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WonderHistory fact

In June 1941 a Soviet team opened the tomb of Timur, the fourteenth-century Central Asian conqueror also known as Tamerlane, in Samarkand. Within days Germany invaded the Soviet Union, a coincidence that later fed a popular legend of 'Timur's curse'.

Samarkand, 1941

History

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Timur died in 1405 and was buried in the Gur-e-Amir, a mausoleum begun in 1403 for his grandson and heir, Muhammad Sultan. Its ribbed blue dome later influenced Mughal tombs in India, including the Taj Mahal. The Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov, known for rebuilding faces from skulls, examined the remains and confirmed what the chronicles said: Timur was about 172 centimetres tall and walked with a marked limp, the origin of his Persian nickname Timur-e Lang, 'Timur the Lame'. Local stories warned that disturbing the grave would bring disaster, though people close to Gerasimov later said the tale of a warning on the tomb was invented. Timur was reburied with full Islamic rites on 20 December 1942.

Türkçe oku
Sovyet bilim insanları Haziran 1941'de, Aksak Timur olarak da bilinen 14. yüzyıl Orta Asya fatihi Timur'un Semerkant'taki mezarını açtı. Birkaç gün sonra Almanya'nın Sovyetler Birliği'ne saldırması, sonradan yaygınlaşan “Timur'un laneti” efsanesini besledi.
Semerkant, 1941

Timur 1405'te öldü ve Gûr-ı Emîr'e gömüldü. Bu türbenin yapımına 1403'te, torunu ve veliahdı Muhammed Sultan için başlanmıştı. Kaburgalı mavi kubbesi, sonradan Tac Mahal de dâhil olmak üzere Hindistan'daki Babür türbelerini etkiledi. Kafatasından yüz canlandırmasıyla tanınan Sovyet antropolog Mihail Gerasimov kalıntıları inceledi ve kroniklerin anlattıklarını doğruladı: Timur yaklaşık 172 santimetre boyundaydı ve belirgin biçimde topallıyordu. Farsçadaki “Timur-i Leng”, yani “Topal Timur” lakabı da buradan gelir. Halk arasında mezara dokunanın başına felaket geleceği anlatılıyordu; ancak Gerasimov'a yakın kişiler, mezardaki bir uyarı yazısından söz eden hikâyenin uydurma olduğunu söyledi. Timur, 20 Aralık 1942'de tam bir İslami törenle yeniden toprağa verildi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Gur-e-Amir
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