Lecture Series on the History and Culture of Central Asia (Winter Term 2024/25)Timur’s Triumphant Return to Central Asia in the Early Modern PeriodA lecture by Prof. Dr. Ron Sela, Indiana University Bloomington

18 February 2025

Photo: © Sinani

We cordially invite to the last lecture of this winter term's series on the history and culture of the Zerafshan Valley.  The lecture will be presented by Prof. Dr. Ron Sela, Associate Professor of Central Asian history at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

• Topic: Timur’s Triumphant Return to Central Asia in the Early Modern Period
• Date: February 18th, 2025, 14:00 CET
  
• Place: online via ZOOM

Abstract:
Shibani Khan’s armies forced Babur from Central Asia and with him, it seems, also much of Timur’s legacy and the remnants of his house. Timur’s name became legendary in South Asia and elsewhere, including Europe, but in Central Asia rulers and subjects alike often sought their inspiration elsewhere. Yet, in the 18th century, Central Asia begins to return to Timur, even more forcefully than before. Through three case studies – involving biographical texts, architectural monuments, and court chronicles – I will demonstrate how Central Asians “returned” to Timur and saw in him a valuable alternative to their contemporaneous reality and a model for rightful government.    

About the speaker:
Ron Sela is an Associate Professor of Central Asian history at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where he also serves as Director of the Islamic Studies Program and as Director of the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. A former student of Yuri Bregel and Devin DeWeese, Dr. Sela is the author of multiple books and articles on the history of Central Asia, including The Legendary Biographies of Tamerlane: Islam and Heroic Apocrypha in Central Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2011). 

In order to participate, please click here or use the following Zoom credentials:
Meeting ID: 446 979 3351
Password: 12345

For the poster of the lecture in full size, click here!

About the lecture series:
The series is jointly organized by Prof. Dr. Stefan Heidemann, Department of Islamic Studies at the Asien-Afrika-Institut (Universität Hamburg), and Dr. Shovosil Ziyodov, director of the Imam Bukhari International Scientific Research Center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

For more information about the joint Lecture Series on the History and Culture of Central Asia, please see here.