Origins And Cultural Contacts 317
(the ruler’s title) accepting embassadors from various countries.75 A number
of those depicted with ring-pommel swords wear a head-dress typical of China
during the T’ang-dynasty,76 while a further group (on the Western wall of the
room) wear hair knots and feathers on it.77 The representation of ring-pommel
swords in Transoxiana therefore need not mean its local use, as all of these
depictions represent people from the Far East.
Al’baum identified this first group as ambassadors from Eastern Turkestan
(Xinjiang), noting that their costume (yellow silk caftan, short hair and black
cap) was common in China during the T’ang period,78 and it is therefore prob-
able that the people on the wall of Afrasiab are simply Chinese mentioned in
the text attached. The costume of the second group is a short, yellow caftan
of long sleeves, loose trousers, small black cap, hair knot and feathers. Lazar
Al’baum has cited Chinese chronicles for the head-dress with two feathers in
Korea (Gaoli),79 and therefore these people can be identified as Korean ambas-
sadors, verified by the great number of ring-pommel swords found in Korea.80
Ring-pommel swords are extremely rare finds in Eastern Europe: only two
such weapons are known from this huge region. The ring-pommel sword
from the hoard of Malaja Pereshchepina near Poltava in the forest-steppe
region shows very similar characteristics to the examples from the Avar Age
Carpathian Basin, both in its shape and decoration.81 The second example was
found in the cemetery of Shoshkin in the Mordvin region in the forest belt.
This single-edged sword bears a ring-pommel made from the iron of the hilt,
and its suspension loop is identical to the example from Manđelos.82
The ring-pommel sword from Malaja Pereshchepina is of great importance
not only because of the false edge of the straight single-edged blade and the tri-
angular and rhombic granulation of the gold covering but also because the order
of the fixing of the gold fittings was facilitated by the use of Greek letters on
75 Two different perspectives are known for the chronology of the 1st room of Afrasiab:
Al’baum (1975, 60–73) dated the painting to the 690s after the death of Varkhuman ikhšid,
while Azarpay (1981, 47–48) dated it to the lifetime of the ruler, between 655 and 675.
76 Al’baum 1975, 23. ris. 11 and 14.
77 Al’baum 1975, ris. 7/24–25.
78 Al’baum 1975, 60.
79 Al’baum 1975, 74–75; Kaogu 1996, 1. 65; Koch 1998a, 587–588. The Korean identification
was accepted by Markus Mode (1993, 200, Abb. 10, No. 24–25) who dated the painting
to 648.
80 Ito 1971, 62–68.
81 Werner 1984a, 26–27; Komar 2006, 22, ris. 3. 38.
82 Shitov 2002, 173–174, Ris. 2.