Ashina

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The ashina (in the literature also often Ashina or A-shi-na ; own name in the inscriptions of Bugut and Orkhon : Turk or Pl. Türküt ) were the leading communities a tribal confederation of various steppe nomads , which in Chinese sources as Tujue ( 突厥 ) has been defined and generalized today as Göktürks titled ( kök Turk , "Blue Turk", meaning "Turks of the East" in accordance with Central Asian colors orientation; by some as "sky Turks" or "root Turks" interpreted).

Some members of the Ashina clan, including Ashina Jiesheer (Kürşad), Sinized and joined the Han Chinese of the Tang Dynasty .

Expansion of the Tujue Empire at the time of Ashina

Origin and language of the Ashina

The Ashina, believed to originate from the southern and western Altai , appear to have been under a profound influence from the neighboring Indo-European peoples of the Iranians and Tocharians . The possibility that the Ashina themselves originally spoke a non-Turkish language cannot be ruled out due to the scarce availability of primary sources . In this respect it is noticeable that many of the central terms of the empire - this applies above all to almost all titles - were of Iranian origin. In addition, the earliest inscribed pronouncements of the Ashina, namely two inscriptions from Bugut ( Central Mongolia ) and Xiao Hongnahai ( Xinjiang , China ), are not in Old Turkish, but in Sogdian language ( Lingua franca of Central Asia). As Kljastornyj and Livsic note, it “can hardly have been a coincidence” that the first ambassador of the Chinese to the Gök Turks was a Sogder .

According to Chinese sources, the Ashina traced their origin to a she- wolf . They saw themselves as descendants of the connection between this she-wolf and the only survivor of a tribe. The Chinese sources locate the Ashina in Gansu and Xinjiang.

There are therefore several theses about the origin of the name of the leading clan ( A-shih-na ). The popular belief is that it is likely derived from the Iranian ( Saki ) word for "blue". But he is also identified with the name Arsilas ( Aρσίλας ), which Menander reports as the name of the earliest monarch of the Turks and u. a. by the orientalist Christopher I. Beckwith is also associated with the Tocharian title Āršilānci . The names of their earliest rulers, such as B. Bumïn, Ištemi, Muqan, Taspar or Nivar, are all of non-Turkish origin and, together with the other factors mentioned, point to a multi-ethnic and multicultural origin of the tribe from the steppe environment.

In summary, András Róna-Tas comes to the conclusion that the Ashina are very likely to be a princely tribe with Iranian roots and almost certainly of Sakian origin, which, after the victory over the Rouran and the subjugation of Turkic-speaking nomads, progressively from them was assimilated. This is the only way to explain why the tribal name “Aschina”, which seems to be derived from the Sakian asseina and means “blue”, appears in the later Old Turkish inscriptions as kök turk , “blue turk”. Christopher I. Beckwith notes that both Greek and Chinese sources describe the Turks as descendants of the Saks.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter B. Golden : An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples , p. 117
  2. ↑ Xavier de Planhol, Cultural Geographical Foundations of Islamic History, Artemis, 1975, p. 23
  3. ↑ Historical Communications, Volume 9, Ranke Society, Association for History in Public Life, 1996, p. 121
  4. ↑ Materialia Turcica, volumes 16-18, Studienverlag Brockmeyer., 1992, p. 84
  5. ↑ 舊 唐 書 / 卷 194 上 - 维基 文库 ， 自由 的 图书馆. Retrieved September 6, 2018 (Chinese).
  6. ↑ a b c Peter B. Golden : An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples , pp. 121-122 - [...] On the basis of the available data, it is unclear whether the A-shih-na were originally speakers of a language other than Turkic. It is certainly a possibility that should not be excluded. Clearly, they were profoundly influenced by their Iranian and Tokharian neighbors. As Kljastornyji and Kivsic point out, it is hardly accidental that the first Chinese envoy sent to Bumin in 545 was a Sogdian. Significantly, Sogdian merchants also were active among the Northern T'ieh-le, trying to create a counterbalance to the Jou-Jan. Subsequently, Sogdians were present in the Eastern and Western Qaganal courts and played important political, cultural and economic roles. [...]
  7. ↑ Sören Stark: The Old Turkish Period in Central and Central Asia. Archaeological and historical studies (nomads and settled people, volume 6), Reichert: Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 71–75
  8. ↑ For the presence of Sogdians at the residences of the Ashina see in detail Sören Stark: The Old Turks in Central and Central Asia , pp. 287-314
  9. ↑ “The linguistically non-Turkic name A-shih-na probably comes from of the Iranian languages ​​of Central Asia and means blue (...)”, writes Carter Vaughn Findley in The Turks in World History , p. 39
  10. ↑ L. Johanson / É. Csató, "The Turkic Languages", Routledge, 2007, ISBN 0-415-41261-7 , p. 19
  11. ↑ “(...) The founders of the Turk Empire, Istemi and Bumin, both had non-Turkish names (...). Far from leading to a pure national essence, the search for Turkic origins leads to a multiethnic and multilingual steppe milieu. " Carter Vaughn Findley in The Turks in World History , p. 19
  12. ^ A. Róna-Tas, "Hungarians & Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History", Chapter VI, From the Urals to the Carpathian Basins, Etnic names - Characteristics & Origins: Turk, Central European University Press , 1999, p. 275ff.
  13. ↑ Chr. I. Beckwith: Empires of the Silk Road , Prologue, The Heroe and his Friends , p. IX: "In both Greek and Chinese sources the Turk are said to be descended from the Sakas"