P. G. Borbone

University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

E‑mail: piergiorgio.borbone@unipi.it

A. Mikheeva

Institute for the History of Material Culture of the RussianAcademy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

E‑mail: hmunter666@mail.ru

Two Nestorian Gravestones in the Institute of History and Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat. With an Appendix on the Kayraks of Almaliq

Abstract. The article aims to provide a detailed stylistic and palaeographic study of the two Nestorian gravestones with Syriac inscriptions (kayraks), published first by Masson in 1978 without images, making recourse to recent photos. One of the gravestones results to be one of the kayraks found in Semirechye in about 1886, already known to D. Chwolson, who published its epitaph in 1897. For the second kayrak a new reading is suggested, different from Massons's; besides, the place of origin of the gravestone is recognized as Almaliq. In the appendix all kayraks found in Almaliq are presented, and their artistic and linguistic peculiar features are commented upon.

Keywords: Almaliq, Syro–Turkic gravestones, Syriac epigraphy, Syriac writing in Central Asia, Nestorians in Central Asia, Semirechye

DOI: 10.31250/1238-5018-2023-29-1-11-31

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Received by the Editorial Board: 11.02.2023