Ilterish Qaghan

Ilterish Qaghan^[1][2] (Old Turkic: , Elteris qaγan,^[3][4] 頡跌利施可汗/颉跌利施可汗, personal name: Ashina Qutlugh, 阿史那骨篤祿/阿史那骨笃禄, āshǐnà gǔdǔlù, a-shih-na ku-tu-lu) (died 694), was the founder of the Second Turkic Khaganate (reigning 682–694). In the 680s he left the sinicized tribes near China and returned to the Mongolian steppe, from where he raised an army and reconquered most of the lands of the first Eastern Turkic Khaganate. His name Il-teris means uniter, refounder (teriş) of the nation (il). He was succeeded by his brother, Qapaghan Qaghan, because his son Bilge Qaghan was too young.

Family

Ilterish Qaghan was the head of the Ashina and distantly related to the Khagans of the first Göktürk Khaganate.^[5]

• Qaghatun
  • Ilbilga Qaghatun
• Children
  • Bilge Qaghan
  • Kul Tegin

Kultegin's Memorial Complex

Ilterish is mentioned also in 10-12 lines of the Kultegin inscription as follows:

...Then Turk Tengri above, Turkish holy Earth and Water said as follows: "In order to Turkish people would not go to ruin and in order to should be a nation again", They rose my father Ilterish Kagan and my mother Ilbilga Katun, to the top and sat them upwards on the throne. My father, the kagan gathered together seventeen brave Lords... Tengri gave them power. My father's army was like wolves, their enemies were like sheep..."^[6]

Legacy

Kutlu, Kutluğ and İlter are common masculine Turkish given names, which are used in memory of Ilterish Qaghan.

References

1. Peter B. Golden, Nomads and sedentary societies in medieval Eurasia, American Historical Association, 1998, ISBN 978-0-87229-108-9, p. 25.
2. Scott Cameron Levi, Ron Sela, Islamic Central Asia: an anthology of historical sources, Indiana University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-253-22140-7, p. 54.
3. Kultegin’s Memorial Complex in the official website of TÜRIK BITIG
4. Elteris Елтеріс, Ethno Cultural Dictionary in the official website of TÜRIK BITIG
5. Sinor, Denis, ed. (1994). The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 310–311. ISBN 0-521-24304-1.
6. The Kultegin Inscription (1-40 lines) in the official website of TÜRIK BITIK.

• Christian, David (1998). A History of Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia, Volume I. Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-20814-3.

External links

• Göktürks (Blue Turks) Kingdoms of Central Asia