Helpful diagram I found online:
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This video concisely discusses some of the same content found in Weatherford’s book while also giving visuals of artifacts from Genghis Khan’s time. Towards the end of the video, the historian also explains why the Mongol Empire is significant to us today, demonstrating that it is not an isolated piece of history, but one that fundamentally altered the way of life for people in the West.
This one is not great.
This one is a stupid, but good, disco song. And, this time, two guys are in slightly offensive costumes!
It’s about a literary character called Hadschi Halef Omar created by Karl May. If you’re interested in German orientalist fiction, check it out. (There’s also a movie from 1964 based on his book Der Schut) English lyrics: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/Hadschi-Halef-Omar-Hadschi-Halef-Omar.html. Moskau is still their best song.
From Wikipedia: Halef is the exceedingly loyal servant, companion and friend of German adventurer Kara Ben Nemsi. Halef accompanies Kara Ben Nemsi through all his adventures in the Middle East from Durch die Wüste to Der Schut. He is a very devout Muslim, and throughout the adventures with Kara Ben Nemsi he tries to convince him of the superiority of Islam.”
While looking up something about Berke Khan, I came across a genuinely crazy Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/islamichistory/comments/1knplgf/berke_kh%C4%81n_the_just_mongol_who_defended_the_ummah/.
In the past few decades, the practice of horse back archery in Mongolia has experienced a rebirth in the modern day after being suppressed during the Manchu era (1691-1911). The video below has Altan Nergui, the lead archer of Namnaa horse archery club, one of those involved with reviving the practice, firing at a target strapped to his friends back. Altan studied Mongol archery in history books and worked to incorporate it into on the ground techniques. Another part of the revival is the introduction of the Khiimor’/Spirit Horseback Archery Championship, beginning in 2019 and continuing to 2025.
Dschinghis Khan was Germany’s entry for Eurovision in 1979, and they created an entire band to perform it. The song is pretty nuts, but catchy, and one of my mom’s favorites. I prefer their song Moskau. There’s also one member of the band who is just dancing around in what I would consider offensive costume, but it was the 70s. Here is the English translation: https://genius.com/Dschinghis-khan-genghis-khan-english-version-lyrics.
The partially-visible fresco, identified by Cambridge University historian Dr. Federica Gigante, almost certainly depicts a real tent, now lost, which the artist may have seen in the same church. The brightly colored original tent, covered in jewels, could have been a diplomatic gift from a Muslim leader or a trophy seized from the battlefield.
Gigante’s research, published today in The Burlington Magazine, also suggests that a high-profile figure such as Pope Innocent IV—who gifted several precious textiles to the Benedictine convent church of S. Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, where the fresco was painted—may have given such a tent.
“At first, it seemed unbelievable and just too exciting that this could be an Islamic tent,” said Dr. Gigante. “I quickly dismissed the idea and only went back to it years later with more experience and a braver attitude to research. We probably won’t find another such surviving image. I haven’t stopped looking but my guess is that it is fairly unique.
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-rediscovered-fresco-reveals-islamic-tents.html
Gigante’s research, published today in The Burlington Magazine, also suggests that a high-profile figure such as Pope Innocent IV—who gifted several precious textiles to the Benedictine convent church of S. Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, where the fresco was painted—may have given such a tent.
“At first, it seemed unbelievable and just too exciting that this could be an Islamic tent,” said Dr. Gigante. “I quickly dismissed the idea and only went back to it years later with more experience and a braver attitude to research. We probably won’t find another such surviving image. I haven’t stopped looking but my guess is that it is fairly unique.
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-rediscovered-fresco-reveals-islamic-tents.html
The painting Islamic Scientists was one of the last that Syrian artist Mahmoud Hammad produced before his death in 1988. It is also perhaps his most ambitious. The work tackles a vast timeline, condensing centuries of Islamic history into a 120cm x 180cm canvas.
Yet, the painting has a marked blind spot. The canvas is populated entirely by men – with no reference to the achievements of the female thinkers and intellectuals of the Islamic Golden Age.
A new companion piece, A Wonderful World, by Iraqi artist Afifa Aleiby aims to address this oversight. Commissioned by the Barjeel Art Foundation, it will be officially unveiled during a ceremony at Sharjah’s House of Wisdom on Sunday. A Wonderful World will be displayed beside Hammad’s Islamic Scientists, which is also part of the foundation’s collection and has been displayed at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation since 2014.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2025/02/23/mahmoud-hammad-islamic-scientists-women/
Yet, the painting has a marked blind spot. The canvas is populated entirely by men – with no reference to the achievements of the female thinkers and intellectuals of the Islamic Golden Age.
A new companion piece, A Wonderful World, by Iraqi artist Afifa Aleiby aims to address this oversight. Commissioned by the Barjeel Art Foundation, it will be officially unveiled during a ceremony at Sharjah’s House of Wisdom on Sunday. A Wonderful World will be displayed beside Hammad’s Islamic Scientists, which is also part of the foundation’s collection and has been displayed at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation since 2014.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2025/02/23/mahmoud-hammad-islamic-scientists-women/