Landscape.Illustration to the poem by Shota Rustaveli 'The Knight in the Panther's Skin' 1965

This illustration, made by Hryhorii Havrylenko, captures a scene inspired by Shota Rustaveli's poem 'The Knight in the Panther's Skin', and it invites us to delve into a world of symbolism. Dominating the horizon are the mountains, ancient symbols of steadfastness and spiritual ascent. We find echoes of this motif across cultures, from the Olympian gods of the Greeks to the sacred peaks of the Himalayas. Note the lone rider, a silhouette against the vast landscape: the archetype of the hero on a quest, an image that surfaces in the collective imagination time and again, from ancient myths to modern stories. The mountains themselves, looming in the distance, evoke a sense of awe and the sublime, a powerful emotional response that has captivated artists and viewers alike through the ages. These symbols are not static; they are living entities that transform across time, constantly resurfacing and evolving, imbued with new significance in each context.