Научная статья на тему 'Carl von Hahn—outstanding student of the Caucasus'

Carl von Hahn—outstanding student of the Caucasus Текст научной статьи по специальности «История и археология»

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CARL VON HAHN / CAUCASIAN STUDIES / THE CAUCASUS / CAUCASIAN PEOPLES / SCHOLARLY EXPEDITIONS TO THE CAUCASIAN REGIONS / STUDIES OF THE HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS / REVIEWS OF CONTEMPORARY STUDIES OF THE CAUCASUS

Аннотация научной статьи по истории и археологии, автор научной работы — Saitidze Gocha

The author discussed the key aspects of the life and academic activities of Carl von Hahn (1848-1925), an outstanding German student of the Caucasus and traveler, and his contribution to Caucasian studies. He was the first to gather together bits and pieces of information about the Caucasus scattered throughout Ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sources, to translate and publish them, and to present them to the academic community. He is the author of numerous publications on the history and ethnography of the Caucasian peoples.

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Текст научной работы на тему «Carl von Hahn—outstanding student of the Caucasus»

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

Gocha SAITIDZE

D.Sc. (Hist.), associated professor at the I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, head of the Department of Archives at the National Manuscript Center, deputy head of the Scientific-Research Center of the History of Georgian State and People’s Diplomacy (Tbilisi, Georgia).

CARL VON HAHNOUTSTANDING STUDENT OF THE CAUCASUS

Abstract

The author discussed the key aspects of the life and academic activities of Carl von Hahn (1848-1925), an outstanding German student of the Caucasus and traveler, and his contribution to Caucasian studies. He was the first to gather together bits and pieces of information

about the Caucasus scattered throughout Ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sources, to translate and publish them, and to present them to the academic community. He is the author of numerous publications on the history and ethnography of the Caucasian peoples.

I n t r o d u c t i o n

The latter half of the 18th century was marked by even greater rivalry between Russia and two strong Islamic states (Iran and Turkey) over domination in the Caucasus and the obvious need to learn more about the region and the local states. German scholars who lived and worked in Russia responded to the need along with their Russian colleagues. In fact, it was the definitive works of outstanding travelers and scholars I. Güldenstadt, J. Reineggs, Ya. Lerh, Peter Pallas, and others that opened a new stage in Caucasian studies.

In the 19th century, when Russia firmly established itself on the conquered territory and united the local administrative division with the rest of the empire, German students of the Caucasus became even more interested in the region. Many of the German scholars settled in Russia, became Russian subjects, and served the Russian sciences, while remaining in contact with their colleagues in Germany. There were quite a few of them: Wilhelm Abich, G. Radde, A. Leist, and others.

Carl von Hahn, who dedicated his life to Caucasian humanitarian studies and earned respect among his colleagues as a scholar and teacher, was one of the great scholars and scientists of German extraction.

154 MHEHAUCASffSRRLffiBAffZATFR^P volume 2 issue 1 2008

His Life

Carl von Hahn was born on 29 April, 1848 in the town of Friedrichstal (not far from the city of Freudenstadt in Schwartzwald (the Black Forest)). His father, Friedrich Hahn (1809-1878), was a cashier at the metallurgical plant in Friedrichstal, while his mother, Margarita Heinrike Charlotte (born in 1822), came from the family of Christoph Heinrich von Gross, a doctor employed by the Tutlingen Main Administration.1

The boy attended primary and secondary schools in his native town and left home to study at Tübingen and then Novorossia (Odessa) universities where he majored in theology and philosophy. In 1870, he received his first post as a vicar in Reichenbach. As a medical orderly, he fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.2

His life changed in 1872 when, at the age of 24, he went to the Caucasus to settle in Tbilisi. At first he tutored the son of the Caucasian viceroy; later, in 1874, he began teaching in Tbilisi secondary schools and remained loyal to his calling until his death in 1925. It was thanks to his energetic efforts that secondary education developed in the Caucasus. At different periods of his life he taught at the First Classical Grammar School for Boys, the Cadet Corps, Higher Courses for Women, and the Tbilisi Polytechnic; and he was senior teacher at the German Comprehensive School, Director of the First Grammar School for Girls, etc. He taught German as well as the classical languages (Greek and Latin).3 In 1875, he married 19-year-old Helen von Franken, daughter of artists Paul von Franken and Helen Keber,4 from a family that belonged to the Tbilisi German colony. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, von Hahn represented the Russian Red Cross. In 1898, he was awarded with the title of prince for his outstanding services to the Russian Empire.5

Carl von Hahn was a standing or honorary member of the Caucasian Division of Russia’s scientific societies, including the Caucasian Division of the Moscow Archeological Society and the Caucasian Division of the Russian Geographic Society. He also belonged to the Society of German-Geor-gian Cultural Ties set up in 1918.6 On 3 April, 1922, the Georgian capital celebrated fifty years of the public, scholarly, and teaching activities of this outstanding scholar and teacher.7

He died on 16 August, 1925, at the age of 77 in Tbilisi and was buried there.

He was among the outstanding German and Russian natural scientists who gathered around illustrious German scholar and traveler Gustav Radde (1831-1903); the scope of his scholarly interests was wide and covered history, ethnography, pedagogy, biology, and geology.

Some of his numerous scholarly works in German and Russian can be described as fundamental; he was a regular contributor to Russian- and German-language academic publications: Sbornik mate-rialov dlia opisania mestnostey iplemen Kavkaza (SMK); Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdeleniaRossiisko-go Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdelenia Rossiiskogo Arkheologichesko-go Obshchestva, Asien, Das Ausland, Zeitschrift für Schulgeographie, Globus, Petermanns geographische Mitteilungen, and others.8

1 See: Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopaedie (DBE), Vol. 4, München, London, Paris, 1896, p. 331; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, Berlin, 1966, p. 511.

2 See: L. Melikset-Beck, “Carl von Hahn,” Zaria Vostoka, Tbilisi, 19 August, 1925, p. 5; idem, Izvestia Kavkazskogo istoriko-arkheologicheskogo instituta, Vol. 4, Tbilisi, 1926, p. 145; Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopaedie (DBE), Vol. 4, p. 331; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, p. 511.

3 See: L. Melikset-Beck, op. cit., p. 5; Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopaedie (DBE), Vol. 4, p. 331; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, p. 511.

4 See: Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, p. 511.

5 See: Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopaedie (DBE), Vol. 4, p. 331; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, p. 511.

6 See: The National Manuscript Center, personal archives of Academician E. Takaishvili, f. 1071, sheet 1.

7 See: L. Melikset-Beck, “Carl von Hahn,” Izvestia Kavkazskogo istoriko-arkheologicheskogo instituta, Vol. 4,

p. 145.

8 See: Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopaedie (DBE), Vol. 4, p. 331; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, p. 511.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

His scholarly interests were broad, therefore I deemed it necessary to divide his works into several categories to be discussed separately.

Collection of Information about the Caucasus and Its Peoples Provided by Ancient Authors

His major work is Izvestia drevnikh grecheskikh i rimskikh pisateley o Kavkaze (Information about the Caucasus Found in the Works of Ancient Greek and Roman Authors), the two volumes of which are still of interest today. Carl von Hahn was the first to collect, translate, publish, and thus introduce into scholarly circulation information scattered throughout works by ancient Greek and Roman as well as Byzantine authors.

The first volume covering the period which, according to the author, ranged “From Homer to the AD 6th Century” appeared in SMK in concise form under the title “Kratkie izvestia drevnikh pisateley o Kavkaze” (Concise Information by Ancient Authors about the Caucasus) (1882, Issue II, pp. 18-44), later the same journal carried the complete version (1884, Issue IV); and finally, in 1884, this work formed Volume I of the two-volume edition. The author put everything into this book that could be found in the works of prominent authors of classical antiquity—Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Hippocrates, Demosthenes, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Apollonius of Rhodes, Cicero, Strabo, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Seneca, Pliny, Flavius Josephus, Appian, Cornelius Tacitus, Plutarch, Suetonius, Flavius Arrian, Dion Cassius, Ammianus Marcellinius, and others.

Carl von Hahn wrote in his introduction that the idea was suggested by the 5th International Congress of Archeologists in Tbilisi in 1881: “There is no doubt that information found in the ancient authors is directly related to archeology. We all know, for example, that it was Homer who helped Schliemann discover what remained of ancient Troy. Starting in 1870, he was engaged in the diggings that made his name well known and that revealed details of the everyday existence of the Greeks who lived in the earliest, mythical times. We all know that prominent French scholar and expert in Egyptian antiquities Mariette-Bey, who found Serapeum in Egypt in 1880, thus making it one of the greatest archeological discoveries of his time, was guided by information supplied by Strabo. This means that if information found in the works of the ancient authors about any country was based mainly on facts rather than imagination, a detailed investigation of what they wrote about the Caucasus may lead us to important archeological or ethnographic discoveries. This is all the more plausible since many of them visited the Caucasus and described what they saw with their own eyes or heard from the local people. We can expect what the ancient authors wrote about various places to throw new light on the ancient ruins or monuments uncovered by the incessant efforts of archeologists. Finally, the ancient geography of the Caucasus holds special attraction for every educated person who was born or settled in the region.

“For the simple reason that the majority of our educated public cannot read the works by ancient authors in the original and that many of them are practically inaccessible, while the interest in archeology is great, it is necessary to serve the public by gathering and translating materials from ancient authors.”9

The public and the academic community accepted the work with enthusiasm, while the author of a review that appeared in 1884 in the Iveria journal10 pointed out that it opened a new page in the historical studies of the Caucasus.

' C. Hahn, Izvestia drevnikh grecheskikh i rimskikh pisateley o Kavkaze, Vol. 1, Tbilisi, 1884, pp. 3-4.

9 I

10 See: Iveria (Tbilisi), No. 9-10, 1884, pp. 121-126 (in Georgian).

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

A year later, in 1885, the same journal carried an article by great Georgian historian and ethnographer Mose Janashvili entitled “Izvestia drevnikh pisateley o Kavkaze”11 (Information about the Caucasus by Ancient Authors), in which he deemed it necessary to point out: “Information was gathered by Mr. C. Hahn which we translated and commented on ourselves with the exception of several bits and pieces.”12

The second part of the fundamental work “Izvestia drevnikh grecheskikh i rimskikh pisateley o Kavkaze. Vizantiyskie pisateli. Lazika i Iberia” (Information Supplied by Ancient Greek and Roman Authors about the Caucasus. Byzantine Authors. Lasika and Iberia) covered the 6th-15th centuries. Its concise version was presented at the Caucasian study courses in Tbilisi in 1910; later it appeared in installments in the Tiflisskiy listok newspaper (Nos. 295 and 299, 1910; No. 6, 1911).13

The public greeted the second volume with a great deal of interest. The Iveria journal carried another positive review, the author of which said in particular: “The gathered material is valuable not only for world, but also for Georgian history. Until today, information remained scattered— now we can finally see it gathered in one volume. The first part is out of print; the second is no less interesting than the first. I am convinced that the book will be indispensable for all students of Georgian history.”14

Carl von Hahn intended to publish a third volume containing information gathered from works by medieval Italian authors about the Caucasus, but he managed to translate and publish only the work of prominent Italian Catholic missionary Archanjelo Lamberti, which appeared in SMK under the title “Arkhangelo Lamberti. Opisanie Kolkhidy, nazyvaemoy teper Mingreliey. S kartoiu 1654 goda” (Archanjelo Lamberti. Description of Colchis now Called Mingrelia. With a Map of 1654) (Issue 63, 1913). All the works described above attracted a lot of attention from Georgia’s academic community; A. Chkoidze widely used them in his works.15

Carl von Hahn’ works on Caucasian toponymic form a special group; his first work on the subject appeared in 1907 in the Kavkaz newspaper (Nos. 118, 124, 126) under the title “Kavkazskie ge-ograficheskie nazvania” (Caucasian Geographic Names); its fuller version appeared in SMK (Issue 60, 1909). In 1910, the materials appeared in Stuttgart in German under the title Erster Versuch einer Erklaerung Kaukasischer geographischer Namen. In 1913, Carl von Hahn used the materials for his lecture at the 13 th Congress of Natural Scientists and Doctors of Russia held in Tbilisi; the lecture later appeared in the Congress’ Proceedings (Vol. VI, 1916, pp. 442-455).16

Scholarly Expeditions to the Caucasian Regions

Starting in 1888, Carl von Hahn organized expeditions nearly every year to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Central Caucasian Plateau; the reports on what they discovered appeared in two languages (Russian and German). The largest and the most important of them, Aus dem Kaukasus. Reisen und Studien (in four volumes), appeared in 1892-1911 in Leipzig.

11 Iveria, No. S, Ш5, pp. 105-124.

12 Ibid, p. 124.

13 See: L. Melikset-Beck, “Carl von Hahn,” Izvestia Kavkazskogo istoriko-arkheologicheskogo instituta, Vol. 4,

p. 145.

14 Iveria, 1S March 1S90, No. 59, pp. 3-4.

15 See: A. Chkoidze, Istoricheskiy ocherk, t.e. khrestomatia dlia istorii Gruzii, Tbilisi, 1S90; I. Machavariani, “U nas i u drigikh,” Moambe (Tbilisi), 1S97, No. 4, pp. 130-136 (in Georgian.)

16 See: L. Melikset-Beck, “Carl von Hahn,” Izvestia Kavkazskogo istoriko-arkheologicheskogo instituta, Vol. 4, pp. 146-147.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

He also authored numerous articles that appeared in Russian and German in all sorts of newspapers, journals, and collections of articles, including “Puteshestvie po Svanetii” (Travels across Svan-etia) in Kavkaz (Nos. 206-209, 1S92); “V verkhoviakh Kubani i Teberdy” (On the Upper Reaches of the Kuban and Teberda Rivers) in Kavkaz (Nos. 334, 344, 1S93); “Eine Schulfahrt von Tiflis nach Baku” in Zeitschrift für Schulgeographie (No. 14, 1S93), “Die grusinische Militaerstrasse” in Globus (No. 70, 1S96); and “Po dolinam Choroka, Urukha i Ardona” (In the Chorok, Urukh and Ardon Valleys) in SMK (Issue 25, 1S96); in the same year this work appeared under separate cover in Tbilisi); “Puteshestvie v stranu pshavov, khevsur, kistin i ingushey” (Travel to the Land of the Pshavs, Khevsurs, Kistins and Ingushes) in Kavkazskiy vestnik (Nos. 4-6, 1900); “Ekskursia v Nagornuiu Chechniu i zapadny Daghestan letom 1901 goda” (An Excursion to Mountainous Chechnia and Western Daghestan in the Summer of 1901) in Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdelenia Ros-siiskogo Georgraficheskogo Obshchestva (Issue 15, 1901); “Puteshestvie po vysochayshim mes-tam Daghestanskoy oblasti letom 1902 goda” (Travels Across the Highest Mountainous Places of Daghestan in the Summer of 1902) in Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdelenia Rossiiskogo Georgraficheskogo Obshchestva (Issue 16, 1902); “Poezdka v Mingreliu, Samurzakan i Abkhaziu” (Travel to Mingrelia, Samurzakan, and Abkhazia) in Kavkazskiy vestnik (Nos. 4-5, 1902) (the work was reviewed in Iveria, No. 37, 9 May, 1902, p. 3); “Ekskursia v Nakalakevi letom 1903 goda” (An Excursion to Nakalakevi in the Summer of 1903) in Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdelenia Moskovskogo Georgraficheskogo Obshchestva (Vol. 2, 1904); “Eine Schülerexkursion von Tiflis nach Etschmiadsin” in Zeitschrift für Schulgeographie (No. 26, 1905); “Die Taeler der ‘Grossen Liachwa’ und der Ksanka (Ksan) und das südliche Ossetien” in Globus (No. SS, 1905); “Mezhdu Terekom i Ardonom” (Between the Terek and Ardon) in Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdelenia Rossiiskogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva (Issue 22, 190S; in 191S, it was published in pamphlet form); “Die Paesse im ‘Grossen Kaukasus’ (Kaukasioni). Aus meinem Tagebuch” in Bulletin de la Société geographique de Georgie (1924, No. 1), and others.

His Kratkiyputevoditelpo Kavkazu (Concise Travel Guide of the Caucasus), which appeared in 1913 as a supplement to Kavkazskiy kalendar, deserves special mention. The same can be said about “Prakticheskie sovety i poleznye ukazania alpinistam dlia vysokonagornykh ekskursiy po Kavkazu” (Practical Advice and Useful Information for Mountaineers Traveling in the Caucasian Mountains), which appeared in 1915 in Kavkazskiy kalendar.

He was also interested in the geology and hydrology of the Caucasus and published relevant information gathered during his travels through the region in “Einige Bemerkungen über die kaukasischen Gletscher und Seen” in Das Ausland (No. 65, 1S92); “Über Mineralquellen im Kaukasus” in Das Ausland (No. 66, 1S93); “Kartiny kavkazskikh rek. Kura” (Pictures of the Caucasian Rivers. The Kura) in Estestvoznanie igeografia (No. 4, 1S97); “Vulkanische Eruption bei Baku” in Globus (No. 75, 1S9S); “Über kaukasische Erdbeben” in Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (No. 11S, 1S99); “Kartiny glavnykh kavkazskikh rek” (Pictures of the Main Caucasian Rivers) in Kavkazskiy vestnik (No. 4, 1901), and others.

Studies of the History and Ethnography of the Caucasus

He wrote a lot about Caucasian history and ethnography. One of his most interesting works about the life and activity of great Georgian Czarina Tamara (1184-1213) appeared in 1900 in Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (No. 187). There were many more historical and ethnographic works, such as “Auffindung grusinischer Handschriften und Altertümer in Palaestina” published in Bei-

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

lage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (No. 253, 1903); “Sitten und Gebräuche in Imeretien” in Globus (No. 80, 1903); “Das georgische Epos ‘Dilariani’” in Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (No. 271, 1904); “Totengebräuche im oberen Swanetien” in Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (No. 313, 1906); “Iz proshlogo goroda Tiflisa” (From the History of Tiflis) in Tiflisski listok (Nos. 80, 85, 1911); and “Noveyshie dannye po povodu zametki Darvina (1874) o tom, chto u nemetskikh kolo-nistov, poselivshikhsia v Gruzii, uzhe vo vtorom pokolenii svetlye volosy i glaza temneiut” (Latest Information Related to Darwin’s Observation (1874) that the Second Generation of the German Colonists in Georgia Has Darker Eyes and Hair) in TrudyXIII s’ezda estestvovedov i vrachey Ros-sii (Vol. VI, 1916).

He wrote several works about the history and ethnography of other Caucasian peoples, including “Heilige Haine und Baeume bei den Völkern des Kaukasus” in Das Ausland (No. 64, 1891); “Kaukasische Dorfanlagen und Haustypen” in Globus (No. 69, 1896); “Die Völker des Kaukasus nach ihrer ethnographischen Klassification” in Das Ausland (No.12, 1899); and “Puti soobshchenia i torgovlia v Zakavkazie v drenvosti (po grecheskim, rimskim, araviyskim, gruzinskim, armianskim i ital’ianskim istochnikam” (Communication and Trade Routes in the Trans-Caucasus in Ancient Times (according to Greek, Roman, Arabian, Georgian, Armenian, and Italian Sources) delivered at one of the sittings of the Caucasian Division of the Russian Geographic Society, it later appeared in German in Petermanns geographische Mitteilungen (No. 6, 1923).

Carl von Hahn devoted some of his works to the history and ethnography of Iran: “Bazare und Wohnhäuser in Persien” in Asien (No. 4, 1913); “Feier des Kurban-Bairam in Teheran” in the same issue of the Asien journal; “Der persische Kalender” in Asien (No. 8, 1913); “Die Bachtiaren” inAsien (No. 10, 1913); “Aus Teheran” and “Der persische Küstenstrich am Kaspischen Meer, seine Erzeugnisse und sein Handel” in Asien (No. 13, 1913), and many others.

Reviews of Contemporary Studies of the Caucasus, Publications of Outstanding German Scholars, and Surveys of their Academic Achievements

Carl von Hahn regularly put out publications about German, Austrian and Swiss scholars who visited the Caucasus at the turn of the 20th century for scholarly purposes. It should be said that he made a significant contribution to the study of the scholarly activities and life of prominent German researcher and public figure Gustav Radde, who founded the Caucasian Museum (now the Academician Janashia State Museum of Georgia). In 1912, Museum Caucasicum (Vol. VI) (the Caucasian Museum’s periodical publication) carried his biography of Gustav Radde in Russian and German. Another article devoted to the same scholar entitled “Aus den Jugenderinnerung eines deutschen Kaukasiers. Biographische Skizzen (über G. Radde)” appeared in Deutsche Monatsschrift für Rußland.11

He wrote a lot about other prominent scholars and travelers who studied the Caucasus: Gottfried Merzbacher, Moriz von Dech, Martin Rickly, Roderich von Erckert, and others. The following deserve special mention: “Puteshestvie po Kavkazskim goram” (Travels in the Caucasian Mountains),18

17 See: Deutsche Monatsschrift für Rußland, No. 1, 1912.

18 See: Kavkaz, Nos. 228, 235, 237, 1896.

THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION

“Istoricheskiy ocherk inostrannykh ekspeditsiy dlia issledovania vysochayshikh gor Kavkaza” (Historical Essay on Foreign Expeditions that Studied the Highest Caucasian Mountains);19 “Maloissle-dovannye ugolki Kavkaza i puteshestvie von Dekhi k verkhoviam Laby i cherez pereval Tsageker na Sukhum” (Little Studied Corners of the Caucasus and von Dech’s Travels to the Upper Reaches of the Laba and across the Tsagerker Pass toward Sukhum);20 “Cherez Klukhorskiy pereval” (Across the Klukhor Pass);21 “Trudy R. von Erckerta” (Works by R. von Erckert);22 “Necrolog N. von Zeydlitz” (Obituary of N. von Zeydlitz);23 and others.

Carl von Hahn’ life and academic and teaching activities attracted the attention of his colleagues, G. Merzbacher among them, who wrote “Carl von Hahns kaukasische Studien.”24

Pedagogical Works

Carl von Hahn contributed to the progress of pedagogical sciences in Georgia; as a practicing teacher, he detected that German-language literature was not adequately represented in the secondary school curricular. Back in 1879, Carl von Hahn published his selection of German poetry (including Goethe, Schiller, Heine, and others) entitled 54 stikhotvorenia dlia perevodov i zauchivania na pami-at so slovarem dlia mladshikh, srednikh i vysshikh klassov gimnazii i realnykh uchilishch (Fifty-Four Poems for Translation and Memorization with Vocabulary for Primary Schools and Students of Grammar and Comprehensive Schools).

In 1895, he published ancient Greek myths in German in Tbilisi; in the introduction he explained that it had taken him a long time to find the best book among the German works for children to be used after adaptation as a textbook in primary schools. This was G. Klee’s Hausmärchen aus Altgriechenland. Adapted with the author’s permission, it appeared under the title Domashnie drevnegrecheskie skazki G. Klee (Ancient Greek Fairytales Collected by G. Klee for Reading at Home). It was adapted for primary school pupils and supplied with a vocabulary, grammar, and other notes.

The last book that appeared during his life in 1924 was another pedagogical work: the first textbook of Georgian geography published in Stuttgart Kurzes Lehrbuch der Geographie Georgiens (Sakartwelos Respublika) und im Anhang des Kaukasus, Aderbeidjans und Armeniens.25

C o n c l u s i o n

I would like to conclude this short survey of the life and academic and pedagogical activities of Carl von Hahn, an outstanding student of the Caucasus, with what Prof. L. Melikset-Beck had to say about him: “Karl Fedorovich Hahn was one of the last representatives of the old school of Caucasian studies. He was a veteran Caucasian scholar who, though not belonging to any of the local nationalities could still be described as an old-timer in the Caucasus, traveled the region far and wide. He

19 See: Kavkaz, No. 299, 1901.

20 Kavkaz, No. 239, 1911.

21 See: Izvestia Kavkazskogo otdelenia Rossiiskogo Georgraficheskogo Obshchestva, Issue XXII.

22 See: Ibid., Issue XIV.

23 See: Ibid., Issue III.

24 See: Ebda, No. 49, 1903.

25 See: Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopaedie (DBE), Vol. 4, p. 331; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 7, p. 511.

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probably knew the Caucasus better than the local people, its autochthonous population who knew the nature of the Caucasus, appreciated it, and loved it.”26

We are convinced that our contemporaries, members of the Georgian academic community, can learn a lot by studying his scholarly heritage and by using this work as a guidebook to the history and ethnography of the Caucasus.

26 L. Melikset-Beck, “Carl von Hahn,” Izvestia Kavkazskogo istoriko-arkheologicheskogo instituta, Vol. 4, p. 144.

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