Simon Kaukhchishvili (October 1, 1895 – May 11, 1981) was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 historian and philologist known for his critical editions of old Georgian chronicles; Doctor of Sciences (1927), Professor (1930), Academician

Academician

The title Academician denotes a Full Member of an art, literary, or scientific academy.In many countries, it is an honorary title. There also exists a lower-rank title, variously translated Corresponding Member or Associate Member, .-Eastern Europe and China:"Academician" may also be a functional...

 of the Georgian Academy of Sciences

Georgian Academy of Sciences

The Georgian National Academy of Sciences is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences until November 1990...

 (1968).

He was born to a Georgian Catholic

Georgian Catholic Church

The Georgian Catholic Church , since the 11th century East-West Schism, has been composed mainly of Latin Rite Catholics; Georgian Catholic communities of the Armenian Rite have existed in the country since the 18th century....

 family in Kutaisi

Kutaisi

Kutaisi is Georgia's second largest city and the capital of the western region of Imereti. It is 221 km to the west of Tbilisi.-Geography:...

, western Georgia (then part of Imperial Russia). In 1917, he graduated from the St. Petersburg University and returned to Georgia where he was assigned to the recently established Tbilisi State University

Tbilisi State University

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University , better known as Tbilisi State University , is a university established on 8 February 1918 in Tbilisi, Georgia. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region...

 where he attained to the title of Professor in 1930 and chaired the departments of the Byzantine Studies

Byzantine studies

Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, costumes, religion, art, such as literature and music, science, economy, and politics of the Byzantine Empire. The discipline's founder in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus...

 (1927-38) and of the Classical Philology (1940-1954). Since 1960 until his death, he headed the Department of the Byzantine Studies at the Institute for Oriental Studies in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

. Under Stalin, he was persecuted by the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 authorities, being sacked twice, in 1938 and 1953, but survived the Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

.

Having left a diverse literary and scholarly legacy and commonly regarded as the founder of the Byzantine studies in Georgia, his crowning achievements are the critical editions of the Georgian Chronicles ("Kartlis Tskhovreba") and Prince Vakhushti

Vakhushti

Vakhushti was a Georgian prince , geographer, historian and cartographer.- Life :A son of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli , he was born in Tbilisi, 1696...

’s historical-geographical treatise. He also translated and critically edited a collection of Byzantine sources on Georgia and Georgians published as Georgica in eight volumes from 1934 to 1970.