Kul Tigin (Kultegin’s Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIG
/ref> zh, 闕特勤,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: Quètèqín,

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles ( ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's '' A Chinese–English Dictionary'' ...

: chüeh-t'e-ch'in, AD 684–731) was a general and a

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

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 ( ...

Etymology

Necip Asım (1921) initially gave his name as ''köl'', based on the etymology of

Mahmud al-Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari; ; , Мәһмуд Қәшқири; , Махмуд Қашғарий was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar. His father, Husayn, was the mayor of ...

, meaning "lake, sea". Radloff rendered this word as ''kül'', and

Thomsen Thomsen is a Danish patronymic surname meaning 'son of Tom (or Thomas)', itself derived from the Aramaic תום or ''Tôm'', meaning "twin". There are many varied surname spellings, with the first historical record believed to be found in 1252. ...

(1896), Malov (1951) and Tekin (1968) adopted this reading. Bazin (1956) and Hamilton (1962) rejected Radloff's reading and preferred the form ''köl''. However, Chinese sources used the Chinese character 闕 (''què''). Therefore, this word should be read as ''kül'', not ''köl''.

Early years

He was a second son of

Ilterish Qaghan Ilterish Qaghan (, zh, 頡跌利施可汗/颉跌利施可汗 ''Xiédiēlìshīkěhàn''; personal name: Ashina Qutlugh, 阿史那骨篤祿/阿史那骨笃禄, ''āshǐnà gǔdǔlù'', a-shih-na ku-tu-lu, d. 691) was the founder of the Second Turk ...

, the Second Turkic Khaganate's founder, and the younger brother of

Bilge Kaghan Bilge Qaghan (; ; 683 – 25 November 734) was the fourth 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 title Q ...

, the fourth kaghan. He was seven when his father died. During the reign of

Qapagan Khaghan Qapaghan or Qapghan Qaghan (, meaning "the conqueror", , Xiao'erjing: ٿِيًا شًا, Dungan: Чяншан, , also called Bögü Qaghan () in Bain Tsokto inscriptions) was the second khagan of the Second Turkic Khaganate during Wu Zetian's re ...

, Kul Tigin and his older brother earned reputation for their military prowess. They defeated

Yenisei Kirghiz The Yenisei Kyrgyz () were an ancient Turkic people who dwelled along the upper Yenisei River in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. The heart of their homeland was the forested T ...

, Turgesh, and the

Karluks The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, , Qarluq, Para-Mongolic languages, Para-Mongol: Harluut, zh, s=葛逻禄, t=葛邏祿 ''Géluólù'' ; customary phonetic: ''Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo'', , ''Khallokh'', ''Qarluq'') were a prominent no ...

, extending the Kaganate territory all the way to the Iron Gate south of

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

. They also subjugated all nine of the Tokuz Oguz tribes. In 705, Tujue forces commanded by Mojilian entered

Lingwu Lingwu (, Xiao'erjing: لِئٍ‌وُ شِ) is a county-level city of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Southwest China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yinchuan. It is the most important industrial city of Ningxia. ...

, defeating Shazha Chongyi (沙吒忠义). Kul Tigin commanded a unit in battle, in which he lost three horses. In 711, he participated in Battle of Bolchu, which was disastrous for Turgesh. In 713 he participated in subjugation of Karluk tribes with his brother and uncle.

As supreme commander

Upon the death of

, his son

Inel Qaghan Inäl Qaγan (, zh, , c=, s=, t=拓西可汗, p=Tuoxīkèhán) was the third khagan of Second Turkic Khaganate. During Qapγan's reign He actively participated in his father's campaigns. He became lesser khagan and received from his father 40, ...

attempted to illegally ascend to the throne, defying the traditional Lateral succession law, but Kül Tigin refused to recognize the takeover. He raised an army, attacked, and killed Inel, Ashina Duoxifu and his trusted followers. He placed his elder brother

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 ...

on the throne, and took the title of

Shad The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family (biology), family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species. The shads are Pelagic fish, pelagic (open water) schooling fish, of which many are anadr ...

, an equivalent of commander-in-chief of the army, for himself.

Death

He died suddenly on 27 February 731. A

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 ...

in memory of Kül Tigin, which included inscriptions in both Turkic and Chinese, was erected at his memorial complex of Khoshoo Tsaidam (more images from the site

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

), at the present site of 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- ...

. Kül-Tegin is also mentioned in the inscription erected in memory of his older brother Bilge Qaghan at the neighbouring site of Khöshöö-Tsaidam-1. His burial ceremony took place in 1 November 731. He was posthumously renamed Inanču Apa Yarğan Tarqan () by Bilge Qaghan. The head of the Kül Tigin sculpture in the Khöshöö-Tsaidam enclave in ( Orkhon, in northern

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 ...

) carries a bird with wings spread like an eagle, personifying a

raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

.Yu. Zuev, ''"Early Türks: Sketches of history and ideology"'', Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 25, The head was found by the Czech archeologist Lumir Jisl during his 1957–1958 expedition to Mongolia.

Popular culture

He was portrayed by Ham Suk Hun (함석훈) in Korean TV Series '' Dae Jo-yeong.''

Notes

References

Sources

* *Talat Tekin, ''A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series'', vol. 69 (Bloomington/The Hague: Mouton, 1968) *新疆维吾尔自治区民族事务委員会、''新疆民族辞典''，乌鲁木齐： Xinjiang People's Press，1995 injiang Uygur Autonomous District Minority People's Committee, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Xinjiang Minority Peoples'', Ürümqi: Xinjiang People's Publishing Company, 1955

External links

The National Museum of Mongolian History

Orkhon inscriptions with translations (contains Kül Tiğin inscriptions with translations, archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tigin, Kul 680s births 730s deaths Göktürk khagans Ashina house of the Turkic Empire 8th-century generals