The present study is based on research carried out in association with the Cook School of Intercultural Studies, La Mirada, California, between 2007 and 2012. It is a product of my lifelong fascination with the Caucasus, and with astrology. The Georgian astrological manuscripts are an important but largely neglected body of documents that is of some importance to the history of science, and a testimony to the importance of the Caucasus as a nexus of cultural exchange between East and West.
This study has several components. The textual component describes and analyzes the Georgian texts in terms of their organization, content, and sources (if identified). The contextual component seeks to understand these texts in relation to the cultural, religious, divinatory, and astrological traditions of the Caucasus, Europe, the Near East, and the Far East.
It seeks to trace the background, influences, and specific borrowings found in these Georgian texts, and to thoroughly contextualize them in terms of the various astrological and rhetorical traditions to which they belong.
It is my hope that this study will provide a foundation for further study of these important but little-known texts.