Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review

22-32

Authors: Zhdanovich O.P.

The article presents annotated translation from ancient Greek into Russian of the book of Menander Protector. In this text Menander Protector describes first the Turkish embassy to the Persians, and then to the Byzantines. The Great Turkic Khanate was the first Steppe empire in history. The relationship between Turkic Khanate and Byzantine Empire began from the middle of 6th century, parallel to the establishment of the Steppe empire. The purpose of the first Turkish embassies to the Byzantines was conclusion of an alliance against the Persians. Since the end of the 4th century Sassanid Empire and Byzantium challenged each other for the territory of Armenia, part of Georgia and the lands of southern Arabia. At the same time the Byzantine Empire’s relationship with the barbarians in the West were problematic. In addition it was going through a difficult economical and political period inside Empire. Another side of antagonism between Persian and Byzantine Empire was silk trade. Persian Empire had a monopoly on it. Byzantine Empire was in dire need of silk and was forced to buy it overpriced. Turks had silk and proposed it to Byzantines at a bargain price. This article contains the view of the problems of relationship between European Byzantine and Asian Nomadic civilizations in terms of Byzantine author. Previously the Russian translation of Menander Protector was done in the middle of the 19th century by Spiridon Destunis. However, his translation was fragmented and unprofessional containing many imprecisions. Our versions have many rectifications and important comments to some elements of Nomadic and Byzantine style of life. This research should help to understand some part of life, customs and diplomacy of ancient Turks.

43-63

Authors: Ushnitsky V.V.

The article examines the problem of the origin of the people of Sakha (Yakutia) in the light of the latest research. Basing on archaeological materials the ethnogenesis of Sakha is associated with the Baikal region’s Ust’-Tal’kinsky archaeological culture of the 12th–14th centuries. Analysis of written sources allows to associate representatives of Ust’-Tal’kinsky archaeological culture with the Usutu-mangun tribe identical with the Angara Tatars and referred to in the writings of Rashid al-Din and Abu al-Ghazi. Probably, the Angara Tatars migrated from Central Asia and compactly inhabited the Angara region near Lake Buir-Nur. The article analyzes connection between Sakha folklore sources and real history of Central Asian Tatars.

75-78

Authors: Sayfetdinova E.G.

The author considers the special nature of the penetration of the Sufi tradition in the spiritual culture of the Golden Horde. Being a part of the spiritual culture, literary monuments from the Golden Horde epoch played a significant role in the spread of Islam in the Golden Horde. Islam rooted in the Golden Horde thanks to the fact that Sufism gave the Muslim form to the Turkic-Mongolian beliefs. The «Nahj al-Faradis» («Pathway to the Heavens»), the literary monument from the Golden Horde era, narrates about the introduction and diffusion of Islam in the Turkic-Mongolian religious and mundane traditions.

101-118

Authors: Uzelac A.

Serbian narrative and documentary texts, written in the first half of the XIV century, represent valuable source material for the research of Tatar political and military influence in the Balkan lands. Most important among them are Vita of King Stephen Uroš II Milutin (1282–1321), extant in three different editions and Vita of Archbishop Daniel II (1324–1337). The first one offers insight into the relations between the Kingdom of Serbia and the powerful Juchid prince Nogai, while in the latter, the key role of Tatar contingents in internal power struggle between king Milutin and his brother Stephen Dragutin is mentioned. The presence of Tatars in the Battle of Velbazhd (1330), fought between Serbia and the Bulgarian Empire, is also attested in various sources, including the so-called Old Serbian chronicles and the Code of Law of Emperor Stephen Dušan (1349). Another group of sources analyzed in the text are several apocryphal writings of South Slavic literature. Their value lies in the fact that they reflect the image of the Tatars in the eyes of the Balkan Slavs. Last, but not least important testimony of Tatar activities in Serbian lands is preserved in place-names of Tatar origin, recorded in royal charters, issued by Milutin’s son Stephen (1321–1331) and grandson Stephen Dušan (1331–1355).

123-127

Authors: Gorsky A.A.

The article discusses the idea that the name “Bolshaya Orda” (“Great Horde”), used in the Russian sources, is the translation of the Turkish “Ulug Orda”. The author justifies the position that this term has Russian origin, meaning “the most influential among the Hordes”.

163-173

Authors: İnalcık H.

The article examines the period of transition of the territory of Crimea under protectorate of the Ottoman Empire. Recently in the archives of the Topkapi Palace Museum have been discovered new documents on the history of the Golden Horde containing the letters of the Crimean khans and Beys. On the basis of new historical sources, author clarifies the contentious issues related to the agreement between Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and Mengli I Giray and reveals the reasons that influenced the way the Crimea became subservient to the Ottoman Empire.

190-211

Authors: Ivanov V.A.

The article examines the problem of so-called “imperial culture” of the Golden Horde. The author analyzes the archaeological material regarding it as a component of “imperial culture”. The author evaluates the quality of the archaeological material as well as the breadth and intensity of its distribution among the population of the Golden Horde and the neighboring tribal areas, which the author considers a priori as consumers of this “imperial culture”. Based on this analysis, the author concludes that in general, the concept of “imperial culture” of the Golden Horde is a chimera. In turn, the expected powerful effect of “imperial culture” of the Golden Horde in the culture of neighboring peoples of the Urals and the Volga region is a mirage created by the imagination of researchers.

221-223

Authors: Mirgaleev I.М.

This article contains a short report on the Vth International Bulgarian Forum under the name of “Political and Ethno-Cultural Interaction between States and Peoples in the Post-Golden Horde Space (15th–16th centuries)”. The forum was held in the city of Yalta (the Crimea) at the 6th–11th of November in 2013. Coordinators of the forum were Shigabutdin Marjani Institute of History of Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Crimean branch of Archaeology Institute of National academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. The Forum was attended by many well-known experts, whose reports have caused heated debate. The greatest interest was aroused by the following reports: Kradin Nicolay (Vladivostok, Russia). Medieval States of Eurasian Steppes: general and special; Trepavlov Vadim (Moscow, Russia). Institute of Beklyaribekship in the Socio-Political Structure of the Tatar Khanates; Vladimirov Georgi (Sofia, Bulgaria). Earrings in the Form of a Question Mark from Danubian Bulgaria (13th–14th centuries). Origin and area of distribution; Cherkas Boris (Kiev, Ukraine). Crimea and the Middle Dnieper Region in the Context of the Struggle in the Crimean Khanate in the 15th – the first third of the 16th centuries; Rusev Nikolay (Kishinev, Moldova). Tatars in Moldovan Charters of the 15th century; Izmailov Iskander (Kazan, Russia). Ethnocultural Interaction of the Kazan Khanate Population with Adjacent Territories; Ilnur Mirgaleev (Kazan, Russia). “Chingiz-name” of Utemish-Hadji as a Source for the History of the Turko-Tatar States; Matveev Andrey, Tataurov Sergey (Tomsk, Russia). History of Siberian Khanate: chronology and cartography; Brehunenko Viktor (Kiev, Ukraine). Kazak-Crimean Military-Political Alliances of the end of the 16th – middle of the 17th century.