What Was So Great About Genghis Khan?

NYU historian Zvi Ben-Dor Benite will deliver “What Was So Great About Genghis Khan?”—a public lecture—on Tues., Sept. 27, 5:30 p.m. 

New York University historian Zvi Ben-Dor Benite will deliver “What Was So Great About Genghis Khan?”—a public lecture—on Tues., Sept. 27, 5:30 p.m. at NYU’s Jurow Lecture Hall, Silver Center.

New York University historian Zvi Ben-Dor Benite will deliver “What Was So Great About Genghis Khan?”—a public lecture—on Tues., Sept. 27, 5:30 p.m. at NYU’s Jurow Lecture Hall, Silver Center (100 Washington Square East/enter at 31 Washington Place). 

This lecture, which examines the Mongol empire with a contemporary lens, answers some big and small questions: Why did the Mongols leave Mongolia to conquer the world in the 13th Century? Did they really use dolphin fat in their weapons? And how many people alive today are descendants of Genghis Khan?

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite is professor in the Department of History and the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at NYU. He teaches courses on Asian history during and after the Mongol period and on Judaism and Islam.

His research centers on the interaction between religions in world history and cultural exchanges across vast space and deep time. He is the author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Harvard, 2005); The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Oxford, 2009); and co-editor of Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Culture, and Politics (Brandeis, 2013).

The event, an NYU College of Arts and Science Bentson Dean’s Lecture, is free and open to the public. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Space is limited. Please call 212.992.9817 for more information. Subway Lines: 6 (Astor Place); N, R (8th Street).