- Akaki Tsereteli
Prince Ak'ak'i Tsereteli ( _ka. აკაკი წერეთელი;
June 9 ,1840 -January 26 ,1915 ) was a prominent Georgian poet and national liberation movement figure.He was born in the village of
Skhvitori (Imereti region of western Georgia) on June 9, 1840 to the prominent Georgian aristocratic family. His father was Prince Rostom Tsereteli. Following the old tradition Ak'ak'i Tsereteli spent his childhood years in the village of Savane in a peasant’s family and was brought up by a peasant nanny, all of which made him feel empathy for the peasants’ life in Georgia.He graduated from the
Kutaisi Gymnasium in 1852 and the University ofSaint Petersburg Faculty of Oriental Languages in 1863.Prince Tsereteli was a close friend of Prince Ilia Ch'avch'avadze, Georgian progressive intellectual youth leader. The generation of the 1860s, led by Ch'avch'avdze and Tsereteli, protested against the
Tsarist regime and campaigned for cultural revival and self-determination of the Georgians. He is an author of hundreds of patriotic, historical, lyrical and satiric poems, also humoristic stories and autobiographic novel. Ak'ak'i Tsereteli was involved actively in educational, journalistic and theatrical activities.The famous Georgian folk song
Suliko (full English version [ [http://www.love.poemslibrary.com/Akaki-Tsereteli/suliko/181 Poemslibrary.com ] at www.love.poemslibrary.com] ) is based on Ak'ak'i Tsereteli’s lyrics.He died on January 26 1915 and was buried at the
Mtatsminda Pantheon inTbilisi .ee also
*
List of Georgians References
* [http://www.caucasus.ge/vin%20vin%20aris/akaki_cereteli.htm Georgian Information Portal biography]
*Donald Rayfield (2000), "", pp. 159-168: "The luminaries: Ilia Chavchavadze & Akaki Tsereteli", ISBN 0700711635.
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