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Selected Aphorisms "The Knight in the Panther Skin"
A selection of wise and witty aphorisms on Love, Friendship, Generosity, Confidence, Perseverance and the Wisdom of living. Based on the award-winning translation of Rustaveli's "Knight in the Panther Skin" by Lyn Coffin
124 pages, Hardcover
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About the author
Shota Rustaveli
14 books87 followersShota Rustaveli (Georgian: შოთა რუსთაველი) (born approx. c. 1160 – died after c. 1220), was a Georgian poet of the 12th century, and one of the greatest contributors to Georgian literature. He is author of "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" (ვეფხისტყაოსანი, Vepkhistkaosani), the Georgian national epic poem.
Little, if anything, is known about Rustaveli from contemporary sources. 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 which can be interpreted as "of/from/holder of Rustavi." Later Georgian authors of the 15th–18th centuries are more informative: they are almost unanimous in identifying him as Shota Rustaveli, a name which is preserved on a fresco and a document from the formerly Georgian Monastery of the Holy Cross at Jerusalem. The fresco was described by the Georgian pilgrim Timote Gabashvili 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 "high treasurer," thus 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 identify Rustaveli as a native of the southern Georgian region of Meskheti, where his home village Rustavi was located (not to be confused with the modern-day city of Rustavi near Tbilisi). 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" (i.e., the Byzantine Empire). 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 c. 1205–1207.
Little, if anything, is known about Rustaveli from contemporary sources. 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 which can be interpreted as "of/from/holder of Rustavi." Later Georgian authors of the 15th–18th centuries are more informative: they are almost unanimous in identifying him as Shota Rustaveli, a name which is preserved on a fresco and a document from the formerly Georgian Monastery of the Holy Cross at Jerusalem. The fresco was described by the Georgian pilgrim Timote Gabashvili 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 "high treasurer," thus 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 identify Rustaveli as a native of the southern Georgian region of Meskheti, where his home village Rustavi was located (not to be confused with the modern-day city of Rustavi near Tbilisi). 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" (i.e., the Byzantine Empire). 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 c. 1205–1207.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 30, 2024
This poem by Shota Rustaveli has a unique philosophy on love as it divides it into two parts spiritual and earthly love, stressing the idea that true love does not mix with lust. It also has strong themes of marriage after falling in love as well as the effect of separation from your lived ones.
Other common themes include friendship, companionship and kinship and how a lot of times it can over come love in sacrificial ways and how one can find connection to others who suffered the same trauma and feel great empathy and compassion for. The book explores imaginary Arabic and Indian lands and thus explores themes of generosity, chivalry, and authority and respect.
This book gas a lot of ideas that are confusing or hard to understand which may seem to contradict itself at times… like how the prologue talks about true spiritual love, but yet all the characters love affairs seem to be based of beauty.. a very old fashioned kind of ideas of love as expected.
the biggest contradiction and let down for me was how Avtandil slept with Patman for “getting information on Tariel’s lover Nestan” which confusingly they laid after Patman gave him all the information he needed… this came as a shock as Avtandil was madly in love with Tinatin and spent a journey more than 3 years mourning his separation from her… which kind of contradicts that idea of pure love talked about throughout the book.
Finally, the translation of this book felt as good as a translation of a poem can be, yet it still feels cold and empty to read at times as if it lost its soul during translation… but I mean it is impossible to translate the spirit of something written in another language.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and found it very interesting!
Other common themes include friendship, companionship and kinship and how a lot of times it can over come love in sacrificial ways and how one can find connection to others who suffered the same trauma and feel great empathy and compassion for. The book explores imaginary Arabic and Indian lands and thus explores themes of generosity, chivalry, and authority and respect.
This book gas a lot of ideas that are confusing or hard to understand which may seem to contradict itself at times… like how the prologue talks about true spiritual love, but yet all the characters love affairs seem to be based of beauty.. a very old fashioned kind of ideas of love as expected.
the biggest contradiction and let down for me was how Avtandil slept with Patman for “getting information on Tariel’s lover Nestan” which confusingly they laid after Patman gave him all the information he needed… this came as a shock as Avtandil was madly in love with Tinatin and spent a journey more than 3 years mourning his separation from her… which kind of contradicts that idea of pure love talked about throughout the book.
Finally, the translation of this book felt as good as a translation of a poem can be, yet it still feels cold and empty to read at times as if it lost its soul during translation… but I mean it is impossible to translate the spirit of something written in another language.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and found it very interesting!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 19, 2024
Picked this up on a visit to Tbilisi. I'm grateful to learn about the key medieval Georgian poet and there are some gems of wisdom in here, but I strongly dislike when translators try to make things rhyme in the target language. There's much more to poetry than rhymes but using *bad* rhymes makes the whole thing feel cheesy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews