See MERV.
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MERV, OR MERU: A. D. 1221.
Destruction by Jingis Khan.
In the merciless march through Central Asia of the awful
Mongol horde set in motion by Jingis Khan, the great city of
Meru (modern Merv) was reached in the autumn of A. D. 1220.
This was "Meru Shahjan, i. e., Meru the king of the world, one
of the four chief cities of Khorassan, and one of the oldest
cities of the world. It had been the capital of the great
Seljuk Sultans Melikshah and Sanjar, and was very rich and
populous. It was situated on the banks of the Meri el rond,
also called the Murjab. … The siege commenced on the 25th of
February, 1221. The governor of the town … sent a venerable
imam as an envoy to the Mongol camp. He returned with such
fair promises that the governor himself repaired to the camp,
and was loaded with presents; he was asked to send for his
chief relations and friends; when these were fairly in his
power, Tulni [one of the sons of Jingis Khan] ordered them
all, including the governor, to be killed. The Mongols then
entered the town, the inhabitants were ordered to evacuate it
with their treasures; the mournful procession, we are told,
took four days to defile out. … A general and frightful
massacre ensued; only 400 artisans and a certain number of
young people were reserved as slaves. The author of the
'Jhankushai' says that the Seyid Yzz-ud-din, a man renowned
for his virtues and piety, assisted by many people, were
thirteen days in counting the corpses, which numbered
1,300,000. Ibn al Ethir says that 700,000 corpses were
counted. The town was sacked, the mausolemn of the Sultan
Sanjar was rifled and then burnt, and the walls and citadel of
Meru levelled with the ground."
_H. H. Howorth,
History of the Mongols,
volume 1, page 87._
See, also, KHORASSAN: A. D. 1220-1221.
MERV, OR MERU: A. D. 1884.
Russian occupation.
See RUSSIA. A. D. 1869-1881.
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MERWAN I., Caliph, A. D. 683-684.
Merwan II., Caliph, 744-750.