Kazbegi was born in
Stepantsminda the great grandson of
Kazibek Chopikashvili, a local feudal magnate who was in charge of collecting tolls on the
Georgian Military Highway. Alexander Kazbegi studied in
Tbilisi,
Saint Petersburg and
Moscow, but on returning home, decided to become a shepherd to experience the lives of the local people. He later worked as a journalist, and then became a novelist and playwright. In his later life, he suffered from
insanity. After his death in Tbilisi, his coffin was carried across the
Jvari Pass to his hometown of Kazbegi (now renamed
Stepantsminda), which also preserves his childhood home as a museum in his honor. His most famous work, the
novel The Patricide, is about a heroic
Caucasian bandit named
Koba, who, much like
Robin Hood, is a defender of the poor. Koba has nothing but contempt for authority, a proclivity towards violence, and a firm belief in
vengeance. Kazbegi's work was a major inspiration to Ioseb Jughashvili, later known as
Joseph Stalin, who used
Koba as a revolutionary
pseudonym. == Museum ==