Sarai
- Modern name
- Sarai
- Modern country
- Russia
- Coordinates
- 47.18, 47.43
Sarai was the name of (possibly) two cities on the lower Volga River—Old Sarai and New Sarai—that served as Mongol capitals, particularly of the Golden Horde. Since the Mongols were originally a nomadic steppe people, the archaeological evidence is scanty and there is considerable scholarly disagreement about the location of these sites. Old Sarai seems to have been abandoned in favor of New Sarai sometime in the 14th century; Ibn Battuta (who visited) speaks favorably of the city, but it is impossible to tell from his description which Sarai he is describing. Note that Sarai is relatively rare on the Sfera maps, only appearing in 3 manuscripts; also, both Sarai and the Moroccan port of Salé are both sometimes written as salla on the Sfera maps.
The toponym Sarai appears in La Sfera in the following places:
Click on any citation to view it in context in the edition.
Map of the location P120
- Suggested citation
- Beneš, Carrie. “Sarai.” Gregorio Dati’s La sfera = The Globe: A Digital Edition, February 10, 2026. https://la-sfera-staging-a8db029690a6.herokuapp.com/toponyms/salla/.