Natela Borisis asuli (daughter of Boris) Popkhadze. Tbilisi
God Lile//Lil//En-Lil in Hymns Survived in XXI Century C.E.
A millennia-old hymn to Lil//Lile, called "Lileo" is still very popular among the Kartueli//Qartueli//Qartveli nation. This nation is indigeneous in the entire area of the modern Republic of Georgia situated at the Eastern coast of the Colkhian//Colchian Sea known later as the Great Sea( Mare Maggiore) and still later as the Black Sea. This nation is indigeneous also to areas surrounding this republic that are incorporated in several political entities now where ethnic Kartu nationals//Kartuels//Georgians are either assimilated, denationalized or discriminated by others. For all that they remember ancient traditional texts and melodies. Some of them are forgotten even in the Republic of Georgia//Kartu and performers that dwell outside that Republic remember both the text and the melody of the traditional hymns, songs, nursery rhymes. The indigeneous most ancient name of that god is Lil as remembered by the elderly persons and by written texts published by ethnologysts in XIX-XXI centuries. In modern Standard Kartu//Qartu language it is both written and pronounced "Lile" and the letter "e" is not mute, it ought to be pronounced [e]. The letter "o" in the title "Lileo" of the hymn to god Lil adds to that word an aspect of address. The singer addresses that god and glorifies Him, praizes His activity, His shining palace where great bulls with gold horns and slender species of the deer are sweet to the beholder. The first word of this hymn is preceded by the interjection "Oh"; the meaning is the same as in the English language: Oh. A soloist starts addressing god Lil with the interjection "Oh" and sings it in a high pitch. The name of the god follows in the slightly lower pitch. The word "didab" follows; the meaning of that word is "glory", "glory to You". The chorus of men starts singing. Women do not participate in this hymn if it is performed on the stage, but during the birthday parties, during travel in a car etc. everyone is welcome to sing this hymn and women are not discriminated. The festive day of Lil//Lile is in the Spring on the day "when the Sun moves the distance of two leaps of a ram" as the elderly persons say. People arrive from various areas-villages and towns on the eve of that festivity to the mountainous village called Chukuli. They pass the night in telling stories, feasting, singing, dancing, preparing several delicious dishes, especially the pie called "Kuptar//Kuptari". I was pleased when I saw that word in the Tischler's Dictionary in German of an ancient language written in the cuneiform script; the word Kuptar was explained in that dictionary to be "an offering" to the god. This dish is very popular in the entire Republic of Georgia. It is prepared and sold on the spot fresh and hot from the oven on every street in Tbilisi; it is the modern capital of the Republic of Georgia. Ancient capitals of the kingdom of Kartu//Kardu were the city called Kalkhu//Calkho on the river Iddigana( the Tigris of the later millennia), the cities called Babili( Babylon), Ur of the Chaldeans, Erekhi//Urukhi. Kuptari has become the Georgian//Kartu National Fast Food lately and everyone enjoys it. It is a pie. The dough is made of the wheat flour and water; the excellent parts of beaf ought to be chosen for Kuptar pies as traditionally it is made for the god. The meat ought not be lean; it is chopped in very tiny pieces, salt, pepper, greens like parsely are added. It ought to be round because the Sun is round. It is baked like any other pie in an oven and served hot. Kuptari is an obligatory dish at the festivities to the god in the area called Suan//Suania. Suan area is populated by that part of ethnic Kartu nation that has preserved the ancient layers in their speach, stories, legends better than the rest of the Kartu nation. The word Suan( Su-An) is a testimony of the remote days when An was the supreme god. Sacred numbers were 6, 5, 4, 3. Later the ancients decided for some reason that it was better to choose the divine numbers 60, 50, 40, 30( instead of the former 6, 5, 4, 3). When the number becomes 60 it becomes "one" and the cycle starts afresh. Thus 60 is both 60 and at the same time it is "one". Sixty is a unit in counting minutes of time( and of place as on the map). The number 60 is the number of the supreme god An//Anu. At the same time Anu is "One", the most excelent reality. This was known in the III millennium already by the ancients( R. Dumbrill). The notion of the Supreme god being "the One" that is all-abiding, universal brings us to the Proclus's ideas and then to the theory of Petre Iberi( Petre the Iberian//Iverian//Kartu//Kartueli); he was the son of the king of Iberia//Iveria that is at the Sea of the Iberians//Kolkhians in the so-called Caucasus area and beyond. Petre the Iberian strived in the IV century C.E. His teacher in phylosophy was Ioanne( pronounced [ioanne]) Lazi (the Laz, the Lazian). Petre the Iberian is known as the Pseudo-Dionisius the Areopagite. Dionisius lived in the I century and is considered to be the XIII apostle of Christ. Iberian, Iverian, Colkhian, Lazian, Meskhian, Suanian, Aian//Haian( Aieti, Medea, Circe were Aians//Haians//Kolkhians//Lazians//Iberians//Kartuels) -these words denote one and the same ethnicity the one name for which is Kartu//Kardu, hence the ancient kingdom of Kardu//Karduniash attested in a vast area in II, I millennia B.C.E. on the map compiled by Leonard Wolley printed in London in his book "Forgotten Kingdom". I was pleased to see a large multicolored map made by N. Postgate in 1967 as a sheet glued to the wall in one of the rooms at the Ivane Javkhishvili State//National University in Tbilisi where the Sumerian, Accadian, Hettian//Hettic are tought by several persons. Students are interested in learning the Hatti language especially as it is traditionally known that the Hatti language has much in common with the language of the Kartu nation. As to the term "the Sumerian language", authors of the handbooks say that the term Sumerian language" was coined by one scientist-Julius Oppert in the 1867-ies to replace the already established term "Chaldean" in science literature. He even replaced explenatory comments on artfacts exibited at the museums in several countries; museums in other countries did the same later. Chalde//Qalde( letter "e" is pronounced here as [e]) is the cherished, beloved geographical name of ethnic Kartu nation and its replacement by other words is not reccommended. The proper names of ancient kingdoms are important to trace the forgotten or delliberately hushed, concealed history of the ethnicity//the nation that created them. The word Sumer is also a Kartu//Chaldean word, just like the word Chaldea is. It is a composite word consisting of two Kartu//Georgian words: Shu( middle) plus Mere( mere[mere] means land, area, hence the Georgian words "Amereti", "Imereti", meaning the area "at this side" of a spectator or at the far side from the spectator or from the dividing mountain ridge); hence "Sumere" means area situated in the middle, between other areas( Mose Janashvili 1906 46). Had Jules Oppert known that fact, he would dislike the word Sumer just like he disliked the words Chaldea, Kartu//Kardu//Karduniash. Another national god called Aia is also still revered among the ethnic Kartu//Colkhi nation. A hymn is performed at His festive day in the Spring-time mostly at villages and small towns. Traditional ancient realities, hymns among them, are indeed a lore that are and ought to be widely popularized. International conferences are the best place to do that. I came across recently in the library in Tbilisi a handbook on music written in Arabic in about XIV century and translated into English in XX c. The very first page was interesting to me as it mentioned the terms "Zhiri" and "Bami"for strings. I recalled that both are known from ancient Kartu//Georgian texts written by Ioanne Petritsi in XI c.; he wrote several phylosophical works, was a pupil of Ioannes Italus. Ioanne Petritsi translated Proclus's work "Elements of Theology" into Kartu language. He sometimes chose to deviate from the literal translation and added his own considerations on this or that problem. Petritsi used terms "Zhiri", "Bami"in his chapter dedicated to music. He dwelt on the number "one" and wrote that number 1 is the holy number and is a name of the God. The Arabic text mentioned above is a work on what music at large is, what musical instruments are, what the strings are ( Zhiri and Bami//Bam are the terms for the first and the second strings of a string instrument) and other helpful knowledge is rendered. In the Kartu//Georgian science literature the musical term Zhiri in Petritsi's work is considered to be the string of Sun and is of the highest pitch. Analysis of both the Arabic text and its English translation by ethnic Kartu//Georgian scientists may reveal data that have escaped the attention of other musicologists. Hymns to god Lil//Lile, to god Aia are recorded by several choruses. All are informative to musicologists and slightly differ from chorus to chorus. Ancient musical terms, their link to the national beliefs and traditions still need investigation. A sample of the vitality of the tradition al belief in god Lil's vast power and capacity to help humans is this: the famous Kartu//Suan//Georgian alpinist Misha Khergiani given the nick-name "Kldis vepkhvi"//the Leopard, the tiger of the clyffs- was on the virge of death hanging on one finger( he was able to do that) over an abyss climbing the most difficult part of the mountain Ushba. He was in such great danger that could fall and die, so he shouted down to other climbers to unfasten the ropes that were tied to his( Misha's) rope. They obeyed to the command of the leader of the group. Soon they heard that the invisible Misha high up on the cliff was singing a hymn to Lil in a low voice. One of the climbers knew that the humming the hymn to Lile//Lil while climbing was Misha Khergiani's habit in utmost danger; that person told other climbers this and all tied their ropes to the rope of Khergiani again, then shouted to him informing him they did so and that they would stay tied to his rope, so if Khergiani fall, others would try to catch him on the rope, if not, all would willingly perish with him. In several minutes Khergiani found a stone to help lift up his body, climbed the cliff, other followed. It is god Lil that Khergiani appealled to for help in utmost danger. He was sure subconciously that god Lil assisted him, that otherwise he would fall and perish in the abyss. This incident was aired on the local Television in Tbilisi. This was retold by the Kartu//Georgian musicologist Ioseb Zhordania//Jordania at the International Conference in the Traditional Music held at the Conservatoire in Tbilisi in 2007.
Echo of the Flood in the Song and Dance called ‘Erekheli’
‘Erekheli’ is one of the most widely performed piece of music in modern Sakartvelo among the ethnic Kartu//Kartueli. ‘ I am a citizen of the country Erekhi; my story is rendered from generation to generation and this story is truly ‘saarako’//fascinationg to the imagination, so that it will never be forgotten. A terrible ‘merekhi’ happened in my country, but my nation survived that natural disaster and here we are singing, dancing merrily and remembering that event.’-This is an essence of the text of the song ‘Erekheli’in a nutshell. The text is surely archaic, preserved in the oldest variant of the Kartu language called Megr//Megruli(‘ of the Megrs’). Like a broken cuneiform tablet, it surely has lacunae; some words are mentioned(e.g., qum), the meaning of which the modern singers fail to grasp, they no longer remember it. Nevertheless the basic ideas: that the merekhi (the disaster) happened in Erekhi, that it was a miraculous event retold from one generation to another through millennia and that the modern representatives of the survivals sing in Megr Kartuli language-are defined and chiseled clearly. The meaning of the word ‘merekhi’ is defined in Otar Qajaia’s ‘Glossary of the Megr Words’, Tbilisi, 2001, in Kartuli, as follows: merekhua(merekhuas) is a nown, from the verb merekhans-1. Extremely heavy rain with the raging winds and storms. A popular saying says: Tchvents, valnts, merekhants, mekhi tchqhonts felekants: K. Samushia., Qartuli zepirsitqviereba, p. 81-It rains awfully(merekhants), it darts lightnings, the lightning hits and splits the oak. 2. Destruction, annihilation. Qomort kirtskhiq do merekhuu irfeli- hail began//came and merkhuu//destroyed everything(irfeli). Words erekheli and merekheli are interrelated in that glossary. The rhythm of the music for the song ‘Erekheli’ is slow, by and by the tempo becomes faster- to the possibility of the performers, that varies from one group to another. This song and dance has been recorded by various groups in Tbilisi in XXc. and performed at many events. Other archaic traditional Megr songs are Tsira, Nana, Aia. Tsira is a Lady of the River, a partially divine and eternally young lady. In A. Hamilton’s brilliant translation of A story of Isimud-a text preserved in cuneiform script, the words ‘thira, tsiras (several Nereids) are masterfully employed to render the archaic essence of the cuneiform text in modern English translation. Nana//Nanaya is a Great Mother goddess , though perceived somewhat subconsciously by modern singers; most of them are not professionals, though some have graduated from the Conservatoire in Tbilisi. The name of the wind instrument called ‘buki’(used to summon people) in Kartuli is preserved in the cuneiform text concerning Gilgamesh’s loss of that instrument mentioned as ‘puku’, though ‘buki’ seems to be the correct term. Songs dedicated to Lile//En-Lile are still popular among the ethnic Kartu//Kartueli( of the country Kartu). Traditional songs and dances of the Megr and Suan Kartuels actively retain the archaic melodies and texts of millennia-old events. The Ugula//Head of the City of Tbilisi is Gigi Ugula//Ugulava. Gigi is the first name, Ugula//Ugulava is the second name and his job is called ‘ugula’- it being an interesting coincidence. Both Gigi and Ugula are words known from ancient cuneiform texts in the area called Kardu//Karduniash. The southern region of Karduniash is rendered on a map printed in Leonard Woolley, The Forgotten Kingdom(London 1976).
CV of NATELA B. POPKHADZE address : Republic of Sakartvelo//Georgia. 0102 Tbilisi. Dgebuadze street, house no.1. entr.//podiezd 7, room 143. 8th floor. Telephone +995 32)968522. Aiiaiberiakarti@gmail.com Scientist at the National Endowment project at the Oriental Institute in Tbilisi. Group of Byzantine Studies.
Born June 14 1945 Tbilisi, Republic of Sakartvelo//Georgia in the USSR. Nationality Kartu//Kartueli//Georgian.
1962 graduated Kartuli school no.1 in Tbilisi. 1965-graduated a ten year Musical school , class in fortepiano at the Tbilisi Conservatoire. 1967-the English language department of the Institute of Foreign Languages in Tbilisi. 1967-1993 worked as a scientist and Technical information and patents’ specialist at the Institute of the Inorganic Chemistry in Tbilisi. 1993-1997 Scientist at the Institute of Demography and Social Studies of Sakartuelo , participated in several Republican events, and at the Non/Profit Association for the Preservation of Traditional Values of the Kartu//Georgian Nation ‘Pesvebi ‘ (the Roots) in Tbilisi. 1998-2008 a free-lance scientist and journalist at various newspapers in Tbilisi. Author of two papers delivered at the International Congress in Byzantine Studies at Moscow University on Aug.12, 1991 on the culture of the Kartveli nation. Author of a paper delivered at the International Congress In Byzantine Studies in 1996 at the Copenhagen University on Peter the Iberian//Kartueli and the Book of Jerotheos( a treatise compiled after the fifth c. It influenced many theories). Author of a paper delivered at the International Congress in Historical studies at the University of Oslo on Aug.8, 2000 on the interpretation of the history of the Kartueli nation on the World Wide Web. Author of a paper delivered at the International Congress in Near Eastern, Oriental and North African Studies at Moscow in 2003 on the Reforms of Akhenathen and relation to the religion at Mitanny. In 2006-2008 attended lectures in cuneiform scripts and ancient Egyptian script and corresponding literatures at the Tbilisi State University, in order to learn, then to evaluate the situation of these studies in Tbiisi and start translating basic necessary material into Kartuli//Georgian from the English language. Delivered a paper at the conference Byzantine studies-2 at Batumi in Sakartuelo in 2007. Now I am a participant of a project on the Study of the Kartuli//Georgian texts concerning Byzantine empire, at the Oriental Institute in Tbilisi, under Prof. Neli Makharadze. I propose to deliver a paper in Paris in Nov. 2009. In 2008 I proposed a report on the echo of the ancient flood story attested at Erekhi//Uruki in the surviving Megruli Kartuli group song and dance called ‘Erekheli” and meaning ‘I am a citizen of Erekhi’. Being surely archaic, this musical piece is much loved and often performed at concerts, public events, birthday parties, weddings, etc. by ethnic Kartuels//Kartu. Another Megruli Kartuli song Nana//Nanaya is also very popular and is surely a dedication to the local traditional goddess Nana//Nanaya. I shall illustrate my paper with the recordings on the CD performed by various groups at various years in Sakartuelo. I have a son- Davit Berdias-dze Popkhadze, born 25 Jan, 1979, graduated from the Tbilisi state University, department of Hydrogeology. He works with an NGO.
