![]() The Mongols, although nomadic, successfully built an empire, issued coins, and created a script to write their language.įor information on the current exhibition please go to the Ashmolean website. The shahada, the Islamic creed, appears on the coins of Abaqa Khan, who was Buddhist, mixed with the Christian trinitarian formula. The Mongols’ success at subduing and controlling people of so many different regions, languages, and religions meant that running the empire was always extraordinarily challenging. The religious pluralism of the period is obvious on coins. The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire that ever existed. His grandson Hulagu became a Buddhist and his great grandson Tekuder converted to Islam. His son Tolui married a nestorian Christian. Genghis Khan was the embodiment of Heaven according to Mongolian shamanism, but he himself expressed an interest in Taoism. Mongol khans tolerated different religions within their empire. Although this part of the Empire was mostly Muslim, Abaqa Khan was a Buddhist and his mother, Doquz-khatun, was known to have been a devout and influential Nestorian Christian. The inscription ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God’ (in Arabic above a Christian cross) is quoted from the Gospel of Matthew. Silver dirham of Abaqa (AD 1265-1282) from the mint of Tbilisi, Georgia. This was destined to be the official writing system of the empire and was used to transcribe all languages across the empire. Then, in 1260, Kubilai Khan commissioned a Tibetan monk to create a new script, called Phags-pa. First, in 1209, they adopted the Uyghur script. The Mongols did not originally have their own writing. Mongolian coins bear a variety of scripts, which reflect the great diversity of peoples and languages under their rule. Printed paper banknotes copied those of the Chinese song and Jin dynasties. Silver dirhams were struck in the western part of the empire, whereas Chinese-style bronze coins with central holes were cast in the East. Having no monetary tradition of their own, the Mongol khans adapted to local customs. The end of the Pax Mongolica was marked by the disintegration of the khanates and the outbreak in Asia of the black plague, commonly called the Black Death. The Pax Mongolica encouraged trade and facilitated the exchange of technologies and ideologies across Eurasia. ![]() It was commonly said that ‘a maiden bearing a nugget of gold on her head could wander safely throughout the realm’. ![]() The Empire then experienced a period of peace, known as the Pax Mongolica and attested by Marco Polo in his travel account, Il Milione.
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