How should the author of the Vepkhistqaosani be mentioned?

• March 29, 2022

On March 25, 2022, at the extended session of the Presidium of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences Academician Inesa Merabishvili delivered a report, titled: “How should the author of the Vepkhistqaosani be mentioned?”. The purpose of the report was to shed light on the name of the author of the Vepkhistqaosani using modern research methodology. From the 17th century to the present day, the name of the author of the brilliant monument of the 12th-13th centuries is known in three versions: Rustveli, Shota Rustveli and Shota Rustaveli. According to the prologue and epilogue of the Vepkhistqaosani the poet introduces himself four times as “Rustveli”. Although the author does not reveal his name in the poem, the poet’s name “Shota” dates back to the late 1920s, based on the information that the Asomtavruli inscription in the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem contains the names “Shota” and “Rustveli” on the secular face. Inesa Merabishvili states that “Rustveli” is literary pseudonym of the author of the Vepkhistqaosani that does not oblige him to use his own name. If “Shota” was a secular name of the poet, the complete denial of which today is not in science, the poet does not mention it anywhere, but presents himself with only one name. This is the name of “Rustveli”, which, as the sacred testament of the poet, should be maintained and returned to wide use.