Korotakh Cap in the Light of New Epigraphic Data

Abstract

The article discusses the headdress found during the study of the tower-shaped crypt of the village of Korotakh in the historical-geographical region of Malkhist (Itum-Kalinsky district of the Chechen Republic) and stored since 2016 among the exhibits of the National Museum of the Chechen Republic. The subject was introduced into scientific circulation in 1977 by R. A. Dautova and was repeatedly mentioned in scientific publications later. The fabric from which the cap is sewn was made in Italian weaving centers, and, according to radiocarbon dating, was made between 1430–1480. A certain discussion in the circles of researchers was caused by the origin of the dress and the circumstances under which it ended up at the disposal of the buried. The most plausible was the version of the capture of Italian fabric with Christian symbols as a trophy, followed by a deliberate partial trimming of the halo of Christ and the figures of the archangels. The author of the article for the first time provides a translation of the surviving part and a restored version of the text-embroidery on the headdress, which was identified by an associate professor of Ilia state university Temo Dzhodzhua as an old Georgian text composed in the Asomtavruli script. In the light of these data, the author examines the epigraphic monuments of the Argun Gorge and historical information reflecting close Chechen-Georgian cultural and religious contacts, which, in combination with the translation of the inscription on the headdress and the place of its discovery (on the border with Georgia), rejects, in the opinion of the author of the article, the version about the trophy origin of the headdress, and at the same time, perhaps, the opinion about the deliberate deformation of part of the Christian symbolism when sewing the cap. It is assumed that we can talk about technical reasons or not so reverent attitude of the local population to Christian symbols after the destructive campaigns of Timur.