FITZHUGH
13th-century paiza, a safe conduct pass protecting officials,
traders, and emmisaries
WILLIAM W. FITZHUGH
The Smithsonian Institution
MORRIS ROSSABI
City University of New York and Columbia University
WILLIAM HONEYCHURCH
Yale University
• The Bronze Age & the Inner Asian Steppe
• The ascendancy of the Xiongnu, empires before Genghis
• The Golden Horde, impact in the west
• Kublai Khan, including his attempts to invade Japan
• The decline of the Yuan Dynasty; Ming to Marxism
• Contributions by forty leading scholars
• 320 pages, 270 color illustrations & 15 maps
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire—Mongolia from PreHistory to Modern Times
A
concise, rich text, with contributions from archaeology to
biological anthropology. Presented in five parts, concluding
with Genghis’ legacy; the decline of the Yuan dynasty to the
present day. Findings from excavations and extensive evidence
of handicraft production and metalwork. The book’s clear prose,
beautiful design, and wide-ranging illustrations will fascinate
general readers as well as scholars.
William Fitzhugh, the director of the
Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian
Institution, is an anthropologist specializing
in circumpolar archaeology, residing in
Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-962-217-835-9
US$39.95
GENGHIS KHAN and THE MONGOL EMPIRE
EDITED BY:
ROSSABI
HONEYCHURCH
Smithsonian
Institution/
NMAH/
Odyssey Books
GENGHIS KHAN
Edited by
2
AND THE
MONGOL EMPIRE
Published by
William W. Fitzhugh
Morris Rossabi
William Honeychurch
Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution
& Mongolian Preservation Foundation
in collaboration with Odyssey Books & Maps
Project Administrator
Abigail McDermott
Distributed in USA by
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
3
Contents
Forewords: Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Mongolia, Member of the State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia 8
Jonathan Addleton, United States Ambassador to Mongolia, 2009–12 9
Mongolia: The book and Genghis Khan: The Exhibition by Don Lessem
10
Contributors
19
1. Introduction: Genghis Khan: Empire and Legacy by William W. Fitzhugh
23
Part I. Before Genghis: Lands and Peoples of Mongolia
2.
3.
4. 5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Mongolia: Heartland of Asia by James Bosson
Mongolia: Ancient Hearth of Central Asia by Steven B. Young
Tree Rings, Climate History, and Genghis Khan by Gordon C. Jacoby Masters of the Steppe: Peoples of Mongolia by David Sneath
Mongolian Shamanism: The Mosaic of Performed Memory by Manduhai Buyandelger
Sounds from Nature: Music of the Mongols by Peter K. Marsh Precursor to Empire: Early Cultures and Prehistoric Peoples by William Honeychurch, William W. Fitzhugh, and Chunag Amartuvshin Empire Building before the Mongols: Legacies of the Türks and Uyghurs by Jonathan K. Skaff and William Honeychurch
Genghis Khan Emerges: Power and Polity on the Steppe by Isenbike Togan
43
50
53
57
65
72
75
85
91
Part II. Genghis Times
11. Genghis Khan by Morris Rossabi
12. Mongol Women by Morris Rossabi 13. “All the Khan’s Horses” by Morris Rossabi 14. Introduction to “The Secret History of the Mongols” by Paul Kahn 15. Rule by Divine Right by Shagdaryn Bira 16. Ancient Cities of the Steppe by J. Daniel Rogers 17. Searching for Genghis: Excavations of the Ruins at Avraga by Noriyuki Shiraishi
18. The Crossroads in Khara Khorum: Excavations at the Center of the Mongol Empire by Ulambayar Erdenebat and Ernst Pohl 19. The Search for Khara Khorum and the Palace of the Great Khan by Hans-Georg Hüttel
20. John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck by David Morgan
21. Xi Xia: The First Mongol Conquest by Ruth W. Dunnell
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99
110
113
117
124
127
132
137
146
150
153
Part III. The Mongolian Western Empire
22. The Mongolian Western Empire by David Morgan 23. Rashid al-Din by David Morgan 24. The Golden Horde and Russia by Daniel C. Waugh 25. Conquerors and Craftsmen: Archaeology of the Golden Horde by Mark G. Kramarovsky
26. The Mongols at War by Timothy May
163
170
173
181
191
Part IV. Kublai Khan and Yuan China
27. The Vision in the Dream: Kublai Khan and the Conquest of China by Morris Rossabi
28. Emissaries, East and West: Rabban Sauma and Marco Polo by Morris Rossabi 29. Ibn Battuta by Ross E. Dunn 30. The Yuan Synthesis: Chinese Influence on the Mongol Culture (1271–1368) by François Louis 31. Chinese Influence on Iranian Art in the Mongol Empire by Willem J.Vogelsang
32. A Marriage of Convenience: Goryeo–Mongol Relations in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries by George L. Kallander
33. The Lost Fleet of Kublai Khan: Mongol Invasions of Japan by James P. Delgado, Randall J. Sasaki and Kenzo Hayashida
34. Forensics in the Gobi: The Mummies of Hets Mountain Cave by Bruno Frohlich,
Tsend Amgalantugs, David R. Hunt, Janine Hinton and Erdene Batshatar
33. Cave Burials of Mongolia by Ulambayar Erdenebat
203
217
220
223
233
239
245
255
259
Part V. Genghis Khan’s Legacy
36. Mongolia from Empire to Republic, 1400 to 1921 by Pamela K. Crossley
265
37. Buddhism in Mongolia by Shagdaryn Bira
272
38. Genetic Legacy of Genghis Khan by Theodore G. Schurr 276
39. I Conquer Like a Barbarian! Genghis Khan in the Western Poular Imagination
278
by Peter K. Marsh and Myagmar Saruul-Erdene 40. Today’s Genghis Khan: From Hero to Outcast to Hero Again
283
by Nomin Lkhagvasuren
Acknowledgments
Object Checklist and Illustration Credits
Works Cited
Index
289
291
299
313
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Lenders to the Exhibition
Copyright © 2013 by Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-962-217-835-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire / edited by William W. Fitzhugh,
Morris Rossabi, William Honeychurch
p. cm.
Published in conjunction with an exhibition which is first appearing
at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, February-September 2009.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Genghis Khan, 1162-1227. 2. Mongols--History--To 1500. 3.
Mongolia--Antiquities. 4. Mongols--History. I. Fitzhugh, William W.,
1943- II. Rossabi, Morris. III. Honeychurch, William, 1966- IV. Houston
Museum of Natural Science.
DS22.G46 2009
950’.21092--DC22
Cover
Nadaam Riders
Horses have been central to Mongol cultures for thousands of years.
Speed and horsemanship are contested as much today as in the past,
primarily in nadaam festivals held annually in early July. Competitive
racing has been an important part of Mongol life for centuries, if not for
thousands of years, and was the basis for training Genghis Khan’s 13thcentury cavalry troops.
Page 1
Whistling arrow
Mongol battle commanders used whistling arrows as sound signals
to initiate battle orders and for disorienting prey during the hunt. The
sound was created by wind rushing across small cup-shaped hollows in
the arrow stem.
Page 2-3
Erdene Zuu Monastery
After its heyday in the 13th century, the Mongol capital city, Khara
Khorum, declined and knowledge of its location was lost. Archaeological
work conducted in the 20th century identified its buried remains under
and north of the Erdene Zuu monastery. Archaeologists believe the
monastery, founded in 1586, is built on the remains of the khan’s palace.
Notes on Transliteration
The Editors have adopted a common sense approach toward transliteration of foreign words. In general, the following standard systems of
Romanization have been used: pinyin for Chinese, the revised romanization of Korean of 2000, and Hepburn for Japanese. The Royal
Asiatic Society system has been used for the transliteration of Persian.
Antoine Mostaert’s scheme for the transliteration of Classical
Mongolian, as modified by Francis Cleaves, has been adopted, except
for these deviations:
The Dornod Province Museum, Mongolia
The Dornogobi Province Museum, Mongolia
Natsag Gankhuyag, Arlington, Virginia
Larry and Pat Gotuaco, San Francisco, California
ch is used for c̆
sh is used for š
gh is used for y
The Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences
kh is used for q
j is used for ĵ
Macrons and other symbols have not been used in order not to impose
on the reader. For contemporary Mongolian terms in the Cyrillic alphabet we use a simplified transliteration system in which some letters and
diacritical marks represent one or more than one Cyrillic letter as follows:
a is used for А
e is used for Э
Vahid and Cathy Kooros, with the cooperation of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Arthur Leeper, Belvedere, California
The Military Museum of Mongolia
i is used for И and Й
o is used for O and Ѳ
u is used for
y and Y
y is used for Ы
ye is used for E
The National Library of Mongolia
The National Museum of Mongolia
yo is used for Ё
ya is used for Я
yu is used for ю
The Qinxuan Collection, San Francisco, California
‘ is used for ь
When a Mongolian term has a traditional transliteration in English, such
as the word “gobi,” we defer to that form. When authors have requested
specific transliterations, we have done our best to accommodate them.
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Back cover:
Paiza
Use of metal paizas, or messenger passes, preceded the Mongol period,
but were adopted by Genghis and later Mongol khans to guarantee safe
passage for official representatives and emissaries throughout the Mongol
realm. They were worn about the neck and were inscribed with a silverinlaid message proclaiming that anyone harming the bearer could be put
to death. Early paizas were shaped as oblong plates, while those of the
Yuan period like this one were round and inscribed with ‘Phags-pa script.
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