The present project aims at preparing a new methodological and conceptual basis for the University handbook on the history of ancient Georgian literature. As we are taking into account local peculiarities of the teaching process and hence the book we plan to write will represent a mixture of popular western-type University handbooks and traditional local University manuals.
Preparation of a high-level handbook designed for the first-level students of higher education institutions is one of the most important issues of modern Georgian Studies (Kartvelology). Currently, the majority of University Professors and lecturers still mainly use the book published in 1969 under the authorship of Korneli Kekelidze and Aleksandre Baramidze. Is clear that the University manual, published almost 50 years ago requires modification; however, hitherto any attempt at its alteration has mainly been confined to the works of ancient Georgian literature taught at secondary schools.
The History of ancient Georgian literature encompasses Late Antique and Medieval hagiography and Medieval secular literature. In spite of the great value of recent studies on the subject, none of these works can be used as a handbook since we cannot single out even one edition that treats the subject under scrutiny simultaneously in its entirety and in details. 
Our project aims at analyzing the ancient Georgian literature as a unified (and simultaneously diverse) esthetical phenomenon based on methodologies pertaining to interdisciplinary, comparative, intercultural, semiotic, and cultural studies. Ancient Georgian ecclesiastical and secular literature represent an original cultural phenomenon nurtured by both, Western and Eastern oikumene. Our research team, apart from specialists in Medieval and Literary Studies includes two Orientalists, the specialists in Arabic and Persian studies, as we plan to explore plausible connections of Georgian secular writings with Medieval Arabic literature, especially in the case of the texts' Persian influence on which has already been established. Another novelty concerns our specialist in Literary Studies, who is well-versed in the history of Romanicism. According to some recent studies, scholars have established an inter-textual relationship between Medieval Persian love poetry and the works of Romantic writers. We believe that it would be possible to establish some hitherto unknown features of medieval Georgian secular literature thanks to its juxtaposition to the literary heritage of Georgian Romantics.
We do expect that the final outcome of our project will become an indispensable tool for the students of Georgian Studies in Georgia and abroad.