Where Are The Golden Horses Of Khan Batu Hidden: The Search For Treasures Continues - Alternative View

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Where Are The Golden Horses Of Khan Batu Hidden: The Search For Treasures Continues - Alternative View
Where Are The Golden Horses Of Khan Batu Hidden: The Search For Treasures Continues - Alternative View

Video: Where Are The Golden Horses Of Khan Batu Hidden: The Search For Treasures Continues - Alternative View

Video: Where Are The Golden Horses Of Khan Batu Hidden: The Search For Treasures Continues - Alternative View
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The Great Khan Batu, who ruled the Golden Horde, ordered to make 2 figures of horses in natural growth from gold. After the death of the khan, these sculptures disappeared. According to some reports, you need to look for them in the Volgograd region. Other researchers claim that the golden horses were buried in the Feodosia region.

Legends about the existence of full-weight golden sculptures depicting horses have forced many treasure hunters to search for them for several centuries. Batu's famous golden horses once adorned one of the entrances to the capital of the Golden Horde. For 6 centuries now, the legendary statues have disappeared without a trace, and no one will dare to say with certainty whether they really were. And if there were, where to look for them today?

The history of the appearance of the golden horses of Khan Batu

The Mongol Empire existed for 428 years, and during its heyday it was so great that it was impossible to govern it centrally. It was divided into uluses, the largest of which, known to us as the state of the Golden Horde, existed for nearly 300 years. Of these, the Golden Horde ruled over Russia for 245 years, lived at the expense of the Russian population and enriched itself by its labors.

One of the richest states at that time occupied a vast territory of 6 million square kilometers from Central Siberia to the Black Sea and from the Volga region to the territories of modern Kazakhstan.

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The first Golden Horde khan was Batu or Batu. The Khan needed the capital of a new vast state, where his tributaries would come to bow to him. And the capital was built on the territory of the present Astrakhan region. It was a wealthy multinational city that hardly any other Russian city of that era could compare with. Everything was here: temples of many confessions, statues and fountains, and even a water supply system.

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According to many testimonies of contemporaries, the entrance to the capital of the Horde, Saray-Batu or Saray al-Makhrus, was decorated with life-size statues of two golden horses. The fact that the golden horses existed for certain is convinced by the written testimony of a contemporary of Guillaume de Rubruc, the ambassador of the French Louis IX.

Horses have always been faithful companions of the nomadic Mongols, so the statues of horses are very symbolic for the capital of the Horde. In addition, there is a legend: when Batu Khan's beloved horse died, he ordered all the gold collected in tribute to be poured into a horse statue in memory of his faithful friend. After the khan came up with the idea to create a double horse and put both of them to guard the entrance to the capital, in order to surprise the numerous guests of the city and demonstrate his wealth and greatness.

Khan Batu died in 1256. His brother Berke became the fifth ruler of the Golden Horde and rebuilt a new capital, even richer and more extensive. The new Saray or Saray-Berke was already located on the territory of the modern Volgograd region. Golden horses were also transported there.

The defeat of Mamai and the disappearance of the horse

A hundred years have passed. The Golden Horde and its capital grew and grew rich due to tribute and trade. Her khans were less and less warriors and more and more became effeminate and greedy for money and power rulers. The death of the eighth Horde Khan Berdibek marked the beginning of the great turmoil. Several contenders entered the struggle for power over the vast territories of the Central Asian state at once, one of whom was the commander Mamai.

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The Russian princes, tired of the burden of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, were also quick to seize the moment. They gave the khan's troops a battle that went down in history as the legendary Battle of Kulikovo, and defeated the Tatars. Mamai fled to Crimea, where he eventually died. There is a version that Mamai took one of the golden horses with him during his escape. Subsequently, the allegedly Tatar-Mongol commander was buried with honors there, along with his trophy - a horse made of noble metal. According to another version, the horse was buried in the grave of one of the last Chingizids - the true hereditary khans of the Horde.

According to these versions, the golden horse should be sought either in the Volgograd region, or near Feodosia. But this is just one of the pair. Where could the second statue weighing about 15 tons go?

The Legend of the Abduction of the Golden Horse from Saray-Berke

And again we embark on the path of legends, conjectures and legends. The most common tale is that a Cossack detachment took the second precious horse from Saray-Berke. In the last years of the existence of the Golden Horde, these desperate warriors often visited the capital of the khanate. By that time, the state was torn apart by internal strife and was hardly capable of repelling external enemies. And in Sarai there was still something to profit from. It was the rich booty that attracted the Cossack detachments.

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The second golden horse became just such a hefty profit. But a small army, accustomed to moving lightly, was unable to carry the heavy load far away. Most likely, the precious trophy was hidden somewhere not far from the capital: buried or drowned in the river.

If this is so, no one still knows whether the desperate Cossacks managed to return for booty or whether they were all killed. And is the golden statue still waiting to be discovered.

Beautiful legend or real treasures

Many adventurers embarked on the hunt for Batu's golden horses, guided by fragmentary knowledge from legends and traditions. It is likely that the famous sculptures were melted down during the Horde period. Another outcome is also possible. Another great Mongol conqueror, Tamerlane, could have taken horses with him, finally wiping out the once prosperous Saray-Berke.

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However, according to some reports, all kinds of treasures have been repeatedly found on the territory of the former Golden Horde. Currently, these territories are partly a nature reserve. It is possible that sooner or later all the wealth of this land will be brought to the surface.