TRAVELS OF ILIA ALKHAZISHVILI IN JAVAKHETI (HISTORICAL-ETHNOGRAPHIC REVIEW)

Abstract

Along with the development of ethnography, the need to get to know the customs of the inhabitants of different parts of Georgia, to study their customs and traditions, contributed to their description in the texts of travel, in particular, the travel genre, which has been going on since the second half of the 19th century. From this point of view, it is interesting to study in the ancient part of South Georgia, in Javakheti. It is unknown, but it is noteworthy that the travels of the naturalist, folklorist and ethnographer Ilia Alkhazishvili (1853-1921), a well-known public figure of the period, in the regions of Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe, the impressions of his travels ("Traveler's Letters" and other names) were published from time to time in "Iveria" and "Droeba" since 1893.

Impressions of travels are written in beautiful literary Georgian, artistically and contain a lot of information about the nature, flora and fauna of Javakheti, as well as notes on common customs, although not mostly, the identity, origin and age of the recorder.

Key words: Ilia Alkhazishvili; trip to Javakheti; Tabatzkuri; Tavpharavani.