Martyrdom of Saint Shushanik

The Martyrdom of Saint Shushanik ( Georgian წამებაჲ წმიდისა შუშანიკისი დედოფლისაჲ, C'amebaj c'midisa Shushanik'isi ) is the oldest surviving book in Georgian literature . The priest and writer Jakob Zurtaweli wrote it between 476 and 483.

It is a hagiography in pre-Christian writing tradition. The content is based on a true story. Zurtaweli was the main person's confessor .

The work describes the life of the Armenian princess Shushanik (Eng. Susanne ), who died because she refused to renounce Christianity and convert to the Zoroastrianism of the Persian conquerors. She was beaten, chained and imprisoned by her husband, the Georgian Prince Varxenes . There she died after seven years.

Varxenes held the office of viceroy for the Georgian-Armenian border region and eastern Georgia at the court of the Persian Shah Peroz, and had converted to the Persian faith. He had expected the same from his wife. When she didn't obey his wishes, he was furious.

The work is required reading for Georgian high school students. The composer Otar Taktakishvili published a choral work in 1983 based on the martyrdom of Saint Shushanik .

Works

• Iakob Tsurtaveli: C'amebaj c'midisa Shushanik'isi . Tbilisi 1938
• Iakob C'urtaveli: Shushaniki's cameba . Xelovneba, Tbilisi 1983 (Text Georg., Russian, Latin, English, French, Spanish and German) The German translation by Nelly Amaschukeli was reprinted by Marianne Gruber - Manfred Müller: Locked with a silver key, literature from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia . edition KAPPA, Vienna 2000, 209–231.

literature

• Bart D. Ehrman , Andrew Jacobs (Eds.): Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 CE: A Reader . Oxford University Press US, ISBN 0-19-515461-4
• Donald Rayfield, The Literature of Georgia: A History . Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-1163-5
• Joseph Karst: Littérature géorgienne chrétienne . Bloud & Gay, Paris 1934