The Caucasus area not only contains the highest and least accessible mountain region of Europe, but is also one of the main land routes between Europe and the Middle East, and has been frequently overrun by various peoples of other cultures. Constant pressure from peoples coming from Central Asia and through southern Russia,from pre-Christian times onwards,drove the dwellers on the northern plains deeper into the mountain valleys. Successive incursions of different groups of people left their mark on the local folk culture, so that we have here a wide range of languages, customs and beliefs within a relatively small region, and this has been largely cut off from later developments in western Europe. Within the Caucasus it is possible to identify some common cultural elements,although neighbouring peoples may be speakers of languages from two entirely different language groups. Moreover, because of the in-accessibility of some of the high mountain areas, communication between villages or valleys has not always been easy. This is reflected in the great number of dialects within the languages spoken here.

Against such a background, it is perhaps not surprising that the Caucasus is very rich in folklore and literature of all kinds. Georgia,for example,could boast a very fine literature by the thirteenth century. Christianised already in the fifth century, it developed a literature of sacred texts, chronicles, and poetry, a masterpiece of which is The Knight in the Panther's Skin by the twelfth-century poet, Shota Rustaveli. In many areas, however, even within the mountainous districts of Georgia itself, heroic poetry and prose, folktale and ritual song were preserved orally and only collected from about the mid-nineteenth century onwards. An additional factor was the reversal in cultural development suffered throughout the Caucasus after the many foreign invasions, and especially the devastating onslaught of the Mongols in the thirteenth century.

Systematic collection and recording of oral material became more prolific in the early twentieth century and during the early Soviet era much work was done on recording the culture and literature of the region. Successive ethnographic expeditions were sent out to the mountain areas to record folklore and epic lays from known narrators, and a great number of publications in the original languages and in Russian translation were the result. Fairy tales were recorded alongside epic material and ritual poetry and one sees constant cross-fertilisation in all branches of traditional literature.