Late Antique Historiography

Conversion of K‘art‘li (compilation)

Title(s):
  • Conversion of K‘art‘li (compilation)
  • Conversion of Georgia (compilation)
  • მოქცევაჲ ქართლისაჲ
    (Mok‛ts‛evay k‛art‛lisay, The conversion of K‘art‘li)
Author:
Period covered:
4th c. B.C.-10th c.
Language:
Georgian
State of Preservation:
Full
Genre:
  • Form (compilation)
Remarks:
Mok‛ts‛evay k‛art‛lisay consists of six distinct texts: (1) Primary History of K‛art‛li; (2) Royal List I; (3) Conversion of K‛art‛li; (4) Royal List II; (5) Royal List III; and (6) Life of Nino. Conversion of Georgia is transmitted exclusively in the similarly-named ecclesiastical corpus Mok‛ts‛evay k‛art‛lisay (Mok‛c‛evay k‛art‛lisay, Moktseva Kartlisa). It commences with Alexander the Great and emphasizes the proselytization activities of St. Nino leading to the conversion of King Mirian in the 320s. A parallel account of K‛art‛li's (Iberia's) royal Christianization is conveyed in Rufinus, Ecclesiastical history, I.10-11.
Edition - Translation:
  • I. Abuladze (1963) Dzveli k‛art‛uli agiograp‛iuli literaturis dzeglebi. Volume One. Tbilisi: 81-163.
  • B. Gigineishvili, E. Giunashvili (1979) Shatberdis krebuli X saukunisa: Dzveli k‛art‛uli mtserlobis dzeglebi. Volume One. Tbilisi: 320-355.
  • Z. Alek‛sidze (2001) Le nouveau manuscrit géorgien sinaïtique N Sin 50: Édition en fac-similé (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 586: Subsidia, 108). Leuven.
  • G. Pätsch (1975) 'Die Bekehrung Georgiens. Mokcevay Kartlisay (Verfasser unbekannt)'. Bedi Kartlisa 33: 293-297.
  • S.H. Rapp, P. Crego (2012) (ed.) Languages and cultures of Eastern Christianity: Georgian (The worlds of Eastern Christianity 300-1500, 5). Farnham: 105-162 = Rapp, S.H. - Crego, P. (2006) 'The conversion of K'art'li. The Shatberdi Variant' (Kek.inst. S-1141). Le muséon 119: 169-226.
  • C. Lerner (2004) The wellspring of Georgian historiography: The early medieval historical chronicle The Conversion of K'art'li and the Life of St. Nino. London.
  • Z. Alek‛sidze (2009) ’Tsmida ninos ts‛khovrebis’ udzvelesi redak‛ts‛iebi'. Tsminda ninos ts‛khovreba da k‛art‛lis mok‛ts‛eva. Tbilisi: 327-370.
  • E. T‘aqaishvili (1989) Obrashchenie Gruzii. Reprinted with new commentary by M. Ch‛khartishvili. Tbilisi.
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • Z. Alek‛sidze (2012) 'Four recensions of the conversion of Georgia (comparative study)'. In: Languages and cultures of Eastern Christianity: Georgian, ed. S.H. Rapp - P. Crego (The worlds of Eastern Christianity 300-1500, 5). Farnham: 269-277.
  • Z. Alek‛sidze, M. Shanidze, L. Khevsuriani, M. K‘avt‘aria (2005) Catalogue of Georgian manuscripts discovered in 1975 at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mounta Sinai. Athens: 408-409, 410-411.
  • P. Ingoroqva (1941) 'Dzvel-k‛art‛uli matiane 'mok‛ts‛evay k‛art‛lisay' da antikuri khanis iberiis mep‛et‛a sia'. Sak‛art‛velos sakhelmcip‛o muzeumis moambe XI-B: 259-320.
  • I. Javakhishvili (1977) Dzveli k‛art‛uli saistorio mtserloba (V-XVIII ss.). Tbilisi.
  • K. Kekelidze (1960) K‛art‛uli literaturis istoria. Volume One. Tbilisi.
  • T. Mgaloblishvili (1998) (ed.) Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus: Iberica Caucasica. Volume one. Richmond.
  • S.H. Rapp (2003) Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: Early texts and Eurasian contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 610: Subsidia, 113). Leuven.
  • S.H. Rapp (2014) The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian commonwealth in late antique Georgian literature. Farnham.
  • C. Toumanoff (1943) 'Medieval Georgian historical literature (7th-15th centuries)'. Traditio 1: 139-182.
  • C. Toumanoff (1963) Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Washington, D.C.