Philosophical Ideas of the Corpus Areopagiticum in The Knight in the Panther’s Skin

Abstract

It is valuable to analyze Shota Rustaveli's multi-faceted poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin as a philosophical work. The main issue to be dealt with when we analyze The Knight in the Panther's Skin as a philosophical poem is to specify its outlook onto the world. The interrelation between good and evil in Neoplatonic thought, in Areopagitic doctrine, and in Georgian philosophical ideas of the 11-12th centuries is one of the main issues Shalva Nutsubidze discusses. This idea entered Rustaveli's poem from the Corpus Areopagiticum . Nutsubidze's study of The Knight in the Panther's Skin as a philosophical poem was continued by Shalva Khidasheli. Both Nutsubidze and Khidasheli demonstrated the essence of The Knight in the Panther's Skin as a philosophical poem and brought to light its relation to Areopagitic doctrine, and this is their most important contribution. Keywords: Areopagitic doctrine; Corpus Areopagiticum ; Georgian philosophical ideas; Neoplatonic thought; philosophical poem; Shalva Khidasheli; Shalva Nutsubidze; Shota Rustaveli's multi-faceted poem; The Knight in the Panther's Skin