Darovi sa Nila: Novi pogled na susret svetog Save sa egipatskim sultanom

Abstract

U svom Žitiju svetog Save, Teodosije Hilandarac daje listu poklona koje je, navodno, egipatski sultan darovao Savi prilikom njegove posete Kairu. Ovaj prilog predstavlja pokušaj da se svaka pojedinačna stavka sa tog spiska rastumači i postavi u šire okvire razmene poklona na srednjovekovnom Mediteranu, ali i nastojanje da se ti artikli shvate kao celina, kao svojevrstan „katalog” poklona, jedinstven u korpusu narativnih izvora srpskog srednjovekovlja.

During his second voyage to the East (1234–1235), St Sava of Serbia was received in Cairo by the sultan of Egypt. Fascinated by Sava’s charisma, the sultan, who could have been none other than the famed Ayyūbid ruler, al-Malik al-Kāmil (1218–1238), held his guest from afar in highest of regards, bestowing upon him a variety of precious gifts: balsam, a massive piece of aloes wood, savory Indian fragrances, sugar and dates. Thus, at least, narrates Teodosije of Hilandar (d. ca. 1328), in his Vita of Saint Sava. The elaborate gift list is attested both in the Daničić edition (1860) of the vita, and in a series of unpublished manuscripts (14th–18th c.), which we were compelled to study since there is no critical edition of Teodosije’s oeuvre. On the other hand, the lack of additional testimonies makes the historical background of this encounter, as well as the very act of gift giving, somewhat more difficult to prove. Nontheless, we tried to compensate for this gap by placing the aforementioned gifts in a wider context – under the assumption that Sava actually had received the sultan’s offerings, what would their value have been in the world of the Eastern Mediterranean, in the first half of the 13th century? A number of sources of Latin and Arabic provenience yielded the conclusion that all the items from Teodosije’s catalogue were considered luxurious, especially in Europe, where they were rarely abundant and never came at a small price. And yet, one questions eludes us still – how did Teodosije come up with such a list of exquisite items? Was it but an offspring of his fantasy, or were there other materials at his disposal, which contained these peculiar details of Sava’s voyage but haven’t been preserved to the present day? The thing we know for sure is that in Teodosije’s main source, Vita of Saint Sava by Domentijan, there is not a single mention of the sultan’s gifts. During the course of our research, we came to believe that Sava himself might have left an account of his journey, which Teodosije later used as a work of reference. Alas, due to a scarcity of historical sources, it is highly unlikely that the answer to this question, as well as many other related ones, will ever leave the hypothetical domain.