ABSTRACT
Shota Rustaveli's epic poem was written around A.D.1200 AD in Georgia, in the Caucasus. Its Georgian title is vepxist’ q'aosani, which literally means “of the leopard” (vepxis) “in the skin” (nominative: t'q'avi, locative: t'q'aosani). 1 The poem has been translated under various titles; the most easily accessible translation is R.H.Stevenson's The Lord of the Panther-Skin. 2 It will henceforth be referred to as LPS, even though Abaev has shown that the correct translation of Old Georgian vepxi is “leopard” and not “tiger” or “panther.” 3 In this chapter I use the translation “leopard.” Although the contemporary Georgian word vepxvi indeed means “panther,” Abaev notes that Shota's text actually uses a different word: vepxi. This word meant “leopard” in Shota's time; translations of the title of Shota's poem as The Man in the Tiger Skin or The Lord of the Panther-Skin are therefore not quite correct. Tschenkeli, however, lists both words as synonyms but indicates that vepxi is archaic. 4 Shota is a common first name even today, and “Rustaveli” means “from Rustava.” There are several towns by that name; scholars generally assume that it refers to a town in Meskhetia. 5 The poem is about 6,500 lines long and shows Persian influence in both style and subject matter. 6 The action takes place in locales with names like “Arabia,” which do not refer to any actual country. Rather, “Arabia” and “India” refer to stages of mental development: inhabitants of the former are more rational while those of the latter are more emotional and impulsive. We know little about the author; tradition claims he was a high court official, possibly the treasurer of Queen T'amar, who in his old age retired to the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem. In 1960, a Georgian expedition discovered there a fresco with an inscription with the name “Shota” in Old Georgian letters. 7 The poem is dedicated to Queen T'amar, who succeeded her father Giorgi III as Tinatin succeeded her father in Shota's poem.
