„If the sky in Basque country looks like the sky in Georgia?“

Abstract

Already ancient writers, historians and geographers have talked about two Iberias: One was west Iberia (Iberia of Spain) and the second was east Iberia (Iberia of the Caucasus). Therefore, two theories and versions existed about the kinship of Georgians and Basques. According to the first theory, Basques came in the Caucasus region and specifically, in Georgia from the Iberian Peninsula. According to the second theory, Basques left Georgia several thousand years ago and settled in Spain. But we have the third, alternative theory about the Georgian – Basque kinship and I’ll start my narration and speech discussing this topic. 

As usual, when discussing such topics, one relies on and uses for reaso­ning toponymy, similarities between languages, etymological parallels, likeness between traditions and customs, ethnogenesis or even characteristics. But in our case, we are most importantly interested in Basque – Georgian literary parallels and that is why I’m going to talk about Basque and Georgian literary history. The comparisons between the two will be made by eras, subject matters and problems. I’ll try to explain why Basque literature developed differently from Georgian literature in some centuries and the opposite  – why Georgian and Basque literature processes are sometimes alike. And certainly, I’m going to talk about the present and past roles, functions and importance of literature for these two ancient nations.