Pages: 219-236 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp216219236

The article is the last one in a series of publications on Old Rus’ pendant seals from the collection of the Rostov archaeologist I. N. Parusimov. It reproduces and comments on 75 pendant seals originating from the territory of Ryazan Oblast. These objects were partly published by the owner of the collection. This article offers clarifications to previous suggestions.
In I. N. Parusimov’s collection, pendant seals originating from Ryazan Oblast are the most representative series. It seems that, by the present time, no pendant seals impressed by similar matrices have been found in other regions of Old Rus. In this collection, there are 13 seal-types among Ryazan pendant seals. All these belong to common sphragistic groups. The majority of signs are attributed to already known Old Rus’ princely signs. However, signs of four types are encountered for the first time. Among the signs from the Ryazan seals, there are multiple images of bidents with one prong pointing outwards.
No narrow dating is available for the signs on the Ryazan seals from I. N. Parusimov’s collection. It can be confidently maintained that the objects carrying the depictions of similar signs date to pre-Mongolian time. Definitely certain are only the dates of the bidents attributed to Vladimir Monomakh (†1125) and his eldest son Mstislav the Great (†1132).

Keywords: Old Rus, pendant seals, systematization, princely signs, private collections

Information about author:

Serge Beletsky (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]