Shota Rustaveli ( ka, შოთა რუსთაველი, c. 1160 – after c. 1220),
mononymously known simply as Rustaveli, was a medieval
Georgian poet. He is considered to be the pre-eminent poet of the
Georgian Golden Age
The Georgian Golden Age ( ka, საქართველოს ოქროს ხანა, tr) describes a historical period in the High Middle Ages, spanning from roughly the late 11th to 13th centuries, during which the Kingdom of Georgia reac ...
and one of the greatest contributors to
Georgian literature
The culture of Georgia has evolved over the country's long history, providing it with a unique national identity and a strong literary tradition based on the Georgian language and alphabet. This strong sense of national identity has helped to pre ...
. Rustaveli was the author of ''
The Knight in the Panther's Skin
''The Knight in the Panther's Skin'' ( ka, ვეფხისტყაოსანი, tr literally "the one with the skin of a tiger") is a Georgian medieval epic poem, written in the 12th or 13th century by Georgia's national poet Shota Ru ...
'', a Georgian national
epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
.
Biography
Little, if anything, is known about Rustaveli from contemporary sources. Shota Rustaveli was born in 1166. He started serving
Queen Tamar as a Minister of Finance in 1191. His poem itself, namely the prologue, provides a clue to his identity: the poet identifies himself as "a certain Rustveli." "Rustveli" is not a surname, but a territorial epithet that can be interpreted as "of/from/holder of Rustavi". Later Georgian authors from the 15th through 18th centuries are more informative; they are almost unanimous in identifying him as Shota Rustaveli, a name that is preserved on a fresco and a document from the formerly Georgian
Monastery of the Holy Cross at
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. The fresco was described by the Georgian pilgrim
Timote Gabashvili
Timote (Timothy) Gabashvili ( Georgian: ტიმოთე გაბაშვილი) (1703–1764) was a Georgian travel writer, traveler, diplomat, cartographer, religious and public figure. He was the first to describe the Georgian antiqu ...
in 1757/58 and rediscovered by a team of Georgian scholars in 1960. The same Jerusalem document speaks of Shota as a sponsor of the monastery and a ''
mechurchletukhutsesi'' ("high treasurer"), echoing a popular legend that Rustaveli was a minister at
Queen Tamar’s court and retired to the monastery at an advanced age. Both a folk tradition and the 17th-century royal poet
Archil Archil may refer to:
People
Archil, a historical Georgian male given name (including people with that name)
Georgian Royalty
*5th-century Archil of Iberia
*8th century prince and martyr Archil of Kakheti
*16th-century Archil, Prince of Mukhra ...
identify Rustaveli as a native of the southern Georgian region of
Meskheti
Meskheti ( ka, მესხეთი) or Samtskhe ( ka, სამცხე) ( Moschia in ancient sources), is a mountainous area in southwestern Georgia.
History
Ancient tribes known as the Mushki (or Moschi) and Mosiniks (or Mossynoeci) were t ...
, where his home village Rustavi was located (in modern-day
Aspindza Municipality
Aspindza ( ka, ასპინძის მუნიციპალიტეტი, ''Aspindzis munitsipalit'et'i'') is a municipality in southern Georgia, in the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti with a population of 10,372 (2021). Its main town and a ...
, not to be confused with the modern-day city of
Rustavi near
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
). He is assumed to have been born between 1160 and 1165. A legend states that Rustaveli was educated at the medieval Georgian academies of
Gelati and
Ikalto, and then in "
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
" (i.e., the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
). He must have produced his major work no earlier than the 1180s and no later than the first decade of the 13th century, most probably 1205-1207. Shota Rustaveli died between 1245 and 1250.
Rustaveli was well acquainted with
Persian "and was therefore able to read and appreciate
its poetry without having to resort to faulty translations". Rustaveli may have composed Persian verse as well.
''The Knight in the Panther's Skin''
''
The Knight in the Panther's Skin
''The Knight in the Panther's Skin'' ( ka, ვეფხისტყაოსანი, tr literally "the one with the skin of a tiger") is a Georgian medieval epic poem, written in the 12th or 13th century by Georgia's national poet Shota Ru ...
'' has been translated into many languages. It was first printed in 1712 in the Georgian capital
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
. The manuscripts of ''The Knight in the Panther's Skin'' occupy an important place among the works produced in Georgia.
Two folios of this text, dating from the 16th century, are located in the
Institute of Manuscripts of Georgia
The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts ( ka, საქართველოს ხელნაწერთა ეროვნული ცენტრი; formerly the ''Institute of Manuscripts''), located in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a repository ...
in Tbilisi, and some lines of the poem from the 14th century are also held there. All other copies of the poem date from the 17th century.
Rustaveli mural portrait in Jerusalem
The only known contemporary portrait of Shota Rustaveli was painted on the eastern face of the southwest pillar of the church of the
Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. It is set at the foot of two much larger images of saints and is accompanied by a Georgian-language inscription.
The portrait was vandalized in June 2004 by an unknown perpetrator, who scratched out Rustaveli's face and part of the accompanying Georgian inscription with his name. Georgia officially complained to Israel after the priceless fresco was defaced.
The portrait and inscription have been restored.
Legacy
The highest Georgian state prize in the fields of art and literature is the
Shota Rustaveli State Prize
The Shota Rustaveli State Prize (created in 1965) is the highest prize awarded by Georgia in the fields of art and literature. The first prize-winners of this prize were Konstantine Gamsakhurdia (writer), Irakli Abashidze (poet) and Lado Gudiashvi ...
. Tbilisi's main thoroughfare is Rustaveli Avenue. In Tbilisi, one can also find the
Rustaveli Theatre
Rustaveli National Theatre ( ka, შოთა რუსთაველის სახელობის აკადემიური თეატრი ) is the largest and one of the oldest theaters of Georgia, located in its capital Tbilisi on ...
, the
Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature of the
Georgian National Academy of Sciences, the
Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport and the
Rustaveli metro station, among many other landmarks bearing his name.
On September 3, 2001,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and Georgia jointly issued
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
s to honor Shota Rustaveli. Designed by Yitzhak Granot, the Israeli stamp (3.40 NIS) showed the author with Hebrew text in the background.
A street in
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...
,
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
, in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
,
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
and
Ternopil
Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Terno ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
and in
Gyumri
Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...
,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...
are named after Rustaveli, as well as a pathway in Jerusalem, which leads to the Monastery of the Cross.
Georgian composer
Tamara Vakhvakhishvili set Rustaveli's poetry to music in her composition ''Citation'' for voice and orchestra.
Mihály Zichy
Mihály Zichy, a 19th-century
Hungarian painter, rose to the rank of "national painter" in Georgia as he produced the classic illustrations that have been frequently used in editions of Rustaveli's poetry. A sculpture and a street commemorate Zichy's work in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
.
References
Sources
*
External links
On the first translation of ''The Knight in the Panther's skin'' from Georgian into Russian.*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20040101143721/http://sangha.net/countries/Georgia/shota.htm Shota Rustaveli. ''The Knight in the Panther's Skin'' (fragments in English).Illustrations by Sergo Kobuladze.
*
Literature
*
Tite Margwelaschwili. "Der Mann in Pantherfell".- "Georgica", London, 1936
*
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia ( ka, ზვიად გამსახურდია, tr; russian: Звиа́д Константи́нович Гамсаху́рдия, Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdiya; 31 March 1939 – 31 December 1 ...
. "Tropology of ''The Knight in the Panther's Skin''" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1991, 352 pp (in Georgian, English summary)
*Shota Rustaveli. ''The Lord of the Panther-Skin'', Albany: SUNY Press, 1977, 240 pp, translated by R.H. Stevenson, UNESCO Collection of representative works: Series of translations from the literatures of the Union of Soviet Socialist republics
*Shota Rustaveli. ''The Man in the Panther's Skin'', London: The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1912, translated by Marjory Scott Wardrop, repr. 1966.
*Shota Rustaveli. ''The Knight in Panther Skin'', London: The Folio Society, 1977, A free translation in prose by Katharine Vivian.
*Beynen, G. Koolemans. "Murder, Foul and Fair, in Shota Rustaveli's ''The Man in the Panther Skin,"'' in ''Medieval and Early Modern Murder,'' Larissa Tracy, ed. (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2018), pp. 350–70.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rustaveli, Shota
12th-century poets from Georgia (country)
1160s births
1216 deaths
13th-century poets from Georgia (country)
Male poets from Georgia (country)
Meskhetians