Salvete iterum, mi Tiberi
There are several comments that come to mind. First of all, I agree that Timur must have been impressed by the elephants. Proof is that he used elephants himself at Aleppo in 1400, as I suggested earlier.
The location of Balkh, then. Stating that it was situated to the West of Kwarism was a lapsus, what was I thinking
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When we look at history, Balkh was an area that has known different rulers, as you know. In 500 AD, the city was already part of one of the first 'Mongol' empires, the Ephithalite Empire to be more precise. Balkh was the starting point for the Ephithalite raids in the Sassanid Empire.
At around 1094, it was part of the Seldjuk Sultanate, in an Eastern corridor between the Gaznavid Sultanate and the Kharakhanid Khanates.
At the point that is of interest, the early 13th century, it was indeed located in the East of Kwarism territory. Southeast of Balkh, you then had the Ghorid Sultanate.
Indeed, there is much to be said about the Orient, and I only know so little to say. Especially when it comes to Oriental-Roman interaction. Reminds me of a private discussion I had some time ago with one of our sodales, Ambrosius Celetrus,about Romans building, or assisting in the proces, of the Bamiyan buddhas. Most interesting, because we did not agree. He thought it was a valid assumption, and I did not. (And I still don't!)
And from that point, I was once again struck by the fact that history is interpretation.
iubeo aliquem valere,
Mencius