Little is known about Rustaveli’s early life. According to Georgian legend, he was born in 1172, but later became and orphan, and so he was brought up by an uncle of his, who was a monk. His early introduction to religion is reflected in his later poems, which are oftentimes both religious and philosophical. There are many legends telling about Rustaveli’s varied education, and also his numerous travels in different Eastern countries, such as Arabia, Byzantium, Greece.¹ According to legend, Rustaveli traveled to Jerusalem when he grew old and died there in a Georgian monastery.²

While he was still living, Shota Rustaveli wrote a series of odes to the Queen Tamara, who ruled during the XII century, which was the time when Georgia achieved its highest point in power and culture. As a reward for writing the poem, the queen appointed him treasurer of the court. Tradition has it that Rustaveli later fell in love with her.³

The epic masterpiece that Rustaveli wrote was Vepkhis-tqarsani (“The Knight in the Panther's Skin”), a poem about friendship, courtly love, and heroic actions. Because of his The Knight in the Panther's Skin, some scholars credit Rustaveli with the creation of the Georgian literary language. In his poetry, Shota Rustaveli used ideas from Chinese, Persian, and ancient Greek philosophy, and he also included direct quotations from the Greek philosopher Plato.⁴

In The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, Rustaveli’s heroes are brave and generous. They are always ready to fight with evil and to restore good and fairness to power. Interestingly, the heroes are of various nationalities, such as Arabian, Chinese, Indian.⁵

Rustaveli, in his poem, does not write about common things from everyday life. He is interested entirely in the relations among people and also in the most important human emotions. Rustaveli resorts to exaggeration, he constantly, as some literary experts say, “strives to grasp the main essence of the phenomena he depicts and to raise it to the height of a principle”. Rustaveli himself says of poetry that it is “one of the oldest branches of wisdom”. He considers it the “duty of a poet” and a proof of his talent to be able to evoke strong emotions, “inflaming the heart” with the words of his poems.⁶

Thus, Shota Rustaveli was a romantic figure from Georgia’s history, and his name deserves to be remembered through the ages and his work as one of the masterpieces of epic poems, worthy of being set at the side of other great epic poets from around the world.⁷