თეიმურაზ ბატონიშვილის პოემა ტროის ომზე

ანოტაცია

The first Georgian poem about the Trojan War was written by the first Georgian academician Teimuraz Bagrationi (who was voted as an honorable member of the 1837 Peterbug’s Imperial Academy of Sciences after a nomination from his student, Mari Brose). When writing about the Trojan War Georgian writers frequently referred to Homer’s Iliad. From the 7^th to the 19^th century, Homer’s poems the Odyssey and the Iliad appeared in old Georgian historical and philosophical works, and scholia. Similarly, some Iliad quotes can be found in Georgian translations and writings.

An interesting poem by Teimuraz Batonishvili – The Fall of Troy or Mekhadzes’ Apple – was originally written as an elaboration on his previous work Three Faces of a Knight (a piece that is still relevant today which unfortunately cannot be found in full anymore). This is perhaps why the poem did not receive enough attention. The didactic-allegorical poem (423 verses in total) consists of almost the entire mythological cycle of the Trojan War (from Discordiae malum to Fuit Troia, fuimus Troiani). Batonishvili, who lost his royal title, avoids directly mentioning the Russian empire and instead uses the fall of Troy as an allegory to describe the situation in Georgia at the time. Consequently, he pays less attention to what’s regarded as the important episode of the myth and instead focuses on the slyness of the Greeks (“the Great Empire”).

In this discussion, we thoroughly examine the first Georgian poem about the Trojan War that differs from traditional myths one encounters on the topic. At the same time, we provide our hypotheses on the origins and primary sources of the poem. Taken together, this discussion contributes to a better understanding of the complex activities of the great scientist Teimuraz Batonishvili.