Doctor
Professor
Batumi State Maritime Academy
On a retrospective or contemporary understanding of Georgian civilizational identity
Although the initial outlines of the Georgian cultural and civilizational identity were formed under the influence of the East, it did not become its organic part. This should be explained not by the alternative political culture of the Georgian world, but by the archaic nature, the weak development of statehood and location on the periphery. Approximately the same was happened with the Classical world. Local cultural values did not change fundamentally for this time too. As everywhere, the Classical civilization initially exerted its influence mainly on the elite, created urban centers through coastal colonies and fortifications, established close trade and political ties with the local population. The second stage of acculturation was characterized by the shift these to the hinterland. Unlike other regions of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, antiquity stopped at this phase in Georgia. It is no coincidence that each colony, trading post or a fort, “fell ill” along with the crises that arose in the metropolis. The same happened in the early Byzantine period, when enhanced local states moved almost all the church and military centers located along the coast to the interior of the country. However, one cannot fail to see the enormous cultural and historical significance of ties with the antique world; Having fallen under the influence of a single empire, Iberia and Colchis made a huge civilizational breakthrough, contributed to the Christianization of our country. This was a decisive period for Georgia. It is no coincidence that in the early Middle Ages, Lazika and Kartli made a civilizational choice between Byzantium and the East. The activity of the East should not be explained exclusively by the geostrategic situation of that time or the aggressiveness ""characteristic"" of that world. Naturally, the eastern rulers of that time and subsequent eras sought to return to the former periphery, especially since it was not perceived as an organic part of the opposing side. We should also not lose sight of the fact that Byzantium itself was not ""pure West"". The Eastern element was one of its organic parts, along with Christianity and the heritage of antiquity. Therefore, the partial Islamization of the country is not a coincidence, but the result of an objective historical process. The appearance of Russia in the Caucasus turned out to be tantamount to the revival of the old, Byzantine idea. If we look at the events objectively, we will understand that the people, having lost the sense of historical time, could not refuse to get rid of centuries-old enemies associated with the ""Third Rome"". However, unlike Rome itself and especially Byzantium, relations with Moscow, despite the unification of the national organism, did not lead to the rise of the Georgian state. The main reasons for this are the smaller community of cultural and historical values with Russia, the specificity of the Russian state itself and, most importantly, the ineffectiveness of the ""original"" Georgian national idea. However, two centuries of coexistence with Russia still proved fruitful. We should not forget that the almost completely forgotten Western wave invaded Georgia through Russia. The symbol of this, one might say, second civilizational choice, undoubtedly became Ilia Chavchavadze. His murder points to the dualism of this idea, which, along with its progressive nature, also has a destructive beginning. The modern stage is determined by this dualism. The path of the Mesame Dasi (third political way group), or the current ruling classes, essentially repeats the disorganization and out-of-contextuality of the elites of antiquity, when the idea is imitated rather than creatively reworked. The only difference is that this has already taken on a nationwide character.
Keywords: East, ancient world, Christianity, Byzantium, Islam, Russian Empire, modern civilizational choice.