# David the Rector

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**Davit Aleksidze-Meskhishvili** (Georgian: *დავით ალექსის ძე მესხიშვილი*), "the Rector" (დავით რექტორი; 1745–1824), was a [Georgian](/source/Georgia_(country)) pedagogue, [calligrapher](/source/List_of_Georgian_calligraphers), and rector of the [Telavi](/source/Telavi) seminary from 1790 to 1801.

Davit Aleksidze-Meskhishvili graduated from the seminary in [Tbilisi](/source/Tbilisi) c. 1765, the latter which was founded by catholicos [Anton I](/source/Anton_I_of_Georgia) in 1755.[1] He then served at the court of King [Heraclius II of Georgia](/source/Heraclius_II_of_Georgia) as a secretary and closely collaborated with the scholar Gaioz the Rector to promote learning in Tbilisi. After Gaioz's departure to the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) on a diplomatic mission in 1783, Meskhishvili succeeded him as the acting rector (and as the rector in 1790) of the Telavi seminary until the Russian government, now [in control of Georgia](/source/Georgia_within_the_Russian_Empire), closed it in 1801. A polymath, he taught grammar, physics, and ethics at the seminary and compiled several schoolbooks. Further, at the order of Heraclius's son and successor, King [George XII](/source/George_XII_of_Georgia), he inspected church schools at [Gareja](/source/David_Gareja_monastery), [Sioni](/source/Tbilisi_Sioni_Cathedral), [Kashueti](/source/Kashueti_Church), [Mtskheta](/source/Svetitskhoveli), and [Anchiskhati](/source/Anchiskhati_Basilica). Davit the Rector also copied, collected, and catalogued old Georgian manuscripts, and compiled a bibliography of Georgian writers.[2] He was also a poet of some talent, affected by the influence of his contemporary Georgian poet [Besiki](/source/Besiki), but Davit's best-known poem *mukhambazi* (მუხამბაზი) abjures Besiki's aesthetics.[3]

## References

1. Mikaberidze 2015, p. 130.

1. Rogava, A. (1975). "დავით რექტორი [Davit the Rector]". *ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 3 [Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, Vol. 3]* (in Georgian). Tbilisi. p. 341.

1. Rayfield, Donald (2013). *The Literature of Georgia: A History*. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 978-1136825293.

## Sources

- Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). [*Historical Dictionary of Georgia*](https://books.google.com/books?id=JNNQCgAAQBAJ&q=Anton+I+of+Georgia). 2 ed. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-44224-146-6.

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