Genghis Khan's Pen As Mighty As His Sword

IOL ^ | 8-23-2004

[blam]

Genghis Khan's pen as mighty as his sword?

August 23 2004 at 11:45AM

Beijing - A Chinese historian says he has evidence that ruthless conqueror and master of the Mongol horde Genghis Khan was as masterful with the pen as he was with the sword.

Historians have long assumed the ancient Mongolian ruler was illiterate, primarily because the Mongolian written language was created in the early 13th century, when Genghis Khan would have been in his 40s and not have had time to learn, the official Xinhua news agency said.

However, Tengus Bayaryn, a professor at China's Inner Mongolia University, announced he had found an "autographic edict" written by Genghis Khan in 1219 inside a book sent to a Chinese Taoist priest, it said.

"The original message, in Mongolian, was written in a unique style and tone and could only have been been drafted by the great ruler himself," Bayaryn was quoted as saying.

A later note penned to the same Taoist scholar read: "I've ordered the ministers to compile a handbook of your lesson and will read it personally," Xinhua said.

"That 'I will read it personally' suggests clearly Genghis Khan could read the Mongolian version of the sermon," Bararyn said.

Genghis Khan, born around 1167, unified disparate Mongolian tribes to create a lethal, horseback fighting force that rode roughshod over China and Central Asia and forged a short-lived empire that reached as far west as Poland and Hungary

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[bondjamesbond]

That's pronounced "Jen-jis", don'tcha know...

[escapefromboston]

for that reason alone I will never vote for Kerry. Jen-Jis khan!!! where is this guy from??

[C210N]

This kerry guy is giving me a trejenjis head-ache

[Citizen Tom Paine]

Genghis Khan apparently was the supreme alpha male having about 16,000,000 descendents. Raping all those women had some effect even to this very day.

[isthisnickcool]

for that reason alone I will never vote for Kerry. Jen-Jis khan!!! where is this guy from??

You have a problem with the way Kerry spoke 30 years ago? He no longer tries to sound like me. He just acts like me now.

Thurston

[escapefromboston]

if thurston was sooooo rich shouldn't he had his own boat?? besides that , gilligans island was totally believable.

PS if anyone is from Boston and listens to the howie carr radio show , Howie's impression of Kerry sounds alot like Thurston.

[JimSEA]

Historians have long assumed the ancient Mongolian ruler was illiterate, primarily because the Mongolian written language was created in the early 13th century, when Genghis Khan would have been in his 40s and not have had time to learn, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Just as Latin was used in Europe, Chinese and Pali were used in Asia before the development of some written languages. Just an asside but the assumption that the functions of a language are not being filled in the absence of an indiginous written language are not justified in most cases.

However, the idea that Genghis Khan wrote in Mongolian is facinating and I hope for more of his work

[laishly]

The great Khan was the guy who broke the back of the muslim empire, a catastrophe from which it has never recovered. The muslim wackos like OBL seem to blame western European civilization. The truth is that, as Khan was edging into the middle east, he sent a party of emissaries to a muslim capitol. They slaughtered them and sent their heads back to Khan. With that Khan proceeded to butcher everyone in the city and in the ensuing years methodically went from city to city in the middle east totally destroying muslim culture and civilization. It was probably the most devastating calamity to ever happen to a major civilization, something on the order of what happened to the Incas.

[combat_boots]

True. And it was Genghis Khan, the Chinese King, who burned the library at Alexandria, Egypt, detroying all those ancient documents.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks blam!

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[nopardons]

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaston.

[nopardons]

Very interesting article.Thanks for the ping.

[Seydlitz]

The Muslim world had already fractured into smaller states by the time the Mongols hit. Your story about the decapitation of the Mongol emissaries is true, but it was done by one of the smaller Muslim states, Khwarezm, in central Asia.

[Seydlitz]

Actually, the library at Alexandria had been burned nearly 1400 years before, during a battle between the Egyptians and Julius Caesar's Roman legions.

[Libertina]

The great Ruler said (and I quote)

Did you know I served in Vietnam? ;)

[Unknowing]

This story demonstrates the dire need for licensing and registration of all pens. And a central handwriting database.

Of course, typewriters must remain available for law enforcement officers only.

[SunkenCiv]

Fascinating history of the library. Notes that the library was *not* burned by Julius Caesar, and in fact was around throughout Roman times, and was finally consigned to the flames by the Moslems -- as recorded by a Moslem historian:

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The Vanished Library by Luciano Canfora tr by Martin Ryle

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[eleni121]

Oh Goody.