ABSTRACT
Shota Rustaveli (archaically, some think correctly, ‘Rustveli’), the author of Vepkhistqaosani (ვეფხისტყაოსანი, ‘The Knight in the Panther Skin’), the greatest classic of Georgian secular literature, is assumed to have been born around 1166; there is no exact date for his death. He is believed by some to be the elderly subject of a fresco portrait rediscovered in 1960 at the monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, on which the names ‘Shota’ and ‘Rustvli’ are inscribed in different hands. In 1956 Shota was also discovered to be registered as a benefactor of the same monastery. Whether he was the treasurer of Queen Tamar (who reigned 1184–1213), or part of her close circle, whether he undertook a mission or pilgrimage to Palestine around 1192 to refurbish the monastery (where he is said to have taken vows and to be buried) is nothing but conjecture. (He has also been identified as a feudal lord, Shota III of Hereti, and even as a captive Persian princess.)
