University of Pennsylvania
NELC 234
THE MONGOL EXPERIENCE
Tuesday & Thursday, 3:00-4:30, Williams 213
World’s Greatest TA: Elias Saba
Paul M. Cobb
Williams 840
746-2458
pmcobb@sas.upenn.edu
Autumn 2011
Office Hours:
by appt.
Course Description:
Was Genghis Khan really such a bad guy after all? Were the Mongol Invasions of the 13th
century really a disaster? It almost seems immoral to ask questions like this, but in this class
we’ll go ahead and ask them anyway. This course is a survey of the history of the medieval
Mongol Empire, the largest land-based empire in human history, which, at its greatest extent,
stretched from Korea to Germany. We will pay attention more specifically on that smaller
Middle Eastern piece of the empire known as the Il-Khanate, which merely stretched from
Turkey to Afghanistan, and made Iran a locus for synthesizing the cultures of Iran, the Arab
world, Central Asia, and China. The Mongol Empire was above all a nomadic empire, and
so we will pay special heed to how nomads build states, their interactions with settled folk,
and how the nomadic Mongols produced a lasting political, economic, and cultural legacy
throughout much of the Middle East and beyond.
Course Objectives: Students will obtain a broad knowledge of the course of medieval
Eurasian history with particular emphasis on the Middle East. They will further gain an
appreciation of the crucial role of nomadic lifeways in human history. They will also grapple
with some of the practical and theoretical underpinnings of historical research, which
includes making valid comparisons between differing states and societies and analyzing
various kinds of primary sources (in translation).
This syllabus is subject to change at any time. It is your responsibility to adapt to any such
changes.
Required Readings:
David Morgan, The Mongols, 2nd ed. (London: Blackwell, 2007). ISBN 978-1-40513539-9
Marco Polo, The Travels, trans. R. Latham (London: Penguin Classics, 1958). ISBN 9780140440577
Christopher Dawson, Mission to Asia (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching)
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980). ISBN: 978-0802064363
Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan, trans. P. Kahn (Boston:
Cheng & Tsui, 1998). ISBN 978-0887272998
Reserve Readings and Assignments will be posted on Blackboard unless you are
notified otherwise.
Course Requirements:
1. Attendance of lectures and participation in recitations. Chronic (more than two)
unexcused absences will be penalized. Recitation will revolve around your
readings: you must bring your readings to class (discussion or no). Discussions will
be informal, but I WILL be keeping track of who is talking and who is not, and in the
quality of your contributions. Speak up! Worth at least 20% of final grade.
2. Take-home map assignment. Due in class at the beginning of Week 3. Must be
passed by all students.
3. 5 short (4-5 page, double-spaced, 12-point font, one-inch margins) writing
assignments. See below. Each is worth 10% of the final grade.
4. Mid-term quiz-like-exam (in class) Worth 10% of the final grade.
5. Final Exam. Scheduled Date: Dec. 16, 2011 from 12:00-2:00 pm. Worth 20% of the
grade.
All requirements must be completed satisfactorily before a final grade will be issued.
Late work will be penalized by one full grade per day of lateness.
1. Mongols on the Web. What kind of information is available about the Mongols on the
Internet? Where are the sites? Who sponsors them? For what purpose? What kinds of
topics are covered? Current Events? History? Spirituality? Etc.
2. Secrets of the Secret History. Write an essay on one word, name or concept that
appears with some frequency in the Secret History. Explain how the word is used and
what its importance or role seems to be. This can be a word in English translation (such
as heaven, wolf, woman, horse, etc.) or a Mongol word (such as ordo, anda, khan, etc.).
Stick to the text: use as much evidence (quotations) as you think suitable.
3. Marco Polo. For many observers, the Mongols posed an interesting problem: on the
one hand, they are archetypal marauding barbarians. On the other, they ruled over vast
imperial civilizations like China and Persia. How does Marco Polo resolve this issue (or
does he?) ? How are the Mongols of China and/or Persia both barbarians and civilized?
4. Genghis goes to Hollywood. Compare the image of Chinggis Khan as portrayed in
two films: The Conqueror (MGM 1956), starring John Wayne (!); and Mongol (Sergei
Bodrov, 2007).
5. Franciscan Ethnography. Select any subject (or two) about Mongol lifeways (i.e., not
their history or diplomatic narratives) examined by Carpini in his report to the pope and
compare his handling of the subject with that of William of Rubruck. Do they agree?
How do you account for the differences? How do they each represent Mongol culture?
Do you think they were accurate? Did they see anything that the Mongols may not have
known about themselves? As usual, stick to the text and provide appropriate examples.
S c h e d u l e
WEEK 1 (9/8): INTRODUCTIONS
WEEK 2 (9/13 & 15): THE EURASIAN STEPPE
A. Geography & History
Reading: Dawson, 3-18 (John of Plano Carpini); 93-106 (William of Rubruck)
1. Joseph Fletcher, “The Mongols: Ecological and Social Perspectives,” Harvard Journal
of Asiatic Studies 46 (1986): 11-50.
2. Denis Sinor, “Horse and Pasture in Inner Asian History, “ Oriens Extremus 19 (1972):
171-84.
3. Thomas Allsen, “Spiritual Geography and Political Legitimacy in the Eastern
Steppe,” in H. Claessen and J. Oosten, eds., Ideology and the Early State (Leiden: Bril,
1996), pp. 116-35.
4. Peter Golden, “Imperial Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity amongst the
Pre-Chinggisid Nomads of Western Eurasia,” Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 2 (1982):
37-77.
1.
2.
3.
4.
B. The Nomad-Sedentary Continuum MAP QUIZ DUE
Reading: Secret History, pp. 3-39; Marco Polo, pp. 85-112
Owen Lattimore, “Inner Asian Frontiers: defensive empires and conquest empires,”
in his Studies in Frontier History (London, 1962), pp. 501-13.
Rudi Lindner, “Nomadism, horses, and Huns,” Past and Present 92 (1981): 3-19.
Rudi Lindner, “What was a nomadic tribe?” Comparative Studies in Society and History 24
(1982): 689-711.
Denis Sinor, “The Inner Asian Warriors,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 101
(1981): 133-44.
WEEK 3 (9/20 & 22): THE MONGOL MOMENT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A. Mongol Steppe-Culture ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE
W. Barthold and J. M. Rogers, “The Burial Rites of the Turks and the Mongols,”
Central Asiatic Journal 14 (1970): 195-227.
C. R. Bawden, “On the practice of scapulimancy among the Mongols,” Central Asiatic
Journal 4 (1959): 1-44.
J. A. Boyle, “A Form of Horse-Sacrifice among the 13th- and 14th-century Mongols,”
Central Asiatic Journal 10 (1965): 145-50.
J. A. Boyle, “Turkish and Mongol Shamanism in the Middle Ages,” Folklore 83
(1972): 177-93.
J. A. Boyle, “The Thirteenth-Century Mongols’ Conception of the Afterlife: The
Evidence of Their Funerary Practices,” Mongolian Studies 1 (1974): 5-14.
B. Film & Discussion: Grass
Reading: Morgan, pp. 30-48.
WEEK 4 (9/27 & 29): HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW
A. The Secret History
Reading: Morgan, pp. 5-13; Secret History, pp. ix-xv.
B. Other sources
Reading: Morgan, pp. 14-29
WEEK 5 (10/4 & 6): THE RISE OF CHINGGIS KHAN
A. Temüjin
Reading: Morgan, pp. 49-73; Secret History, pp. 40-113 (skim)
1. Owen Lattimore, “The geography of Chingis Khan”,” Geographical Journal 129
(1963): 1-7.
2. “Temüjin’s Mongolia,” Chapter 2 of Michal Biran, Chinggis Khan (Oxford: Oneworld,
2007), pp. 27-46.
3. Reuven Amitai, “Did Chinggis Khan Have a Jewish Teacher?” Journal of the American
Oriental Society 124 (2004): 691-705.
B. Creating an Empire ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE
Reading: Secret History, pp. 114-45
1. Thomas Allsen, “Mongolian Princes and Their Merchant Partners, 1200-1260,” Asia
Major 2 (1989): 82-126.
2. Igor De Rachewiltz, “Some remarks on the ideological foundations of Chingis
Khan’s empire,” Papers in Far Eastern History 7 (1973): 21-36.
3. Almaz Khan, “Chinggis Khan: From Imperial Ancestor to Ethnic Hero,” in S.
Harrel, ed., Cultural Encounters on China’s Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle & London: ???, 1995),
pp. 248-77.
WEEK 6 (10/13): TOOLS OF EMPIRE
A. FALL BREAK
1.
2.
3.
4.
B. Army & Statecraft
Reading: Morgan, pp. 74-98; Dawson, 32-43
David Ayalon, “The Great Yasa of Chingiz Khan: A Re-examination,” Studia Islamica
33 (1971): 97-140.
David Morgan, “The ‘Great Yasa of Chingiz Khan’ and Mongol law in the
Ilkhanate,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 49 (1986): 163-76.
H. D. Martin, “The Mongol Army,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1943): 46-85.
David Morgan, “Who Ran the Mongol Empire?” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
(1982): 127-36.
5. Peter Jackson, “The Mongols and the Faith of the Conquered,” in R. Amitai and M.
Biran, eds., Mongols, Turks and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Outside World (Leiden:
Brill, 2005), pp. 245-90.
6. Michal Biran, “The Mongol Transformation: from the Steppe to Eurasian Empire,”
Medieval Encounters 10 (2004): 338-61.
WEEK 7 (10/18 & 20): THE MONGOLS IN CHINA: THE YÜAN DYNASTY
A. Succession Disputes & Qubilai Khan
Reading: Morgan, pp. 99-119; Marco Polo, 113-62
1. Peter Jackson, “The Accession of Qubilai Qa’an: A Re-examination,” Journal of the
Anglo-Mongolian Society 2 (1975): 1-10.
2. M. Rossabi, “Khubilai Khan and the women in his family,” in W. Bauer, ed., SinoMongolica: Festschrift für Herbert Franke (Wiesbaden, 1979), pp. 153-80.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B. Rise & fall of the Yüan Dynasty ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE
Elizabeth Endicott-West, “Imperial Governance in Yüan Times,” Harvard Journal of
Asiatic Studies 46 (1986): 523-49.
J. W. Dardess, “From Mongol Empire to Yüan Dynasty: Changing forms of Imperial
Rule in Mongolia and Central Asia,” Monumenta Serica 30 (1972-73): 117-65.
M. Rossabi, “The Muslims in the early Yüan Dynasty,” in Langlois, ed., China under
Mongol Rule (???, 1981), pp. 257-95.
Igor De Rachewiltz, “Personnel and personalities in north China in the early Mongol
period,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 9 (1966): 88-144.
Hidehiro Okada, “China as a Successor State to the Mongol Empire,” in AmitaiPreiss and Morgan, eds., The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy, pp. 260-72.
WEEK 8 (10/25 & 27): THE MONGOLS IN RUSSIA: THE GOLDEN HORDE
A. The ‘Mongol Yoke’ and all that
Reading: Morgan, pp. 120-27; Marco Polo, 332-43
1. Charles J. Halperin, “Russia in the Mongol Empire in Comparative Perspective,”
Harbard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 46 (1983): 239-61.
2. Mark G. Kramarovsky, “The Culture of the Golden Horde and the Problem of the
Mongol Legacy’,” Seamans and Marks, eds., Rulers from the Steppe: State Formation on the
Eurasian Periphery (Los Angeles: Ethnographics Press, 1991), pp. ???
B. MIDTERM EXAM (in class)
WEEK 9 (11/1 & 3): THE MONGOLS IN PERSIA: THE IL-KHANS, I
A. Early Contacts
Readings: Morgan, 128-139
1. Reuven Amitai-Preiss, “Sufis and Shamans,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of
the Orient 17 (1999): 27-47.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B. The Campaigns of Hülegü
Reuven Amitai-Preiss, “Hülegü and the Ayyubid Lord of Transjordan” Archivum
Eurasiae Medii Aevi 9 (1995-97).
Peter Jackson, “Hülegü Khan and the Christians: the making of a myth,” in P.
Edbury and J. Phillips, eds., The Experience of Crusading 2: Defining the Crusader Kingdom
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 196-213.
J. M. Smith Jr., “ ‘Ayn Jalut: Mamluk Success or Mongol Failure?” Harvard Journal of
Asiatic Studies 44 (1984): 307-45.
Peter Thorau, “The Battle of ‘Ayn Jalut: A re-examination.” in P. Edbury, ed.,
Crusade and Settlement (Cardiff, 1985), pp. 236-41.
John Masson Smith, Jr., “ Mongol Nomadism and Middle Eastern Geography:
Qishlaqs and Tümens,” in Amitai-Preiss and Morgan, eds., The Mongol Empire and Its
Legacy (Ledien: Brill, 1999), pp. 39-56.
WEEK 10 (11/8 & 10): THE MONGOLS IN PERSIA: THE IL-KHANS, II
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
A. Islam and the Reforms of Ghazan
Reuven Amitai, “The Conversion of Tegüder Ilkhan to Islam,” Jerusalem Studies in
Arabic and Islam 25 (2001): 15-43.
Charles Melville, “Padishah-i Islam: The Conversion of Sultan Ghazan
Khan,”Pembroke Papers 1 (1990): 159-77.
David O. Morgan, “Rashid al-Din and Ghazan Khan,” Bibliothèque iranienne 45 (1997):
???.
Charles Melville, “The Itineraries of Sultan Oljeitu: 1304-16,” Iran: Journal of the British
Institute of Persian Studies 28 (1990): 55-70.
B. Persia Conquers the Mongols ASSIGNMENT #4 DUE
Reading: Morgan, pp. 139-51; Marco Polo, pp. 46-73
David O. Morgan, “Mongol or Persian: The Government of Il-Khan Iran,” Harvard
Middle Eastern and Islamic Review 3 (1996): 1-2, 62-76.
David Morgan, “The Mongol Armies in Persia,” Der Islam 56 (1979): 81-96.
Peter Jackson, “The Dissolution of the Mongol Empire,” Central Asiatic Journal 32
(1978): 186-243.
Bert Fregner, “Iran under Ilkhanid Rule in a World History Perspective,” in D. Aigle,
ed., L’Iran face a la domination mongole ?????,
WEEK 11 (11/15 & 17): THE MONGOLS AND EUROPE: CONQUEST &
DIPLOMACY
A. Expansion into Eastern Europe
Reading: Morgan, pp. 152-173
1. T. Allsen, “Prelude to the Western Campaigns: Mongol Military Operations in the
Volga-Ural Region, 1217-1237,” Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 3 (1983): 5-24.
B. Early Diplomacy
Readings: Dawson, 50-72 (John of Plano Carpini and Appendix)
1. Eric Voegelin, “The Mongol Orders Submission to European Powers, 1245-1255,”
Byzantion 15 (1941): 378-413.
2. C. F. Beckingham, “The Quest for Prester John,” Bulletin of the John Rylands University
Library of Manchester 62 (1980): 291-310.
WEEK 12 (11/22): THE MONGOLS AND EUROPE: DIPLOMACY
1.
2.
3.
4.
A. The Il-Khanate & Christendom
Readings: Marco Polo, 74-112; Dawson, 224-231
Richard C. Foltz, “Ecumenical Mischief under the Mongols,” Central Asiatic Journal
43 (1999): 42-69.
L. Lockhart, “The Relations between Edward I and Edward II of England and the
Mongol Il-Khans of Persia,” Iran 28 (1968): 22-31.
J. A. Boyle, “The Il-khans of Persia and the Princes of Europe,” Central Asiatic Journal
20 (1976): 25-40.
Jean Richard, “The Mongols and the Franks,” Journal of Asian History 3 (1969): 45-57.
B. THANKSGIVING
WEEK 13 (11/29 & 12/1): FOOD & DRINK OF THE MONGOL WORLD
(READINGS TBA)
A. TBA
B. TBA
WEEK 14 (12/6 & 8): THE MONGOL LEGACY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A. Timur-Lenk/Tamerlane, India
Reading: Morgan, pp. 174-80
Thomas Allsen, “Ever Closer Encounters: The Appropriation of Culture and the
Apportionment of Peoples in the Mongol Empire,” Journal of Early Modern History 1
(1997): 2-23.
John Woods, “Timur’s Genealogy,” in M. Mazzaoui and V. Moreen, eds., Intellectual
Studies on Islam: Essays Written in Honor of Martin B. Dickson (Salt Lake City: University
of Utah PRess, 1990), pp. 82-125.
Rudi P. Lindner, “How Mongol Were the Early Ottomans?” in Amitai and Morgan,
eds., The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 282-89.
Beatrice Manz, “Mongol History Rewritten and Relived,” Revue des mondes musulmans
et de la méditerranée 89/90 (2000): 129-49.
Beatrice Manz, “Tamerlane’s Career and Its Uses,” Journal of World History 12 (2002):
1-25.
B. Conclusions
ASSIGNMENT #5 DUE
1. Tatiana Zerjal, et al., “The Genetic Legacy of the Mongols,” American Journal of
Human Genetics 72 (2003): 717-21.