Stamp featuring ancient Georgian legend characters featuring in international competition

A new stamp featuring prominent Georgian artist Lado Gudiashvili’s work on the ancient Argonauts legend of the country is part of the annual Europa Stamp Contest, the Georgian Post said on Thursday.

The print, bearing a replica of Gudiashvili’s painting entitled Medea Flies to Jason, has been selected for this year’s edition of the event, with its theme of Stories and Myths and involving an online voting for the best design through September 9.

A spokesperson from the Georgian Post told agenda.ge PostEurop, the trade association representing European public postal operators since 1993, had chosen the design from two stamp options created in Georgia for the competition. The other print featured the painting of Gudiashvili on the Legend of the Founding of Tbilisi.

PostEurop’s summary of the selected stamp explains the Legend of the Argonauts through its protagonist Medea, the daughter of King Aeëtes of the ancient Georgian Kingdom of Colchis on the shores of the Black Sea.

Medea figures in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, appearing in Hesiod's Theogony around 700 BC. Medea plays the archetypal role of helper-maiden, aiding Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece by using her magic to save his life out of love. Once he finished his quest, she abandons her native home of Colchis, and flees westwards with Jason, where they eventually settle in Corinth and get married", the description highlights.

The ancient legend has been used in contemporary designs including a collector coin issued by Lithuanian Mint last year.