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Primary sourceArtifactc. 1224-1225

Stele of Genghis Khan

c. 1224-1225

A granite stele carved around 1225 honouring an archery feat by Genghis Khan's nephew, bearing the oldest known Mongolian-script inscription naming him.

Names Genghis Khan during his lifetime and commemorates a feat by his nephew, linking it directly to his court.

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A tall, arch-topped grey stone stele standing upright in a display case against a dark blue background, with several vertical columns of carved inscription in an old script. A blue label sits at the bottom of the display.
Stele of Yisüngge (replica), originally carved c. 1224-1225. Original held at the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

About this source

What it is

This granite stele, carved around 1224–1225, commemorates an archery feat performed by Yisüngge, nephew of Genghis Khan, at a gathering of Mongol nobles after the conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire. Discovered in 1802 in the Transbaikal region, it has been kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg since 1936. A 3D-scanned polymer replica was made in 2017 and given to Mongolia in 2019.

Why it matters

It contains the first known inscription written in the Mongolian script, making it an important source for the early history of that writing system. Naming Genghis Khan during the period of his conquests, it is a rare physical object connecting directly to his family and court rather than a later written account.

Look closer

  • Why would a Mongol family want to carve a stone commemorating an archery feat rather than write it down on paper?
  • What does it tell us that the stele was broken and moved far from its original location before ending up in a museum?
  • How does a physical inscribed object like this differ as evidence from a written history composed later?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Genghis Khan on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Page of a 1908 Chinese edition of the Secret History of the Mongols, printed in vertical columns of Chinese characters transcribing Mongolian text, with smaller interlinear glosses in Chinese beside them. Some characters are bracketed and marked with small annotations.Book

Secondary source

The Secret History of the Mongols

c. 1228 (completed after 1227)

Painted portrait of a bearded man with a pale white head covering and a light cream robe against a muted sage-green background. He has a long, thin white beard and a mustache, and a small silver earring.Painting

Secondary source

Portrait of Genghis Khan

Unknown Yuan court painter

Painted manuscript frontispiece in gold, blue and green tones: on the left a seated bearded man in blue robes writes beside a flowering tree, while a standing figure in gold-patterned robes gestures toward it. On the right a white horse with a blue gold-decorated saddle cloth stands above a small seated figure, with stylized clouds and a bird-like motif above.Book

Secondary source

Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini

Ata-Malik Juvayni

Manuscript page in Persian nastaliq script with an ornate gold-and-blue illuminated Bismillah heading at top, red-ruled borders, a marginal note in gold, and a round seal stamp in the margin on the right. Adjacent page edge visible at left.Book

Secondary source

Jami' al-tawarikh

Rashid al-Din Hamadani · c. 1400 (manuscript copy)

Red impression of a seal in vertical columns of stylized, angular Mongolian-script characters on a white background, with a red frame border along the edges.Letter

Primary source

Cum non solum

Pope Innocent IV · 13 March 1245

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