International Summer School in Kartvelian/Georgian Studies is an educational-scholarly project which has been held since 1995 under the leadership of the Professor Elguja Khintibidze and aims at increasing the interest of foreign students in the field of Kartvelian/Georgian Studies, providing necessary environment for studying modern Georgian language and expanding their knowledge in various fields of Georgian Studies, Georgian culture, modern scholarly, educational, cultural and social achievements. The project integrates Georgian and foreign students and supports to expand their interest in the direction of Georgian culture and Scholarly achievements as well.

The 25-year experience of school performance demonstrates its unwavering popularity among educational circles.

"International Summer School for Kartvelian Studies – 2019” operated for 5 weeks on the basis of theCenter for Kartvelian Studies in Tbilisi State University (July 7 - August 7).

The project was presented and co-funded by the Fund for Kartvelian Studies with financial support of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and the Fund for Kartvelian Studies itself. The program is multifunctional and includes various activities such as: everyday training sessions in Georgian language (4 academic hours) provided by two teachers with different methodological approaches; Daily individual trainings with assistants of the teachers (1 academic hour); Everyday lectures given by famous lecturers of various fields of Kartvelian Studies; Cultural programs such as visiting museums, galleries, exhibition halls and expeditions in various regions of Georgia.

During the last 3 years, Georgian students have been involved in the program along with foreigners. This innovative step has proved important in terms of providing integration between TSU students and international educational centers as well as young foreign scholars. The prospective outcome ofThe International Summer School in Kartvelian/Georgian Studies will reflect itself in the progress of the Georgian culture and science. It is important since it promotes Georgian national science - Kartvelology abroad as well as promotes the integration of Georgian students with foreign scholarly circles interested in the field of Georgian Studies.

The aim of the given project is to promote the field and attract youngsters interested in Kartvelian/Georgian Studies. Apart from attracting Georgian and foreign lecturers and encouraging cooperative participation of students in the program, which will enhance the exchange of information, the project intends to develop students’ scholarly skills, advance their knowledge, introduce students to recent scientific research and adapt them to high-rank scholarly circles. All this will promote cooperation and create the necessary background for further scientific activities.

Thus, the aim of The International Summer School is not limited to the development of the scientific skills of future scholars, enhancement of their knowledge and creation of the background necessary for their future success. The long-term goal of the project is to direct the interest of young scholars towards Kartvelian Studies. This will be an intellectual investment of nation-wide significance.

Studying the text of the The Man in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustveli means the interpretation of its content to be as much adequate as possible. Alongside with scholarly analysis to understand the essence of the text, its translated version represents the fact of interpretation that requires critical analysis. Translations of “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” are mainly based on those academic findings and data, Rustvelology had achieved and obtained by the time of their renderings in English.

According to the first Rustvelologist – Vakhtang VI, there had been many attempts of either “translating” or clarifying the poem, i.e. providing its ethical-philosophic interpretation. Respectively, prior to reviewing the poem in renderings, it is of high significance to determinate those issues that Rustvelologists had been attempting to define and clarify by means of researches held for centuries. It is clear that definition of adequacy of one or another rendering of the poem is possible on the basis of determined significance or clarification of Georgian text only. 

The present article provides analysis of reflection of Neo-Platonism in the poem, based on one stanza only. Teaching of Neo-Platonism about the world unity meant identity of God and human being and acknowledgement of absence of Evil as the substance, representing the main idea of the text to be analyzed.

The lines containing above referenced content are given under the Stanza #1492 (according to the edition by A. Baramidze, K. Kekelidze and A. Shanidze, Tb. 1957) as that compared with all its translated English versions.

Shota Rustaveli has been for the Georgians what the Bible and Shakespeare have been for English-speaking nations: a source of quotations, proverbs and role-models. Now Elguja Khintibidze shows Rustaveli’s influence on English literature as well. Readers will find a fascinating case study of literary influence: an accidental meeting at the court of the Persian king Abbas I between British diplomats and homesick Georgian ex-patriates introduced the British to Rustaveli’s poem. Additionally, Khintibidze provides us with analyses of plays by, e.g., Shakespeare and Beaumont & Fletcher that shed new light on Elizabethan tragicomedy. Highly recommended for English and Medieval scholars.

Professor Elguja Khintibidze’s new book: Medieval Georgian Romance: “The Man in the Panther Skin” and Shake­speare’s Late Plays has just been translated into English (No­vember 2018).

It’s an amazing story and an extraordinary piece of re­search by the Professor who has spent the last 10 years or so working on it. His studies establish, for the first time, a fasci­nating connection between Elizabethan theatre and the great Georgian national 12^th century epic. Based on the most rigorous textual analysis, he shows how remarkable similarities in theme, setting, plot, action and character – way beyond any mere coincidence of archetypes – demonstrate the clear influ­ence of the Georgian epic upon both Shakespeare and Beau­mont & Fletcher, particularly in Cymbeline, A King and No King and Philaster.

The most intriguing question is: how did this happen? How could it have happened?

This paper examines the information emerging in the English historical literature and primary sources concerning the origin of Shah Abbas’ Georgian Christian wives, which has not yet been discussed in Georgian historical writing. Specifically, Eng­lish diplomat and traveller Sir Anthony Sherley, at the end of the 16^th century, and Sir Thomas Herbert, an English attaché to Iran in the early 17^th century, note in their books published in the 17^th century that Abbas married the daughters of King Si­mon of Kartli and King Alexander of Kakheti (around the six­teenth and seventeenth centuries).

 English historical writings and sources indicate that the English diplomat Sir Anthony Sherley and his colleagues were assisted by the Christian wives of the Shah at the end of the 16th century. This statement reinforces the view that the story of the MPS known to a group of the early 17^th-century English playwrights, and Shakespeare himself, became known through the cooperation of prominent ethnic Georgians, promoted at the Court of Abbas, with Sir Anthony Sherley.