Timur was the last great nomadic conqueror of the Eurasian Steppe. He lived from April 9, 1336 – February 18, 1405 and spent his life trying to restore Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire.
Timur was feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. Known for displaying extraordinary courage during fifty years of continuous battles, Timur was a ferocious warrior. According to lore, that courage was imparted by an ant.
“I once”, Timur said, “was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours.
Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my observation on an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than herself up a high wall.
I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top of the wall.
This sight gave me courage in the moment; and I have never forgotten the lesson it conveyed.”
The Standard History of the World, Volume 4, 1907, p. 2465
Kirby and Spence’s Entomology, 1858, p. 345.
Photo by Matheus Queiroz