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Mystery of Genghis Khan’s Death Considered Solved

Mystery of Genghis Khan’s Death Considered Solved

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A team of scientists have cleared up the myths surrounding the death of the great Genghis Khan. They claim that his passing might hold a message for today’s leaders amidst the threats of the current Covid-19 pandemic. Born Temujin of the Borjigin clan in 1162 AD, Genghis Khan was the legendary Mongol leader who developed a vast empire stretching from the east coast of China west to the Aral Sea. The great Khan was 65 years old when he died in 1227 AD during a campaign against the Chinese kingdom of Xi Xia. Now a team of researchers suggest Genghis Khan died from bubonic plague.

Lost Tomb of the Original Historical Gangster

Genghis Khan was the “original historical gangster” (H.O.G). With his rule of violence and terror Khan controlled everywhere, and everything, between the Pacific Ocean and the Caspian Sea. According to a recent Live Science article, this domain represented a landmass about “2.5 times larger by territory than the Roman Empire.” While the circumstances surrounding the conqueror's birth, his rise to power, and socio-political influence are relatively well-known, the events leading up to Genghis Khan’s death have remained a mystery. Until now, that is.

A BBC article explains that after Genghis’ death he was “buried in secret.” His grieving army carried his body home, killing anyone they met “to hide the route.” Then, once the Khan’s body was finally laid to rest, 1,000 horses were marched over his grave to destroy any remaining traces. And then all of those horsemen were killed when they returned. This plan worked, apparently. For over the 800 years since Genghis Khan’s death not one of the thousands of researchers who have looked for his lost tomb have unearthed so much as a horseshoe.

In the almost 800 years since his death, no one has yet discovered the tomb of Genghis Khan, but not for want of trying. (Andrey Shevchenko / Adobe Stock)

In the almost 800 years since his death, no one has yet discovered the tomb of Genghis Khan, but not for want of trying. (Andrey Shevchenko / Adobe Stock)

The Myths That Immortalized a Living Legend

In the new paper published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the research scientists said the Mongols had been warring against the Western Xia empire for more than two decades when Genghis fell ill. To maintain political security, Genghis Khan's family and closest followers, kept the circumstances leading up to his demise as their most carefully guarded secret. Then, in some cases to immortalize it, and in others to damn his very name, “both friends and foes of the Mongols told a number of legends about his death.”

The authors mention one story that claims Genghis Khan had succumbed to “blood loss after getting stabbed or castrated by a princess of the Tangut people,” a Tibeto-Burman tribe in northwest China. Another tale says he died of injuries sustained after falling from his horse while fighting against the Chinese the year before his death. Furthermore, another folktale says he died of an infected arrow wound during his final campaign against the Western Xia.

One of the co-authors of the new study, Francesco Galassi, a physician and paleo pathologist at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, says the tales told of the death of the kings and emperors of greater China were “often mixed with myth.”

Could it be that the researchers have discovered the true cause of Gehghis Khan’s death? (Иван Коржев / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Could it be that the researchers have discovered the true cause of Gehghis Khan’s death? (Иван Коржев / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Lessons from the Past: Genghis Khan’s Death and Covid-19

The team of researchers set out to discover, once and for all, how Khan actually died. They say it was the current Covid-19 pandemic that prompted them to consider microbial causes. The History of Yuan is a historical text compiled during China's Ming dynasty. The text claims that “from Aug. 18 to Aug. 25, 1227 AD, during Genghis Khan's last campaign against the Western Xia, he felt unwell with a fever,” that ultimately killed him within eight days of the first symptoms.

Traditionally, typhoid fever was blamed for Khan’s death, but Dr. Galassi and his colleagues say in the new paper that “no mention of other typical symptoms of that disease, such as abdominal pain and vomiting,” were mentioned in the ancient text. What the researchers did notice, however, was that the symptoms “matched those of the bubonic plague that was prevalent in that era.”

Co-author of the paper, Dr. Elena Varotto, an anthropologist and bioarchaeologist at the University of Catania in Italy, said “Genghis Khan's death might serve as a general example of the influence of diseases upon leadership, potentially capable of changing the course of history.” She went so far as to suggest Genghis Khan's fate “may hold lessons for the present-day leaders,” as Covid-19 threatens the leaders of our modern nations the same way the plague got Khan. The researchers remind us that infectious diseases have no respect for human power, and they care not for one’s class, education, pay-grade or religion.

Top image: Once the ruler of a vast empire, the search for his final resting place and discovering the cause of Genghis Khan’s death has become an obsession for historians. Source: Towseef / Adobe Stock

By Ashley Cowie

 

Comments

So the only example in history of the world where indigenous people assembled in a joint force to finally win a continent, you desecrate and humiliate. 
You make a link from his death up to a damning video full of hate and racism against the mongolian people of that time. What a joke this article is! Do you think other wars were nice cakewalks? be it then or now? What do you think Cäsar did to the Celts? carefully bring the “cicilisation” by murdering women and children? What happend in the countless wars against the indians of America? Oh dear… The most useless and dumbest article ever… congratulations...

really, no body found as of yet and you say what? based on what data?you conect it to covid?your a quack and a fraud.You besmerch a mans reputation with your western biased propaganda? its amazing anyone buys your drivil. your a discrace. read a book.

kraig piwek

No, sir. There’s “atrocities” and there’s full scale genocide that nearly depopulated regions of the world, and in some cases likely did. Not to mention cruelty and rape just for the sheer sake of it on an unfathomable scale. He likely gave Stalin a run for his money many centuries in advance.

Mr. Cowie, I’d like to know why you continuously use such derogatory terms to describe one of the great figures of history? You should know that he is considered a hero to several Million people. Referring to him as a “gangster” is amusing in a sense. But only if you would do the same for someone like Henry V of England. Also a “gangster” in that sense. Just a far less successful one. Why is he a hero, and Temugin a villain? Sure, the armies of the Mongolian Empire committed atrocities. It was normal at the time. Especially when seriously outnumbered by many of their opponents and therefore using terror as a force multiplier. Remember, it was Ghengis Khan’s policy to offer generous terms for surrender first. Once refused, harsh measure were often used. I would suggest that not much has changed even up to the present day, considering what’s been happening in the Middle East. We are all at least a little culpable in these things. So why such disrespect for Temugin? In addition, you should certainly be aware that Ghengis Khan is a title, meaning something like “Universal Ruler”. To refer to him as “Khan”, as if that was his last name is incorrect and either shows ignorance or disrespect.

Sir, in general, I like your articles very much, and enjoy this website. But, I feel you are showing too much negative bias here. You might want to read Prof. Jack Weatherford’s “Genghis Khan and the making of the Modern World” for a more balanced look at the many debts we as a global society owe the Mongols and Genghis Khan in particular, while still acknowledging the damages caused to those who opposed him and lost.

Finally, your title is a bit disengenous, as no proof is offered. Just a theory, which however interesting, solves nothing. You can do better.

Alastair

Alastair

except  its just a normal case of the flu cold season with political agendas manipulating death firgues. been proven over and over again the PCR test are full of flaws, medical staff get paid medcare payouts for writing covid on the death certificates, evn though they just died of normal pre emptive conditions like always everyyear. WHO CDC, monsanto. and these new nazi political leaders are fooling the masses. But yes i hope these leaders of current world do die and soon, oh look who the new USA agriculture minister is, a monsanto connected gangster. the world globalist gang of bill gates jeff bezos etc Geogre Soros.

you guys are not getting funded by them are you, is that why ancient origins always parrots the covid scamdemic. You do realise many thought world was flat, but were proved wrong.

Professor Dolores Cahill in Ireland and others have just launched a “Freedom Airway” where they hope to avoid all the mask and vaccine nonsense. https://www.corbettreport.com/freedom-airway-solutionswatch/

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Ashley

Ashley is a Scottish historian, author, and documentary filmmaker presenting original perspectives on historical problems in accessible and exciting ways.

He was raised in Wick, a small fishing village in the county of Caithness on the north east coast of... Read More

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