The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 23
the fourth-fifth centuries AD the Wusuns inhabited the Tian Shan area and
Zhetysu (the “Seven Rivers” area) and the Sakas (forced by the Wusuns to leave
Zhetysu and to migrate towards the Syr Darya River).19 These three large ethnic
communities (named Ases, Sakaravakas and Tocharians in Western sources)
became the reason for the downfall of Hellenic Bactria, where the Yuezhi
would later establish the Kushan Empire (from the first century AD).20
The next major migration westward was the Hunnic one (in the second
century AD). P. Golden associates the Hunnic migration with the end of the
Iranian domination in Mongolia.21 It is believed that on their way to the banks
of the Volga, the Huns mixed with Ugric-speaking and Iranian-speaking (Saka-
Sarmatian) tribes.22 Until the establishment of the Turkic Khaganate (in the
sixth century), various ethnic groups with different linguistic backgrounds
continued to move around in the steppes, and this process did not merely
involve migrations from east to west, but also in the opposite direction.
The complex ethnogenesis of the Turks themselves is probably also a result
from such a migration. Based on legends about the origin of the people of
Ashina, it is presumed that his tribe migrated towards the Altai Mountains
from East Turkestan or the Turpan Oasis. On this territory, where “the sons
of the she-wolf ” remained for about a century and a half, the predominant
population spoke Iranian and Tocharian languages. According to one of the
legends, the sons of the she-wolf (ten in number) married local women and
took their family names, one of which was Ashina. In 460, one of the descen-
dants of the Ashina clan led his tribe towards the Altai Mountains. Not surpris-
ingly, the name Ashina itself is most probably of Iranian origin.23 Moreover,
the two most senior titles after that of the khagan in the Turkic Khaganate
were shad, which had Iranian roots (along with the title of the khagan’s wife—
khatun) and yabghu, of Tocharian origin.24 It is presumed that the khagan, khan,
tegin, chor and tarkhan titles, as well as the name Turk itself, are also of Iranian
origin.25 The bek title can be added here as well. Furthermore, the names of the
19 Kliashtornyi 1964, 109 and 171; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 42, 48, and 51–57; Stoianov
2004a, 12–13 and 16–21.
20 Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 42–43; Stoianov 2004a, 21–22 and 28.
21 Golden 2006, 19.
22 Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 66–67; Novosel’tsev 1990, 69; Artamonov 1962, 42–43;
Rashev 2001, 11.
23 Kliashtornyi 1964, 104–105 and 112; Kliashtornyi 1994, 445–447; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov
2000, 74; Petrukhin 1995a, 189; Golden 2006, 20.
24 Golden 1980, 190 and 208; Golden 2006, 21; Kliashtornyi 1964, 111, Stoianov 2004a, 26.
25 Stoianov 2004a, 44 and 2004b, 493. Shervashidze 1990, 83–90 identifies as Iranian titles
such as shad, yabghu (Tocharian), khatun, as well as elteber, but suggests Chinese roots for