Shota Rustaveli, a Georgian statesman and poet of the twelfth century, is best known as the creator of the epic poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin". This masterpiece is considered an important phenomenon not only in Georgian, but also in the entire world literature.
Information about the life of Rustaveli and his great poem
There is very little information about the real biography of the poet. He was born, most likely, in 1172 (the exact date is unknown) in the village of Rustavi. And he obviously got the nickname "Rustaveli" in accordance with his place of birth. According to some reports, the medieval poet belonged to a distinguished feudal family. In his poem, the author claims that he is a Meskh (as representatives of one of the sub-ethnic groups of Georgians call themselves).
Shota received his education in Greece, then was the treasurer of the famous Queen Tamara (this is evidenced by Rustaveli's signature on a document dated 1190). The poet lived at a time when Georgia was a powerful and influential state. In addition, at the court of the young queen, great attention was paid to the support of the poets. Tamara herself patronized poetry.
It is obvious that Rustaveli was a very educated person - this can be understood from the text "The Knight in the Panther's Skin". The author was clearly well acquainted with Persian and Arabic literature, with the philosophy of Plato, with the basics of ancient Greek poetics and rhetoric.
The author himself stated in the sixteenth stanza that the story is an adaptation of the "Persian story." But researchers have not yet found a similar plot in the literature of ancient Persia. The protagonist of the poem is the knight Tariel. He tries to find and free his beloved Nestan-Darezhan, who is imprisoned in a distant impregnable fortress … But the poem attracts not only with an interesting plot, but also with the aphoristic language: many lines of the epic eventually turned into sayings and proverbs.
Relationship between Rustaveli and Tamara
It is very likely that Queen Tamara was the prototype of Nestan-Darejan. There are several legends about the relationship between the great Georgian ruler and the poet Rustaveli. One of the legends tells that, despite his love for Tamara, Rustaveli was forced to marry another woman named Nina. Some time after the wedding, Tamara ordered the poet to translate into Georgian a message from a certain defeated shah. Shota brilliantly fulfilled this order, but at the same time refused to reward for his work, that is, he showed impudence. And a week after that, the poet was killed and beheaded by someone.
Another legend says that Rustaveli, unable to bear the fact that the queen does not reciprocate to him, decided to give up worldly life and spent his last days in the cell of the Jerusalem monastery of the Holy Cross.
Rustaveli in Jerusalem and the date of death
The image of the poet found on one of its columns testifies to Rustaveli's stay in the Monastery of the Holy Cross. And the signature next to this image suggests that Rustaveli also took part in the painting of this religious building.
It is quite possible that Rustaveli got to Jerusalem after Tamara's death (she died no later than 1213). And the reason for his departure in this case could not be love for the queen, but, for example, enmity with the Catholicos (that is, with the highest cleric of the Georgian Orthodox Church) John.
Rustaveli's life ended in 1216. Eight centuries have passed, but Rustaveli and his work are still remembered: the airport and the central avenue in Tbilisi are named after him. And in some Russian cities (for example, in Moscow, Vladikavkaz, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Ufa, Chelyabinsk) there are Rustaveli streets.
