open it (1) save in the year 90 AH, during the reign of Sulayman ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. Yet these Tatars took it in the briefest (2) span imaginable: they plundered everything inside, slaughtered all its inhabitants, carried off captives, and set it ablaze. They then moved on toward Rayy and along the road came upon Khwarazm Shah’s mother, who was escorting enormous wealth. They seized her and her caravan, in which were rare and precious objects the like of which had never been seen—jewels and other treasures. Next they made for Rayy itself, entered it while its people were unaware, killed them, enslaved, and took prisoners (3).
From there they marched to Hamadan and occupied it, then to Zanjan (4) where they killed and enslaved once again. After that they headed for Qazvin: they sacked the city and slew about forty thousand of its inhabitants. They then turned toward the lands of Azerbaijan; its king, Uzbak (5) ibn al-Bahlawan, bought them off with money he sent (6) because he was drunk, steeped in sin, and wholly immersed in his desires. So they left him alone and advanced to Mugan (7).
The Georgians confronted them there with ten thousand fighters, but they could not stand before the Tatars even for the blink of an eye, and the Georgians were routed; the Tatars killed great numbers of them, after which they marched on Tiflis, the largest of the Georgian cities. The Georgians rallied and came (8) against them with all their might and steel, but the Tatars shattered them in a second engagement (9) with a defeat more disgraceful and hideous than the first.
At this point Ibn al-Athir (10) remarked: “What has happened at the hands of these Tatars is something the like of which has never been heard, whether in ancient or in modern times: a band sets out from the borders of China, and before a single (11) year has passed some of them have reached the frontiers of Armenia on this side and have gone beyond ʿIraq from the direction of Hamadan. By Allah (12), I have no doubt that those who come after us, when the age has grown distant and they find this event written down, will deny it and deem it far-fetched; yet the truth is in their hands. Should they find it improbable, let them consider that we have recorded (13) it—as has everyone who has compiled…"