Ald is an old Mongolian measure equal to the length between a man's outstretched arms. An ald is therefore approximately equal to 160 cm.

History

In 1818, G. I. Spassky, a Russian scientist specialising in Siberian studies, published in the newspaper "Sibirskii Vestnik", the first report about a stone with oriental inscriptions on it dating back to the early 13th Century. Spassky had found the stone in a factory of Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk is a town and the administrative center of Nerchinsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located east of Lake Baikal, east of Chita, and about west of the Chinese border on the left bank of the Nercha River, above its confluence with the Shilka River, which flows into the Amur...

 (Eastern Siberia), but the stone was originally discovered in the Kharkhiraa River.

This stone stele

Stele

A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...

 is the most ancient monument known with the traditional Mongolian script

Mongolian script

The classical Mongolian script , also known as Uyghurjin, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most successful until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946...

. The stone is now known as Ghengis stone or the Yesüngge Inscription. The inscription is dedicated to Yesüngge, the son of Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....

's brother Hasar. In 1225, Yesüngge took part in a warriors' competition, hitting the target from a distance of 335 ald (a shooting range in excess of half a kilometre (536 m)).

External links

• The Genghis stone at the Hermitage Museum (incorrectly giving the distance in the much younger, but still obsolete Russian unit Sazhen instead of alds)
• Interpretation of the Genghis stele by Dr. Gongor Lhagvasüren