Domsa Károlyné, Fekete Gézáné, Kovács Mária (szerk.): Gondolatok a könyvtárban / Thoughts in the Library (A MTAK közleményei 30. Budapest, 1992)

KÖNYVTÁR ÉS HAGYOMÁNY – LIBRARY AND TRADITION

Romanian typography for Georgia Gabriel Strempel Library of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest The land lying between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea where Antim Ivireanul was born, the most representative of Wallachia's Arch-Bishops (16507-1716) that faultless public speaker, that prestigious theologist and typographer by calling, is actually a tableland bordered on the North by a huge volcanic mountainous chain often rising above 5000 meters. They are the Caucasus Mountains. Georgia - or Gruzia as the Russians call it - covers the western half of this land, approx. 600 km wide, lying between the two Seas. The Eastern half, from the Georgian border to the Caspian Sea, is the Azerbaijan Republic. Greek mythology sites here the landing place of Jason's ship, in search of the golden fleece, after having saved from death the children of Nephele, the Goddess of the Clouds. On this land, named Colchis by the Greeks, flourished an ancient culture praised by the historians of antiquity. In early times, cc. 4-5 A.D., in Iberia - the name of ancient Georgia - Christianity was introduced in its orthodox forms, thus rejecting all heresies spread in the Christian East during its first days. Many monasteries of those ancient times, all built in basalt, with their specific domes, are still to be seen rising here and there on the green plateaus on the West of Tiflis - or Tbilisi. A dark history embarked Georgia in wars for hundreds of years and short were its restauration periods. Despite all this, during the 12-13th centuries, a brilliant culture flourished, at the time when Shota Rustaveli wrote his famous verse poem: "The Valiant in Tiger's Skin ". During the 12-13th centuries Georgia was conquered by the Persians and the Turks and its citizens were sold in slavery in the bazaars of Constantinople and Egypt's Alexandria. Georgians' price was high since the men were strong and the women outstandingly beautiful. Among such slaves was also Andrei - the lay 96 „ Thoughts in the library "