PER 
option to accompany him or (lay at home, but command¬ 
ing all his Perfian military fubjefts to affemble at Ifpahan. 
He fird proceeded, A.D. 1400, againd the Georgian Chrif- 
tians, whom he reduced to the alternative of tribute or 
the Koran, offering however to thofe whom he had taken 
prisoners no other choice than death or abjuring their re¬ 
ligion. On his return from this warfare he gave audience 
to the ambaffadors of Bajazet; and fome time was fpent 
by thefe mighty monarchs in mutual complaints and me¬ 
naces, exprefled in terms of coarfe provocation. At length 
Timour laid liege to Siwas or Sebafte, a city on the borders 
of Anatolia, which he took and deffroyed, cruelly burn¬ 
ing alive the Armenian garrifon of 4000 men. He then 
invaded Syria, where Barkok, a Circadian, who had pof- 
feffed the throne of Egypt fome years before, had defied 
his power. His fon Farage imitated his example, and his 
emirs were affembled at Aleppo to repel the hoflile at¬ 
tack. They idued forth to the plain with a numerous 
and well-appointed force to engage Tamerlane, whofe 
front was covered with a line of Indian elephants, carry¬ 
ing turrets filled with archers, and Greek fire. The terror 
they occadoned, with the rapid evolutions of the Mogul 
cavalry, threw the Syrians into diforder, who fled hadily 
to the city, which the enemy entered with them. The 
citadel after a fhort defence was furrendered, and Tamer¬ 
lane became entire mafter of this opulent capital. While 
its ftreets were dreaming with blood, and refounding with 
cries, the viftor held a theological conference with the 
doctors of the law. He concluded it with faying, “You 
fee me here, a poor, lame, decrepit, mortal; yet by my 
arm the Almighty has been pleaded to fubdue the king¬ 
doms of Iran, Touran, and the Indies. I am not a man 
of blood ; and God is my witnefs that in all my wars I 
have never been the aggreffor, and that my enemies have 
always been the authors of their own calamity.” At this 
inflanf, however, his foldiers were occupied in making 
tip a certain tale of heads of the enemy, required by his 
peremptory orders, which, according to his cuflom, were 
afterwards piled up in columns and pyramids. 
After the capture and pillage of fome other places, the 
flege of Bagdad was entered upon. Tamerlane came be¬ 
fore it in perfon, and, having entirely blockaded it, delay¬ 
ed an aflault in expectation of a voluntary furrender. 
The inhabitants, however, held out in defpair to the end 
of forty days, when a dorm was ordered ; and the death 
of fome of the aflailants was revenged by a maffacre 
which produced a pyramid of 90,000 heads. The city was 
entirely razed, with the exception of mofques, hofpitals, 
and colleges. The conqueror then revifited Georgia ; and, 
haying fettled affairs in thofe parts, he declared his refo- 
lution of turning his arms againd the Ottoman emperor. 
Two years had palled fince it had become manifed that 
an encounter between thefe powerful and ambitious fo- 
vereigns was to be expected, and the Syrian expedition 
of Tamerlane had given time for Bajazet to make ade¬ 
quate preparations for meeting the dreaded conflict. 
After a very fanguinary and well-difputed combat, the 
great conted was decided by the defeat and capture of the 
Turkidi emperor. The battle of Angora was fought in 
July 1402, Concerning the treatment of the imperial 
captive, very different accounts are given by hidorians of 
different nations. See Bajazet I. His death, however, 
in the next year, put him out of the reach either of the 
generofity or the arrogance of the conqueror. 
The conquelts of this Tartar now extended from the 
Irtifli and Volga to the Perfian gulf, and from the Ganges 
to the Archipelago; and the terror of his name was felt 
beyond thefe limits. The want of flopping prevented him 
from eroding into Europe; but Soliman, the fon of Ba¬ 
jazet, thought proper to foothe him by prefents, and ac¬ 
cepted a patent of invefliture from him for his kingdom 
of Romania; and the Greek emperor fubmitted to pay 
him the fame tribute which he had agreed to pay the 
Turkilh fultan. The fultan of Egypt alfo, w ho thought 
himfelf in danger of an invadon, manifeded his fubmiflion 
S I A. 677 
by caufing prayers to be read, and money coined, in Ta¬ 
merlane’s name, and fent an embaffy with prefents to be- 
fpeak his favour. The final conqueff of Georgia, and the 
pacification of fome diflurbances which had occurred in 
Perfia, employed the Tartar emperor for fome time on his 
return from Turkey, and he did not arrive atSamarcand till 
the fummer of 1404. In that capital he difplayed his mag¬ 
nificence and power in difpenfing rewards and punifli- 
ments, attending to the complaints of his people, ereCIing 
palaces and temples, and giving audience to ambaffadors 
from Egypt, Arabia, India, Tartary, Ruflia, and Spain. 
The marriage of fix of his grandfons was celebrated with 
all the pomp of an eadern court, and the fovereign deemed 
happy in a temporary dereliction of his cares and his au¬ 
thority. Bur, though he had in a public affembly fome 
time before exprefled himfelf as fatisfied with the wide li¬ 
mits of his empire, a project of ambition more vad than 
any he had hitherto entertained occupied his mind ; 
which was no lefs than the conqueff of China. The pre¬ 
parations made for this mighty enterprife were on a cor- 
refpondent fcale of magnitude. Two hundred thoufand 
veteran foldiers were mudered, who were provided with 
ample means of conveying necefi'aries to ferve them in 
their long march over the deferts which feparate Samar- 
cand from Pekin. The aged emperor mounted his horfe 
in the winter feafon, eroded the Sihoon on the ice, and 
advanced to the didance of three hundred miles from his 
capital, when at the camp of Otrar he was feized with a 
fever, which fatigue, and the imprudent ufe of iced water, 
foon rendered mortal. Aware of his condition, he fum- 
moned round him the emprefl'es and principal emirs ; 
and, having declared his grandfon Mehemet Jehan Ghir 
his univerfal heir and fucceffor, and exafted an oath of 
obedience to him, he expired on April the iff, 1405, in 
the 70th year of his age, and the 35th from his elevation 
to the throne of Zagatai. He left fifty-three defeendants, 
and a name dill highly revered in the ead ; and his pofle- 
rity are to this day inveded with the title of the Mogul 
emperors, though the power and dominion have paffed 
into other hands. Tamerlane was tall and corpulent, 
with a wide forehead and large head, a pleading counte¬ 
nance, and fair complexion. He had broad flioulders 
and ffreng limbs; but was maimed in one hand, and lame 
of the right fide. His eyes were full of fire; his voice 
was loud and commanding; his conditution hardy and 
vigorous; his underdanding found; and his mind firm 
and dedfad. In converfation he was grave and modeff, 
and he prided himfelf in an attachment to truth. He 
delighted in reading hidory, and in difeuflirig topics of 
fcience with the learned. His religion was fierce and fa¬ 
natical, and he had, or affefted, the fuperditious reverence 
for omens and prophecies, faints and adrologers, which 
is general in the ead. He conduced his government 
alone, without favourites or miniders; and its lpirit was 
abfolute and uncontrolled rule. It was his boad to have 
introduced fecurity and order throughout his wide domi¬ 
nions, and he challenged the praile of a benefaftor to 
mankind ; but no conquefts have been attended with 
more dedruftion of human lives, and more defolation 
of flourifliing cities and didrifts, than his were; and 
his ambition prompted him to extend his authority be¬ 
yond the poflible limits of a Angle government. He 
was not, however, a mere barbarian conqueror; bur, if 
his code of laws can be relied upon as genuine, had en¬ 
larged ideas of the adminidration of a great empire. 
The “ Inditutions of Tamerlane” have been made 
known in Europe by two trandations from a Perfian 
verfion ; one in Engliflr by Major Davy and Profeffor 
White, Oxford, 1783 ; the otherin French, by M. Langles, 
Paris, 1787. 
After the death of Tamerlane, Perfia continued to be 
governed by his fon Shah Rukli, a wife and valiant prince; 
but immediately after his death fell into the fame con- 
fufion as before; being held by a great number of petty 
tyrants, till the beginning of the 16th century, when it 
3 was 
