The Golden Horde's Steppe Capital: Life in Old Sarai

Lucas and Luna explore the daily life, culture, and governance of Old Sarai (Sarai-Batu), the first capital of the Golden Horde on the lower Volga. Built by Batu Khan around 1250, Sarai was a sprawling city of tents, brick buildings, mosques, and markets, where Mongol rulers, Turkic tribes, Russian slaves, and merchants from across Eurasia coexisted. The episode covers the city's founding, its layout, the yam postal system, the role of the yarlyk (edicts), and the multicultural mix under the Jochid ulus. It also touches on the city's decline after Tamerlane's destruction in 1395 and the shift to New Sarai. No prior episodes have focused solely on Sarai's physical and social fabric. #GoldenHorde #SaraiBatu #BatuKhan #MongolEmpire #SteppeCapital #JochidUlus #VolgaRiver #Yarlyk #YamPostalSystem #Tamerlane #CentralAsiaHistory #MedievalCity #MongolArchitecture #SilkRoad #RussianHistory #FexingoHistory #HistoryPodcast #MedievalHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo