ტერმინ იბერიის ინტერპრეტაციის ცდები ქართულ მეცნიერებაში

ანოტაცია

It was noted as early as Antiquity that the term Iberia was applied to two geographically and culturally (“by customs and language”) distant lands in the Caucasus and on the Iberian Peninsula. The fact can either be interpreted as a mere coincidence, or the identical names can be associated with the same Semitic eponym and, despite the possible differences in their chronological contexts, the similarity can be explained by the underlying geographical principle.

As is known, the term first appears in Greek texts (Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Strabo, Flavius Josephus, Plutarchos, Appian of Alexandria…). While scholarly opinion strongly varies about its possible pre-Hellenic origin, the theories from different periods can be assigned to two broad groups: those qualifying the name as 1) an exonym and 2) an endonym.

Evidently, the question was relevant in medieval Georgia as well, as Spanish Iberians were frequently called “The Georgians of the West”. Scholarly interpretation of Georgian people’s historical appellations started in the 19^th century with Josef Markwart’s work, and was further expanded by Nicholas Marr, Ivane Javakhishvili, Levon Melikset-Bek, Simon Janashia, Gerhard Deeters, and later by Giorgi Tsereteli. Their works, which I will discuss in detail in my paper, offered a solid foundation for the theories propounded by our contemporary scholars (Elguja Khintibidze, Mikheil Kurdiani, Rismag Gordeziani…). I find especially noteworthy Kurdiani’s opinion, who explains the identical appellations of the two distant countries in terms of spatial perception. While the Phoenician origin of the term Iberia leaves no room for doubts, it is noteworthy that Caucasian Iberia and Spanish Iberia were two furthermost lands from the perspective of the Ancient Mediterranean world. This proposition raises further questions as to the linguistic landscape of the Ancient Mediterranean.