1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. In twelve 3 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: seventy one, the Italian explorer Marco Polo set off for 4 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: China from his home in Venice at the age of seventeen. 5 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: You've probably heard of Marco Polo. On his adventures, he 6 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: encountered all manner of marvels, islands replete with rare spices, 7 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: sumptuous courts, even testimony about strange, huge and exotic serpents 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: with long, jagged mouths, or, as we might know them, crocodiles. 9 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: After Marco Polo had spent nearly twenty years in the 10 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: court of the Chinese Emperor, he finally decided to return home. 11 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: But there was no chance he could go back the 12 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: way he came. An unexpected war had flared up in 13 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: the very center of Asia, where trade caravans passed between 14 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: the eastern and western parts of the continent. Marco Polo 15 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 1: had no choice but to sail around Asia to reach 16 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: Persia in order to ultimately get back to Venice. He 17 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: commanded fourteen ships that allowed him to avoid the perils 18 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: of trekking through the mountains, and after a few years, 19 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: Marco Polo finally docked at the Persian port city of Hormus. 20 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: As with every location he found himself in, he began 21 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: listening for news that might prove helpful for the rest 22 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: of his journey. It turned out that the wars still 23 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: raged in Central Asia, but there was more. Marco Polo 24 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: was a collector of legends and stories, and there was 25 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: one story from the war that captivated him. One of 26 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: the armies was being led by a woman. No not 27 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: just a woman, a giantess whose face was allegedly as 28 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: alluring as the moon, and whose arms were apparently strong 29 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: enough to move mountains. Of course, Marco Polo had heard 30 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: of rare cases of women leading armies in Europe, but 31 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: none as seemingly strong as this mysterious cutuloon. Marco Polo 32 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:42,519 Speaker 1: recorded these scattered rumors he heard and moved along toward home. 33 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: How much of what Marco Polo heard about this so 34 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: called giantess is true? Even if Marco Polo's book that 35 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: he wrote about his journey was based on a real 36 00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: journey to China, which is actually debatable, Historians today recognized 37 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: that Marco Polo's account is at the least highly embellished. 38 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: It was made to entertain readers, not simply quote transmit 39 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: information about the East. If we can't be certain that 40 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: Marco Polo didn't at best embellish the hearsay he jotted down, 41 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: how can we be certain that Kutulun, this mythical giantess, 42 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: even existed. As a matter of fact, we have good 43 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: reason to believe that she did exist, though between you 44 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: and me, she probably wasn't a giantess. Writing in thirteen 45 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: oh seven, the Persian historian Russidaldin compiled an expansive history 46 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: of Mongolian royalty around the same time that Marco Polo's 47 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: travels were being published. In his account, Russiad Aaldin also 48 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: mentions Kutuloun and also refers to her unusual capabilities on 49 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: the battlefield. We don't have any exceptional sources on Kutuloon 50 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: besides Marco Polo and Russiad al Din, and even they 51 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: wrap this obscure figure in layers of mythmaking The task 52 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: of excavating the historical Cutaloon is made extra difficult by 53 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: the fact that so much of her persona became the 54 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: basis for Italian plays in the eighteenth century, and in 55 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: German theater in the nineteenth and in Romantic opera in 56 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: the twentieth. Much of our modern interpretation of Kutulun is 57 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: colored by these works of high art. Can we cut 58 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: through the mist of hearsay, dramatization, and mythology to parse 59 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 1: apart any certain truths about the royal giantess. The name 60 00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: Kutlun is often translated from Mongolian as moonlight or face 61 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: of the moon. That's an apt descriptor for our heroine, 62 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: because the face she presents changes depending on who is 63 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: telling her story and when her story is being told, 64 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: whether by a Venetian merchant in the thirteenth century, a 65 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: Persian historian in the fourteenth, or an Italian composer in 66 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: the twentieth. For now, let's assume Marco Polo's perspective. When 67 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: he docked in the port of Hormus off the Persian Gulf. 68 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: He didn't just hear rumblings of yet another conflict between 69 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: the Mongolian successor states. At the very center of that 70 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: geopolitical drama was another smaller drama, a wrestling competition of 71 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: all things, and a princess who offered her hand in 72 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: marriage to any man who could best her. As the 73 00:05:54,600 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: legend goes, none could. It's a great story. Marco Polo 74 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 1: wanted to write it down. I'm Danish schwartz and this 75 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: is noble blood. When Kutalun was born in twelve sixty 76 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,799 Speaker 1: nothing marked her as particularly special compared to the rest 77 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: of the royal family. She was the daughter of Kaidu, 78 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: the Khan or ruler of much of Central Asia, and 79 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: great grandson of Genghis Khan, but we don't even know 80 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: the name of Kutalun's mother. Kutulun was probably born in 81 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: what is now Kazakhstan, in or around the busy trading 82 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: town of Kahili, Situated on a step in between a 83 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: massive freshwater lake to the north and snow capped mountains 84 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: to the south. This city, like so many others in 85 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 1: the emerging Chagatai Khanate, bustled with trade. Think of a 86 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 1: knit like a smaller, less formal kingdom, but with its 87 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: own system of government and leader. Mongol soldiers and settlers 88 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: technically dominated the land, but local farmers carried on with 89 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: their crops. Turkish nomads proselytized Islam Persian statesmen offered their 90 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: political expertise, and even the occasional European took lodging as 91 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: they hunted for lucrative spices. The world that Kutaloon was 92 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: born into, one that connected goods, gold, and good ideas 93 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: from all four corners of the globe, was only possible 94 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: because of the rapid and ruthless expansion of the Mongols 95 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: over much of the Asian continent starting in twelve o six. 96 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: In his lifetime, Genghis Khan and his legions forged an 97 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: empire that spanned all the way from Russia to the 98 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: Korean Peninsula. But just as soon as Genghis Khan and 99 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: his descendants subjugated them these lands, their unified empire began 100 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: to fall apart at the seams. It was already an 101 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: enormous challenge to govern new lands, let alone half a continent. 102 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: In the decades leading up to Kutalun's birth in twelve sixty, 103 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: the unified Mongol Empire effectively dissolved into four smaller empires. 104 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: But of course, the next generations of royalty dreamed of 105 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: stitching the once great empire back together. Kutualun's great uncle, 106 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: Kubla Khan, the emperor of China that Marco Polo ventured 107 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: off to meet, tried to force Kaidu, Kutalan's father, into 108 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: accepting his right to rule all of Central Asia. It 109 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: was naturally quite difficult for Kubla Kan to do that 110 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: from China, thousands of miles away, so he began with 111 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: an invitation. Kaidu would set off for Kubla Khan's course, 112 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: recognize his cousin as overlord in a customary oath swearing, 113 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 1: and then march back to his home in the Chogatai Kanate. 114 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: That sounds okay, but Kaidu wasn't buying it. For every 115 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: invitation that Kubla Khan sent, Kaidu came up with a 116 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 1: very convenient excuse of why he couldn't go. In one case, 117 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: Kaidu's herds were apparently too lean to travel the vast 118 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: distance between their cities, so Kaidu suggested they try again 119 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:38,839 Speaker 1: next year. Next year didn't happen either. Kaidu understood that 120 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: any show of fealty to Kubla Khan would undermine his 121 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: own freedom in Central Asia, including his freedom to tax 122 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: the rivers of spice, gold, and silk parading in and 123 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:56,559 Speaker 1: out of his cities. There were other cultural tensions that 124 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: underwrote Kaidu's strategic refusal to s submit to his cousin. 125 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: Kubla Khan and his clan members had adapted their empire 126 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: to the Chinese systems that had preceded them, building a 127 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: state that was agricultural, centralized, and more or less sedentary. 128 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: That was a far cry from what Kaidu considered a 129 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:27,840 Speaker 1: more traditional Mongolian ethic pastoral, decentralized, nomadic. Kaidu believed it 130 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 1: was important that he provide his children a more traditional 131 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:38,120 Speaker 1: Mongolian upbringing. Where most princesses of the medieval world lived 132 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: restricted lives destined for political marriages, Kutaloon was exposed to 133 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 1: a rougher life right from the beginning. In her pastoral community, 134 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: children learned to use the bow and arrow from a 135 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: young age. Boys were expected to guard larger animals like 136 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: camels and the cows that row across the plains, while 137 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: girls were tasked with protecting the sheep and goats that 138 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: grazed closer to home. Young Kutalun thrived in this environment. 139 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: She quickly developed expertise in the traditional mongol arts of 140 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: horse riding, archery and wrestling, to the awe and discontent 141 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: of her fourteen brothers. Rashid al Din writes somewhat derisively 142 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: that Kutulun quote went around like a boy. Kutulun's prodigious 143 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: fighting skills were also likely inspired by the chaos that 144 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 1: ensued from her father's earlier conflicts with Kubla Khan, her 145 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: great uncle. According to a tradition solidified during the reign 146 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: of Genghis Khan, all major representatives of the royal families 147 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: needed to recognize an overlord for his rule to stand 148 00:11:55,920 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 1: as legitimate. Kaidu's refusal of an overlord therefore gave Kubla 149 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: Khan no choice but to demand obedient by force. He 150 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: dispatched a general named Barak to capture the lands under 151 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: Kaidu's control. Barak first ambushed Kaidu in a crushing defeat, 152 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: but Kutalun's father was not one to back down so easily. 153 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: What information we have about him suggests that he was 154 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: forgiving and generous at court, and cold and rational on 155 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: the battlefield. Russiad al Din writes that he never took wine, salt, 156 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: or kumis traditional fermented milk alcohol, a characterization that, whether 157 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 1: true or not, corresponds with the attitude Kaidu had when 158 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: he pursued his military and political ambitions. Suffering from temporary losses, 159 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: Kaidu called upon the support of his cousins to the 160 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: north and surprised Barak with a force of over sixty thousand, 161 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: overwhelming him and effectively securing control over the Chagatai lands. 162 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: As Kaidu pressed his advantage over Kubla Khan in the 163 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:20,319 Speaker 1: following decades and repressed descent from lesser lords, he increasingly 164 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:25,640 Speaker 1: called upon the support of his daughter. Marco Polo, dedicating 165 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: a whole chapter to the warrior princess had this choice 166 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 1: description of her military prowess quote. Kutaloon's father never went 167 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: on a campaign without her, and gladly he took her 168 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 1: for not a knight in all his train played such 169 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: feats of arms as she did. Sometimes she would quit 170 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: her father's side and make a dash at the host 171 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: of the enemy and seize some man thereout as deftly 172 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him 173 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: to her father. End quote. Politically prominent Mongolian women were 174 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: not something new. Queens took over as regents in between 175 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,319 Speaker 1: the death of a khan and the election of a successor. 176 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: Sometimes they ruled for several years. Some royal women became 177 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: heroines of the Khanate's founding mythology, like Altani, the wife 178 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: of one of Genghis Khan's generals who saved his heir 179 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: from kidnappers. Even before Genghis Khan, Mongolian folklore passed down 180 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: stories of warrior queens who took up arms and led 181 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: hosts in dire times. But Kutulun wasn't fighting out of 182 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: dire need. This wasn't a desperate rescue mission, and her 183 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: renown didn't come from a connection to any man, let 184 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: alone a husband. That's exactly what troubled her father's court. 185 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: If Rashid al Din's dismissive comments on Kutulun's military ambitions 186 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: are any indication, and many onlookers saw her dismissal of 187 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: typical feminine duties as condemnable, certainly a line of rhetoric 188 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: that her brothers utilized as they tried in vain to 189 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: bring their father's attention back to them. The supposedly true 190 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: heirs to the royal estates. The traditional spirituality espoused during 191 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: ginghis Khan's reign supported harmony between the masculine sky and 192 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: the feminine earth. Did Kutalun's peers see her military leadership 193 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: as a benefit or a disruption to that harmony, whether 194 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: for optics or from personal conviction. Kaidu decreed that his 195 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: daughter Kutaloun would marry, but there was no chance he 196 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: could ever compel her to marry any particular suitor. Kutaloon 197 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: would be allowed to choose her own own bridegroom. In 198 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 1: this case, the courting would take place within the confines 199 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: of a wrestling pit. For a khan like Kai Dou, 200 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 1: the marriages of his children represented opportunities for useful political alliances. 201 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: To his daughters, those marriages would prove troublesome. Kutulun's younger sister, Kotuchin, 202 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: married young, but during her first pregnancy, her husband unexpectedly 203 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: fell in love with an enslaved girl. Affairs weren't uncommon, 204 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: but affairs laid out in public by the very parties 205 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: involved were well not quite strategic. In one account of 206 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: the story, Kutuchin's husband approached his father in law, Kaidu 207 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: with the enslaved girl he loved in hand, naively pleading 208 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: with him to recognize their own relationship as a marriage 209 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: and scrap the former one, you know, his marriage to 210 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: Kaidu's daughter. Kaidu had the man executed on the spot. 211 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:16,400 Speaker 1: A different account tells us that actually Kutuchin confronted her 212 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 1: husband after discovering the affair, at which point her husband 213 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: supposedly bit and killed her, not the most conventional way 214 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: of murdering your royal wife. Katuchin's brothers protested that Kaidu 215 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: should execute their murderous brother in law, but the Khan 216 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,200 Speaker 1: in this story resists by arguing that this wouldn't save 217 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 1: their already bitten to death sister. In this story, Kaidu 218 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:49,399 Speaker 1: instead issues one hundred lashes, sets his son in law free, 219 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: and even goes so far in his magnanimity as to 220 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: give a different one of his daughters to the man 221 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: as a bride, since his son's quote could not allow 222 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: a stranger to take their sister's place. If this probably 223 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:08,159 Speaker 1: apocryphal set of stories tells us anything it's that whatever 224 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:13,639 Speaker 1: safety or autonomy royal women achieved in familial politics could 225 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 1: easily be violated through an unfit marriage. Women became expendable 226 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: when it was politically convenient for the surrounding ruling men 227 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:30,199 Speaker 1: of the Kanate. In one case, Kutulun's great aunt elicited 228 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: public humiliation for simply disagreeing with a minister of her 229 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: husband's court. That minister went on to execute the great 230 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: aunt's daughter in law for adultery without illegal proceeding, violating 231 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: Angis Khan's prior mandate that no member of the royal 232 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: family could be killed without some collective agreement. As historian 233 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: Jack Weatherford argues, the era in which Kutualun lived and 234 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,680 Speaker 1: fought in marked the beginning of Mongol women's erasure from 235 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: political life. Regardless of the rich tradition of powerful historical 236 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:14,679 Speaker 1: Mongol women in her lifetime, Kutulun was the exception, not 237 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: the rule. If Kutulun had to marry, she would only 238 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: marry a man who could beat her in a wrestling match. 239 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 1: The chances of her finding such a man quickly was 240 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:31,200 Speaker 1: probably pretty slim. After all, she had dominated the very 241 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 1: best of her father's enemies on the battlefield for years. 242 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: Marco Polo writes that Kutulun sent challenges to worthy opponents 243 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:46,000 Speaker 1: across several kingdoms on the following terms. The first winner 244 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: receives her hand in marriage, but every man must wager 245 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: one hundred horses to enter the competition. According to the 246 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: traditional rules of Mongolian wrestling or bach, the first competitor 247 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: to touch the ground with something other than their feet 248 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: loses the match. Many a Kaki nobleman entered the gauntlet, 249 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: only to be thrown down and utterly humiliated. Kutlun allegedly 250 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: won ten thousand horses, vanquishing suitors until an exceptionally renowned 251 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:26,959 Speaker 1: nobleman entered the picture with a new wager one thousand 252 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: horses for a chance to win her hand. Naturally, her father, 253 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: and depending on the source, also possibly Kutulun's mother begged 254 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: Kutlun to throw the match. In his account, Marco Polo 255 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 1: does not identify the prince for us, but he claims 256 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: he was the son of a great king, which really 257 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: isn't that helpful. But the point is that Kutulun's parents 258 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 1: saw this nobleman as the chance for their wild daughter 259 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:01,680 Speaker 1: to secure a prosperous future for herself and their lineage. 260 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:07,680 Speaker 1: In one account, Kutaloun staunchly resists her parents please. In another, 261 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: she agrees, but then something snaps upon entering the ring, 262 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 1: hearing the roar of the crowd, seeing across from her 263 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: an opponent worthy of equal status. The two wrestlers locked 264 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: arms for minutes on end, neither able to get the 265 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 1: better of the other, until finally Kutalun threw the prince down, 266 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: collected his multiplied wager, and mortified both him and her family. 267 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:44,920 Speaker 1: Marco Polo's version of the story ends on this high note, 268 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: almost like a fairy tale, Kutaloun defeating the man that 269 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 1: people wanted her to throw the match to, but the 270 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: pot stirring. Rashid al Din carries the tale a little further. 271 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: After several years without a planned marriage, insidious rumors spread, 272 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: claiming that Kutaloun and her father Kaidu had an incestuous relationship. 273 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:15,960 Speaker 1: Out of shame, Kutaloun finally relented and chose a man 274 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: to marry. But even in this story, I think it's 275 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: important to remember she chooses the man. She was never 276 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: bested by a suitor in the wrestling pit one on one. 277 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: In this version of the story, the man she chose, Abtakool, 278 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: is said to have been quote vigorous, tall and handsome, 279 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: like so many of the other figures in Kutalun's life. 280 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,159 Speaker 1: We know little about him except he was of noble 281 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: ancestry and that the couple raised two sons. But there 282 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:52,000 Speaker 1: was no chance Kutalun would settle down for an unexciting, 283 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 1: sedentary domestic life. She campaigned with her father until the 284 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:03,159 Speaker 1: very end. Leadership in her father's army was indispensable in 285 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: the face of a massive geopolitical shift brewing to the east. 286 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:12,199 Speaker 1: Kubul Khan died in twelve ninety four. After decades of 287 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: directing most of his political and military attention to invasions 288 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: of Korea and Japan. Kubul Khan's successor, Timour, quickly relinquished 289 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: those commitments and turned his attention to the west, where 290 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: he made attempts to force the unruly Central Asian war 291 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,880 Speaker 1: lords to recognize Chinese rule once and for all. The 292 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: ensuing campaign was disruptive enough to deter Marco Polo from 293 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,959 Speaker 1: traveling on the overland route back to Venice. The seventy 294 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: year old Kaidu did his best to deflect the impending invasion, 295 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: and with the help of his daughter, they kept Temor 296 00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 1: in Czech after one hard fought battle on September three, third, 297 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 1: thirteen oh one, Kaidu ultimately took an arrow wound that 298 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:09,720 Speaker 1: would prove fatal A month later. Rashid al Din mentions 299 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:14,359 Speaker 1: that Kutualun's father was buried in the mountains, where in 300 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: one version of the story, Kutalun and her husband lived 301 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: modestly and guarded her father's burial place until her death 302 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: four years later. In another version of the story, more 303 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 1: reflective of the relationship between Kaidu and Kutalun, it said 304 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: that the Khan agitated for his daughter to be the 305 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,640 Speaker 1: one to succeed him before he died. Each of her 306 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: fourteen brothers nearly revolted in response, and yet another compromise, 307 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: Kutalun remained the general of her father's elite military, while 308 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,399 Speaker 1: her brother Oris took the mantle of government. Their rule 309 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 1: collapsed within four years, and the wrestler princess died under 310 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: he unclear circumstances, But the world that she and her 311 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,360 Speaker 1: father had made out of the dramatic collapse of the 312 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: Mongol Empire had lasting consequences. Never again would a unified 313 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:21,360 Speaker 1: Mongol power tame the autonomous step of Central Asia. Parsing 314 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,120 Speaker 1: through the different versions of Kutalun's narrative yields an image 315 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,159 Speaker 1: of an amicable relationship between a father who struggled to 316 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: keep his fledgling empire intact and a daughter whose skills 317 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: lent themselves to that task. For all we know, Kaidu 318 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: and Kutualun were on great terms, but reading between the 319 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:49,119 Speaker 1: lines yields a slightly different, more complex picture. The Khan 320 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: may have offered Kutualun the chance to choose her own husband, 321 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: but both Marco Polo and Rashid al Din indicate that 322 00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: this was a privilege that she had to fight for, 323 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: and fight she did. The warrior princess, as luminous as 324 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,159 Speaker 1: the moon and stable as the Altai mountains, carved a 325 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: space for herself within the confines of a world that 326 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: didn't want her to take that space. Every compromise was 327 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,479 Speaker 1: just as much a sign of her subjugation as it 328 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 1: was of her power. Nearly four centuries after Coutaloon's death, 329 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: the French diplomat Francois Petit de Lacroix was sent by 330 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: the court of Louis the fourteenth to Persia in sixteen 331 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: seventy four, where he stumbled upon the strange and strangely 332 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: familiar story of a Mongol princess turned wrestler. For one 333 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: hundred years, the English and French sponsored diplomatic missions to 334 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 1: the Ottoman and Cephavid empires to advance their mercantile interests abroad. 335 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 1: It was always useful to have someone who could speak 336 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,119 Speaker 1: the land language of your competitor. Laquax was part of 337 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: that political tradition, but like so many of his contemporaries, 338 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: the so called orient also stoked his intellectual curiosity. His 339 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: father wrote the definitive biography of Genghis Khan, so the 340 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: young man had rather big shoes to fill. His interests 341 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: ranged from mystical poetry to biblical artifacts, but upon returning 342 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: to France, Laqua turned his attention on translating a compendium 343 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: of stories he had acquired on his travels. You've probably 344 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:41,200 Speaker 1: heard of One thousand and one Nights, a frame narrative 345 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: featuring nested stories stories including Aladdin's Lamp and Ali Baba 346 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: and the Forty Thieves. Laquax was the first European to 347 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: translate the companion set of stories known as One thousand 348 00:27:55,840 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: and one Days for centuries, the last context European readers 349 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:06,719 Speaker 1: had with Kutalun was Marco Polo's vague descriptions. At last, 350 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,840 Speaker 1: Laqua breathed new life into her character, though not without 351 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: major changes to the story. Orientalists like Lacua often misconstrued dates, names, 352 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:24,960 Speaker 1: even whole narratives as they translated from one language to another. 353 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: The so called orient became one big mesh of homogeneous 354 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: ideas and pictures. Think Agroba in Disney's Aladdin. Where in 355 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: the world exactly is Agroba supposed to be? Laqua didn't 356 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: exactly translate a new version of Kutalun's stories. Rather, he 357 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: conflated elements of her story with another narrative taken from 358 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: the twelfth century Persian poet Nizami, specifically the narrative of Turnidot, 359 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:03,600 Speaker 1: literally the daughter of Turan. Turnidott had also tested suitors 360 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 1: for her hand in marriage, Except unlike Kutaloon's test, Turnidott's 361 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 1: test was a series of riddles, and the price of 362 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:17,880 Speaker 1: failure was the suitor's head, not one hundred horses. And 363 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,200 Speaker 1: if you're more familiar with the opera and you're wondering 364 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: why I'm pronouncing Turnidott with a T, it's because the 365 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: word is Persian, and Puccini, like me, wasn't great at pronunciation, 366 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: but in this case the Persian word is turnidot. To 367 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: eighteenth century European audiences, Turnidat and Kutaloon were more or 368 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: less the same person, despite the fact that one was 369 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,720 Speaker 1: a fictional poetic character and the other was a historical princess. 370 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: In seventeen sixty two, the Italian playwright Carlo Gazzi picked 371 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: up the story of Turnidatt as the basis for a 372 00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: new comedy full of playful, irreverent character. Turnidat was a 373 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: hit in eighteenth century Venice, but it wasn't until eighteen 374 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: o two when Kutaloun's European legacy would reach astronomical heights. 375 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: The German poet Friedrich Schiller translated Gozi's playful screenplay into 376 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: a sincere and heavily symbolic love story, and he produced 377 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: the play with a man who was none other than 378 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: Johann Wolfgang von Gerte. They treated their aristocratic audiences to 379 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: an abstracted, fairy tale version of Kutaloon. In this version 380 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: of the play, the audacious nobleman Kaliff agrees to compete 381 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: in Turnidat's test of riddles for her hand in marriage. 382 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: Turnidat meanwhile, is motivated to put up as many barriers 383 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: between her and her suitors as possible because, for some 384 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: unexplained reason, she just hates the male sex. Khaluff guesses 385 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: the answers to her riddles in a matter of minutes. 386 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 1: The spoiler alert The answers are all Christian virtues like faith, hope, 387 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: and finally love. But seeing that Turnidatt is unhappy with 388 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: the outcome, Kaliff agrees to his own execution if she 389 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,840 Speaker 1: can guess his name in the course of a day. 390 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: So there's a little bit of Rumpelstiltskin in here. Too 391 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: Unable to do so, Turnidat is won over by Kaliff's selflessness. 392 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: He melts her ice cold heart through the power of love. 393 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: Turnidat cries out in the final lines, could I then, 394 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: after all this, look down in scorn on men? No? 395 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: And may Heaven forgive me all I did that made 396 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: me seem a monster in men's sight. Kutaloon embodied strength 397 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: that exceeded even her fiercest male competitors. Turnidat in fiction 398 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: was given a frail frame and an intelligent mind, though 399 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: not so intelligent as to outwit the hero Culloff. In history, 400 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:20,040 Speaker 1: Kutaloun crushed every suitor in acts of glorious defiance. Turnidot's 401 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: ice cold heart was land to conquer. Kutaloon, in the end, 402 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: got to choose her husband. Turnidat really makes no such choice. 403 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: Far from an agent in her own life, Turnidat is 404 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 1: essentially a prize for the hero, a heavily distorted reflection 405 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: of the Mongol princess who once decimated armies like a hawk. 406 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 1: Jacomo Puccini created the most famous reproduction of Turnidat in 407 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: his nineteen twenty four opera of the same name. One 408 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: solo from Puccini's work may be the single most famous 409 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: moment and in opera history. Coincidentally that solo has Kuloff 410 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:10,640 Speaker 1: proclaiming Turnidat as his wife. The real Kutaloon and her 411 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: victories have all but disappeared from view. Lying underneath every 412 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: depiction of the fictional Turnidat, behind every closed curtain at 413 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: her opera, is a real princess whose life was incomprehensible 414 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: to the framework of gender that modern Europe had developed 415 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: and then projected onto the world. Perhaps opera goers in 416 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: Vienna and Milan would have reacted to Kutualoun just as 417 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: Rashid al Din did, dismissive of her for going around 418 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: like a boy. That's not the type of heroin anyone 419 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: wants to see in an opera. But for all we know, 420 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: the real Kutaloon would have worn that criticism like a 421 00:33:55,640 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: badge of honor. That's the story of the real, historical Kutaloon. 422 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear 423 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: a little bit more about how her legacy continues in 424 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 1: the present day. Every year, in the midst of summer, 425 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: Mongolia gears up for Nedam literally Games, a traditional festival 426 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 1: featuring acrobatic performances and athletic competitions. Youth face off in 427 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: horse riding and archery, but the most beloved sport is 428 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 1: to this day wrestling. There have probably been major esthetic 429 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: and policy changes in wrestling since the thirteenth century, namely 430 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,880 Speaker 1: no more wagering horses for your opponent's hand in marriage, 431 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: but otherwise the main is pretty much the same. The 432 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,399 Speaker 1: first to touch the ground with a part of their 433 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: body besides their feet loses. Before and after the match, 434 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: competitors perform an eagle dance that represents the mythical Garuda bird, 435 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: symbolizing bravery and grace. Though each region has its own 436 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: style of pre and post match rituals, Thousands of men 437 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,960 Speaker 1: compete yearly, and depending on your ranking in an overall tournament, 438 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:36,719 Speaker 1: they're bestowed with different titles like Elephant, Lion, or Giant. 439 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: The general perception is that these traditions also symbolize an 440 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: uninterrupted inheritance from the mythologized founding of Mongolia under Genghis Khan, 441 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 1: who himself used wrestling as a method of keeping his 442 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:59,239 Speaker 1: troops in shape. One particularly unusual element in contemporary Mongolian 443 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 1: wrestling is the costume that the athletes wear, a two 444 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:08,640 Speaker 1: piece suit that covers one's shoulders, arms, and back, but 445 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:13,279 Speaker 1: opens to reveal the chest. Theories have circulated on the 446 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 1: origins of the uniform, but one of the most prominent 447 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: explanations credit Kutloon as Mongolian military and athletic institutions over 448 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: the centuries gradually began marginalizing women. It was considered far 449 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:34,160 Speaker 1: too inappropriate for a woman to compete in a sport 450 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:38,799 Speaker 1: seen as the domain of men. Some suggest that the 451 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: wrestling uniforms open torso emerged as a way for the 452 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 1: audience to confirm that all participants were indeed male. The 453 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,279 Speaker 1: winner of the competition would raise their arms at the 454 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,840 Speaker 1: end of a match, not only to celebrate, but also 455 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: to clarify their sex to the audience. To this day, 456 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:05,320 Speaker 1: while women are allowed to compete in horse riding and archery, 457 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: they are barred from traditional wrestling matches. This genealogy is 458 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:17,280 Speaker 1: all very speculative, but there is something rather poetic about 459 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:21,839 Speaker 1: male wrestlers still motivated by the fear of suffering a 460 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 1: humiliating defeat at the hands of a woman. Kutalin's reputation 461 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:47,840 Speaker 1: continues after her. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio 462 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is 463 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing 464 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:02,440 Speaker 1: and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah's Wi, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, 465 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by 466 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 1: Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh 467 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 1: Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 468 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:24,240 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 469 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.