Iase Tushi
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Iase Tushi (Georgian: იასე თუში) was a Georgian writer who worked and lived in Safavid Iran. He is known for his polemical poem Sametsniero ("an enquiry"; lit. "scientific"), an illuminated work distinguished by one of the earliest examples of a Georgian–Persian dictionary, and is "the earliest Georgian manuscript so far discovered in Iran".[1]
Iase Tushi | |
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Born | Second half of the 16th century Tusheti, Kingdom of Kakheti, Safavid Iran |
Died | Probably in the second half of the 17th century Isfahan, Safavid Iran |
Occupation | Writer, poet |
Notable work | Sametsniero |
In his Sametsniero, Tushi criticized Christianity from a Shia Islam perspective, heralded Shia Islam in general (which he refers to "as a complete and perfect faith"), and praised then incumbent Safavid king (shah) Abbas I (r. 1588–1629).[1] Author Khatuna Baindurashvili notes that the Sametsniero is "one of the most intriguing texts from the Georgian Renaissance period" and that the "use of Georgian poetry to criticise Christianity from the standpoint of Shia Islam" highlighted the complexity of Georgian–Safavid relations.[1]