Shekui Kaghan (r. 611–619 or possibly 610–617;

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

: *''ʑia-gwi'';

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

''Zyk'', ''Žeg'') was the third

khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

of the

Western Turkic Khaganate The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate () was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after the split of the First Turkic Khaganate (founded in the 6th century o ...

. He was the grandson of Tardu (575–603) through his son Tulu (都六).

Background

Western Turkic Empire in present-day

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 ...

was founded as the result of the partition of the main empire after the death of Tardu in 603. It was also called ''On Ok'' ("Ten arrows") referring to ten powerful tribes in the empire. Five tribes (called Duolu) to the northeast and five tribes to the southwest (called Nushibi) formed the two rival factions, the border line being Ili River.

After partitioning

Sheguy was Tardu's grandson and governor of Chach (

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

) He was expected to be enthroned after the death of Tardu. But the Dulu faction enthroned Taman (also called Heshana Khan) who was a generation younger than Sheguy. But Taman was a very inexperienced ruler and was a puppet of Dulu clan. Nushibi clan as well as

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

merchants who suffered from the increasing anarchy supported Sheguy to throne in 611. When Taman partisans arrested a Chinese ambassador to Sheguy, Sheguy revolted and Taman had to flee to Sui China where he was killed.L.N.Gumilev: ''Eski Türkler'' (tr: Ahsen Batur), İstanbul, 2002, Selenge Yayınları. . , p.199-200. Sheguy maintained order in his empire and provided security of the silk road. His term marks the beginning of Nushibi supremacy. In 618, he was succeeded by his brother Tong during whose reign Western Turkic Empire reached to apogee.

References

7th-century monarchs in Asia 610s deaths Göktürk khagans Silk Road Ashina house of the Turkic Empire Year of birth unknown {{Asia-royal-stub