As a native arabic reader, Mongolian gives me headaches. My brain keeps seeing it as an unreadable arabic script rotated 45 degrees to the left. (It also turns out it does have some arabic influence[0])
Still fascinating and super cool.
Still fascinating and super cool.
Syriac =/= Arabic. And Mongolian is influenced by Syriac not Arabic
and if you are wondering :) yes, a lot of letters ARE Syriac rotated 45 degrees
It's obviously not meant to look like ≠.
Splintered into a bunch of Khanates that started fighting each other..
Arguably they fell apart because they picked up so many scripts and cultural and religious influences the different types of Mongols could no longer communicate or tolerate one another. Then the bubonic plague came and they became insular again instead of expansionist.
<graphic warning> According to some accounts, Hulagu cut open the belly of the Caliph Al-Musta'sim, pulled his guts and left them on top of the caliph's head to drip while he was slowly dying. Some other accounts relate that he was killed by horse trampling wrapper in a rug.</graphic warning>
It's also fascinating that Mongols, with all their mighty army, would settle in a land upon invading it, marrying into the locals, adopting their religion and traditions. Some modern Russian, Turk and Persian populations have this "reverse influence" from past Mongol invasions and admixture with actual Mongol people. Tatars[2] are a notable example, a Russo-Turko-Mongol population descending from Golden Horde troops who settled around the Volga (as everything in ethnographics, this is contested).
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad_(1258)
Interesting thought and it certainly had influence, but I would argue that the trope that one strong ruler conquers a big kingdom, but it doesn't stay united, because his heirs cannot settle on the next great king, is a quite common and often repeated one.