Posted on 02/09/2006 11:00:19 AM PST by blam
The Secret in the Steppes Thought Safe for All Time
Despite Misgivings in Mongolia, Explorers Hope to Find Site of Genghis Khan's 800-Year-Old Tomb
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, February 9, 2006; Page A20
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia -- On the vast flatlands of eastern Mongolia, enclosed by a two-mile wall in the form of an oval, diggers have uncovered tantalizing clues to the solution of one of history's enduring mysteries: the site of Genghis Khan's secret grave.
Finding the spot where the great Mongolian conqueror was laid to rest in 1227 by his famed horseback warriors would fill in a blank that has fascinated historians for centuries. Although he and his descendants galloped out of Mongolia to subdue most of the known world, Genghis Khan was buried without a monument or even a headstone, in keeping with Mongol belief that the dead should not be disturbed. Legend has it that the soldiers who carried out the mission were slaughtered to make sure the secret was safe for all time.
A portrait of Genghis Khan in the Mongolian Embassy in Beijing. The conqueror was buried in 1227 without any grave marker. (By Ng Han Guan -- Associated Press)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
GGG Ping.
An image of Genghis! All the Huns will riot now!
Even then, he looked like a pompous ass...........
I'm planning on doing the same thing at my funeral. Sorry, Sis...
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I think you mean Mongolians. ;) The Huns had Attila.
I don't know anything about the Navy, but I think that that John F'n Kerry, don't know how to display his (Supposed) awards.
Nam Vet
I guess that you are still around. ;-)
One of the legends about his burial is that thousands of his horsemen rode over the burial spot to obliterate the evidence of the grave on the flat steppes.
If true, I'd doubt there would be a wall of stones around the site.
This posting five years ago mentions a wall also.
"In most of the world, mention of Genghis Khan evokes images of the bloodshed and violence committed by his cavalrymen as they pushed west. When Americans moved against Afghanistan's Taliban in 2001, for instance, Afghan officials compared the invasion to Mongolian attacks in the 13th century and in revenge killed a number of ethnic Hazaras, who descend from those early Mongolian invaders, according to "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World," a 2004 book by Jack Weatherford. Similarly, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, facing U.S. attack in 2003, drew a comparison between the Americans and the Mongolians who sacked Baghdad in 1258 and executed the caliph."
Location: Hazarajat or Hazaristan, central Afghanistan.
Language: The 6 million people of the Hazara tribe represent Turkish, Mongol, and other ethnic groups which influence a language the Hazaras call Hazargi. The Persian word Hazar means 'one thousand' which could have originated from the one thousand rivers throughout the area or the original one thousand soldiers provided by people in exchange of paying taxes to the government.
History: Although the Hazaras represent 6 million people in Afghanistan, not much is known about the origin of these people. There are many theories. Some believe that the Hazaras are descendents of Genghis Khan. Others believe they are the result of the Mongol soldiers invading the Turks, marrying, and having children. There are also people that are attempting to trace their ancestry by their mixed dialect, which seem to have traces of Dari, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Mongol, and Turkish. The Hazaras are very oppressed people. Since the 19th century, over half of the Hazara tribe have been killed because of their religion and mixed ethnicity. They have been forced to segregate and move to other cities in Afghanistan. The government has attempted to completely eliminate them as a political, religious, historical, and cultural group. The Hazaras are constantly struggling to maintain their current freedom which they work for every day. Despite over 200 years of discrimination, segregation, and persecution, the Hazaras are constantly gaining higher political and religious status, fighting back against the government and becoming a stronger, more unified group of people.
Religion: Muslim, the Shiite sect of Islam
Best Known Feature: The Hazara people are recognized for being strong, determined, peaceful people. The Hazaras are still being massacred. Although they have gained a higher status as a group in Afghanistan, they are constantly being brutally killed. Internationally, there has been little done to stop what is currently being done to these people. They are being killed by other Muslims because they are mainly the Shiite sect of Islam, for fighting for equal rights, and for being part of Hezb-e-Wahdat (a unity party). Children are kidnapped and killed, people are starved, tortured, raped and shot to death. People are burned to death, fed to dogs, and brutally tortured and killed in front of their family members. People may not realize that the Hazaras are being killed into the late 1990's by leaders of the Middle East, including their own. Despite the torture they endure, these people have become known for their bravery, unity, determinism, and strength.
Daily Life: Unfortunately, it cannot be easily said that the Hazaras live a normal life. There days can't be described in terms of what food they eat, what activities the do, or what they do in their leisure time. The daily life of the Hazaras consists of oppression, brutality, murders, fear, torture, battle for equal rights, and/or death. Their cultural identities are being destroyed day by day in an attempt to eliminate their historical and cultural heritage. They may wake up and have a normal day for a few hours, then be kidnapped or killed, tortured, raped, or beaten. Their parents, brothers, sister, children or possessions may be taken from them. Until this tragic, horrible violence against the Hazaras ends, there will be no typical day in their lives.
Actually that's a photo of Ding-ass Con.
I seem to remember a decent movie starring Omar Sharif as Genghis Khan, circa 1968. One scene showed the Mongols playing a nasty game of buzkashi on horseback.
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