GEORGIANS, or IBERNIANS, or GRU SINIANS. The people (about 600,000) who speak the Georgian language call themselves Karthveli, but are also named Grusini, and in habit the valley of the upper and middle Kur, those of the Rion and Tchoruk, as far as the promontories of the Ararat 'chain and north to the Alazan, beyond which their language is mixed with the tongues of Shirvan and Dag hestan as far as the Caspian Sea. Probably descendants of the Colchi and Albani, they were anciently called Iberi, and, according to tradition, are akin to tile Armenians, although their language differs from the haikanian (Somali in Georgian), and is believed by their learned prince Theimuraz to be primitive. Brosset and Voss (1847) place it among the Indo-European languages. It consists of sev eral dialects, namely: The Karthveli or Geor gian proper in the centre, the Kakheti and Imerethi next, then the Mingreli and Guri, and more remotely the Suani and the Lazi, which reaches almost to Trebizond. A colony trans ported into Asterabad in Persia in 1622 is said to speak a purer idiom than any of those now spoken in Georgia. Georgian literature is mostly founded on that of Greece, with which country relations were very intimate, and it reached its highest development in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Bible was partly translated in the 8th century, finished in. the 18th and
splendidly printed at Moscow, Tiflis and Saint Petersburg. Arabic and European works have also been translated into Georgian. We can mention but a few of the many remarkable national works. Among the romances are the following: (Of the Man in the Tiger Skin), by Skhotta of Rusthvel, a general of the heroic queen Thamar, with a commentary by King Wakhtang VI (Tiflis 1793); 'Dared jamiani> (Deeds of Amiran, son of Daredjan, a hero of Bagdad), by the courtier Moses of Khoni; (VisramianP (Love of the Princess Vis for Prince Ramin), somewhat resembling Rousseau's 'Heloise); (Miriani) (story of the Chinese Princess Min), imitated from the Per sian. These and many others exhibit lively imagination and good taste. The 'ThamananP is a panegyrical epic on Queen Thamar, by Tchakhakhadze. In poetry, there are versions of lyrical poems from the Greek, etc., by Georgi Aphoni (11th century); a collection of historic odes; there is also a very keen satirical work by Bessarion Gabas Klioili. The lan guage is rich in folk-tales, fables and ballads, as well as in ecclesiastical writings. There are many histories of Georgia, chronicles, biog raphies, histories of families, monasteries, etc. The drama began to be cultivated at a late period, especially by Prince Eristov.