TIMUR BEG. 
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mense reduction of his army determined the emperor 
to quit Syria, and abandon for the present the conquest 
of Egypt and Palestine, which he had contemplated. 
In his progress to the Euphrates, he ordered the walls of 
the citadel at Aleppo to be razed, and the city to be 
fired. He then crossed the river, ravaged the province 
of Diarbekir, the ancient Mesopotamia, and having des- 
patched a detachment of his army into Georgia, where 
they again committed terrible ravages, directed his 
march to Baghdad, which he took by assault, and sig- 
nalised his victory by erecting a pyramid of ninety thou- 
sand human heads. The governor and his daughter were 
drowned in attempting to escape across the Tigris. So 
dreadful was the carnage, that the air became infected 
with the stench arising from the bodies of the slain, 
which obliged Timur to remove his camp. Not yet 
satisfied with conquest, the insatiable Tartar once more 
punished the Kurds with his accustomed severity, 
and entered Georgia, where he passed the winter. 
Here he received ambassadors from the Turkish sultan. 
His determination was made upon the answer of his 
astrologers, whom he consulted in every emergency. 
It was alike flattering to his pride and encouraging to 
his ambition. “ It appears by the ephemerides of the 
present year, that the ascendant of this empire is in 
the highest degree of strength, and that of the enemy 
in the lowest degree of weakness. A comet will ap- 
pear in Aries ; and an army which comes from the 
east will make an entire conquest of Anatolia, the 
prince of which will be taken prisoner.” 
Encouraged by this prediction, in 1402, Timur ad- 
vanced towards the latter province. He had previ- 
