The Great Town – Man Kermen in The Secret History of the Mongols
Journal: Acta Orientalia
Year: 2021

The city name Man Kermen in The Secret History of the Mongols is identiﬁed with Kiev in the chapters concerning the great western Mongol campaign against Eastern Europe. It is based on the datum of Rashīd al-Dīn: ‘the great city of the Rus, which was called Man-Kermen.’ It is beyond doubt that the Cumans called Kiev as Man Kermen meaning Great Town in Turkic as the spiritual and ecclesiastic center of Kievan Rus. However, there is another possibility. The capital of the Volga Bulghars in the ﬁrs