Lithuanian Mint releases coin featuring episode from Georgian medieval epic poem

An episode of a glorious struggle involving a heroic protagonist from Georgia's iconic medieval poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin now adorns the face of a brand-new coin designed by Georgian creatives and issued by Lithuanian Mint.

The latest design in a series of coins minted with Georgian historical themes, the one-dollar collector silver coin is depicting the scene of Tariel, one of the principal characters of the epic by poet Shota Rustaveli, fighting two of the most feared representatives of the wild animal kingdom.

Entitled 'Tariel Fighting the Wild Beasts', the coin's design shows the hero of the 12th century poem simultaneously wrestling a lion and a tiger in one of the many heroic acts committed by him in the name of love for Nestan-Darejan, the only daughter of a king of India.

A summary for the design described the scene from the major literary work, explaining Tariel's obsession with his love for the princess, and the encounter with the two animals that leads to the clash in the poem.

The latest coin has been designed using "state-of-the-art minting technologies" and will be available in a series of 1,000 examples. Image via Lithuanian Mint.

[Tariel] witnesses the fight between two wild beasts – a tiger and a lion. He kills the lion to defend the tiger, expecting that the tiger will be kind to him. Instead, the wild tiger almost kills him – luckily, the knight gains a victory against the beast

- Lithuanian Mint

The face of the coin illustrates the scene with the addition of symbolic details, from the natural rock formation in the background that represents Georgia. The obverse side shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II - a characteristic of coins minted by Lithuanian Mint due to their cooperation with the central bank of Niue Island, a subordinate of New Zealand.

The collaboration mandates the use of a portrait of the British monarch on coins produced by the Lithuanian body, as Queen Elizabeth II is recognised as the ruler of New Zealand under the Constitution Act of 1974.

Created through the work of Iva Janezashvili, the manager of the project and its graphic designer, and illustrator Mamuka Mikeladze, the new coin is a result of "[h]igh relief and state-of-the-art minting technologies" used in the production.

Minted in 1,000 examples and are available for purchase online, it is the second in the Knight in the Panther's Skin series from Lithuanian Mint, with a previous issue illustrating the scene of the coronation of Tinatin, another protagonist from the Georgian epic.

The group of Georgian creatives previously also designed a coin bearing an illustration of Medea, a princess of the ancient Colchis Kingdom on the Black Sea coast and a major protagonist of the Greek legend of the Argonauts.