GEORGIA EPITAPHS OF THE JEWS OF KUTAISI

Tombstones are important monuments that refect the features of national material and spiritual culture. “Stone inscriptions” not only indicate the identity, gender, dates of birth and death of individuals, but also inform us about the social status, surnames, anthroponyms, toponymy, vocabulary, phraseology, and dialectisms widespread in a given village or community; they also show the human relationship with the earthly life, and indicate their profession, and religious as well as ideological infuences. Stones of various forms and sizes represent the source of calligraphy, stone carving, ornaments, cultural infuences, and blending. The proposed paper deals with the analysis of types and forms of epitaphs refected on tombstones (dated back to the 19th–20th cc.), discovered by us during expeditions in diferent parts of Georgia, specifcally: 1. narrative epitaphs; 2. rhyme-type epitaphs: a) rhymes authored by mourners; b) celebrated verses of poets and quotations of famous individuals; 3. Paraphrased prayers. of writing the stories of life on tombstones, to a greater or lesser extent, is still alive. However, it may disappear. In such a case, monotony will prevail. Tombstones, similar to the epigraphic monuments, represent cultural legacy afected by threats in the ghreats in the globalization era. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure their description and examination. Epitaphs at the Sapichkhia Jewish cemetery are inscribed in Hebrew, Russian and Georgian – either in two languages smultaneously (Hebrew and Georgian or Georgian and Russian) or in Georgian and Hebrew alone.In this article we will not discuss Russian-language epitaphs.