Zurab Avalishvili

Zurab Avalishvili(Georgian:ზურაბ ავალიშვილი;1876 – May 21, 1944) was aGeorgianhistorian, jurist and diplomat in the service of theDemocratic Republic of Georgia(1918–1921). He was also known asZurab Davidovich Avalovin aRussianmanner.

Born inTbilisi,Georgia (then part of theRussian Empire), into the family of Prince DavidAvalishvili,he graduated fromSt. Petersburg Universityin 1900 and took post-graduate courses at the Department of Law,University of Parisfrom 1900 to 1903. He became aDocentat the St. Petersburg University in 1904 and aProfessorofPublic Lawat theSt. Petersburg Polytechnical Institutein 1907. He was an official adviser to the Russian Ministry of Trade and Commerce for many years.

After theFebruary Revolutionin Russia, Avalishvili was named aSenatorby theProvisional Governmentin May 1917. When Georgia declared independence on May 26, 1918, Avalishvili entered Georgian diplomatic service and was appointed a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He rendered important services to his homeland as a member of her delegation to the 1919Paris Peace Conference.

TheRed Army invasion of Georgiaforced him into exile in March 1921. He lived thereafter inGermanywhere he worked as a Professor at theUniversity of Munich.He was one of the founding members of the Georgian Association in Germany and worked for the editorial boards of historical journalsGeorgica(London) andByzantion(Brussels). He died in 1944, in Germany, and was reburied toDidube Pantheon,Tbilisi, in 1994.

Avalishvili’s main works focuses on the history ofGeorgiaand theCaucasus,Georgian literature (e.g., the critical studies ofShota Rustaveli), international law and Georgia’s foreign relations. HisThe Independence of Georgia in International Politics, 1918-1921is a detailed and well-documented first-hand account of Georgia’s relations with its neighbors, the nation’s struggle for recognition and its international ramifications in the period of 1918 to 1921. Much of the works is in diary form, the author being judiciously critical of ineptitude of the Caucasian governments.

Some of the main works by Zurab Avalishvili

• "Joining of Georgia to Russia" (a monograph), St.Petersburg, 1901, 1906 (in Russian)
• "The Independence of Georgia in the International Politics of 1918–1921" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1925
• "Questions of"The Knight in the Panther's Skin""(a monograph), Paris, 1931 (in Georgian)
• "Geschichte Georgiens" (a monograph), Muenchen, 1944 (in German)
• "King Teimuraz I and his work" Martyrdom of Queen Ketevan "" (a monograph), Paris, 1938 (in Georgian)
• "History of the Caucasian Politics" (a monograph).- J. "Kavkaz", Muenchen, No 35-40, 1936-1937 (in Russian)
• "Geographie et legende dans un ecrit apocriphe de Saint Basile".- J. "Revue de l'Orient Christien", 3 serie, Paris, 1927–28, t. 6 (26), No 3-4 (in French)
• "A fifteenth-century Georgian painting in the Metropolitan Museum".- J. "Georgica", London, vol. 1, No 1, 1935
• "The Cross from Overseas".- J. "Georgica", London, Vol. 1, No 2-3, 1936
• "La succession du Curopalate David d'Iberie, Dynastie de Tao".- J. "Byzantion", Bruxells, t. 7, 1933 (in French)