The Search For Genghis Khan

0 Comments | Current Events, Sept 29, 2000

Chicago Businessman Undertakes Three-Year Search for the Great Conqueror's Long-Lost Burial Chamber

To begin, here's an exercise for your imagination: In your mind, travel back in time more than seven centuries--to the year 1227.

That may not seem like an awfully long time ago--not like going back to the time of the dinosaurs, for example--but in some ways the world of 1227 might seem as strange to modern Americans as the age of the dinosaurs. For one thing, the world 700 years ago would be strangely quiet to modern ears. There were no cars, trucks, planes, lawn mowers, or motors of any kind. There was no radio, no TV, no electric lighting. Most of the world went to bed when it got dark and rose when the sun came up.

In 1227 much of the world was at war, resounding with the hoofbeats of war-horses, the clash of swords, and the screams of battle. (Gunpowder, although probably invented, was not yet used in warfare.) Throughout Asia and Europe, armies fought to the death, some in the name of God, others simply for glory or plunder.

A Funeral Precession

Now that your imagination is firmly planted in the world of the 13th century, focus your mind's eye on a rocky mountain path in what is now Mongolia, a country north of China. On August 18, 1227, a huge oxcart carrying a yurt, or Mongolian tent, makes its way to a remote location. Surrounding the cart are 2,500 people and a mounted bodyguard of 400 soldiers.

It is no ordinary procession. Inside the yurt is the dead body of the most feared, most powerful, most hated, and most admired man in the world--Genghis Khan. In the space of 20 years, Genghis Khan's armies had conquered much of the known world, killed millions, and sent shudders of fear from Japan to Germany.

Legend has it that Genghis Khan's bodyguards killed every person encountered by the funeral procession in its journey into the mountains. After the great khan's body was placed in its grave, the soldiers turned on the other members of the funeral procession, killing all 2,500 of them. When the soldiers returned to Karakorum, Genghis Khan's capital, they, in turn, were killed by other soldiers so that they could not reveal the location of the tomb.

Maury Kravitz

Now, a Chicago millionaire, Maury Kravitz, accompanied by a team of scientists and historians, has mounted a $1.2 million expedition to look for the lost tomb. The search is expected to last at least through the next three summers. A Japanese team had begun a three-year search in 1990 and had come up empty-handed. Kravitz, however, believes he has knowledge that will give his team a better chance of finding the tomb.

For Kravitz, 68, having the opportunity to search for Genghis Khan's tomb is a dream come true. Genghis Khan has fascinated Kravitz since, at age 20, he read a book about the ruthless conqueror. He has now read 500 to 600 books about the Mongol ruler.

To gain a better understanding of where the burial place may be, Kravitz and his team are retracing the main events of Genghis Khan's life.

Temujin

Genghis Khan was born in about 1167 and was given the name Temujin, after an enemy chief whom his father had captured in battle. At that time, the Mongols were a collection of nomadic tribes constantly at war with one another and not taken seriously by the Chinese.

In 1176, Temujin's father was poisoned by the Tatars, a powerful tribe in eastern Mongolia. Enemies within Temujin's tribe then robbed his family of much of their flocks and left the family to face the harsh Mongolian winter with almost no resources. Over the next few years, Temujin, his strong-willed mother, and his brothers and sisters rebuilt the herds and acquired a reputation for bravery. Others renounced their own families and became members of Temujin's clan.

By the time he was 30, Temujin dominated a major part of northeastern Mongolia. By the end of 1202, he had defeated nearly all of his enemies in Mongol lands, wiping out the Tatars as a people. In 1206, at a kuriltai, or great assembly of Mongol tribes, Temujin was proclaimed khan (leader) of all the Mongols. Temujin selected for himself the name Genghis, probably derived from a Turkish word meaning "ocean." The implication was that his power spread over the world like a great body of water.

The Prince of Wei

In 1207, a delegation from Beijing made its way to Genghis Khan to inform him that a new emperor--the prince of Wei--had ascended to the throne of China. On hearing this, Genghis stated that an emperor "must be an eminent personage, designated by heaven." He then asked: "How can an imbecile like the prince of Wei perform such a role?"

Before the astonished ambassadors could make any reply, the khan spat on the ground and rode off.

The insult marked the beginning of a Mongol attack on China. Chinese armies, which were used to fending off scattered attacks from these tribal people, were not prepared for the new Mongol army of Genghis Khan.

Genghis proved to be a military genius who turned the Mongol tribesmen into the world's best-trained and best-led army. (See sidebar.)