3 – The Massacre at Isfahan & Skull Pyramids
When it came to enemies who resisted, Timur was merciless. It was normal for his men to throw enemies off cliffs or else they were burned alive. His army would also kidnap women and leave their young babies alone to die. One of his favored punishments was to create a pyramid comprised of the skulls of enemies who refused to surrender. Among the most infamous example of this gruesome act occurred at Isfahan in 1387.
The Persian city of Isfahan was a prosperous, intellectual, multicultural and artistic place where the arts thrived. Alas, it didn’t possess the level of military might to stand a chance of fighting against an enemy as powerful as Timur. When his army arrived at Isfahan, the city opened its gates and immediately surrendered. Timur showed mercy and didn’t oversee his usual bloodshed. However, the city made the terrible mistake of revolting against the warlord’s taxes and killed the 3,000 men stationed there. Timur returned to Isfahan and easily captured it after a short siege.
This time, there was no mercy as the Timurid army massacred up to 70,000 people. Timur apparently ‘encouraged’ his men to commit the slaughter by giving each troop a ‘quota’ of decapitated heads to collect. An eyewitness said that there were 28 towers consisting of 1,500 skulls. There was more than that amount, but the person who counted and recorded the number stopped in revulsion.
Some historians believe the death toll at Isfahan was closer to 200,000, but we will never know the true figure. What we do know is that Timur continued massacring any city foolish enough to rebel against his invasion. In future campaigns, Timur was more selective in who were massacred and tended to spare educated individuals and artists. Yet there were occasions when he simply didn’t care and would order wholesale executions.