“Turkish, Arab and Persian Wrestling” in the military training program of the Mamluks according to manuscript C 686 (IOM RAS collection)

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Abstract

This article contains the first Russian translation of the chapter “Turkish, Arab and Persian Wrestling” in the illuminated manuscript on Mamluk warfare copied in AD 1474 and currently housed at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences under shelf-mark C 686. The study focuses on the historical context and traditions of wrestling originating from Central Asia and Mongolia. Special terms used in the manuscript, which are loanwords from Persian and Turkic languages, are discussed and interpreted. The author also examines a miniature depicting wrestlers, its style, features, as well as the origins of this artistic tradition.

About the authors

Dina V. Zaitseva

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts RAS

Author for correspondence.
Email: d.v.zaitseva@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9798-2340

Junior Researcher, Department of Middle Eastern and Near Eastern Studies

Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

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2. Fig. 1. The first two sheets with the text of “The Chapter on the Struggle of the Turks, Arabs, and Persians” [IVR RAS, p. 686, p. 105r–105v]

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3. Fig. 2. Miniature to the “Chapter on the Struggle of the Turks, Arabs, and Persians” [Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, p. 686, p. 106r, fig. 81]

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