TheGöktürks (Old Turkic:𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣,romanized: Türük Bodun;Chinese:突厥;pinyin:Tūjué;Wade–Giles:T'u-chüeh), also known asTürks,Celestial Turks orBlue Turks, were aTurkic people in medievalInner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership ofBumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded theRouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established theFirst Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties that would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs ofTurkic peoples.
Etymology
Origin
A funerary depiction of long haired Türks in the Kazakh steppe.Miho funerary couch, circa 570.[4]
As anethnonym, the etymology ofTurk is unknown.[5] It is generally believed that the nameTürk may have come from the Old Turkic migration-term[6][clarification needed]𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜,Türük/Törük, which means 'created, born'.[7]
As a word inTurkic languages,Turk may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength".[8] It may also mean ripe as for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person.[9]
The nameGök-türk emerged from themodern Turkish reading of the wordKök asGök with assumption of equivalence to "sky" in modern Turkish (Gök). The actual meaning ofKök inKök-türk is debated due to single attestation, with differing opinions as "big, great"[10] or "blue" as a reference toAshina, the endonym of the ruling clan of the historical ethnic group which was attested inOld Turkic as𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜,Türük[11][12]𐰚𐰇𐰜:𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜,Kök Türük,[11][12] or𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚,Türk.[13]
They were known inMiddle Chinese historical sources as theTūjué (Chinese:突厥; reconstructed in Middle Chinese as *dwət-kuɑt >tɦut-kyat).[14] The ethnonym was also recorded in various other East Asian languages,RouranTo̤ro̤x/Türǖg,ManchuTule/Turuhe,Korean돌궐/Dolgwol, andOld TibetanDrugu.[14][15]
In Indo-Iranian languages Turks were recorded under various forms. InSogdian *Türkit ~ Türküt,tr'wkt,trwkt,turkt >trwkc,trukč;Khotanese SakaTtūrka/Ttrūka,Middle Persian 𐭲𐭥𐭫𐭪𐭠𐭭 Türkān~Türk.
Definition
According to Chinese sources,Tūjué meant "combat helmet" (Chinese:兜鍪;pinyin:Dōumóu;Wade–Giles:Tou1-mou2), reportedly because the shape of theAltai Mountains, where they lived, was similar to a combat helmet.[16][17][18]Róna-Tas (1991) pointed to aKhotanese-Saka word,tturakä 'lid', semantically stretchable to 'helmet', as a possible source for this folk etymology, yet Golden thinks this connection requires more data.[19]
Göktürk is sometimes interpreted as either "Celestial Turk" or "Blue Turk" (i.e., becausesky blue is associated withcelestial realms).[20] This is consistent with "the cult of heavenly ordained rule" which was a recurrent element of Altaic political culture and as such may have been imbibed by the Göktürks from their predecessors in Mongolia.[21] "Blue" is traditionally associated with the East as it used in thecardinal system of central Asia, thus meaning "Turks of the East".[22] The name of the rulingAshina clan may derive from theKhotanese Saka term for "deep blue",āššɪna.[23]
According to theAmerican Heritage Dictionary, the word Türk meant "strong" in Old Turkic;[24] thoughGerhard Doerfer supports this theory,Gerard Clauson points out that "the word Türk is never used in the generalized sense of 'strong'" and that the noun Türk originally meant "'the culminating point of maturity' (of a fruit, human being, etc.), but more often used as an [adjective] meaning (of a fruit) 'just fully ripe'; (of a human being) 'in the prime of life, young, and vigorous'".[25] Hakan Aydemir (2022) also contends that Türk originally did not mean "strong, powerful" but "gathered; united, allied, confederated" and was derived from Pre-Proto-Turkic verb *türü 'heap up, collect, gather, assemble'.[26]
The name as used by the Göktürks only applied to themselves (i.e. the Göktürk khanates), their subjects, and splinter groups. The Göktürks did not consider other Turkic speaking groups such as theUyghurs,Tiele, andKyrgyz to be Türks. In theOrkhon inscriptions, theToquz Oghuz and theYenisei Kyrgyz are not referred to as Türks. Similarly, the Uyghurs called themselves Uyghurs and usedTürk exclusively for the Göktürks, whom they portrayed as enemy aliens in their royal inscriptions. Chinese historiographers transcribed theKhazars' name asTūjué Kěsà bù突厥可薩部 andTūjué Hésà突厥曷薩, whose elementTūjué突厥 suggests that the Khazars might have kept the Göktürk tradition alive. When tribal leaders built their khanates, ruling over assorted tribes and tribal unions, the collected people identified themselves politically with the leadership. Turk became the designation for all subjects of the Turk empires. Nonetheless, subordinate tribes and tribal unions retained their original names, identities, and social structures. Memory of the Göktürks and the Ashina had faded by the turn of the millennium. TheKarakhanids,Qocho Uyghurs, andSeljuks did not claim descent from the Göktürks.[27][28][29]
According to theBook of Zhou andHistory of the Northern Dynasties, the Ashina clan was a component of theXiongnu confederation,[16][18] specifically, the northern Xiongnu tribes[37][38] or southern Xiongnu "who settled along the northern Chinese frontier", according toEdwin G. Pulleyblank.[39] However, this view is contested.[36] Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國) (MC: *sâk) which was situated north of theXiongnu and had been founded by theSakas[40] orXianbei.[41][16][18][42] According to theBook of Sui and theTongdian, they were "mixedHu (barbarians)" (雜胡) fromPingliang (平涼), now inGansu,Northwest China.[17][43] Pointing to the Ashina's association with the northern tribes of theXiongnu, some researchers (e.g. Duan, Lung, etc.) proposed that Göktürks belonged in particular to theTiele confederation, likewise Xiongnu-associated,[17] by ancestral lineage.[44][45] However, Lee and Kuang (2017) state that Chinese sources do not describe the Ashina-led Göktürks as descending from theDingling or belonging to the Tiele confederation.[46]
Chinese sources linked the Hu on their northern borders to the Xiongnu just as Graeco-Roman historiographers called thePannonian Avars,Huns andHungarians, "Scythians". Such archaizing was a common literary topos, implying similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation.[47][page needed]
As part of the heterogeneousRouran Khaganate, the Turks lived for generations north of theAltai Mountains, where they 'engaged in metal working for the Rouran'.[17][48] According toDenis Sinor, the rise to power of the Ashina clan represented an 'internal revolution' in the Rouran Khaganate rather than an external conquest.[49]
According to Charles Holcombe, the early Turk population was rather heterogeneous and many of the names of Turk rulers, including the two founding members, are not even Turkic.[50] This is supported by evidence from theOrkhon inscriptions, which include several non-Turkic lexemes, possibly representingUralic orYeniseian words.[51][52]Peter Benjamin Golden points out that the khaghans of the Turkic Khaganate, the Ashina, who were of an undetermined ethnic origin, adoptedIranian and Tokharian (or non-Altaic) titles.[53] German Turkologist W.-E. Scharlipp points out that many common terms in Turkic areIranian in origin.[54] Whatever language the Ashina may have spoken originally, they and those they ruled would all speak Turkic, in a variety of dialects, and create, in a broadly defined sense, a common culture.[53][55]
The First Turkic Khaganate and contemporary polities, circa 576
The Göktürks reached their peak in the late 6th century and began to invade theSui dynasty of China. However, the war ended due to the division of Turkic nobles and their civil war for the title of khagan. With the support ofEmperor Wen of Sui,Yami Qaghan won the competition. However, the Göktürk empire was divided into eastern and western empires. Weakened by the civil war, Yami Qaghan declared allegiance to the Sui dynasty.[56] When the Sui began to decline,Shibi Khagan began to assault its territory and even surroundedEmperor Yang of Sui at the Siege of Yanmen (615 AD) with 100,000 cavalry troops. After the collapse of the Sui dynasty, the Göktürks intervened in the ensuing Chinese civil wars, providing support to the northeastern rebelLiu Heita against the risingTang in 622 and 623. Liu enjoyed a long string of success but was finally routed byLi Shimin and other Tang generals and executed. The Tang dynasty was then established.[citation needed]
Although the Göktürk Khaganate had once provided support to the Tang dynasty in the early period of the civil war during the collapse of theSui dynasty, the conflicts between the Göktürks and the Tang broke out whilst the Tang were gradually reunifyingChina proper. The Göktürks began to attack and raid the northern border of the Tang Empire and once marched their main force of 100,000 soldiers toChang'an, the capital of the Tang.Emperor Taizong of Tang, in spite of the limited resources at his disposal, managed to turn them back. Later, Taizong sent his troops to Mongolia and defeated the main force of Göktürk army inBattle of Yinshan four years later and capturedIllig Qaghan in 630 AD.[57] With the submission of the Turkic tribes, the Tang conquered theMongolian Plateau. From then on, the Eastern Turks were subjugated to China.[57]
After a vigorous court debate, Emperor Taizong decided to pardon the Göktürk nobles and offered them positions as imperial guards.[58] However, the proposition was ended by a plan to assassinate the Emperor. On 19 May 639[59]Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen directly assaulted Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace (九成宮, in present-dayLinyou County,Baoji,Shaanxi). However, they did not succeed and fled north, but were caught by pursuers near theWei River and were killed.[60] On 13 August 639, following Jiesheshuai's unsuccessful raid,[61] Taizong installedQilibi Khan and ordered the settled Turkic people to follow him north of theYellow River to settle between theGreat Wall of China and theGobi Desert.[62] However, many Göktürk generals still remained loyal in service to the Tang Empire.
In 679,Ashide Wenfu and Ashide Fengzhi, who were Turkic leaders of theChanyu Protectorate [zh] (單于大都護府), declaredAshina Nishufu qaghan and revolted against the Tang dynasty.[63] In 680,Pei Xingjian defeated Ashina Nishufu and his army. Ashina Nishufu was killed by his men.[63] Ashide Wenfu madeAshina Funian a qaghan and again revolted against the Tang dynasty.[63] Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian surrendered to Pei Xingjian. On 5 December 681,[64] 54 Göktürks, including Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian, were publicly executed in the eastern market ofChang'an.[63] In 682,Ilterish Qaghan andTonyukuk revolted and occupied Heisha Castle (northwest of present-dayHohhot,Inner Mongolia) with the remnants of Ashina Funian's men.[65] The restored the Göktürk Khaganate and intervened in the war between the Tang and Khitan tribes.[66] However, after the death of Bilge Qaghan, the Göktürks could no longer subjugate other Turkic tribes in the grasslands. In 744, allied with the Tang dynasty, theUyghur Khaganate defeated the last Göktürk Khaganate and controlled the Mongolian Plateau.[67]
Their religion was polytheistic. The great god was the sky,Tengri, who dispensed the viaticum for the journey of life (qut) and fortune (ulug) and watched over the cosmic order and the political and social order. People prayed to him and sacrificed to him a white horse as the offering. The khagan, who came from him and derived his authority from him, was raised on a felt saddle to meet him.
Tengri issued decrees, brought pressure to bear on human beings, and enforced capital punishment, often by striking the offender with lightning. The many secondary powers – sometimes named deities, sometimes spirits or simply said to be sacred, and almost always associated with Tengri were the Earth, the Mountain, Water, the Springs, and the Rivers; the possessors of all objects, particularly of the land and the waters of the nation; trees, cosmic axes, and sources of life; fire. The symbol of the family and alterego of the shaman; the stars, particularly the sun and the moon, the Pleiades, and Venus, whose image changes over time.
Umay, the mother goddess who is none other than the placenta; the threshold and the doorjamb; personifications of Time, the Road, Desire, etc.; heroes and ancestors embodied in the banner, in tablets with inscriptions, and in idols; and spirits wandering or fixed in Penates or in all kinds of holy objects. These and other powers have an uneven force which increases as objects accumulate, as trees form a forest, stones form a cairn, arrows form a quiver, and drops of water form a lake.[70]
The Sogdian merchant An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in hisyurt.[31][32]
An Jia (right) brokering an alliance with Turks (left).[31][32]
Panel from theTomb of Anjia, a Sogdian trader (right), who is shown welcoming a Turkic leader (left, with long hair combed in the back). 579 CE,Xi'an,China.[81][32]
^Xiu Ouyang, (1073),Historical Records of the Five Dynasties, p. 39
^Mierse, William E. (1 December 2022).Artifacts from the Ancient Silk Road. ABC-CLIO. p. 126.ISBN978-1-4408-5829-1. "In the upper scene, long-haired Turkic servants attend an individual seated inside the yurt proper, and in the lower scene, hunters are seen riding down game. The setting must be the Kazakh steppes over which the Turks had taken control from the Hepthalites."
^Lee, Joo-Yup; Kuang, Shuntu (18 October 2017). "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples". Inner Asia. Brill. 19 (2): p. 203 of 197–239.
^Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors, Page 34
^New Book of Tang, vol. 215 upper. "突厥阿史那氏, 蓋古匈奴北部也." "The Ashina family of the Turk probably were the northern tribes of the ancient Xiongnu." translated by Xu (2005)
^Harmatta, János, (1999), "A türkök eredetmondája",Magyar Nyelv, vol. 95(4): p. 391 of 385–396. cited in Golden (2018), "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks", p. 300
^Vásáry, István (2007)Eski İç Asya Tarihi p. 99-100, cited Golden (2018), "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks", p. 300
^Lee, Joo-Yup; Kuang, Shuntu (18 October 2017). "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples". Inner Asia. Brill. 19 (2): p. 201 of 197–239.
^Scharlipp, Wolfgang-Ekkehard (1992).Die frühen Türken in Zentralasien. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. p. 18.ISBN3-534-11689-5.(...) Über die Ethnogenese dieses Stammes ist viel gerätselt worden. Auffallend ist, dass viele zentrale Begriffe iranischen Ursprungs sind. Dies betrifft fast alle Titel (...). Einige Gelehrte wollen auch die Eigenbezeichnung türk auf einen iranischen Ursprung zurückführen und ihn mit dem Wort "Turan", der persischen Bezeichnung für das Land jeneseits des Oxus, in Verbindung bringen.
^Lev Gumilyov, (1967),Drevnie Turki (Ancient Turks), p. 22-25
^Wei 魏, Zheng 徵 (656).Book of Sui 隋書 Vol. 2 Vol. 51 & Vol.84.
^abLiu 劉, Xu 昫 (945).Old book of Tang 舊唐書 Vol.2 & Vol. 67.
^Liu 劉, Xu 昫 (945).Old Book of Tang 舊唐書 Vol.2 & Vol.194.
^Zizhi Tongjian Vol. 212, cited in Zuev Yu.A.,Horse Tamgas from Vassal Princedoms (translation of 8-10th century ChineseTanghuyao), Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences, Alma-Ata, 1960, p. 104, 132(in Russian)
^Klyashtorny, S.G. "The Polovcian Problems (II)" inActa Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 58, No. 3, Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Mediaeval History of the Eurasian Steppe: Szeged, Hungary May 11—16, 2004: Part III (2005). p. 245
^Golden, Peter B. An Introduction to the History of Turkic Peoples, p. 142-143
^Kli︠a︡shtornyĭ, S. G. (2004).Gosudarstva i narody Evraziĭskikh stepeĭ : drevnostʹ i srednevekovʹe. Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie. Sultanov, T. I. (Tursun Ikramovich) (2-e izd., isprav. i dop ed.). Sankt-Peterburg.ISBN5858032559.OCLC60357062.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Pritsak, Omeljan (September 1978). "The Khazar Kingdom's Conversion to Judaism"(PDF).Harvard Ukrainian Studies. II (3): 261–281.
^Golden, Peter Benjamin (2007a). "Khazar Studies: Achievements and Perspectives". In Golden, Peter B.; Ben-Shammai, Haggai; Róna-Tas, András (eds.). The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Vol. 17. BRILL. pp. 7–57. ISBN 978-90-04-16042-2.
^"Karluk Yabghu State (756-940)"Qazaqstan Tarihy. quote: "In 840, in the Central Asian steppes an important event occurred. The Yenisei Kyrgyz invasion destroyed the Uighur Khaganate, forcing the Uighurs to flee to Turfan oasis and toGansu [original article mistakenly hasGuangzhou].The Karluk Djabgu and the ruler of Isfijab, Bilge Kul Qadeer-Khan, took advantage of the situation and proclaimed himself as a sovereign ruler and assumed a new title of Khagan."
^KALAFAT, Yaşar."Türkatalars and Their Comparative Folk Beliefs"(PDF).Avrasya Etüdler: 171. [The study presented by Bilge Kağan Selçuk, who participated in the aforementioned symposium with a linguistic research on the Özgön Turks in Kyrgyzstan, had caught our attention. The Turkic-Ancestors in question who include the Özgön people are predominantly settled in the Fergana Valley, and identify themselves as descendants of the Göktürks have come to be referred to by the honorary designation Turkic-Ancestors]
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1These are traditional areas of settlement; the Turkic group has been living in the listed country/region for centuries and should not be confused with modern diasporas. 2State with limited international recognition.
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