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ABSTRACT
The importance of sources related to the history of the Turkish Empire is reflected as a topical issue f
rom today’s point
of view. Ancient sources are very important in identifying the sources directly related to the Turkish khanate and
determining the level of reliability of the information, in which ethno-political process they were created. Because on
this basis, the primary and auxiliary sources of the history of the Khanate are determined, and the extent to which the
information is related to real realities is expressed. The article focuses on the comparative analysis of historical sources
related to the Turkish khanate. And through this, the foundations, management procedures and history of Turkish
statehood are gradually analysed.
KEYWORDS
Bugut and Ili inscriptions, Kul Tegin, Bilga Khagan, Muyunchor, Terkhin, Orkhon inscriptions, Chinese, Sogdian,
Bactrian, Armenian and Indian sources.
INTRODUCTION
Research Article
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL SOURCES IN THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF
THE TURKISH EMPIRE
Submission Date:
October 01, 2022,
Accepted Date:
October 06, 2022,
Published Date:
October 27, 2022
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajsshr/Volume02Issue10-05
Rustam A. Nematov
Lecturer Department Of History Gulistan State University, Uzbekistan
Q.O.
Almanov’s
Doctor Of Philosophy In History Department Of History Gulistan State University, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajsshr
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 02 Issue 09-2022
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
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2771-2141)
VOLUME
02
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SSUE
10
Pages:
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-31
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(2021:
5.
993
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(2022:
6.
015
)
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1121105677
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–
5.968
Publisher:
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The role of foreign sources in the scientific coverage of
the history of the Turkish Empire is of great
importance. In this place, when studying the history of
the Turkish Khanate, of course, the official historical
works of the Khanate, the Sugdian-language Bugut
(588) and Ili (599) inscriptions, as well as the ancient
Turkish (Ongin, Tunyuquq, Kul Tegin, Bilga Khagan,
Muyunchor, Terkhin) created between VI-VII centuries
like Orkhon inscriptions. Although the author of some
of these written works has not been identified, the fact
that each of them was written in the environment of
the ancient Turks, the ethnic group that founded the
Khanate, leads to the solution of many issues related
to the topic [1.12].
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the analysis of historical sources, although the
inscriptions of Bugut and Ili were mainly written in the
Sugdian language, the fact that their authors were
people belonging to the Khaganate environment does
not diminish the importance of these sources in any
way. Therefore, the inscriptions in both languages are
unique as sources. Numismatic materials discovered in
the following years can also be added to these.
In particular, the Ili inscription (Eastern Turkestan),
which has been introduced to scholars in recent years,
is the only Sugdian-language source related to the
West Turkic Khanate that has been identified so far,
and it is valuable because it reflects information that
illuminates a number of abstract pages of the
Khanate’s history [2. 26].
Nevertheless, these sources cannot be included among
the sources that fully reflect the information about the
Khanate. Therefore, unlike the Chinese annals, they are
works in the form of memoirs, lack coherence, and the
activities of each of the rulers are not covered
sequentially.
Although most of the sources in Chinese were written
outside the Khaganate environment, they are
significant for their consistency of information
compared to others. Also, the sources in this language
are original because they were created by authors
“looking from outside” to the Khanate. Works in
Chinese can be divided into chronicles and travelogues.
Among them are “Bei Shi” (“History of the Northern
Dynasties”, 630 AD), “Sui Shu” (“History of the Sui
Dynasty”, 630 AD) and “Tan Shu” (“History of the Tang
Dynasty”, X asr) covers almost the entire period of the
Khaganate history [3. 36]. In particular, they cover the
activities of all Turkish khans and are advantageous in
terms of helping to study issues such as statehood
traditions and the system of titles existing in the
ancient Turks.
Sources in the Sugdian language are documents
created in a Sugdian-dominated environment in the
Sugdian oasis and adjacent regions, and refer to the
dominions subordinate to the Khanate. Therefore,
Volume 02 Issue 09-2022
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
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2771-2141)
VOLUME
02
I
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10
Pages:
25
-31
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
METADATA
IF
–
5.968
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
they can be included among the sources not directly or
indirectly related to the history of the Khanate. It
should also be mentioned that it is impossible to cover
the history of the Khaganate based only on sources in
this language, since no historical works written in the
Sugdian language about this period have survived [4.
81].
The main part of the Sugdian-language sources is the
Mugh Mountain Sugdian documents (Tajikistan)
belonging to the rulers of Panch (Panjikent), one of the
dominions in the Sugdian confederation, among which
there are about 10 documents related to the khanate,
terms and similar statehood information. In particular,
the documents contain expressions such as “Khun
(Turkish) ruler” and “rank//title from the Khan”, titles
such as Khaan, Tudun, Eltabar, Tarkhan, and names and
epithets typical of the Khaganate, such as Chakin Chor
Bilga[5.12].
Although the Bactrian language is the official
correspondence language of the ethnic groups living in
Tokhoristan and the Kabul Valley, which is far from the
central region of the Khanate, a significant part of the
documents written in this language is distinguished by
the fact that it reflects the titles and epithets related to
the Khanate administration system. The main part of
the Bactrian documents, read by the English Iranian
scholar N. Sims-Williams and translated into English,
has not yet been widely studied as a historical source.
For this reason, their role as a source for illuminating
the history of the Khaganate is not fully recognized
[6.24]. However, Bactrian-language documents
related to the Turkish khanate started from the 640s
until the last years of the khanate, and they contain the
title of eltabar, the supervisory deputy of the khanate
and dozens of similar Turkish titles presented by the
khans to local rulers. Especially, in documents, the first
word (addressee) begins in the form of “Khan’s
servant, the manager of (such and such) rulership was
established in the presence of the eltabar” or the
meeting of pure Turkish epithets in the form of
“qutlug’ tapug’lug’ bilga sebuk” (“wise and beloved
servant”) in relation to officials, they are the ancient
traditions of Turkish statehood, places the necessity of
learning as a source [7.18].
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Ethnic processes in the Turkish khanate were
investigated in the study based on comparative,
historical and logic analysis methods.
Historical works written in Greek within the framework
of the Byzantine Empire occupy a special place in
elucidating the history of the Turkish khanate,
especially the history of its diplomatic relations.
Byzantium, which became an ally of the Khaganate in
the first years of its establishment, is a country that has
had diplomatic relations with it for many years.
Especially, the fact that the Byzantine ambassadors
visited the territory of the Turkish khanate for almost
Volume 02 Issue 09-2022
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
02
I
SSUE
10
Pages:
25
-31
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2021:
5.
993
)
(2022:
6.
015
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
METADATA
IF
–
5.968
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
fifty years created an opportunity for Greek-language
authors to get acquainted with the events taking place
in the khanate, its social-political and cultural life, and
information about state administration. For example,
Byzantine authors such as Menander (late VI century),
Theophanes (early VII century), Feofilikat Simocatta
(first half of the VII century) directly used the messages
brought by these ambassadors while quoting
information about the Khanate in their works.
Greek-language sources differ from other sources in
that they preserve a lot of information about the
administrative
division
of
the
khanate,
the
management system, and the system of titles. Also,
they are distinguished by the fact that they reflect the
information about the activities of the Khanate in the
Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Volga basin, as well as
the management of the herding peoples who lived in
these areas by the Khanate, which are hardly found in
other sources. Information on the history of the
Khanate from Byzantine sources chronologically
covers the period from the 60s of the VI century to the
30s of the VII century [8.14].
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
In general, we can find information about the Turkish
khanate from the analytical results of the sources in the
Armenian language, another source that has a special
place in the history of the khanate. Therefore, the
authors who wrote in Armenian language were closely
acquainted with the activities of the Khaganate.
Especially in the 620s, when the Khaganate intensified
its attacks against Iran, the Sassanids, who ruled over
Armenia and Georgia at that time, in order to establish
their political dominance in the Caucasus, Armenian
authors were directly acquainted with the existing
realities. In particular, the historical records in the
works of Armenian historians and geographers such as
Sebeos (VII century), Ananias Shirakatsi (VII century),
Moisei Kalankavatsi (VII century), Moisei Khorenatsi
(VIII century) are based on the information that the
authors directly witnessed or heard. Another unique
aspect of information in Armenian sources is that they
reflect the march of the Khaganate troops to Sassanid
Iran along the Amudarya-Caspian Sea (Khorasan)
route. The primary information about the activities of
the Khanate against the Sassanids in this direction is
mainly found in Armenian sources, which in essence
complement the short and long information about this
issue in Chinese and Arab-Persian sources. The
chronology of Armenian sources on the history of the
Khanate is limited to a period of about 50 years
between the last quarter of the VII century and the 30s
of the VII century.
Arabic and Persian sources also have their own place as
a source of history of the Khanate. Although they also
belong to a much later period, the IX-X centuries, they
have information that illuminates some dark pages of
the history of the Khanate. First of all, the most
Volume 02 Issue 09-2022
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
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VOLUME
02
I
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10
Pages:
25
-31
SJIF
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FACTOR
(2021:
5.
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)
(2022:
6.
015
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
METADATA
IF
–
5.968
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
valuable source among them is the work of Abu Ja’far
al-
Tabari “Tarikh ar
-rusul wa-l-
muluk” (IX century), the
author relied on the narrations of many eyewitnesses
while writing his work. Already, the work’s information
about the pre-Islamic social-political situation, the Iran-
Turonian conflict, the march of Arab troops to Central
Asia, the struggle of the Turkish khagans against the
Arabs in alliance with the rulers of Sughd, Bukhara,
Shosh, Ferghana, and Tokhoristan is based on the
content of the Pahlavi-language sources that have not
reached so far. In addition, in his work, Tabari reflected
some information about Suyab, the administrative
center of the Khaganate, fighting methods, traditions
and titles typical of the ancient Turks. Among the
sources in the Arabic language, it is possible to include
the works of geographical sources written by tourists
and ambassadors who visited Central Asia in the Ix-XI
centuries, in particular among the Turkic clans and
tribes living in the steppe regions of this region.
Although such works belong to a rather late period,
they can give a certain idea about the society of the
ancient Turks. Among them, the earliest information
about an ambassador sent by Caliph Hisham (724-743)
to the Turkish Khan, whose name has not been
preserved, is particularly noteworthy, which is
contained in Ibn al-Faqih al-
Hamadani’s “Kitab al
-
Buldan”. For example, according to the work, when
the ambassador went to the Turkish Khan, the Khagan
showed him his army, and when 10 flags were waved
one by one, 10,000 soldiers gathered under each flag,
and an army of 100,000 was gathered. This
information is related to the “O’n o’q” (Ten Arrows)
structure typical of the Western Khaganate and the 10
Turkish tribes, each of which provided 10 thousand
soldiers, mentioned in the Chinese chronicles.
The least studied as a source of information on the
history of Khakhanid are written monuments in India.
In most of the studies done on the history of Khahanid,
Indian sources have hardly been used. The reason is
that the information in this language is scattered in
various written monuments, most of which were
referred to a narrow scientific community as a result of
the research conducted in the following years. Also,
since they have been studied from the point of view of
linguistics and Indology, their role as a historical source
for the ancient Turkic peoples has not yet been
sufficiently evaluated.
The sources in India are mainly short-line epigraphic
monuments in Brahmi and Karoshti scripts, found in
North India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some of them
belong to the Tegin Shahi dynasty, which ruled in Kabul
and Gandhara in the VIII-IX centuries. Also, in religious
texts there are pictures about Central Asian ethnic
groups such as Huna (Hun) and Turushka (Turk) who
occupied North India. In addition, numismatic
materials can also be included in Indian language
sources. They were suppressed by this Tegin-Shahi
dynasty with Turkic titles such as Tegin, Khitivira (Turk.
eltabar) in Bactrian, Pahlavi, and ancient Indian scripts,
Volume 02 Issue 09-2022
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American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
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VOLUME
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Pages:
25
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SJIF
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015
)
OCLC
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which iconographically reflect Indo-Iranian-Turkish
traditions [9. 85-95].
CONCLUSION
In short, the sources of the history of the Turkish
khanate have come down to us from different peoples.
One such source is Indian sources. Information related
indirectly to Indian sources is also distinguished by the
fact that it has important evidence about the history of
the Khanate. For example, in the work “India” of Abu
Rayhan Beruni, written using ancient Indian
historiographical traditions, there are historical facts
about ancient Turks known to Indians. Scientist cites
the legends of the local population about the origin of
the Teginshah dynasty of Kabul, and gives the name of
the founder of this dynasty as Barkha-tegin (Bori Tegin)
and describes the legend of the cave associated with
him [10. 88]. Also, according to a number of
researchers, the scenes related to the Turkish prince
named Barkhatekin leaving the cave in the mountain
and founding the dynasty, according to a number of
researchers, there are ancient Turks about the
founders of the Khanate coming out of the closed
valley in the mountain and establishing their state,
preserved in Chinese chronicles and Turkish epics.
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10.
Sims-Willims N. Bactrian documents...
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