Elguja Khintibidze (born June 7, 1937) is a Georgian philologist, Doctor of Philological Sciences; professor at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University; academician of The Georgian National Academy of Sciences; Member of Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale – S.I.E.P.M.
At the moment he is head of the Institute of Georgian Literature at the Faculty of Humanities of TSU and president of the International Association for the Promotion of Georgian/Kartvelian Studies.
Khintibidze studies the process of Georgian-Byzantine contacts and is the author of some theories on this field, namely : (a) Establishment and argumentation of the standpoint of the Georgian origin of 4th century Cappadocians Holly Fathers – Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa.
The works (articles and monographs) about these issues were published in Georgia as well as abroad and delivered at international Congresses of the Byzantine Studies.
Discovery in the British Museum of two unknown fragments of an 11th-century Georgian manuscript one of which is the authograph of Giorgi the Athonite.
Discovery of unknown Georgian books and manuscripts in the library of Iviron (Mount Athos)[7] 4.
Discovery of Greek and Latin 13th century translations of a part of The Life of Giorgi Athonite[8] 5.
Translation and publication of the records about Georgia by a Spanish traveller of the beginning of the 15th century, Rui Gonsalez Klavikho.
Among the works of Prof. Khintibidze regarding the source studies ought to be singled out his theory about the etymology of the designations of Georgians.
[9][10] Khintibidze was awarded International Order of Merit, mention “International Order of Merit for Service to Kartvelian Studies” (Cambridge, 1994); Order of Merit of Georgia ( Tbilisi, 2003); Ivane Javakhishvili Scholarly Prize (1984) In the articles and monographs by E.Khintibidze on The Man in the Panther Skin (MPS) on the basis of an analysis of the key elements of the artistic structure, as well as key philosophical and theological terms of the Poem, an attempt is made to define the religious, philosophical and literary thought and the place of Rustaveli in Medieval thinking.
Khintibidze's research on this field includes the following spheres: theological, philosophical, ethical and astrological.
The decision of murdering the groom; meeting at the castle of Kaj, categories of abundance and courage in The Man in the Panther Skin[12] Special research is dedicated to the study of the concept of the human being in the MPS;[13] For instance, regarding friendship as love.
According to Khintibidze the world view of the MPS is introducing the ideas of Renaissance into the social attitudes of the late Middle Ages, the most significant of which is the emphasis on a human being, trust in his logical and analytical thinking.
This belief in the dual ideals – human and divine – had to be surrounded by a deep feeling of inner peacefulness and glory.
In the case of Rustaveli this starts with the Christian theology and is theoretically substantiated based on specific means and is weaving within the artistic system.
According to the final conclusion by Khintibidze, Of its contemporary and immediately following or proceeding great literary creations The Man in the Panther Skin is one of the first that expresses – with maximum conceptualization and consistency – the new world view, i.e. romantically coloured realistic outlook established in medieval transcendental Weltanschauung.
Love and friendship are turned by Rustaveli into an ideal, which imparts divine elevation to man's earthly life.
The striving of the great intellectuals of the Late Middle Ages, including Rustaveli, towards establishing divine harmony in worldly reality, in later centuries developed under the primacy of search for material well-being in this world, gradually leading to a breakdown of medieval faith.
The new period easily renounced the Renaissance ideals of search for man's moral and physical perfection and fame, setting up idols of money, accumulation of wealth and carnal pleasure.
Considerable time will pass and a long process will set in of man's striving towards regaining the divine bearings of faith, hope and love, which will be followed from the start by a desire of gaining divine love in worldly relations.
As revealed by Khintibidze, the plot of The Man in the Panther Skin is used by the English dramatists of the 17th century – William Shakespeare, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher.
[18] The author reveals an assumed way through which Rustaveli's epic must have reached the highest intellectual circles of Shakespearean England.
Rustaveli's The Man in the Panther Skin and European Literature, London, "Bennett and Bloom", 2011 2.
– Medieval and Renaissance Trends in Rustaveli's Vepkhistqaosani (The Man in the Panther's Skin) by Elguja Khintibidze, Tbilisi, 1993, pp.
Rustaveli's The Man in the Panther Skin: Cultural Bridge from East to West and the Georgians of Safavid Iran.
"Towards Rustaveli’s Place in Medieval European-Christian Thought”: Philalethes – Shalva Nutsubidze Memorial Volume, 2015 Brill publishing house, Leiden.
Reinterpretation and Renewal of the Concept of Love from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance International Medieval Congress 2015 – 6 – 9 July.
"The Man in the Panther Skin: Cultural Bridge from East to West and from Middle Ages to the Renaissance": David Shemoqmedeli (ed.).
The Knight in the Panther Skin – a Masterpiece in the World Literature, New York, 2016 Main monographs: 1.
"The Man in a Panther-skin" in the English Dramaturgy of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, Tbilisi 2016, "Sachino", p. 308 (in Georgian).