Göktürks

From Kazakhstan Encyclopedia

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The Göktürks, Celestial Turks, Blue Turks or Kok Turks (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 Kök Türük Template:Zh, Khotanese Saka Ttūrka, Ttrūka,Template:Sfn Old Tibetan DruguTemplate:Sfn), were a nomadic confederation of Turkic peoples in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties which would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples.

Etymology

Strictly speaking, the common name Göktürk is the Anatolian Turkish form of the ethnonym. The Old Turkic name for the Göktürks was 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük,[1][2] 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 Kök Türük,[1][2] or 10px10px10px10px Türk.[3] They were known in Middle Chinese historical sources as the tɦutkyatTemplate:Sfn (Template:Zh). According to Chinese sources, the meaning of the word Tujue was "combat helmet" (Template:Zh), reportedly because the shape of the Altai Mountains where they lived, was similar to a combat helmet.[4][5][6]

Göktürk means "Celestial Turks",Template:Sfn or sometimes "Blue Turks" (i.e. because sky blue is associated with celestial realms). 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.[7] The name of the ruling Ashina clan may derive from the Khotanese Saka term for "deep blue", āššɪna.Template:Sfn

The word Türk meant "strong" in Old Turkic.[8]

Origins

The Göktürk rulers originated from the Ashina clan, who were first attested to 439. The Book of Sui reports that in that year, on October 18, the Tuoba ruler Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei overthrew Juqu Mujian of the Northern Liang in eastern Gansu,[9][10][11] whence 500 Ashina families fled northwest to the Rouran Khaganate in the vicinity of Gaochang.[5][12] Peter Benjamin Golden points out the possibility that the khaghans of the Turkic Khaganate, the Ashina, were themselves originally Indo-Europeans (possibly Iranian peoples) who later adopted the Turkic language but continued to use titles from their earlier Indo-European languages.[13] German Turkologist W.-E. Scharlipp points out that many common terms in Turkic are Iranian in origin.[14]

According to the Book of Zhou and the History of the Northern Dynasties, the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation,[4][6] but this connection is disputed,[15] and according to the Book of Sui and the Tongdian, they were "mixed Hu (barbarians)" (Template:Linktext) from Pingliang.[5][16] Indeed, Chinese sources linked the Hu on their northern borders to the Xiongnu just as Graeco-Roman historiographers called the Pannonian Avars, Huns and Hungarians "Scythians". Such archaizing was a common literary topos, and implied similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation.Template:SfnTemplate:Page needed

As part of the heterogeneous Rouran Khaganate, the Türks lived for generations north of the Altai Mountains, where they 'engaged in metal working for the Rouran'.[5][17] According to Denis Sinor, the rise to power of the Ashina clan represented an 'internal revolution' in the Rouran Khaganate rather than an external conquest.Template:Sfn According to Charles Holcombe, the early Tujue population was rather heterogeneous and many of the names of Türk rulers, including the two founding members, are not even Turkic.Template:Sfn This is supported by evidence from the Orkhon inscriptions, which include several non-Turkic lexemes, possibly representing Finno-Ugric or Samoyedic words.Template:Sfn

Eastern Turks under the Jimi system

On May 19, 639[18] Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen assaulted Emperor Taizong of Tang at Jiucheng Palace (Template:Linktext, in present-day Linyou County, Baoji, Shaanxi). However, they did not succeed and fled to the north, but were caught by pursuers near the Wei River and were killed. Ashina Hexiangu was exiled to Lingbiao.[19] After the unsuccessful raid of Ashina Jiesheshuai, on August 13, 639[20] Taizong installed Qilibi Khan and ordered the settled Turkic people to follow him north of the Yellow River to settle between the Great Wall of China and the Gobi Desert.[21]

In 679, Ashide Wenfu and Ashide Fengzhi, who were Turkic leaders of the Chanyu Protectorate (單于大都護府), declared Ashina Nishufu as qaghan and revolted against the Tang dynasty.[22] In 680, Pei Xingjian defeated Ashina Nishufu and his army. Ashina Nishufu was killed by his men.[22] Ashide Wenfu made Ashina Funian a qaghan and again revolted against the Tang dynasty.[22] Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian surrendered to Pei Xingjian. On December 5, 681[23] 54 Göktürks including Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian were publicly executed in the Eastern Market of Chang'an.[22] In 682, Ilterish Qaghan and Tonyukuk revolted and occupied Heisha Castle (northwest of present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) with the remnants of Ashina Funian's men.[24]

Rulers

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See also

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References

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Bibliography


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