Shota Rustaveli

Almost nothing is known of Shota Rustaveli, a Georgian poet of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. His name is an adjective derived from Rustavi and indicates his place of origin. Tradition makes him the great treasurer of Queen Tamar. A portrait in the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem shows him kneeling between two saints, with the inscription “Rustveli”; described by a pilgrim in the eighteenth century, covered over with paint, it was rediscovered by a Georgian mission in 1960. Legend has it that he ended his days in this monastery.

In the catalogue 1

• PoetryThe Knight in the Panther's SkinვეფხისტყაოსანიShota Rustaveli · 1200Literature