Research material

bekN · Post by **bekN** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 5:29 pm

Hi

I'm taking a university course on the mongol empire, and I'm looking for material on the mongol archery of the late empire ,and especially on the topic of the bow constructing, and practice in the two far "ends" of the empire ,that is the il khanic Persia ,and the yuan china, and the question of the differences between them, if any....this might be a shot in the dark, but i thought of giving it a try....

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:58 am

What languages can you read/easily get translated?

bekN · Post by **bekN** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:57 am

Im fluent in english ,can read and translate some persian, and a novice in modern chinese ,so english meterial will be the best, im afraid....

thank you

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:04 am

Chinese remarks about Mongolian archery and bow-building are scarce. The Mongols took the whole thing for granted and didn't bother to write about it. They also banned Chinese from making bows in the Yuan dynasty, and relied heavily on Turkish mercenaries and their supporting craftsmen. The main data is therefore from actual Yuan bows that have been preserved. (In fact, there are quite a few.)

My researches in Mongolia itself threw up nothing. There is no literary material from earlier than the 1950s. (http://www.atarn.org/mongolian/mn_text/mn_text.htm)

You best sources are therefore likely to be Persian, Turkish or other Middle Eastern Sources.[/url]

bekN · Post by **bekN** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:34 pm

thank you Stephen ,ill try to look for secondary sources, although i understand that beside your research ,not many wrote about this subject...