Kazbegi, the Georgian author

The mountain town of Kazbegi in the Caucasus Mountains in northern Georgia, close to the Russian border with Ossetia (Alania) was named after Alexander Kazbegi (1848-1893), the prolific writer. His most famous work is his 1883 novel, The Patricide.

Kazbegi is on the main 208 kilometre route from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, to Vladikavkaz in Russia, called the Georgian Military Road. At present, Russian vehicles (predominantly semi-trailers and trucks transporting goods) can enter the Georgian territory but it is closed for Georgians to enter Russia. From Tbilisi, the route travels north following the Mtkvari River to the medieval fortress of Ananuri, continuing along the Tetri Aragvi River. It passes through Dusheti and Gudauri, through the Terek Valley to Mt Kazbek. The road commenced by the Russians in 1799 and it was finished in 1817, with improvements continuing until 1863. Kazbegi’s great grandfather, Kazibek Chopikashvili, was in charge of collecting tolls on the Georgian Military Highway.

Alexander Kazbegi studied abroad and returned to the region of his birth and worked as a journalist before he penned novels. He died in Tbilisi and was buried in Kazbegi where his home is now a museum. Kazbegi has been re-named Stepantsminda, although Georgians often still refer to it by its former name.

When the Russians expanded their empire in the early 19th century and gained the area in north-eastern Georgia, the town was called Stepantsminda. Georgian Gabriel Chopikashvili, son of Kazi-Beg, assisted the Russians. He was promoted to officer in the Russian army and changed his surname to Kazbegi and therefore the village was referred to as Kazbegi. The town’s name was officially changed to Kazbegi in 1925. In 2006, it reverted to its original name, Stepantsminda.

In Tbilisi, Prospero book store is a popular English book store that also has a selection of Georgian historical books and novels. Unfortunately there were no Kazbegi books translated into English.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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