Thursday, May 10, 2012

Well, Was It Kahn or Khan (Genghis, We Hardly Knew You)?-- Part 2

The man himself adopted the name Genghis Khan, which means oceanic ruler.  Besides war, he also brought us pants, paper money, charcoal, forks, chopped meat and national Parks.  Not a bad guy.

You can see a new exhibit on the man at the Field Museum in Chicago at 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive.  Price is $22-$29 for adults with the purchase of a Discovery or All-Access Pass.  There is even a gift shop as you exit where you can buy Genghis-themed items for keepsakes.

There are nine TVs on the walls, each with a short video on some aspect of his life such as his still-mysterious death in 1227 and his wide-spread DNA.  Johnson believes that the videos tend to downplay the interesting array of artifacts, including an era cavalry sword, a whistling arrow, a full-size, full-regalia Mongol warrior on horseback and weapons.

In addition, there are the diplomatic passports Genghis developed to ease travel across the empire and a full-size ger, the tents they lived in.

Genghis' son, Kublai Khan pretty-well frittered away the empire through overspending, two-failed attacks on Japan.

An Interesting Man.  --DaCoot

No comments: