La scrittura georgiana. Storia e nuove prospettive

In the present contribution we discuss the possibility of further articulating the evolutionary picture of the Georgian writing outlined by Ivane Javakhishvili, in the light of new partial findings that have enriched our study basis over the past years, particularly with regard to the development of the lower-case writing in its different facies. We show that the first type of Georgian script is angular asomtavruli, from which a round type was developed in the 1st and 2nd century. Probably in the 8th century, the angular asomtavruli develops into the angular nuskhuri, which is found in documents dated back to the first half of the 9th century. Then, the cursivisation of the angular nuskhuri leads to the round nuskhuri, from which the mkhedruli, actual Georgian script, is formed; it is attested in the 10th century.