To the problem of attribution of the Golden Horde plaques from the Malyaevka-V burial mound

Abstract

13-14th-century Juchid plated military belts with dragon images are considered in the article. Their study has shown that the tradition of wearing them had been borrowed by the Mongols from China together with corresponding imperial symbols, dragon images included. In the authors’ opinion, the images of these mythological creatures were used by both the elite of the Ulus Juchi and the privileged classes of lesser rank. This viewpoint is confirmed by numerous finds of belt plaques and other items with the symbolic in question (often manufactured from inexpensive materials) from the Volga River region, and by Yuan literary sources.

Keywords

• the Golden Horde
• Yuan
• Juchid rank belts
• dragon images
• elite
• social ranks