http://nhw.livejournal.com/445330.htm...

The is the grand epic poem of Georgian literature, written by a senior official of the court of Queen Tamar, in the late twelfth / early thirteenth century. I bought my copy of the 1966 edition of the 1912 translation from a street stall in Tbilisi, but have found the same edition transcribed on the Georgian Parliamentary Library site here.

Rather grand claims are made by Georgians and their fans on behalf of this poem (vide Abashidze's introduction, "its life-affirming passion, shining humanity and heroic spirit, the ideas of patriotism and internationalism that it embodies and the elevated human feelings and moral ideals it expresses link this great literary monument of the distant past with the spiritual world of all freedom-loving peoples") and since I can't read the original to appreciate its intricate metrical structure (including rhyming words to the fourth syllable) much of it is lost on me. I did wonder if the limitations of the metrical structure of the four-line stanza are in some ways reminiscent of comics - you have the box, you have to fill it with narrative, so sometimes it needs to be padded out a bit, and occasionally it feels a little cramped.

The plot doesn't matter much - there are knights, one of whom wraps himself in a tiger skin and mourns his lost love, they go on long voyages by sea and land, fight battles in many different countries, and rescue the lost love, and all ends happily. However it is absolutely fascinating to read a work written at the far end of Europe from Eleanor's Aquitaine and her sponsorship of the ideals of courtly love, and find exactly the same values of chivalry extolled - and explicitly sourced not in Europe but in Arabia, Persia, Africa and India. I have always tended to think of this sort of thing as linked to the Norman French of the later Middle Ages, but of course it all happened because of the Crusades and the massive injection of new material into Western European from the Islamic world.

Especially in times like these, it's important to be reminded that there was a time when the centre of our civilisation was located in what are now Iraq and Iran (with significant overspill to Egypt and Pakistan). ( )

The Man in the Panther's Skin is as Georgian as Kalevala is Finnish. All Georgian have read it and know at least some lines of the epic.

It is an epic that defines that little known nation in the Caucasus and has been part of their survival in spite of all the invaders they have had to put up with: Greeks, Romans, Persians, Turks, Mongols and Russians.
In fact, Georgia as a nation is older than most nations (about 2500 years) and their old, beautiful and phonetic alphabet (Mkhedruli) is used to write a quite exotic language that may only have some relation to Basque according to some experts. It has split ergativity, ejective consonants, unusual consonant clusters (like in mtsvrtneli), words that challlenge some of our conventions, like mama that means father! ...and much more.

This epic was written by a noble called Shota Rustaveli when queen Tamar of Georgia ruled most of the Caucasus during 13th century. That time is considered in Georgia a Renaissance and this epic is perhaps its most beautiful flower and is about love in a beautiful way. This epic shows influences from Arabic culture, but its taste and values are definitely Georgian.

The translator Marjory Scott Wardrop was aware in 1912 of how challenging it can be to translate from a quite different language, society and time. One has to say that she was quite successful as it is not a coincidence that this translation has been reprinted again and again.

After reading about all that happened to Rostevan and his friends you should visit Georgia, enjoy their tasty food (khachap'uri and a lot more), the landscapes of the Caucasus and how good they receive guests. Then you are prepared to taste some more Georgian litterature, for instance, Galaktion Tabidze. ( )

An epic that has everything from Pseudo-Dionysius through the Arabian nights. ( )