Conqueror

While the rest of Soviet Russia stood to its guns last week awaiting a conqueror from the west, scientists far east in Samarkand pried into the tomb of the mightiest conqueror of them all, Tamerlane the Great.

Under a three-ton marble slab were five rough slabs of limestone. Under them, the ebony coffin in which the conqueror lay in robes " of gold brocade. Except for the head, the skeleton was well-preserved in musk and rose water, and the scientists discovered that philology was right (Tamerlane comes from Timur Leuk, meaning Timur the Lame) : his right leg was shorter than his left. With him were buried two sons and his astronomer grandson, Ulugh Beg.

In his time, the Mongol conqueror ruled some of Europe, most of Asia and sired the Great Moguls of India. He died in 1405, just after his most successful campaign, while on his way to conquer China. Location of his tomb was well-known, but, according to legend, had long since been looted by Persians.

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