Ibn Al-Athir On The Tatar Summary

Asserting their dominance in the early 1200’s by amassing the largest contiguous land empire in history emerged a new dominion called the Mongolian Empire. During their rise to power, they acquired a reputation that has been carried through history to today. They were considered savages, barbarians, and beasts to name a few of the many names used to describe Mongolians during this time. This reputation most often was derived by those who had been conquered by the nomadic group and more particularly in the eyes of Ibn al-Athir a Muslim historian. In Ibn al-Athir’s On the Tatars, 120-1221 CE he writes of what he claims to be, “...the greatest catastrophe and the most dire calamity which befell all men generally, and the Muslims in particular.”(45)
He paints a vivid picture of the Tartars as villainous and menacing people. He claimed, “For verily those whom they massacred in a single city exceeded all of the children in Israel.” (45) He then goes on to describe just how they massacred saying that, “Tatars spared none, slaying women and men and children, ripping open pregnant women and killing unborn babes.” (45) It was almost unheard of that anyone was able to escape the grasp of the Tartars. This was the time when they were not only brutally murdering anyone who got in the way, but they were looting and destroying the buildings of their conquests. They wiped out towns cities, and even entire nations going one to the next. “...When they had finished with Adhabayjan and Arraniyya, they passed on to Darband-i-Shirwan, and occupied its cities, none of which escaped save the fortress wherein was their king; wherefore they passed by it to the countries of the Lan and the Lakiz and the various nationalities plundered, slew, and destroyed them to the full.” (45) What was most surprising to those around them that they were able to cover this much land in less than a year, which was something that had never been done before. This quick and ruthless behavior is ultimately what led to the barbaric reputation that the Mongols gained during this time, They spared no one and left little
Most people that lived during this time were living in settled communities.For the most part, everyone excluding merchants never left their towns. The Mongols, however, were one of that last the most well known nomadic tribes that existed during this time. They were hunter-gatherer pastoralists, and unlike other communities, they lived constantly on the road the majority of their lives To most people this was a very uncivilized and barbaric thing to do because it was so far from what was considered “normal” for this time period. That said, this way of life played a huge part in their success. As the author explained, “...they have with them, sheep, cows, horses, and the like quadrupeds, the flesh of which they eat naught else.” (46) They also rode horseback to get from place to place, and their horses which the author refers to as their “beasts” were able to replenish their food sources by digging up roots of plants and eating them. The author claims, “They regard nothing as unlawful, for they eat all beasts even dogs, pigs, and the like…”(46) This was considered a terrible act, as in Muslim religion eating pork is considered sinful and dogs are only to be kept as helper animals. The way the Mongols went about marriage even heavily differentiated from what the Muslims considered as normal, al-Athir claiming “...nor do they recognize the