Ghurak

Ghurak († 737/38) was a Sogdian ruler in the early 8th century.

Ghurak was of Turkish origin and had ruled Samarkand since about 710 after the previous ruler Tarkhun was overthrown. When the Arabs invaded Sogdia in the early 8th century (see Islamic expansion ), he initially withdrew, but was finally confirmed in his office by the Arab governor Qutaiba ibn Muslim .

Ghurak competed at this time with the local ruler Dēwāštič , who himself raised claims to rule in Samarkand. Although both had come to terms with Arab rule, they were nevertheless anxious to gain room for maneuver. In 718/19, for example, Ghurak asked for support against the Arabs at the Chinese imperial court of the Tang Dynasty , but otherwise behaved formally loyally. When it came to the uprising in Sogdia in 722, Ghurak remained inactive, while Dēwāštič participated. The victory of the Arabs cost Dēwāštič rule and life, whereas Ghurak retained his position. As soon local Turkish rulers against the Arabs vorgingen, Ghurak supported the Türgesch Rulers Suluk who conquered Samarkand 731.

Ghurak died in 737/38, shortly before the Arabs finally broke the military resistance of the Sogdian and Turkish local rulers in Transoxania .

literature

• Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb : The Arab Conquests in Central Asia. London 1923, p. 42 ff. ( Digitized version )
• Valerie Hansen: The Silk Road. A New History. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012.
• Ghurak. In: The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity . Volume 1 (2018), p. 664.

Remarks

1. ↑ On the Arab conquest in this area see Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb: The Arab Conquests in Central Asia. London 1923; Robert G. Hoyland : In God's Path. The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire. Oxford 2015, p. 181 ff.
2. ^ Édouard Chavannes : Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. St. Petersburg 1903, p. 204 f.
3. ↑ See Valerie Hansen: The Silk Road. A New History. Oxford 2012, p. 135 f.