Mikheil Tsereteli


Mikheil "Mikhako" G. Tsereteli also known as Michael von Zereteli was a Georgian prince, historian, philologist, sociologist and public benefactor.
He was born in 1878, in a village Tskhrukveti. His father was Prince Giorgi Tsereteli. His brother Vasil Tsereteli was a famous Georgian physician, writer and public benefactor.
In 1911 Mikheil Tsereteli graduated from Heidelberg University, and received a PhD degree in History in 1913. From 1914 to 1918, he was Associate Professor at Berlin University and Chairman of the Committee of Independent Georgia. In 1916 Tsereteli was a representative of Georgia in the Union of Nations in Lausanne, and in 1918-1919 Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Sweden and Norway.
From 1919 to 1921, Tsereteli was a Professor of the Tbilisi State University.
On February 25, 1921, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia. From March 1921, Mikheil Tsereteli was an émigré.
From 1921 to 1933 Tsereteli was a Professor at the University of Brussels, and from 1933 to 1945 a Professor at Berlin University. After 1945, he lived and worked in Munich.
In the 1930s and 1940s, he was a Chairman of the "Georgian National Committee".
Prince Tsereteli was a member of the Editorial Board of the journal "Bedi Kartlisa - Revue de Kartvelologie".
Main fields of academic activity of Prof. Tsereteli were: Sumerology, history of Georgia and the Caucasus, history of Ibero-Caucasian civilization, Rustvelology, the rights of the Nations, sociology, etc. He was author of more than 80 scientific-research works.
Mikheil Tsereteli died in 1965, in Munich. He is buried in Leuville-sur-Orge. In 2013, he was posthumously awarded the title and Order of National Hero of Georgia.

Selected bibliography