LORD OF TERROR TIMUR
“WHEN 28 TOWERS WITH 1,500 SKULLS EACH HAD BEEN MADE, TIMUR DEPARTED, CONFIDENT THERE WOULD BE NO MORE REBELLIONS AT ISFAHAN”
The presence of thousands of Tatars outside the walls of Isfahan in 1387 convinced its governor to surrender without resistance to the invading army of Timur. While negotiations were underway, the inhabitants of the great Persian city hid, trembling in their cellars.
No sooner had Timur departed than loud drums reverberated throughout the city calling forth its citizens to slaughter the occupation force. They stabbed or hacked to death all of the Tatars. When Timur learned of their treachery, he returned to the city and ordered his troops to bring him the heads of the inhabitants.
The Tatars dragged men, women and children from their hiding places in the city and beheaded them. Upon Timur’s instructions, his troops then cemented the heads into pyramids atop the city walls as a warning to would-be rebels. When 28 towers with 1,500 skulls each had been made, Timur departed, confident there would be no more rebellions at Isfahan.
A petty sheep rustler
On the Eurasian Steppe, southeast of the Aral Sea in Transoxiana,
