Jebe

In 1221, to avoid being captured by the invading Mongols, Rashid, the Shah of Shirvan, abandoned his capital Shemakha, where the Genghis Khan’s generals Subotai and Jebe had ordered a siege tower to be built from corpses. Rashid fled to the fortress of Derbent. With winter still in their favor, Subotai and Jebe pursued Shah Rashid and headed north towards the Pass of Derbent. The Pass of Derbent was strategically important as it occupies the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains and it served as a barrier between civilization and the steppe. In their quest to reach “ the land of the narrow faced men with light hair and blue eyes” the Mongols needed to secure