Georgian Work About Armenian Queen Shushanik Translated Into Turkish

One of the oldest works of Georgian literature, “The Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik”, was translated into Turkish and published by the Turkish publishing house Othello. This was reported by Yerkir.am and Sputnik-Georgia.

The work, which is an example of the so-called behavioral novel, was written between 476-483. Its oldest surviving manuscript dates to the 10th century. The author was Iakob Tsurtaveli, a contemporary and participant in the described events.

By the way, around that time, an Armenian abridged version of Shushanik’s “behavior” (as it’s called in Armenian) was created.

The work describes the suffering and murder of Shushanik by her husband Varsken (Vazgen), the king of South Kartli.

Taking Zoroastrianism to cooperate with the Persians, Varsken demanded the same of his wife and children. Shushanik, having rejected his demand, spent six years in prison, was tortured, humiliated, and eventually killed.

Shushanik was the daughter of Vardan Mamikonian who did not renounce Christianity.

Iakob Tsurtaveli claims that he was the queen’s confessor. He recorded his conversations with the queen in his work. It contains information about the state structure, history, religion, and daily life of the inhabitants of ancient Georgia and Armenia.

“The Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik” was first published in 1882. The work has been translated into Russian, Latin, English, German, French, Spanish, and Hungarian. In 1979, UNESCO celebrated the 1500th anniversary of this literary monument.

The Turkish translation was made by Farna-Beka Chilashvili, a Georgian translator and writer living in Turkey.