TEHRAN – Iran’s Sadi Foundation has honored Georgian Iranologist Lili Zorzoliani with a Shahriar Medal.

Zorzoliani, who is best known for her translation of Persian poet Fedowsi’s masterpiece Shahnameh, received the medal from Iranian cultural attaché Ahmad-Ali Mehri at Tbilisi State University, the Iranian Culture Center in Tbilisi announced on Sunday.

Tea Shurgaia, a professor at the Iranian Studies Department of Tbilisi State University, also attended the award ceremony.

Zorzoliani won the medal at the Fifth Shahriar International Scientific and Cultural Medals Festival in November 2020 for her article on Iran-Georgia cultural relations and the place of the Shahnameh in Georgia. However, she could not attend the festival due the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a meeting with Zorzoliani, Mehri, who is the representative of the Sadi Foundation, a Tehran-based organization that promotes the Persian language abroad, praised the expert for her career in Iranian studies, which spans nearly 50 years.

He said that Zorzoliani has made great contributions to the establishment of the Iranian Studies Department, where numerous students and professors have been trained.

On her part, Zorzoliani expressed her thanks to the Iranian Culture Center in Tbilisi, and said, “The award makes our duty to promote Persian literature and Iranian studies heavier than ever.”

“Therefore, we should increase our educational and cultural activities,” said the scholar who is the writer of about ten books and over 30 articles on Persian literature.

Tbilisi State University paid homage to Zorzoliani in 2012 for her prominent role in promoting the Shahnameh in her country.

The 2021 Shahriar International Scientific and Cultural Medals Festival honored the Georgian Iranologist Giorgi Lobzhanidze with a Shahriar Medal.

Lobzhanidze, an oriental studies and Arabian language graduate of Tbilisi State University, is the director of the Oriental Studies Department at the Center of Cultural Relations of Georgia. 

In 1997, he came to Iran to work on his Ph.D. research project in religion and mysticism at the University of Tehran. After returning to Georgia in 1999, he again started working at Tbilisi State University.

He is a translator of the Quran, and the collection “Persian Fairy Tales” and the Gulistan by Persian poet Sadi, “The Water’s Footsteps” by Sohrab Sepehri and “Another Birth” by Forugh Farokhzad. 

Photo: Georgian Iranologist Lili Žoržoliani (L) holds the Shahriar Medal after receiving the honor from Iranian cultural attaché Ahmad-Ali Mehri (3rd L) as Tea Shurgaia of the Iranian Studies Department is seen in the photo.

MMS/YAW