Tamar Khubulava

Tamar Khubulava completed her PhD in Germany and Switzerland. After completing her doctorate, she became an assistant professor at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her research interests lie in ancient and especially late ancient philosophy. She works mainly on the  philosophy of Proclus and his Georgian commentator Ioane Petritsi.

Abstract: Ancient and late ancient philosophy influenced not only Byzantine theology but also Georgian translators and commentators. Ioane Petritsi, a Georgian philosopher of the 11th and 12th centuries, was influenced by various philosophical traditions, but above all by the thought of Proclus. Petritsi translated and commented on Proclus' Elements of Theology.

One of the aims of my research is to analyse Petritsi's terminology in relation to the Greek terms in Proclus. I am particularly interested in the term ukutrpoba, which Petritsi uses to translate the Neoplatonic term epistrophe, where trpoba stands for 'love' and uku for 'return'. My research question is whether Petritsi was acquainted not only with Proclus but also with Ps. Dionysius the Areopagite's writings. For in De div. nom. Dionysius refers to and expands on Proclus' doctrine of Eros. Although Dionysius' name does not appear in Petritsi's commentary, it can be assumed that Petritsi was familiar with Dionysius' works from Greek and Georgian translations. Petritsi may have known Dionysius' works from the Georgian translation by Ephrem Mtzire, who lived in the 11th century. The aim is to find out to what extent Petritsi's interpretation of love of the One agrees or contradicts Proclus on the one hand and Ps. Dionysius the Areopagite on the other.