Bagrationi Vakhushti

Born in 1695 or 1696; died Dec. 6, 1784. Georgian historian and geographer.

Vakhushti was the natural son of Vakhtang VI. From 1724 he was an émigré in Moscow in the Georgian community, where he continued his scholarly pursuits. He was the most outstanding representative of Georgian feudal historiography. Vakhushti’s main work, Sakartvelos tskhovreba (Life in Georgia, 1745) was the first attempt at a critical investigation of the Georgian people’s past. It consists of two main parts: the historical and the historical-geographical. The text, which contains valuable information on the history and geography of Georgia, has chronological and genealogical tables, as well as numerous maps. The main political idea of Vakhushti’s Life in Georgia —autocracy—may be considered progressive in view of the conditions in feudally fragmented Georgia. Vakhushti’s work, mainly the part devoted to historical geography, was often published in Georgian and in translation. The last edition came out in 1941 in Tbilisi.