Zurab Kiknadze was born in 1933 in Tbilisi. In 1951-1956, he studied Semitology at Tbilisi State University; In 1960, he completed the post-graduate studies of the Georgian Academy of Sciences in the direction of Sumerology. He worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, in the Department of Ancient Eastern Languages; from 1977, he headed the Department of Folklore of Tbilisi State University. He gave lectures in several higher educational institutions of Georgia and abroad. He is the chairman of the advisory board of the “Georgian Representative of the United Bible Societies.”