Zaza Aleksidze
Zaza Aleksidze () — Georgian historian, Armenologist, linguist. Best known for deciphering Caucasian Albanian language. Biography. He was born on 3 August 1935 in Telavi, Georgia SSR to Nikoloz and Eugenia Aleksidzes. His father was a scientist, had earned a doctorate in agriculture, mother was a pianist. He had two brother - Thengiz and Guram, both of them academics as well. Georgian linguist was also their relative. Zaza studied the history and philology of the early Middle Ages in the Caucasus at the University of Tbilisi. He earned doctorate in 1969 and post-doctorate in 1984. He serves as professor at  Tbilisi University and Head of the Department of Armenian Studies. He is also Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia. He was director of the Institute of Manuscripts of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in 1989-2006. Along these, he is also a professor of the Tbilisi Theological Academy. Decipherment of Caucasian Albanian language. He is best known for deciphering Caucasian Albanian language using Matenadaran MS 7117. In 1996, when he was working as Centre of Manuscripts in Tbilisi, Georgia, discovered a  palimpsest at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, Egypt, with an unknown script. He went on to identify the alphabet as Caucasian Albanian, and to identify the manuscript as an early Christian lectionary from about the 5th or 6th century. The lectionary may be the earliest extant lectionary in the Christian religion.