Alp Ilutuer was the Ilutuer (vassal ruler) of the

North Caucasian Huns The Khuni, Huni or Chuni were a people of the North Caucasus during late antiquity. They have sometimes been referred to as the North Caucasian Huns and are often assumed to be related to the Huns who later entered Eastern Europe. However, the ethn ...

during the 680s CE. He is mentioned in the account of Bishop Israel of

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among t ...

, who travelled to Alp Ilutuer's court. During his stay in the land of Huns in 681—682, Israel condemned their pagan beliefs and practices, and preached

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

. His converts offered him to establish and lead a patriarchate there through a special request sent by Alp Iluetuer himself to Eliezer, the Catholicos of Caucasian Albania. However, the request was turned down due to Israel already having been assigned a congregation in Mets Kolmanķ. ''Alp'' is an

Old Turkic Old Turkic (also East Old Turkic, Orkhon Turkic language, Old Uyghur) is the earliest attested form of the Turkic languages, found in Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganate inscriptions dating from about the eighth to the 13th century. It is the old ...

word meaning "hero", though it also sometimes was used as a personal name. ''Ilutuer'' or

Elteber Elteber ( otk, 𐰃𐰠𐱅𐰋𐰼, elteber or ''(h)elitbär''; Chinese 頡利發 ''xié-lì-fā'' < EMCh: *''γεt-li^H-puat'') was the

is believed to be a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

of the ancient Turkic title for a vassal ruler (in this case, vassal to the

Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

). Therefore, it is unclear whether Alp Ilutuer is a proper name, a title, or a combination of the two. In 670s he provoked some raids against the

and heroically died in war. Alp Iluetuer is still remembered in Bulgar and Chuvash legend. His name is reconstrustable in

as *''Alp (H)elitbär''.

Further reading