The Tonyukuk inscriptions (), also called the Bain Tsokto inscriptions are Turkic inscriptions of the 8th century located in Nalaikh,

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. They are one of the oldest written attestations of the

Turkic language The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

family, predating the

Orkhon inscriptions The Orkhon inscriptions are bilingual texts in Middle Chinese and Old Turkic, the latter written in the Old Turkic alphabet, carved into two memorial steles erected in the early 8th century by the Göktürks in the Orkhon Valley in what is modern- ...

(Khöshöö Tsaidam monuments) by several years.

Geography

The inscriptions are in Tuul River valley at (in Nalaikh,

).Don Croner's World Wide wanders
/ref> They are often confused with, or considered as a part of, the

(Khöshöö Tsaidam inscriptions), although the Orkhon inscriptions are actually located about to the west of Bain Tsokto.

History

Bain Tsokto inscriptions are about

Tonyukuk Tonyukuk (, zh, , c=暾欲谷, p=Tunyugu, , born c. 646, died c. 726) was the baga-tarkhan (supreme commander) and adviser of four successive Göktürk khagans – Ilterish Qaghan, Qapaghan Qaghan, Inel Qaghan and Bilge Qaghan. He conducted v ...

, the counselor of four Turkic khagans which are Ilterish Khagan, Kapaghan Khagan, Inel Khagan and

Bilge Khagan Bilge Qaghan (; ; 683 – 25 November 734) was the fourth khagan, Qaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate. His accomplishments were described in the Orkhon inscriptions. Names As was the custom, his personal name and the name after assuming the t ...

of the

Second Turkic Khaganate The Second Turkic Khaganate was a khaganate in Central and Eastern Asia founded by the Ashina clan of the Göktürks that lasted between 682–744. It was preceded by the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (552–630) and the early Tang dynasty period ( ...

. He died in the 720s. Unlike the two other Orkhon inscriptions which were erected after the hero had died, Bain Tsokto inscriptions were erected by Tonyukuk himself around the year 716.Türkçe bilgi
/ref> (His deeds after 716 had not been narrated.) The narrator is Tonyukuk. The inscriptions were inscribed on two

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

s. The writing, which proceeds vertically from top to bottom, is in the

Old Turkic alphabet The Old Turkic script (also known variously as Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script, Turkic runes) was the alphabet used by the Göktürks and other early Turkic khanates from the 8th to 10th centuries to record the Old Turki ...

Summary of the text

1st stele (35 lines)

:''West side'': The revolt of Turks against the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

in 681. (After the Tang subjugated the Turks in 630) :''South side'': War against

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz Turks ( Middle Turkic: , ) were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia ...

:''East side'': Capture of 23 cities and plan to counterattack against a possible alliance of the neighbors (Tang, Onoq and Yenisei Kirghiz) :''North side'': Defeat of Yenisei Kirghiz (north) and campaign to Turgesh (Onoq territory, west)

2nd stele (27 lines)

:''West side'': Battle of Bolchu (711) against Turgesh and annexation of Onoq territory (roughly present

Turkestan Turkestan,; ; ; ; also spelled Turkistan, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The region is located in the northwest of modern day China and to the northwest of its ...

) : ''South side'': Annexation of Temir Kapig, Ilterish Qaghan’s 7 campaigns to

Khitan people The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical Eurasian nomads, nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East. ...

(east), 17 campaigns to Tang dynasty (south), 5 campaigns to Oghuz Turks :''East side'': (Tonyukuk praises himself on his valuable assistance to khagans and adds that he gets old) :''North side'': (Epilogue) After the victories, Turks and the Turkic Sir (people) live happily.Muharrem Ergin: ''Orhun Abideleri'', Boğaziçi Yayınları,İstanbul, 1980, pp.54-61

References

External links

Turkbitig Inscriptions
{{Turkic inscriptions Archaeology of Mongolia 8th century in Asia 8th-century inscriptions Göktürk inscriptions