Suleyman's Eagle () is a bronze figure of an eagle, made in the 8th century in the

Arab Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the entir ...

, first documented in the village of Erzi of the

Republic of Ingushetia Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land border ...

by Chakh Akhriev in 1875.

History

In 1936 the statue was relocated

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, where it is exhibited in the Hall of Culture and Art of the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

. Before the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

and transfer to the Hermitage, for generations it was kept by the Ingush clan (''

teip A ''teip'' (also ''taip'', ''tayp'', ''teyp''; Chechen language, Chechen and Ingush language, Ingush: тайпа, romanized: ''taypa'' , ''family'', ''kin'', ''clan'', ''tribe''Нохчийн-Оьрсийн словарь (Chechen-Russian Dict ...

'') Mamilov, who used it as their coat of arms. V.B. Vinogradov wrote about the special reverence that strong birds enjoyed among the local Ingush highlanders, as the eagle may have been the totem of the inhabitants of Erzi. The statue's height is 38 cm. It is hollow on the inside, inlaid with silver and copper. The neck is engraved in Arabic with the Tasmiyyah: Translated into English: ''"In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful."'' Embossed on the opposite side is the name of the master-manufacturer, "Suleyman", as well as the date of creation - year 189 of the Hijri calendar (equivalent to years 796–797 of the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

). The official website of the Hermitage specified that the information about the place of manufacture of figurines can not be read, but the scientific community widely believes that this relic is made in

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

(now The Republic of Iraq) - one of the cultural and craft centers of the Arab Caliphate. Only three similar in shape figurines exist in the world: in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin; in the city of

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

in Italy; and in

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( , ), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

References

External links

Орёл Сулеймана (Suleyman's Eagle) , Ingushetia

The article "The symbol of Ingushetia has returned home" on the website of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya pravda"
*{{in lang, ru}
Reports of TV channel "Russia-24" - "Eagle Suleiman in Ingushetia"
Figurines History of Ingushetia Sculptures in the Hermitage Museum