KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

~I recently went to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to see a special exhibit titled “Genghis Khan: The Exhibition”:

The exhibit was a series of rooms containing Mongol artifacts and modern reproductions, educational displays, and the mummy of a Mongolian woman from the time of the Big G Himself. 

The exhibit also included a clever “character” system, in which you received a bookmark at the beginning of the exhibit with the name and description of one of six fictitious people who might have lived during the lifetime of Genghis Khan.  Throughout the exhibit, there were electronic displays that let you track your character’s life and development.  I had Ivan, a Russian who was going to be a priest, but drank too much and later became a spy in service of the Mongols.

 

^ My favorite part of the exhibit was this life-size display of Mongolian warriors.  I wouldn’t want to meet these guys on the steppes, unless of course I was carrying one of the diplomatic passports issued by the Khan to messengers and dignitaries such as Marco Polo.

^ There were plenty of ancient weapons on display.  These bad boys were probably used by Mongolian warriors, such as the bad boys in the previous picture.

 

^ Me in front of the statue of Genghis Khan at the entrance to the exhibit.

One of the principal aims of the exhibition was to, in at least some ways, “reform” the popular image of Genghis Khan as a bloodthirsty conquering warlord.  It pointed out the many cultural achievements of the Mongolian empire, which integrated many different cultures, religions, ethnicities, and territories.  Under Genghis’ rule, there was a significant increase in travel, trade, and cultural exchange between Europe and East Asia, as well as the development of legal codes and the construction of an amazing capital city.

That being said, I couldn’t help but notice that according to a timeline in the exhibit, by around 150 years after Genghis Khan’s death in 1227 (which occurred of sickness during a campaign to subdue a rebellious province in China), his empire had ceased to exist. His glorious capital city of Khara Khorum was razed, and is now little more than a few shattered stone walls.  His homeland is now sandwiched between and dominated by its far more powerful neighbors.  While Genghis Khan’s rule may have stimulated trade and cultural exchange, this was done at the cost of tens of millions of lives and unfathomable suffering and destruction; entire advanced civilizations, such as the Xi Xia, were wiped out by the Mongol horde.  It’s a bit like wondering if the technological achievements that came out of World War II (such as space travel) somehow justify the toll in human suffering that conflict engendered.  I think most (sane) people would favor a more peaceful path to development, even if it takes longer.

The mummy was interesting – her clothes were amazingly well-preserved – but the biggest prize of Mongol history (and perhaps that of the entire discipline of archaeology itself) remains undiscovered: the tomb of Genghis Khan himself.  Perhaps somewhere out there on the Mongolian steppes lies a tomb of such incredible riches and archaeological value that it is rivaled only by the tomb of King Tutankhamen!  I hope I live to see the day that the Khan’s legacy is brought to light.

Of course, no piece of writing about Genghis Khan would be complete without this: