Tamerlan's tomb

[system1988]

Hey all, I know you probably are aware of this but I thought I might share something with you.

We all know about Tamerlan, the Great Khan of Mongolia, who won against Vayiasit the II (Ottoman Empire) and in the end formed his own empire. He "accidentaly" killed 17.000.000 people. Nevertheless we were fortunate enought to have his tomb in Samarkand (did Alexander ever go there?). It is a monument of incredible beauty and in 1941 a Russian anthropologist dug the grave, found the bones and had a replica made out of Khan's head. The monument has gone through a thorough reconstruction- repair but one can look at the older pictures that depict it and appreciate the full scope of its ancient magnificence. There is only so much hunger these other tombs can quench for us who all, always have in the a deep spot within our minds that our generation will last long enough to see Alexander's tomb, if it still exists somewhere in Egypt.

PS

Tamerlan was a cripple as his name shows (wikipedia) whilst Vayiasit was almost blind. In the first painting of the link we see the meeting of the victorious T. who captured V. When he saw him laughed and replied to the offended V: "I am not laughing at you but with God's irony of divided the world between a lame and a blind man!"

Here is the link

http://www.lifo.gr/team/sansimera/39262

[marcus]

Hey all, I know you probably are aware of this but I thought I might share something with you.

We all know about Tamerlan, the Great Khan of Mongolia, who won against Vayiasit the II (Ottoman Empire) and in the end formed his own empire. He "accidentaly" killed 17.000.000 people. Nevertheless we were fortunate enought to have his tomb in Samarkand (did Alexander ever go there?). It is a monument of incredible beauty and in 1941 a Russian anthropologist dug the grave, found the bones and had a replica made out of Khan's head.

Hi System. I went to Samarkand a few years ago and visited Tamerlane's tomb. Absolutely magnificent, I must say. It is, of course, about 4 km from the site of ancient Marakanda, where the Macedonians took up residence in 328 and where Kleitos the Black was murdered. So it couldn't be richer in history!

The story goes that Tamerlane (or his descendents) predicted great disaster for whoever dug up his tomb. As you say, the body was exhumed in 1941 - days later, Germany invaded the USSR. A Central Asian version of Tutankhamun's curse, perhaps?

ATB

[system1988]

Hey all, I know you probably are aware of this but I thought I might share something with you.

We all know about Tamerlan, the Great Khan of Mongolia, who won against Vayiasit the II (Ottoman Empire) and in the end formed his own empire. He "accidentaly" killed 17.000.000 people. Nevertheless we were fortunate enought to have his tomb in Samarkand (did Alexander ever go there?). It is a monument of incredible beauty and in 1941 a Russian anthropologist dug the grave, found the bones and had a replica made out of Khan's head.

Hi System. I went to Samarkand a few years ago and visited Tamerlane's tomb. Absolutely magnificent, I must say. It is, of course, about 4 km from the site of ancient Marakanda, where the Macedonians took up residence in 328 and where Kleitos the Black was murdered. So it couldn't be richer in history!

The story goes that Tamerlane (or his descendents) predicted great disaster for whoever dug up his tomb. As you say, the body was exhumed in 1941 - days later, Germany invaded the USSR. A Central Asian version of Tutankhamun's curse, perhaps?

ATB

Hi Marcus

The story of the "curse" to the one who would open Tamerlan's tomb was also in the greek text I linked you to. I think that one can get a rough gist via google translating the page.

How lucky of you to have had the opportunity to visit all these non- traditional, non- touristic places which are hard to access. Should you have any photos of the monument and the area it I would like to see them - they might be evocative (who knows, maybe the spirit of the murdered Kleitos wanders about there)!

[marcus]

Hi Marcus

The story of the "curse" to the one who would open Tamerlan's tomb was also in the greek text I linked you to. I think that one can get a rough gist via google translating the page.

How lucky of you to have had the opportunity to visit all these non- traditional, non- touristic places which are hard to access. Should you have any photos of the monument and the area it I would like to see them - they might be evocative (who knows, maybe the spirit of the murdered Kleitos wanders about there)!

Well, for starters you could have a look at my Facebook album, which I think is open to the public. If that doesn't work for you, I can post a couple on here, but I'd have to reduce the picture size as well as decide which ones are best to post ... so see if you can see the FB album first!

[system1988]

Well, for starters you could have a look at my Facebook album, which I think is open to the public. If that doesn't work for you, I can post a couple on here, but I'd have to reduce the picture size as well as decide which ones are best to post ... so see if you can see the FB album first!

Thank you very much for the link but it does not appear to be working. I am sure that you have taken some awesome photos.

[marcus]

Thank you very much for the link but it does not appear to be working. I am sure that you have taken some awesome photos.

I think the album wasn't public, but I've changed it. Give it another go!