Pages: 433-440

Medieval epigraphs written in Arabic and found in the Middle Volga region provide some very important historical evidence for any student of the regional history. For they preserved an important page of the medieval written culture. The authors address a corpus of Arabic inscriptions made on stones in the first half of the 16th century, identified during the excavations on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin in the early 2000s. Fragments of stones stored in the Museum of Archaeology (Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences, Republic of Tatarstan) contain some fragments of texts in Arabic, including fragments of words and some separate letters. The paper describes the context in which these inscriptions were revealed and offers a reading of the texts on stones. Specific usages of these stones are suggested. Some fragments could be architectural elements.

Keywords: Kazan, 16th century, Islam, Khanate, Kremlin, Arabic epigraphic

Information about authosr:

Aydar Gaynutdinov. Candidate of Philological Sciences. Institute of History named after Sh. Marjani, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. Baturin St., 7, Kazan, 420111, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]
Ayrat Sitdikov. Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology named after A. Kh. Khalikov, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. Butlerov St., 30, Kazan, 420012, Russian Federation; Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University.  Kremlevskaya St., 18, Kazan, 420008, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]
Andrey Starkov. Volga River Region Archaeology, Ltd. Nekrasov St., 28, ap. 1203, Kazan, 420012, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]