The Bible and “Kartlis Tskhovreba” (Life of Kartli) – Typological-Comparative Analysis

(Problem Statement)

Abstract

The article touches upon the typological analysis of two historical sources, the Bible and “Kartlis Tskhovreba”, as indicators of the values of two communions – Jewish and Georgian.

The Old Testament represents the history of one nation and one country. Therefore, from the historiographical point of view, the Biblical narrative about Israel is the main source of the political past of this country. “Kartlis Tskhovreba” is the major and the most important source of Georgian history, being also unique for forming the history of Georgian unity, mentality, identity and self-consciousness.

Both the Bible and “Kartlis Tskhovreba” have a number of things in common, including the narrative style, genre, idea and self-consciousness.

In the Bible, as well as in “Kartlis Tskhovreba”, values are the central theme of the whole narrative, but they are not presented as separate ideas. The main determinant of Biblical thinking is the relation between the Creator (God) and the nation. In the Bible this relationship is represented by loyalty to the values that determined the national identity of the people exited from Egypt. We come across the similar attitude in “Kartlis Tskhovreba”. This monument describes the path of value searches passed by the people who, in the end, united around the Georgian identity. The main point here is to what extent this nation has shown loyalty to the values that determined their identity.

Considering the compositional integrity of the narrative, neither the Bible nor “Kartlis Tskhovreba” has a single author. Both are presented on behalf of a group of authors, and in both cases this group is guided by the same inspiration. Anonymity and sacredness are absolutely unshakable principles of this historiographical tradition.

There is a great similarity between the Bible and “Kartlis Tskhovreba” in understanding the concept of the nation too. Israelite for the Bible and Georgian for “Kartlis Tskhovreba” is a value term, not a political one. In the Bible, being an Israelite is not a privilege acquired at birth, but by a way of life. The same takes place in “Kartlis Tskhovreba”, where Georgians are only those who share and follow the values that determined the national identity of this people.

The Bible and “Kartlis Tskhovreba” are also similar in the idea of the firm statehood. Among the Israelite tribes, Juda’s tribe acquires the advantage, where the main sanctity of the nation, the Ark of the Covenant, is located. A similar reality emerges in “Kartlis Tskhovreba”. The sanctities of the Old and New Testaments buried in the land of Kartli determine the mission of this area to consolidate different regions of Georgia into one whole. In the Bible, Israel gathers around Juda and Jerusalem, and in “Kartlis Tskhovreba” Georgia unites around Kartli and Mtskheta.

Based on this, the Bible and “Kartlis Tskhovreba” reveal a lot of similarities in terms of historiographical thinking, genre specificity, perception of history, and ideological faith. Those are the main theme of the narrative – the idea of values, the perception of the significance of the Golden Age of these two countries and its end, and the ideas of state firmness.