Portal:Georgia (country)/Selected biography/5
Ekvtime Takaishvili (also spelled Taqaishvili; Georgian: ექვთიმე თაყაიშვილი; b. January 3, 1863 - d. February 21, 1953) was a Georgian historian, archaeologist and public benefactor; one of the founders of the Tbilisi State University.
Born in the village of Likhauri in the western Georgian province of Guria (then part of Imperial Russia) to a local nobleman Svimon Takaishvili, Ekvtime graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1887. From 1887 to 1917, he lectured the history of Georgia at various schools in Tbilisi, including the Tbilisi Gymnasium for Nobility. During these years, he was actively involved in extensive scholarly activities and chaired, from 1907 to 1921, the Society of History and Ethnography of Georgia. Between 1907 and 1910, he organized a series of archaeological expeditions to the historic Georgian region of Tao-Klarjeti (now part of Turkey).
After the February Revolution, he became engaged in politics, taking part in the establishment of the National-Democratic Party of Georgia in 1917. He held a post of Deputy Chairman in the Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1919 to 1921.