The article is devoted to the subject graffiti from the Muslim spiritual school Zynjirly-madrasah of the XVI-XX centuries in the Crimea. Graffiti located on a recycled limestone block reflects a popular legend in medieval Crimea about the hero "Horseman" and his adventures. Graffiti has a pronounced Christian religious symbolism. Despite this, they were transferred to a Muslim spiritual educational institution without damage due to the popularity and great importance for builders, teachers and students of Zincirli-the madrasa of the epic about the Horseman.

Keywords: graffiti, medieval epic, iconography, Horseman, cross, Zincirli madrasah, construction ceramics.

GRAFFITO WITH FABULA FROM ZINCIREI MADRASA: ORIGIN AND CONNECTION WITH MEDIEVAL EPIC POETRY FROM CRIMEAN MOUNTAIN REGION OF THE THIRTEENTH-FOURTEENTH CENTURIES

Dmytro MOISIEIEV

This article deals with graffito scenes from the Crimean Muslim religious school Zincirli Madrasa of the sixteenth-twentieth centuries. The graffito is located on the recycled limestone block. The scene represents a popular in the medieval Crimea legend about the Rider and his adventures. The graffito has Christian symbols, nevertheless, due to the popularity and great value of this legend for builders, teachers and students of Zincirli Madrasa the limestone with graffito had been moved to the Muslim religious educational institution without any damage.

Keywords: graffito, epic poetry, iconography, Rider, cross, Zineirli Madrasa, building ceramic.

Zincirli madrasah is located in the suburb of Salachik in the city of Bakhchisaray. According to the inscription placed above the entrance to the theological school, the building was built in 1500 [Gavrilyuk and Ibragimova, 2010, p. 13; Shrapmova, 2007, p. 37; Petrov and Gavrilyuk, 2011, p.39; Yakobson, 1964, p. 141]. The madrasah has a square shape, inside it is divided into three parts: an open courtyard; a gallery with ten domes and pointed arches; rooms for students (Fig. 1).

The archaeological site has not been fully studied, and the existing excavations have not been fully published [Shrapmova, 2005, p. 139-140; Shrapmova and Timchenko, 2005, p.152-153; Shrapmova, 2007, p. 37-40]. Its chronology is based almost exclusively on epigraphic and written sources. The monument did not become the subject of complex architectural and archaeological research. At the moment, Zynjirli madrasah is mainly studied as the oldest preserved Muslim educational institution in the Crimea [Bogdanovich, 2001, pp. 76-79; Gan-

Dmitry A. MOISEEV-Head of the Museum of Archeology and "Cave Cities" of the State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Bakhchisarai Historical, Cultural and Archaeological Museum-Reserve", ohota d@ukr.net.

Dmytro MOISIEIEV - Museum of Archeology and "cave towns" manager of Bakhchysaray historical, cultural and archeological museum-preserve, Bakhchysaray, Crimea, ohota_d@ukr.net.

The author expresses his deep gratitude to A. A. Voloshinov, N. A. Emrulaev and R. Umerov, employees of BIKAMZ, for their help in writing the article.

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1. Plan of Zincirli Madrasah.

kevich, 1998 (1), p. 40; Gankevich, 1998 (2), p. 44-50; Gankevich, 2001, p. 17-26, 35-50; Pozdchik..., 2007, p. 8, 20-23].

Zynjirly madrasah was part of the palace complex of the first capital of the independent Crimean Khanate, which was founded by Khan Hadji Giray. There is no consensus on the time of the palace complex's appearance in the scientific literature. A. L. Yakobson dates the palace to the 15th century (Yakobson, 1964, p. 141). The researcher notes the contrast in the architectural design of the preserved buildings: an ascetic madrasah and a magnificent durbe [Yakobson, 1964, pp. 141-142]. N. A. Gavrilyuk and A.M. Ibragimova, based on the analysis of written sources, refer the time of the palace's origin to the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. [Gavrilyuk and Ibragimova, 2010, p. 14]. At the same time, A. M. Ibragimova connects the appearance of the palace in Salachik 1 with the activities of Khan Hadji Giray [Ibragimova, 2007, p. 37]. After some time, N. A. Gavrilyuk and E. V. Petrov specify that on the basis of archaeological materials from excavations on the territory of baths in Salachik, the object dates back to the middle of the XV-end of the XVIII century. [Petrov and Gavrilyuk, 2011, p. 11]. The palace in Salacic, according to V. L. Myts, was built by Hadji Giray no later than 1453, as follows from the letter of the Consul of Kaffa Borruel Grimaldi to Doge Pietro Campofregoso dated January 31, 1453. The researcher himself dates the construction of the palace to 1449, unfortunately, without additional arguments [Myts, 2009, pp. 357-358]. As a brief historiographical sketch shows, the time of the construction of the palace in Salacik is a controversial topic.

As with the chronology of the palace complex in Salachik, the history of the Zincirli madrasah is also poorly understood. As mentioned above, almost everything is researched-

1 Other names of the palace are also known: Ashlama-Sarai, Devlet-Sarai.

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2. Zincirli Madrasah. Interior. Location of a limestone block with graffiti.

Studies that have dealt with the problem of this spiritual school repeat the date of its construction from the construction inscription [Ibragimova, 2005, p. 139-140; Ibragimova, 2007, p. 37-40; Gavrilyuk and Ibragimova, 2010, p.13; Petrov and Gavrilyuk, 2011, p. 39; Yakobson, 1964, p. 141]. The complex history of an architectural monument, the presence of several construction periods, is mentioned only as an assumption [Shrapmova, 2007, p. 38].

To add to our knowledge of the history and periodization of this religious school can help plot graffiti, which are located on the limestone block (dimensions of the front surface 87.6-31.7 cm) masonry walls of Zincirli madrasah. The authorship of the discovery of graffiti belongs to V. L. Myts [Petrov and Gavrilyuk, 2011, p. 43], but it was never introduced into scientific circulation. The graffiti block is located in the interior of the building (in the gallery) to the left of the main entrance (Figure 2). Distance from the entrance: 18.0 cm, height of laying the block in the masonry: 125.7 cm. from the level of the entrance threshold, 185.4 cm from the gallery floor.

The front side of the block is well processed and smoothed. On the surface there are traces from the use of tools (catfish?) with a tooth pitch of 0.3-0.5 cm. Graffiti is applied in the same style with a sharp tool. Drawing depth-up to 0.3 cm. Line width - 0.15-0.3 cm. (Figure 3).
In addition to random lines and hard-to-read symbols, the block contains 10 drawings and 5 identifiable characters. Most of them are images of riders, horses without them, and other animals. The block contains signs in the form of crosses and other indeterminate symbols. To describe graffiti, we gave two orders of numbers: for drawings and signs (Fig. 4).

The drawings are united by a common plot and a character-a Horseman (Fig. 4, 1, 3, 5, 9). In addition to it, you can separately note drawings with a horse (Fig. 4, 2, 4, 7, 10), with a bird (Fig. 4, b), and with a fantastic (?) animals (fig. 4, 7-8). The last drawing with horse 7 is a plot drawing (Fig. 6, 2). It supposedly depicts the scene of torment 2.

Rider 1 (Fig. 4, 1; Fig. 5, 1) is under-targeted: the horse's head and upper torso of the rider are not preserved, orientation to the left. The rider is shown at the top edge of the block. It can be assumed that the upper part of the drawing was located on the joint of the mortar and the upper block, which have not been preserved to this day. Of the distinctive features of the rider, only a horizontal line can be noted.-

2 For more information about this plot, its description and interpretation, see below.

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Fig. 3. Block with story graffiti from Zincirli Madrasah.

Fig. 4. Block with story graffiti from Zincirli Madrasah. Plot layout.

walking in the middle of the preserved part of the torso. This can be either a part of the body armor, or the rider's hands. The horse is better preserved - only its head is missing from the graffiti. A line extends from the base of the neck, which may be part of the image of the reins. The horse has 4 legs, and the left front leg has a double line, possibly formed from an error in drawing the picture - otherwise it is not yet possible to explain it. The horse also has a well-defined tail. To the front legs of the animal from the outside comes a line at an acute angle.

Rider 3 (Fig. 4, 5; 5, 2) is located in the left half of the block in its middle part, orientation to the left. The rider and horse were well preserved, except for a small chip on the horse's neck. The rider's body looks like a trapezoid with a narrower upper edge. In the upper part, you can see two notches left, possibly by the tool that was used to align the block for the second time. The hand that holds the horse's reins moves away from the body. The rider's face is depicted quite accurately. You can make out the eyes and mouth. On the head - a helmet with a plume, on the face is drawn a visor in the form of three lines that divide the face into three parts. A circle is visible around the head, part of which is drawn with a line and part with six dot-like depressions. The latter occupy the place k on the circumference from 300° to 100°. This graffiti element can surely be interpreted as a halo. They move away from the rider's head, not counting the plume

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Figure 5. Riders (images 1, 3, 5 in Figure 4).
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Figure 6. Rider (image 9 in Figure 4). Horse and fantastic (?) animal (image 7-8 in the same place).

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helmet (located at ≈5°), three lines at: ≈100°, ≈200° and ≈290°. The line at ≈100° ends the circle around the rider's head. The line continues for ≈290° beyond the nimbus. The horse is depicted well. The neck is long, shown at right angles to the croup. The horse's muzzle is sketchy, but its two ears are clearly visible. The left foreleg is shorter than the right, with a hoof drawn at the end. It is crossed out by a short line. The horse's right front and left hind leg and belly are represented by a single u-shaped line. In the rear part of the horse's rump, you can make out a c-shaped line, which is interpreted as a weakly expressed blanket. There is no tail.

Rider 5 (Fig. 4, 5; 6, 3) is located in the upper central part of the block, orientation to the left. The rider and horse were well preserved, except for a significant chipping in the back of the rump, on the horse's muzzle and on the rider's arm. The rider's body looks like a trapezoid with a narrower upper edge. In the middle of the body there is a straight notch - the hands of the rider. The right hand is lowered down, the left - (hand) is raised up. In the rider's left hand is a shield (?) (maybe it's the reins.) It is represented by two lines with transverse notches at an acute angle from the rider to the horse. The shield (?) ends at the point where it meets the horse's head. The rider's head looks like an oval, with a pointed helmet on it. On the face, instead of features, 8 points-depressions are applied, the other two points-depressions depart from the head to the shield (?). The horse is depicted schematically, but it is clearly noticeable that the rider is sitting on it in the saddle. On the rump under the saddle, you can make out a line-a part of the harness. The front legs of the animal are longer than the hind legs, the tail is bifurcated. Probably, the horse is depicted in a jump.

Rider 9 (Fig. 4, 9; 6, 1) is located in the upper right part of the block, orientation to the left. The rider and horse are well preserved. The rider's body looks like an irregular rectangle. Two arms extend from the body. They fall diagonally on the horse's neck, turning into reins that are not taut in the image. On the rider's face, you can make out the eyes, two vertical lines in place of the nose and one rectangular fossa in place of the mouth. Most likely, this is an image of holes on the rider's visor. On the rider's head is a triangular helmet with a plume, which is located not on the top of the head, but on the right side of the head. At the end of the helmet plume, the right hand is closely adjacent, but does not cross it, from which a short line departs at an angle of 90°. From the right hand, after crossing the horse's neck, a fairly long line departs with a branch at an angle of 90°. It's probably a spear. Above the spear, from the rider's left hand, after crossing the horse's neck, another line of much shorter length departs - its interpretation is difficult. The graffiti clearly shows the half-bent legs of the rider under the horse's rump, but located with a shift to the right relative to the central axis of the rider's body. The horse is depicted in sufficient detail. Its muzzle is well drawn - its eyes are marked. On the neck, under the rider's right arm, there is a horizontal line - a part of the harness or blanket. The front legs are depicted well, on the right front you can make out a hoof. Hind legs are more sketchy than the front legs. We can distinguish the tail.

All the riders are shown relatively schematically. Nevertheless, the figures of riders and their horses are united by the manner of their depiction. Draw the riders ' bodies either as rectangles (Fig. 6, 1) or as trapezoids with a narrower upper edge (Fig. 5). Riders can have their feet depicted (Fig. 6, 1) . Almost all riders have plumed helmets (Fig. 5, 2-3; 6, 1), two of them have visors on their faces (fig. 5, 2; 6, 1). One of the unique elements can be called a shield (?) 5, 3), a spear (Fig. 6, 1), and a halo (Fig. 5, 2).

Like the riders, their horses are schematically drawn. What is common is the manner in which they are depicted. Two riders are characterized by the image of a horse with two pairs of lines, where one forms its tail, hind legs, back, neck and muzzle, and the second u-shaped forms the hind and front legs, chest and abdomen of the animal (Fig. 5, 1-2). There is an option when the second line forms the muzzle, neck, chest and belly of the animal, and the legs are completed with separate lines (Fig. 5, 3; 6, 1).

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At the same time, the horse's legs can be depicted quite realistically (Fig. 6, 1). Riders ' horses are characterized by the presence of elements of harness and girth: saddles (Fig. 5, 3), reins (Fig. 5; 6, 1), horse blankets on the neck (Fig. 6, 1) and the back of the croup 5, 2). A good display of the horse's muzzle (Fig. 6, 1) and its ears (Fig. 5, 2) is an isolated phenomenon.

Horse 2 (Fig. 4, 2; 7, 1) is located in the middle left part of the block, orientation to the right. The horse is well preserved, there is a small chip in the back of the horse's rump. The croup is represented by a single line. The head is schematic, tilted down. The front legs are longer than the hind legs. Apparently, the horse is shown in prancing (kicking with its hind legs). On the back, the saddle is clearly distinguishable, after the saddle, an additional line parallel to the "line" of the croup is shown.

Horse 4 (Fig. 4, 4; 7, 2) is located in the middle left part of the block, orientation to the left. The horse is well preserved, contaminated with lime mortar in the rear part of the rump, clearly depicted. The front legs were not depicted by an ancient artist. The lower part of the horse's muzzle and the left leg of the rear pair of legs with the belly are represented by a single u-shaped line - on the muzzle, the line does not close with the back. Slightly pronounced ears are visible on the head. On the neck, a separate line shows the mane. Also on the neck, you can make out a line that means either a harness (bridle) or a blanket. There is no tail (or it has not been preserved).

Horse 10 (Fig. 4, 10; 7, 3) is located in the lower right part of the block, orientation to the left. The horse was well preserved, except for the front legs, which were damaged by chipping the edge of the block. The croup is drawn in two lines that do not close on the horse's muzzle. It shows two well-defined ears. Front legs - two, back - one. The left foreleg is joined by a line at an obtuse angle. The tail is clearly distinguishable.

The manner and style of the image of horses without riders on the block practically does not differ from horses with riders. Typical for this image are the elements of harness (Fig. 7, 1-2), and the ears of horses (Fig. 7, 2-3).

A horse and a fantastic (?) animal (Figs. 4, 7-8; 6, 2) are located in the middle right part of the block, orientation to the left. The horse was well preserved. The croup is drawn in two lines, which are closed on the muzzle. It shows two well-defined ears. Neck-elongated. On the rump to the right of the front legs, you can distinguish lines that are interpreted as a harness (blanket?) and the front bow of the saddle. Front legs - two. The hind left leg is much shorter than the right one. The front pair of legs is crossed by an almost horizontal line, and the hooves in the form of half-ovals are clearly distinguishable at their ends. There is no tail. A fantastic (?) animal is difficult to read, as the drawing is rather sketchy and abstract and overlaps with random geometric lines. This animal is located in the middle of the horse's rump, the paws are shown in two lines and they cross the horse's body at a right angle, ending under the horse's belly. Paws and body of a fantastic (?) animals are represented by a u-shaped line. From the line forming the front paws, the line that is the neck departs, and at its end two more legs can be distinguished, inclined by 225°. Regarding the location of the animal, it can be argued that the ancient artist specifically placed it on the back of a horse. At the fantastic (?) the animal's wings are shown (adjacent to the back, elongated at the end). Here you need to see the plot group - the scene of torment-of the first person. In the back of the horse's rump and at the end of the wing of a fantastic (?) here is a composition of lines that currently have no interpretation.

The bird is shown in the center at the top edge of the block (Fig. 4, 6; 7, 4). The drawing is not fully preserved. Apparently, its upper part remained on the seam of the mortar and the upper stone of the masonry wall-most likely there was a bird's head. Otherwise, the image clearly reads the body of the feathered bird, its paws and tail. A line runs away from the bird's back, which ends at the chipped block - apparently, this is a wing.

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Fig. 7. Horses (images 2, 4, 10 n a fig. 4). Bird (image 6 ibid.). Crosses and a symbol (see Figure A).
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Figure 8. Analogies. I. Riders. Block with story graffiti from Zynjirly-Madrasah. II. Craft marks with a Rider on construction ceramics of the south-western Crimea: II-a-style 1; II-b-style 2; II-c-style 3; II-d-style 4.

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At the end of the review of individual drawings, it is necessary to describe another plot element of graffiti, which unites riders (Fig. 5, 1, 3), horses (Fig. 7, 3) and a pair composition of fantastic (?) animal and horse (Fig. 6, 2). All of these elements have a line next to the left leg of the front pair of legs (Fig. 5, 1, 3; 7, 3) or with the front pair as a whole (Fig. 6, 2). This element is more or less expressive in the four drawings, which suggests that it is not accidental. The most likely interpretation is an image of the ground (field, hill, slope) on which the character is standing (standing, riding, climbing, descending).

There are four crosses on the block (Fig. 5; Fig. 7, 5-8). They are of different sizes, three are four-pointed (Fig. 7, 5-6, 8), and one is oblique eight-pointed (Fig. 7, 7). At the ends of the blades of the two four-pointed ones there are points-depressions, identical in shape to the points of the rider 5 (Fig. 7, 5-6). On one of the four - pointed and eight-pointed crosses (Figs. 7, 7-8), semicircular lines are marked-apparently undecorated circles in which these crosses should have been inscribed. Semicircles are placed on the right and left, respectively.

The symbol (Figs. 7, 9) is located on the right side of the block. In the lower part, it is partially covered by a spot of lime mortar. Starts on the rider's chest 9. In the lower part, it has two branches: short lines to the right horizontally and at an angle of 135°.

The limestone block with graffiti in the ecclesiastical school is a recycled building material taken from a dismantled Christian building. This is supported by the following: the presence of a rider with a halo, i.e. a Christian saint, and the presence of various Christian crosses on the block. In favor of the secondary use of the block, the characteristic chipped edges on the horizontal planes of the block edges, which were formed during dismantling from the masonry of another building, speak. The riders and horses depicted on the block, despite the fact that they are somewhat different, have common iconographic features. In graffiti, you can see one plot with two main characters: a Rider (who is sometimes perceived as a saint) and a horse. Graffiti is a complete story composition (the drawings do not overlap or overlap). The issue of single authorship of images remains open.

Analogies to these graffiti are relief craft markers with a hero-Rider on tiles of the late Byzantine period from the southwestern Crimea [Moiseev, 2013, p. 238-242; Moiseev, 2015, p.24-25]. Of the four types of Horsemen identified, the two that are characterized by a low degree of detail (style 3 and 4) are the closest in terms of style and detail of the drawing [Moiseev, 2013, pp. 238-242]. At the same time, the horses of the Zynjirli Madrasah riders have more analogies to the horses of style 3. The faces of the riders are more similar to style 1 (and style 2, but to a lesser extent) because of the well-defined helmet with a plume and a braid that protrudes from under it (Fig. 5, 2; Fig. 6, 1Such tiles originate from Chersonesos, "cave towns" and the southern coast of Crimea (Moiseev, 2013, p. 238).

Analogies to the Riders in the craft marks of tiles can be seen not only in the general style of the image and form, but also in individual elements of weapons, uniforms, harnesses and hairstyles of the hero. His most common weapon on construction ceramics is a spear [Moiseev, 2013, p. 239]. Although most Graffiti Riders don't have weapons, the only time they do is with a spear (Fig. 6, 1). On graffiti, as on craft markers, the rider almost always has a spheroconic helmet with a plume (Fig. 5, 2, 3; 6, 1), similar is the presence of this part of the uniform was taken away (fig. 5, 3; 6, 1) [Moiseev, 2013, p. 239]. Another analogy is the style of the image and the presence of the rider's horse harness: saddles, reins, blankets (Fig. 5, 2, 3; 6, 1) [Moiseev, 2013, p. 239].

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Graffiti with a horse from Zincirli madrasah, as well as with riders, also have close analogies in relief craft marks on construction ceramics. A horse with tiles, like a rider, is associated with a stable plot and is a hero of a medieval epic, and they are connected to each other [Moiseev, 2015, p.24-25]. Craft placemarks with a horse can be divided into two styles according to the degree of detail: style 1 with a high degree of detail (Figure 9, IIa) and style 2 with a low level of detail (Figure 9, IIb). Horses from Zincirli madrasah have analogies to the style of 2 handicraft marks with a horse. In addition to the general similarity in the image and plots, there are also analogies in specific details. These include elements of horse harness: saddle (Fig. 7, 1), blanket (Fig. 7, 1), bridle (Fig. 7, 2) [Moiseev, 2015, p.24-25]. Due to the fact that the horse with graffiti is depicted in a low degree of detail, it is impossible to compare the plots.

Direct analogies between the rider and the horse from the Zynjirli madrasa and construction ceramics of the southwestern Crimea allow us to better analyze the plot composition of images 7 and 8 (horses and fantastic animals) (Fig. 6, 2). Among the labels of tiles produced in medieval Chersonesos, there is one that depicts a similar scene of torment (Fig. 9, III, 16). It shows a fantastic winged animal, clinging to the horse's back with its hind legs, and tormenting its neck and head with its front paws. The same plot is repeated on graffiti. 9, III), the horse is bridled and shown in motion (on both monuments, the left leg of the front bunk is raised in comparison with the right leg). The scene of torment on the craft marks of tiles is interpreted as one of the episodes of the plot development of the epic about the Horseman. Due to the fact that the horse is depicted independently from the Rider, either separately, or in a scene of tormenting it with a fantastic (?) It is believed that it was her independence that led to the monster's attack on her [Moiseev, 2015, p. 25]. The presence of a scene of torment on a block from the Zincirli madrasa allows us to look at the origin of this plot in general somewhat differently. Previously, the scene of torment was known only on the craft markers of the tiles of Kherson. The fantastic animal also only came from building ceramics produced in this city. For this reason, it was considered that this is a local variation of the legend of the Horseman, formed under the significant influence of the Byzantine cultural tradition [Moiseev, 2015, p.25]. However, the discovery of such a plot in the mountainous Crimea allows us to abandon the exclusively Chersonesian localization of the plot and recognize it as characteristic of the entire southwestern part of the peninsula.

Thus, the riders and horses with graffiti on the block from the Zynjirly madrasa can be associated with two heroes of the medieval Crimean epic of the same name, which was popular among ceramic artisans in the XIII-XV centuries. [Moiseev, 2013, p. 241-242]. Graffiti from Zincirli madrasahs expands our knowledge of this epic, its prevalence and some religious connotations.

To date, five episodes are being reconstructed in the epic about the rider and the horse: the" triumph " of the Rider (Fig. 5, 2); the fight of the rider in the carousel together with two other mounted warriors [Moiseev, 2013, p. 240]; prancing of the horse without a rider (Fig. 7, 1, 3); tormenting of the horse 6, 2) and a rider's hunt with a horse for a bird (Peacock?)3 [Moiseev, 2015, p. 25].

Finding analogies to crosses (Figs. 7, 5-8) and conventional signs (Figs. 7, 9) is more difficult, as these images have fewer specific elements. Nevertheless, this work gave a positive result. For this purpose, the architectural objects of the Christian denomination of medieval times closest to Zynjirli-madrasah were examined. Analogies were found in the churches of St. Archangels

3 It is possible that the peacock from the marks of construction ceramics acts as one of the transformations of the winged fantastic animal both on the marks and on graffiti.

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Figure 9. Analogies. I. Horses. Block with story graffiti from Zynjirly-madrasah. II. Handicraft marks with a horse on construction ceramics of the south-western Crimea: II - a-style 1; II-b-style 2. III. A scene of torment. 15. A horse and a fantastic (?) animal. A block with story graffiti from Zincirli madrasah. 16. Craft label "Gryphon (?) tormenting a horse" on construction ceramics of the south-western Crimea (Chersonese production).

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Fig. 10. Crosses and a conditional sign, analogies. I. Block with subject graffiti from Zincirli Madrasah. II a. 1-5. Graffiti with crosses from the Church of St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the village of Shura. 6. Graffiti with a cross from the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya Sala. II b. Graffiti with an eight-pointed cross from the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya Sala. Graffiti with a conditional sign from the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya-Sala.

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Mikhail and Gabriel in the village of Shura (Kudrin) 10, II-III), as well as in the catchment tank of a IX-XI century residential building in the block VII of the Chersonesus settlement (Brzustkovska, 2006, pp. 62, 83). A. L. Berthier-Delagard dated the church in the village of Biya Sala from an inscription dated 1587 (Berthier-Delagard, 1898, p. 4). The Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the village of Shura also dates from 1328 (renewed in 1594) - the end of the XVIII century. [Markevich, 1899, pp. 104-105]. The cross from the catchment cistern dates back to the 1st half-2nd half/end of the XI century on the basis of archaeological research in 2002. [Alekseenko, 2006, p. 89; Nessel, 2006, p. 107].

Similar four-pointed crosses with indented dots at the ends can be of different sizes and the thickness of their lines can also be different: up to 1.0 cm. 10, II, 3). Among these analogies, one such cross stands out from the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya-Sala (Fig. 10, II, 6). In addition to the points-depressions at the ends of the cross, on the horizontal crossbar, short ones (no more than 0.5 cm) are clearly distinguishable from its lower side.) vertical lines that also end in dots. There is no such element on the four-pointed crosses from the Zincirli madrasah. In its iconography, it is a Latin cross. In the cistern of a residential building in quarter VII of the Chersonesus hillfort, it appears independently and as part of a larger composition: a ship with a cross on its mast. Thus, this leads to the definition of such a cross with points at the ends as apotropic [Brzustkovska, 2006, pp. 62, 77, 83]. Similar crosses should also be identified on the block of Zincirli-madrassas, the churches of St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the village of Shura and St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya-Sala.

An analogy to the oblique eight-pointed cross was found only in the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya-Sala (Figs. 10, II, 7). On the block from Zincirli madrasah, the cross is not completely preserved (Figs. 7, 1; 10, III), but thanks to the analogy found, we can reconstruct it. This type of cross has a number of features. First, on the horizontal crossbar, on its lower side, short (no more than 1.5-2.0 cm) vertical lines are clearly distinguishable, which end with indentations (only 4 on the left and 5 on the right). On the cross with graffiti, there are 3 such lines on the left, the right horizontal blade does not have them. Secondly, the presence of four additional blades above the main crosshair. These blades are non-vertical - in the Church of St. John the Baptist, the lower row is turned up by 10°-15°, no more, and the upper row is turned up by 45°. Only the right half of them are traced on graffiti (the left half is not traced because of the lime solution stain). The lower crossbar of the cross is rotated ≈45° upwards. Unlike the eight-pointed cross from the Church of St. John the Baptist, on the block from the Zincirli madrasah, this blade does not end with indentations and another short branch. As in the analogy on the eight-pointed cross of the graffiti under consideration, a short line departs at the base to the right at an angle of ≈30° downwards. However, in contrast to the analogy, here on the left side there is another short line, rotated by ≈30° up. The lines at the lower end of the cross represent the foot or the symbol of St. John the Baptist. Andrew [Becker, 2000 p. 71; Liungman Carl G, 2004, p. 140]. Unlike the analogy from the Church of St. John the Baptist, the cross in question shows lines on the left and right that can be interpreted as an attempt to enclose the cross in a circle. The same semicircular arc, but only on the right, is seen on another four-pointed cross from the monument under consideration (Figs. 7, 8). In addition, in the analogy on the lower part of the cross on the right side, you can distinguish 5 short (no more than 1.0 cm) lines, ≈45° down, which end with dots-depressions.

Analogies to the symbol come from the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya-Sala (Fig. 10, IV). If the definition of the analogy is correct, then the block does not have a fully preserved sign - its full form can be traced on several graffiti of the specified church. We can say that the sign is a monogram in which the letters of the Greek alphabet are read.

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Thus, the block with graffiti from Zynjirly madrasah is located in the context of the Christian culture of medieval Crimea. The closest analogies come from the cistern of a residential building of the 1st half-2nd half/end of the XI century in the quarter of the VII Chersonesos, from building ceramics of the XIII-XV centuries from the south-western Crimea and from churches of the Kachin valley of the XIV (XVI) - XVIII centuries. (in the village of Shury) and XVI-XVIII centuries. (in the village of Biya-Sala). Most likely, the block got into the masonry of the Zynjirli madrasa after the destruction of a certain large, given the size of the block, Christian religious building. The date when the block hit the masonry wall of the Zincirli madrasah remains unclear today. Take 1500 as the date. it does not allow that the place of the wall where the block is located has evidence of significant repairs in antiquity. These include, apparently, the repair work on the southern wall of the madrasa. To clarify the chronology of this repair, one of the sources may be the iconography and symbolism of the eight-pointed cross from the block (Fig. 7, 1) and its analogies from the Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Biya-Sala (Fig. 10, II, 7). The remaining images of the block should be dated according to the closest analogies of the XIII-XV centuries, i.e., the time before the construction of the Zincirli madrasah as such. The shape of the oblique eight-pointed cross is found no later than the 11th century and becomes one of the symbols of the Greek Orthodox Church [Becker, 2000, p. 71]. I note that by the 15th century such crosses were well known both in Byzantium and in Russia [Bank, 1966, p. 285, 328; Evseeva, 2013, p. 506-508], but their individual elements (vertical branches from the main blade with dots at the end) have yet to be studied and their chronology determined. However, taking into account the chronology of the Church of St. John the Baptist, the eight-pointed cross from the madrasah must be dated in the chronological framework of the late XVI-late XVIII centuries.

It is possible to date the formation of the graffiti complex from the block in the broad framework of the XIII-XVIII centuries. Graffiti was applied, apparently, in two stages. Initially, graffiti with a rider and a horse were depicted in the chronological framework of the XIII-XV centuries, and later crosses and a composition of lines partially overlapping a horse and a fantastic (?) animal were added at the end of the XVI-XVIII centuries. Thus, the block hit the masonry wall no earlier than the end of the XVI century. The same time should be taken as the lower chronological frame of the relative date of one of the construction periods of the Zincirli madrasah. The appearance of such a block in the southern wall of the madrasa after its construction is beyond doubt: the construction inscription located above the entrance in the same southern wall was also not installed here initially [Ibragimova, 2007, p. 38].

Secondary use of architectural elements of Christian religious buildings in the Muslim architecture of the medieval Crimea is quite common. The collection of the Bakhchisarai Historical, Cultural and Archaeological Museum-Reserve, for example, contains a large number of architectural fragments that undoubtedly originally belonged to Christian buildings, but were later reused in Muslim architecture.4
However, in the case of graffiti from the Zincirli madrasah, a unique situation can be traced. The block with the horsemen is deliberately installed by the builders in a prominent and important place in the madrasah, and the graffiti is not damaged: the drawing is not inverted, it is easy to observe it standing on the entrance steps or on the gallery floor.

It should be noted that in the building next to the Zincirli madrasah, which belonged to the Khan's palace in Salachik, the durba of Haji Giray, one graffiti is known

4 From the excavations in Salachik, for example, a fragment of a marble altar barrier was found, which was turned on one side into the wall of a box of a Muslim tombstone (inv. N KP12687/a-zh-3758). During secondary use, the relief cross in the medallion was deliberately knocked down. The same type of finds includes a marble capital converted into a fountain for the women's half of the baths in Salachik (inv. N KP12716/a-zh-3787) [Petrov and Gavrilyuk, 2011, p.62].

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with the image of a Horseman [Gavrilyuk and Ibragimova, 2010, p. 59-61; Petrov and Gavrilyuk, 2011, p. 25, 29]. Horsemen are also well known on the surface of the walls of the Khan's palace in Bakhchisarai (Gavrilyuk and Ibragimova, 2010, p. 60). Thus, both in the Christian and Muslim culture of the medieval Crimea of the XIII-XVI centuries. there was an epic in which the main character was a Horseman. This epic is very persistent and a large number of people of both Christian and Muslim faiths were familiar with it. Apparently, one of them was a madrasah builder, who, having seen the plot known to him, but missing the Christian symbolism in it, considered it possible to place the block in question in the masonry of the wall of a Muslim spiritual school. I would like to note that both teachers and students of the madrasa could not help noticing this block with graffiti on it, but they also did not take any actions to destroy the image.

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