Mao-do

Fictional, symbolic bust of Mao-do

Mao-tun also Mao-dun or in the phonetic reading of the Chinese tradition of the name 冒頓Ma-To (* 234 BC ; † 174 BC ) was ruler (title: Chanyu ) of the tribal union of the Xiongnu from 209 BC. Until his death. Mao-tun's life has been handed down exclusively in sources from the warring Chinese, including the name; the name he himself used is unknown.

Life

Mao-tun's father Tu-men Tengriqut ( T'ou-man ; ruled 240 - 209 BC) had united the previously feuding Xiongnu tribes in a loose federation for the first time in the last decades of the 3rd century. 209 BC His son Mao-tun followed him in office. Chinese sources accuse Mao-tun of toppling and murdering his father in a bloody revolt.

Mao-tun allegedly created a tightly organized court and a powerful army with which he was able to exploit the turmoil in the Chinese empire at the end of the Qin dynasty for great territorial gains. He conquered the Ordos Plateau with headwaters and the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the eastern sections of the under Qin Shihuangdi from 214 BC. BC built the Great Wall and subjugated the Chu Kingdom . In the Mongolian steppe he extended his rule to the Selenga , to southern Siberia to the Kirghiz , to Djungaria and in the west to the borders of Turkestan .

Mao-tun took place in 200 BC. Nearly captured Han Gaozu , the first emperor of the Han dynasty on a campaign in the 5th century BC , who had placed himself at the head of his army, which was considered particularly dangerous because of its modern chariots . The Xiongnu defeated the numerically superior Chinese army thanks to their light and agile cavalry and were able to demand tribute payments from China as a result . The tribute payments included that from now on every ruler of the Xiongnu received an imperial princess. An annual tribute of food and silk was also promised; instead, the rulers of the Xiongnu should refrain from raiding the Chinese Empire.

Mao-tun married a high-ranking Chinese woman, possibly a daughter of Han Gaozu, and after the death of the emperor he wooed his widow. Despite the family ties and tribute payments, the Xiongnu invaded Chinese territory every year and plundered some settlements. Besides food, Chinese silk was the preferred commodity.

Mao-tun also defeated the Donghu in the Manchurian border area and incorporated Eastern Mongolia (until 190 BC). Most recently he boasted that he had also subjugated the Yuezhi in today's Gansu , as well as the Wusun (around 176 BC).

Under Emperor Han Wendi , China began in 177 BC. With new large-scale negotiations, which continued even after the death of Mao-tun, when his son Laosheng (Kayuk, Ki-ok, † 161 BC) took power over the Xiongnu.

Trivia

The symbolic founding date of the Turkish Armed Forces is the year 209 BC. On their emblem, referring to Mao-tun's army reform.

Furthermore, the names Mao-tun as Mete and his father Tu-men as Teoman are popular Turkish given names.

literature

• Nicola Di Cosmo: Ancient China and Its Enemies . Cambridge 2002, pp. 174ff.