of the European Championship (2010, 2012) in single skating.

30th place. Anna Chakvetadze(born March 5, 1987, Moscow) is a Russian tennis player who retired from playing in 2012. Won 8 WTA tournaments. Anna's father is from Georgia, her mother is from Ukraine.

29th place. Irina Onashvili- Georgian model, represented Georgia at Miss World 2003.

28th place. Taco Lolua- Georgian model.

27th place. Mariam Kilasonia- Miss Abkhazia 2009. The competition was held in Tbilisi, not in Abkhazia, and the winner is not an Abkhazian, but a Mingrelian (a sub-ethnic group of the Georgian people).

26th place. Lika Kavzharadze(born October 26, 1959, Tbilisi) - Soviet and Georgian actress. She became famous for her role as Marita in Tengiz Abuladze’s film “The Tree of Desire.”

25th place. Sofiko Chiaureli(May 21, 1937, Tbilisi - March 2, 2008) - Soviet and Georgian actress, People's Artist of the Georgian SSR (1976), People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1979). She played in more than a hundred films.

Sofiko Chiaureli in the film "The Color of Pomegranates" (1968)

24th place. - Opera singer(mezzo-soprano). Born in Tbilisi. She has performed at La Scala, the Mariinsky Theater and other theaters around the world.

23rd place. Sofia Nizharadze(born February 6, 1986, Tbilisi, Georgia) - Georgian and Russian singer, actress, songwriter. Performed the role of Juliet in Russian version French musical Roméo & Juliette (2004-2006, Moscow, Operetta Theater). In 2005, she represented Russia at the pop music competition “ New wave" In May 2010, she represented Georgia at the Eurovision Song Contest.

22nd place. Nino Makharadze- Georgian model who represented Georgia at the Miss Intercontinental 2012 competition.

21st place. Iya Ninidze(born September 8, 1960, Tbilisi) - Soviet Georgian and Russian actress theater and cinema, People's Artist of Georgia.

Iya Ninidze in the film "Nut Krakatuk" (1977)

20th place. Elena Satine(born November 24, 1987, Tbilisi) - American actress Georgian origin. Her real name - Skhirtladze.

19th place. Nonna Diakonidze- Georgian model who represented Georgia at the Miss Earth 2009 competition.

18th place. Lydia Tsirgvava(April 14, 1923, Harbin, China - December 31, 2013) - Soviet and Russian actress, artist. Better known as Lydia Vertinskaya(after the name of her husband - Russian singer Alexander Vertinsky). Mother of actresses Anastasia and Marianna Vertinsky, who are members of the.

16th place. Antisa Butskhrikidze- Georgian model.

15th place. Katie (Ketevan) Melua(born September 16, 1984, Kutaisi, Georgia) - British singer Georgian (Mingrelian) origin.

13th place. Dodo Chogovadze(born 1951) - Soviet actress, best known for her role as Princess Budur in the film " Magic lamp Aladdin" (1966).

12th place. Elena Tsiklauri- Georgian model, participant of the Miss Georgia 2014 contest.

11th place. (born November 29, 1991, Tbilis) - Georgian model, Miss Georgia 2011. She represented Georgia at Miss World 2011. Some believe that Janet Kerdikoshvili is by nationality, but she denies this and says that her parents are Mingrelians from Abkhazia.

10th place. Nebahat Chehre / Nebahat Çehre(born March 15, 1944, Samsun, Turkey) - Turkish actress, former model, Miss Turkey 1960. In Russia, she is best known for her role as Valide Sultan - the mother of Sultan Suleiman in the series "The Magnificent Century" (2011-2012). Nebahat Chekre's father is of Georgian origin, his mother is Laz (Lazi is a subethnic group of the Georgian people).

Nebahat Chehre in his youth:

Nebahat Chehre at the age of 67 in the role of Valide Sultan in the TV series “The Magnificent Century”:

9th place. Manana Japaridze(born December 28, 1980, Tbilisi) - Azerbaijani singer of Georgian origin.

8th place. Veronica (Vera) Kobalia(born August 24, 1981, Sukhumi, Abkhazia) - Georgian and Canadian economist, public and political figure, Minister of Economy and sustainable development Georgia in 2010 - 2012.

7th place. Nato Vachnadze(June 14, 1904, Warsaw, Poland - June 4, 1953) - Soviet actress, People's Artist of the Georgian SSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Real name is Natalya Andronikashvili. Vachnadze is the surname of her first husband.

6th place. Nini Badurashvili(born December 27, 1985, Tbilisi) - Georgian actress and singer.

5th place. Mary Shervashidze-Eristova(October 17, 1895, Batumi, Georgia - January 21, 1986) - Russian princess, daughter of Prince Shervashidze, maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. After her marriage to Prince Eristov, she took her husband’s surname. After the Civil War, she went abroad and worked as a fashion model at the Chanel fashion house. Fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev in his book “Beauty in Exile” writes: “The fragile brunette Mary Eristova personified the type of beauty that was fashionable in the 20s. Her face and figure suited the Chanel style of those years, and Coco was also impressed by that for her, a provincial from Auvergne, "real Russian princesses" work. As they say, the portrait of Princess Mary was in the bedroom of Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco. When she woke up, she first looked at the picture and only then in the mirror, thus determining whether she looked good Today.

4th place. - Georgian model. She represented Georgia at the Miss Tourism 2008 competition.

3rd place. Lika Metreveli(born March 17, 1993) - Georgian model, Miss Tbilisi 2009, Vice-Miss Georgia 2012, winner of the Georgian stage of the Elite Model Look 2012 competition.

2nd place. (born November 10, 1975, Tbilisi) - Russian journalist and TV presenter. Tina Kandelaki about her origin: “My mother Elvira Georgievna Alahverdova - I never made a secret of this. My father Givi Shalvovich Kandelaki is Georgian. Kandelaki is a Greek surname. The Greek priests who brought Christianity to Georgia were my distant ancestors. But assimilation occurred so deeply that the Kandelakis became 100 percent Georgians."

The most beautiful Georgian - Georgian model, actress and TV presenter, Miss Georgia 2007 Gvantsa Daraselia(born September 1, 1989, Tbilisi). She represented Georgia at the Miss Universe 2008 competition. She starred in the films “Girl from the Slide” (2009) and “City of Dreams” (2010).

Georgia, one of the most interesting countries. The basis of its population are Georgians - representatives of one of the most ancient peoples of Transcaucasia. Now the population in it is about 3.5 million people, and 86.8% of them are of Georgian nationality.

Quite a few Georgians also live in Russia; according to the 2010 census, there were about 158 ​​thousand people. They began to settle in the Russian capital, Moscow, at the end of the 17th century, as a result of the intensification of cultural, trade and diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Moscow state.

After joining Russian Empire, the Georgian nobility received equal rights with the Russians, Georgians served in the Russian army, worked in industry and settled in all regions of the vast country.

Some experts predict that the number of Georgians in Europe is expected to actively increase in the near future, because on March 28, 2017, the Schengen countries opened their borders to them. This forecast raises a lot of doubts - everyone who wanted to leave had long ago issued visas and left. The rest do not have the desire or money to resettle. Moreover, “visa-free” is an opportunity to travel around Europe. To study, work, and especially to obtain a residence permit, you will still have to draw up special documents.

History of the origin of the Georgian people

The history of the origin of the population of Georgia evolved like a mosaic from many sources. This archaeological excavations, painstaking study of chronicles, language and genetic research. Together they showed that the ancient ancestors of the Georgians were indigenous. The basis of this people is the local Karvelian tribes, which gradually united, became larger, were partially supplemented by newcomer peoples, and again disintegrated into new communities.

The Pro-Carvelian language, for example, began to disappear in the 2nd millennium BC. e., when Svan began to stand out from it. In the 8th century BC e., the same fate befell the Mingrelo-Chan languages, which means that something divided the peoples, and everyone began to live and develop their own language independently.

For example, the East Georgian tribes, which descended to the Black Sea, wedged themselves into the West Georgian tribes, dividing them into two parts. They gradually formed the Mingrelian and Lazochan groups, which can be clearly seen now.

GEORGIANS are the people who make up the main population of Georgia. They call themselves Kartvelebi. Total number- over 4 million people, possibly up to 5. At the same time, 3.6 million live in Georgia. They also inhabit Turkey (up to 300 thousand), Russia (150 thousand), Iran, Abkhazia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. The language is part of the Caucasian family (Kartvelian language group). Contains a number of dialects.

Each of the subethnic groups of Georgians uses its own dialect. The alphabet is of Eastern Aramaic origin. According to religious views, they are Orthodox Christians; there are a few Catholics. Adjarians, Meskhians, and Ingiloys also include a number of Sunni Muslims.

The tribes of ancient Georgians are mentioned in written sources dating back to ancient times. The formation of this people took place in the 2nd-1st millennium BC, when tribal unions arose and the first kingdoms (Colchis, Kartli) were founded. During the 4th-6th centuries AD, Georgians adopted Christianity and writing arose. By the 10th-11th century, Georgians formed single state. However, later it turned out to be weakened. This began with the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in the 13th century and continued with clashes with Turkey and Iran. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, part of the Georgian lands was occupied by Turkey. Turkish culture and the Islamic religion spread in the occupied territories.

Since 1783, Georgia found itself under the protectorate of Russia, and at the beginning of the 19th century it joined the Russian Empire. In connection with the unification of Georgians within Russia, the consolidation of this people and the development of culture began. Soon after October revolution The Georgian SSR was proclaimed. It existed without changes until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Georgia's acquisition of independence was overshadowed by the Abkhazian military conflict, which caused active migration of Georgians (including to Russia).

Traditionally, Georgians were engaged in cattle breeding (residents of the mountains) and agriculture (in the foothills). Crops such as wheat, barley, rye, and lentils were grown. In western Georgia, the basis of the economy was millet and corn. Later development received the cultivation of citrus fruits and tea. Significant industry Agriculture- viticulture and wine production, sericulture, beekeeping. Among the crafts, weaving and pottery, working with metal and natural materials, production jewelry and carpets. Now there is a modern industry, which includes a number of branches. The degree of mechanization of agriculture is high, and the service sector is developed.

Traditional houses have different type in various regions of Georgia. In the west, villages are freely planned and spread over a large area. IN eastern regions the layout is crowded. This is especially true in the mountains, where there is often not enough space, and villages rise in ledges up the slopes. On eastern plains Darbazi stone houses were usually built. In the west, houses were built of wood and had one or two floors. In the 19th century, two-story stone houses became widespread. Such dwellings included several rooms, had windows, and wooden floors. The open hearth in the center of the house was replaced by a fireplace.

Georgians in different regions wore similar clothes. Traditional costume for men it consisted of a shirt, trousers, a chokha and a short akhalukha under it. In winter they wore a sheepskin coat and a warm burka. Georgian women wore shirts and pants long length and the same long dress with insert on the chest. The head was covered with a veil and a velvet bandage. When going outside, they covered themselves with a bagdadi scarf.

The ancestors of the Georgians are mentioned in the Bible; the legendary Colchis, where the Argonauts sailed, was located on the territory of Georgia. It seems to us that we know a lot about Georgians, but their history and culture holds many mysteries.

1. Georgians call their country Sakartvelo. This toponym translates as “all of Kartli” and goes back to the name of the region of the same name. The toponym “Georgia” goes back to the name “Gurjistan” (country of wolves), found in Arab-Persian sources.

The European name of Georgia “Georgia” is also compared with the Arab-Persian name associated with the Georgian cult of St. George. A golden sculpture of the saint rises in the central square of Tbilisi.

2. The number of Georgians in the world is more than 4 million.

3. Georgians were one of the first peoples to adopt Christianity. According to one of the most common versions, this happened in 319. It is significant that, despite the global trend, the number of believers in Georgia is growing. Today, 80% of Georgians consider themselves Orthodox.

4. Georgian is an ancient written language. Ancient written monuments in ancient Georgian they date back to the 5th century. These include a mosaic inscription from the first half of the 5th century near Jerusalem, as well as an inscription at Bolnisi Zion (60 km south of Tbilisi) from the end of the 5th century.

5. Georgians have a unique alphabet. In Kartvelian studies there are different hypotheses about the prototype of the Georgian letter. According to various theories, it is based on Aramaic, Greek or Coptic writing.

6. The self-name of Georgians is Kartvelebi.

7. The first state mentioned by historians on the territory of Georgia is the Colchis kingdom. It was first mentioned in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Greek authors Pindar and Aeschylus. It was to Colchis that the Argonauts sailed for the Golden Fleece.

8. There is no accent in the Georgian language, only the tone rises on a certain syllable. Also, Georgian does not have capital letters, and gender is determined by context.

9. Joseph Stalin is deservedly considered the most famous Georgian in the world.

10. In the Georgian language, the decimal system is used for naming numbers. To pronounce a number between 20 and 100, you need to divide it into twenties and say their number and remainder. For example: 33 is twenty-thirteen, and 78 is three-twenty-eighteen.

11. Words familiar to us from childhood in Georgia do not have the meanings to which we are accustomed. “Mama” in Georgian means dad, “deda” means mother, “bebia” means grandmother, “babua” or “papa” means grandfather.

12. There is no “f” sound in the Georgian language, and in borrowed words this sound is replaced with a “p” sound with a strong aspiration. Russian Federation in Georgian it will sound like: “Rusetis paderatsia”.

13. According to economist Kennan Eric Scott of the Washington Institute, during Soviet Union Georgians supplied 95% of tea and 97% of tobacco to Soviet shelves. The lion's share of citrus fruits (95%) also went to the regions of the USSR from Georgia.

14. On the territory of Georgia in 1991, the remains of Dmanisian hominids were found, initially called Homo georgicus. They are almost 2 million years old (1 million 770 000). They were given the names Zezva and Mzia.

15. In Georgia, it is customary to eat kebabs and khinkali with your hands.

16. Despite the fact that in Georgia it is traditional high level homophobia, the level of tactile contact between Georgian men is very high. While walking, they can hold hands, sitting in coffee shops - touch each other.

17. In everyday communication, Georgians use words that for some reason they consider Russian, although for us they will not always be understandable. Georgians call slippers chusts, wallpaper - trellises, beans - lobio, a T-shirt is often called anything worn above the waist, and boots are sneakers.

18. Georgians are rightfully proud of their wine. It began to be produced here 7,000 years ago, and today there are 500 varieties of cultivated grapes in Georgia. Every year the country hosts the Rtveli grape harvest festival.

19. Georgians are known for their hospitality. The guest in the house is more important than the owner. Therefore, in Georgian houses it is not customary to take off shoes.

20. Georgians are known for their love of long toasts, but not everyone knows that it is not customary to make toasts while Georgians drink beer.

Illustrations: Niko Pirosmani

Georgians – who are they? Or – “Georgia through the eyes of historians.”
Stories from Oles Buzina: “Georgia is the homeland of Udabnopithecus.”

The last war in the Caucasus aroused interest in the Georgian past. Where did Georgia come from? So, to paraphrase Nestor the Chronicler, I would like to ask

The history of Georgia is not taught in our schools. It's a pity! This is an instructive history for any nationalist of a people who were finally “invented” only in Soviet times. Let's start with the fact that Georgians themselves do not call themselves Georgians, although they like to argue which of them is a real Georgian. This does not fit into ordinary human logic. And yet, this is a fact.

The name "Georgian" comes from the Persian word "gurj". This is what the Persians called Saakashvili’s fellow countrymen back in the Middle Ages. From them the word passed into European languages. Representatives of the proud Caucasian nation, now numbering about 3 million people, prone to self-glorification, like to claim that international name Georgians allegedly descended from St. St. George the Victorious. They say that all Georgians are as brave as him. But science (both philological and military) has not yet confirmed this explanation.

The self-name of Georgians is “Kartvelebi” (in plural) and - "Kartveli" (in singular), and their countries - Sakartvelo. That is, one Georgian is a Kartvel. And two or more are Kartvelebi. This name took root on behalf of the central province of Georgia - Kartli. Tbilisi, the capital of the country, is also located there.

How did it happen that the Georgians still have not decided which of them is genuine? But the fact is that it is very crossed Caucasian relief perfectly contributes to the preservation of various separatisms. It’s convenient to defend yourself behind every bump. And because of it, attack your neighbor. Throughout the history of Georgia, only in the 12th - first half of the 13th and in the second half of the 14th - mid-15th centuries was it relatively unified. At all other times, there were about a dozen independent states on its current territory.

Since ancient times, in addition to the “Kartvelebi”, there were other tribes here - the Kakhetians with their capital in Kutaisi, the Imeretians, the Mingrelians, the Gurians, the Khevsurs, the Pshavs, the Svans: This list can be continued indefinitely! Moreover, if the dialects of the Kakhetians and Imeretians are similar to the official Georgian, then Svan and Mingrelian are completely separate languages. Svan's speech resembles Tbilisi much less than the dialect of our Hutsuls - the language of Donetsk miners.

The Svan and Mingrelian languages ​​date back almost 3 thousand years. But in Soviet and current times in Georgia, they were consistently suppressed in the name of national unity. That's why they don't even exist written form- oral only. But Mingrelians are easily distinguished from all other Georgians by their last names ending in “-ia” or “-ia”. Zhvania, Beria, Gamsakhurdia are Mingrelians. From time to time, the Mingrelian clan seizes power in Tbilisi, as if taking revenge for its national humiliation. After all, the oldest of famous history states on the territory of Georgia - Colchis - arose precisely on the land of the Mingrelians. I swam here ancient greek hero Jason for the Golden Fleece. From here he took home the sorceress Medea. Later, this part of Mingrelian history was appropriated by official Georgian propaganda.

Not a single event in Georgian politics can be understood without taking into account these intricate “tribal” relationships. The overthrow of the first president of independent Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in the early 90s was not just a civil war, but also a struggle against the dominance of Mingrelians in the ruling elite.

DAVID THE BUILDER - KING OF ABKHAZIA. Until the beginning of the 12th century, endless wars of all against all continued on the territory of future Georgia. King David the Builder put an end to this for some time. Now it is considered Georgian national hero. It’s hard to say who he was in reality. David came from the Bagration dynasty. This family claimed to be the direct heir of the famous Israeli king Solomon according to the Bible. People in the Caucasus love fairy tales. Could a Jewish king who professed Judaism become the ancestor of the Christian ruling family? But the Bagrations threw dust in the eyes of the surrounding Caucasian peoples! The first definitely known representative of them was a certain Smbat Bagratuni, who worked as a groom for the Armenian king at the end of the 3rd century. So decide who their roots were: Jews, Armenians or Georgians?

By the time of David the Builder, the Bagrations, thanks to family ties, inherited Abkhazia. During this period, the territory of Kartli, together with the city of Tbilisi, was generally in the hands of the Seljuk Turks. The majority of the city's population were Muslims. And they were ruled by the Turkish emir. But David was very lucky. It was during these years that the Russian princes, led by Vladimir Monomakh, defeated the Polovtsians. Their horde fled to the Caucasus. David hired 40 thousand of these beaten nomads into his service and with their help in 1122. took Tbilisi from the Turks and moved his capital there.

But he never felt like a complete master there and even forbade pork-loving Georgians from bringing pigs into the Muslim part of the city, so as not to offend the religious feelings of the faithful. The full title of David the Builder at the end of his life was the king of Abkhazia and Kartli.

HOW THE BAGRATIONS BECAME MUSLIMS AND DRUGS. Georgians consider the era of David the Builder great, although it relates to them, as they say, sideways. Judge for yourself: the king is Abkhazian, his army is Polovtsian. And as a result, all this - Georgian history. By the way, David ruled in Tbilisi for only three years - after that he died.

The era of Queen Tamar (1184 - 1213) is considered even more outstanding. If you visit Georgia, the locals will show you around different places about ten graves that allegedly belonged to this great woman. Just some kind of “relocation of bodies”! In fact, the “greatness” of Georgia was ephemeral - just impudence. Just as almost every second person in the Caucasus was called a prince, so the owner of a couple of dozen villages could become a king there. In our country, Yaroslav the Wise ruled a huge country from Novgorod to Kyiv and modestly signed himself a prince - just a “duke” in Western European terminology. And Tamar is a queen! Although her kingdom can hardly be distinguished on the map.

In the 13th century, everything that remained of the Tamar kingdom was captured by the Mongols. Then these ruins were conquered by Tamerlane, who burned Tbilisi twice. And only in the interval between these Asian invasions - under George V the Brilliant (1314 - 1346) - the kingdom of Kartli was briefly resurrected. But local separatists let us know, believing that they were, first of all, Kakhetians or Imeretians, and only then, perhaps, Georgians. In 1469, the Kartli state collapsed, as a 17th-century Georgian historian wrote. Vakhushti Bagrationi, “for three kingdoms and five principalities” - Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, Samtskhe, Odishi, Guria, Svaneti and Abkhazia.

Vakhushti Bagrationi came from a royal family. He knew the habits of his relatives well. According to his story, in the 17th century. The kings of Kartli did not look very decent. Most of them ruled only by the grace of the Persians or Turks and converted to Islam in secret from their subjects. It all started with King Rostom, a protege of Persia, who reigned in 1634. According to Vakhushti, he “was a Muslim” and “brought captive Georgians from Persia who were Muslims, and through their fault, luxury, adultery, lies, bodily pleasure, the Persian bath, obscene panache, Muslim harpers and singers spread among the Georgians. And who is not addicted to these deeds, they were not respected."

Other rulers were a match for Rostom. During the battle with the Turks near Gori, King Svimon smoked hashish, got drunk on wine and sent his soldiers to fetch greens from the garden, saying: “Aren’t you ashamed, for I want greens, I see with my eyes and cannot taste.” The battle, started by a drug-addicted commander in an atmosphere of such moral and everyday debauchery, naturally, was completely lost.

Another hero of that time - King Iese, who began to rule in 1714 as a protege of the Persian Shah, “had fun and enjoyed obscenely with youths and inappropriate songs, instead of acting majestically, he took the wife of Kaykhosro Amirajib, his mother’s uncle, his grandmother’s niece his own, and took him as his wife." And when the Georgian bishops began to reproach the king for obscenity, Iese replied: “It befits me as a Muslim.”

During this era, even George Saakadze, the so-called Great Mouravi (ruler), a famous Georgian figure, about whom multi-volume, unreadable works were published in Soviet times, became a Mohammedan. Around 1626 Vakhushti writes about him and his comrade-in-arms: “Kaikhosro and Mouravi went to Istanbul to the Sultan, asked him for an army to capture Kartli, and there Mouravi became Muslim.”

As a result of such a policy, the country, broken into eight parts, could not protect itself not only from Turkey or Persia, but even from the Lezghin tribe, which regularly raided almost all three Georgian kingdoms and five principalities at the same time.

"TIMIC GEORGIANS" IN THE WELL OF THE EMPIRE. After in 1795 The Persians burned Tbilisi, the last king of Kartli and Kakheti, George XII, bequeathed his kingdom to the Russian Empire. September 12, 1801 the annexation was officially formalized by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander I. This by no means meant that all of Georgia became part of Russia. George XII simply never owned “all of Georgia.” In 1804 Russian troops annexed the kingdom of Imereti and the principality of Mingrelia to the empire. In 1809 it was Abkhazia's turn. For the first time in many centuries, all these lands were part of one state. Instead of a bunch of “kingdoms”, Russia formed two provinces - Tiflis and Kutaisi. There was immediately more order. The kings, besides the one who was in St. Petersburg, were transferred out. Even with "genealogies" from Solomon. The abreks fled to the mountains.

The future united Georgia matured in the womb of the Russian Empire, until 1917. brought peace to this country. Blood for it in the wars with the Turks and Persians was now shed mainly by Russians and Ukrainians who served in the imperial army. And about fighting qualities local residents the poet Lermontov, who fought in the Caucasus, responded in one of his poems as follows: “The timid Georgians fled.”

Until the October Revolution, ethnographers wrote not about Georgians, but about " Georgian peoples", understanding the big difference between the Svans, Kartvels, Mingrelians and other tribes. Just as they now write about Slavic peoples, For example. But in 1918 Georgian nationalists who seized power in Tbilisi created a myth about one nation and immediately began to oppress national minorities. Then for the first time in the 20th century. Massacres broke out in Ossetia and Abkhazia. Tbilisi considered these lands its own. A local peoples thought differently. Moreover, they were not even distantly related to the Georgians. The Mingrelians also had their own special opinion on what was happening - in the spring of 1918, an uprising broke out there too.

In February 1921 Georgia was captured by the victorious civil war Red Army. But the policy of supporting Georgians, in defiance of the rest of the peoples of the country, continued. The USSR did not recognize such nationalities as Svan or Mingrelian. And in the Kremlin, this point of view had a reliable roof, puffing on a pipe - Joseph Stalin himself. Officially, he was considered a Georgian, although, in addition to Georgian, he also had Ossetian roots. Only thanks to him, Georgia became part of Georgia in 1936. Union republic, Abkhazia and South Ossetia turned out to be autonomies.

THE APE-MAN IS A COUNTRYMAN OF THE LEADER OF THE PEOPLES. The pinnacle of Georgian historical myth-making during Stalin's times was the "discovery" of Udabnopithecus - the remains of the "only" ape-man fossil in the Soviet Union. This is how the English Caucasus expert David Lang described this event in the book “Georgians”: “To the east of Tbilisi, in the Gareji region, several settlements were discovered where the remains of an ape were discovered, therefore called Udabnopithecus (from the Georgian word “udabno”, meaning “wild "). This creature occupied an intermediate position between a chimpanzee and a gorilla. It was discovered in 1939 by geologists N.O. Burshak-Abramovich and E.G. Gabashvili. Only a few scattered fragments have been preserved from Udabnopithecus, two teeth, one molar, but they represent the only great ape, the remains of which are preserved on the territory of the USSR."

“Some Soviet scientists,” Lang continued, “view this discovery as evidence that Transcaucasia is among those areas of the world where the transition from apes to homo sapiens took place at the end of the Cenozoic era.”

Another thing is strange: in the post-Stalin era, no new Udabnopithecus were found anymore. Yes, and with the first one it’s a dark matter. They only dug up two of someone's teeth! And from this they concluded that Georgia is the cradle of humanity! Our Trypillian culture is resting.

It’s as clear to me as two and a half: given the sycophancy of that time, these two teeth simply had to be “found.” What could have flattered Stalin's materialistic pride more? It turned out that the head of the USSR was born in Georgia, and the monkey became a man in approximately the same places.

And then Stalin died. And the need for the tale of Udabnopithecus disappeared due to political irrelevance. Although, who knows how the story will turn out? Perhaps under Saakashvili we will still hear about new specimens of Udabnopithecus being found in Georgia. Moreover, there are bones in those places after 1991. have done more than enough.

Oles Buzina,
("Today", Ukraine)

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How can one not recall “12 Chairs” by Ilf and Petrov and the film with the same name - “ Wild people, children of the mountains, Udabnopithecus, eat sausages, sitting on an impregnable rock, and most importantly do not fall."
And immediately the question - How did representatives of so many tribes end up in such a place inaccessible to enemies (or fellow judges who decided to quarter them for some crimes)? Where can you hide so reliably from friends - neighbors, and from enemies - fellow tribesmen? If we continue this thought, we can assume that, running away from their relatives due to some vital circumstances, these guys also took (illegally, mind you) a couple of ladies with them to the mountains, and there they were safely hidden, periodically using and impregnating them. They gradually stole women and then on the side, and in this way different mountain clans grew, but without particularly interfering with each other, because getting to each other in the mountains is a troublesome and dangerous matter.

Why can such a scenario be assumed? Firstly, there is a custom in the mountains (at least in Svaneti) - if a woman leaves the house alone and even to a mountain stream with water, she must be accompanied by any man of this village who saw her alone without a man nearby. Consequently, in these places it is common to steal a lady without asking her relatives or even her husband.
Secondly, in Turkey they still steal children (especially beautiful ones) from anyone who is careless. And, as we understood from Olesya’s story above, the institution of Islam among Georgians was developed quite widely and extensively, especially among various kings and princes of different tribes. Thus, the theft of children and women could also have been widely and extensively developed in that mountain society, impoverished in women, some customs from that classic set of Caucasian abrek have survived safely to this day - the theft of brides, for example. And tearing off the head of the would-be groom and husband, if the unlucky groom was caught by relatives of such a desired prey.
Thirdly - By God, M.Yu. I believe in Lermontov. Well, today he has no “political expediency” and “political necessity” to bullshit about the war in Ossetia, since the poet-duelist died in God before he lived (quite a bit, by God) to see new war Georgia in Ossetia and could not see how cheerfully and disciplined, a large group of different military branches of Georgians in Once again showed what they were capable of when they ran away, no longer from the Red Army, but from ReFection, which is an order of magnitude inferior in its tactical and combat qualities to the glorious Red Army. But even from her.... What then can we say about the times of the Great Poet and that war in the Caucasus, where the Russian armies had an even higher fighting spirit and discipline.
Thus, the conclusion is - Long live the Great Russian poets and the glorious Russian Army, which will have to prove its survivability and combat effectiveness more than once in the future.