Presentation of complete Georgian translation of “Shahname” takes place

Georgia: With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Georgia, the complete Georgian translation of “Shahname” (9 volumes) was presented in the renovated auditorium of the Ministry of Culture. The publishing house Meridian has printed on a nine-tombed high polygraph level.

The event was attended by the Minister of Culture and Sports of Georgia, Thea Tsulukiani, translator Bella Shalvashvili, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran Emergency and Plenipotentiary in Georgia, Mahmud Adibi, Advisor of Culture of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mehdi Saadatnejadi, other representatives of the Embassy, and representatives of the academic and literary spheres.

The nine-volume “Shahname,” whose first four volumes were received by the interested community last year, was funded by the Ministry of Culture. It is the fruit of nearly 50 years of dedicated labor by the famous Georgian poet and translator Bela Shalvashvili and the first complete and closer to the original translation.

“Shahname” or “Book of Kings” will tell us about the life of up to fifty kings. It is a widespread legendary-mythological and heroic-serious epic. The text is written in a mesne (a two-stringed lexo form shared in classical Persian poetry) characterized by simplicity and directness that naturally combines symbolism and emotional thinking.

Ambako Chelidze, Magali Todua, and Alexander Elerdashvili translated individual parts of “Shahname” into the modern Georgian language.

“Shahname” has been translated into many languages at different times, but the complete translation of the text performed by one translator is the only one in the world. Bela Shalvashvili translated “Shahname” for the assignment of her teacher, Vakhushti Kotetishvili, starting in 1970 and finishing in 2016.

Unfortunately, despite several attempts, the translation has not been possible for years. With the efforts of the Ministry of Culture of Georgia, the implementation of this very important project began in 2021. In 2023, four volumes of Georgian translation were published, and in 2024, with the edition of V-IX volumes, the project was completed.