Sword of Tamerlane. The story of the mysterious disappearance of a legendary weapon
The Sword of Tamerlane is not just a weapon, but a true legend that has thrilled the minds of great generals, from Napoleon to Soviet marshals. It is said that it made its owner invincible, and a huge diamond was embedded in its hilt. But where is this blade now? And did it exist at all? Let’s understand what is known about the mysterious saber, why Napoleon was hunting for it and where it disappeared to!
The legend of the sword. The weapon that makes you invincible.
Tamerlane, or Timur, was a great conqueror of the 14th century who founded an empire that stretched from Central Asia to India. He became famous not only for his military victories, but also for the mystical aura around his name. Historian Cyril Serebrenitsky relates: “In the Islamic world there was a legend about the magic sword of the prophet Muhammad — Zulfiqar. And Tamerlan’s sword became a kind of his reflection, a symbol of invincibility.”
According to legend, Tamerlane’s saber was made of bulat steel, decorated with gold Arabic script with quotations from the Koran, and a large ruby or diamond was inserted into the hilt. “It was more like a saber, not a sword, but in legends it is called a sword, because great generals were more often associated with swords”, — specifies Doctor of Historical Sciences Vitaly Zakharov. After Tamerlan’s death in 1405, his descendants kept the blade as a relic, believing that it protects from enemies and brings good luck.
Napoleon and his dream. The saber as the key to India
Napoleon Bonaparte, the great French emperor, was obsessed with the idea of getting his hands on Tamerlane’s sabre. “He knew the legend: the owner of this weapon cannot lose,” Zakharov explains. Napoleon dreamed of repeating Tamerlane’s march to India, where he defeated the army of the Delhi Sultanate in 1398. For Bonaparte, the sabre was not only a symbol, but also a tool: he believed that its presence demoralizes enemies in the East.
In 1808 Napoleon sent an embassy to Persia with a request to present him with the legendary blade. On September 4, in the castle of Saint-Cloud near Paris, the Persian ambassador handed the Emperor two luxurious blades: one allegedly belonged to Tamerlane, the other — the conqueror Nadir Shah. Napoleon was delighted and even wanted to install on the Place de la Bastille a statue of an elephant with a figure handing him the relic. But the joy was short-lived. French armorers quickly found out: the blades are fake. Orientalist Kirill Kotkov tells: “These were Dagestani sabers made in the aul of Amuzgi, not Tamerlane’s weapons.” Napoleon never received the cherished artifact, and the campaign to India remained a dream.
Dagestan blades. The secret of durability
The village of Amuzgi in Dagestan was once famous throughout the world. Local craftsmen forged blades that were famous for their incredible strength. The host of the program “Legends and Myths” Alexander Ingilevich decided to check it in practice: he took a Dagestani sword and easily cut a steel sheet 2 mm thick. Then he tried to cut a nail — there were jagged edges on the nail, but the blade remained perfect.
Blacksmith Marat Akhmedov explains: “The secret is in the technology: the middle of the blade was made of hard high-carbon steel, and the edges were made of soft steel so that the blade would not break. Such sabers are kept in museums around the world: the Moscow Armory, the British Museum and the National Museum of Damascus. But the tradition has faded — the last master who knew the secret of forging died a few years ago.
A saber in Samarkand. A 1941 find
In June 1941, Soviet scientists opened Tamerlane’s tomb in the Gur-Emir mausoleum in Samarkand. Among the findings was a saber without a scabbard, which was immediately named Tamerlane’s saber. Samarkand masters urgently made a scabbard for it, and the blade was presented to Marshal Semyon Budyonny.
Budenny was delighted: “The saber looked like a new one, although it was more than 500 years old. I felt a burst of strength and energy,” he recalled. In December 1942, when saboteurs infiltrated his dacha, the Marshal grabbed the saber and, according to him, killed all five attackers. He claimed that it was as if the blade itself knew how to act. But historians doubt: was it really Tamerlane’s saber? And where is it now? After Budyonny’s death in 1973, its traces were lost.
The National Museum of Dagestan. Another saber?
The National Museum of Dagestan keeps another saber, which is associated with Tamerlan. Chief curator Zaira Kirdeeva tells us: “It came to us in 1936 from a resident of Hunzakh. His family had kept the blade for more than 200 years”. The sabre has inscriptions in Persian and Arabic: “I, the ruler of the world, have taken possession of this sabre.
According to Kirdeeva, the blade was made in the Indian city of Lohur during Tamerlane’s campaigns, and 300 years later it came to Nadir Shah. But it is a battle saber, not a mythical “magic sword.” Historian Serebrenitsky adds: “I have found dozens of sabers attributed to Tamerlan, and not only in Dagestan, but all over the world. Which of them is the real one is unknown.”
The Last Trace. From Yerevan to Gatchina
There is another version. Historian Vitaly Zakharov tells: “One of Tamerlane’s sabers allegedly fell to the Persian Shah, and the latter gave it to the viceroy in Erivan — modern Yerevan.” During the Russian-Persian war of 1826-1828 Russian troops captured the Erivan fortress. General Afanasy Krasovsky took the saber from the viceroy and sent it to Nicholas I with a letter: “At Your Majesty’s feet I place the sword of the great Tamerlane.”
Until the revolution of 1917 the blade was kept in the Gatchina Palace, but after the revolution its traces are lost. Where did it go? Was it the same sword? There are no answers. The legend of Tamerlane’s sword, which gives victory, remains a beautiful myth, but the reality, as always, is more complicated.