The earliest golden items appeared on the territory of eastern Georgia during the 3^rd millennium BC, in the so-called Early Barrows Culture; they continued until the Middle Bronze Age (mid-2^nd millennium BC). After the Trialeti Great Barrows Culture period, almost no golden and silver items were found on the sites dating from the second half of the 2^nd millennium to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Objects dating after this gap, during the 8^th-6^th centuries BC, have been discovered in various types of archaeological sites of Colchis.

Tour paper aims to show the local and international cultural background based on which pre-classical Colchian goldsmithery was formed out.

This paper considers an article by the Danish Byzantinist Christian Høgel, “Euthymios the Athonite Greek-Georgian and Georgian-Greek translator and metaphrast?” The article reveals an essential innovation in Georgian studies: the discovery of the artistic style of Euthymius the Athonite as a Byzantine hagiographic writer; and an indication of his merits as an organizer of Byzantine church literature. The author of the paper Prof. Khintibidze puts forward new views on some problems of Barlaam-romance: Colophon of Iovane the Athonite; the date and reason for the creation of Barlaam-romance; on the identity of John (Ioane) - a monk of the monastery of St. Saba.

The issue of the authorship of the Greek text of The Story of Barlaam and Ioasaph has been a subject of great interest of medieval Studies scholars for many dec­ades. The present article considers the sources used in the "Story of Barlaam and Ioasaph", on one hand and the author’s specificity while using these sources, on the other.