The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 53
mentioned in Hudud al-ʿAlam (another possibility is Isha-Ishad-Shad), accepts
its identification with Ashina. For the same reasons he also agrees with the
hypothesis about Dulu and Nushibi, as well as with Organa’s identification
with Mokhodo Heu.149
The steppe world during the Early Middle Ages, however, offers quite a few
exceptions, which show that the principle of legitimacy is no a sufficient rea-
son for upholding the theory of the Khazar rulers belonging to the Ashina clan.
First of all there are the Avars, whose ruling dynasty should not have anything
in common with the Turkic rulers. P. Golden mentions them as one of the
four “Altaic” peoples who had khagans (together with the Turks, Khazars and
Bulgars,150 although there is no documented evidence depicting the Bulgars as
ever having or seeking such a title).151 In the late seventh century and the early
eighth, the Turgesh acquired the right to a khaganate, displacing the Ashina
clan. At the same time, the Uyghurs managed to establish the khagan title
for their own ruling family, Yaghlakar. Of special interest is the fact that the
Uyghur subjects, the Karluks, whose ruling dynasty stemmed from Ashina at
least according to the aforementioned account of Al-Masudi, used the yabghu
title for their own rulers until the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840.152
According to P. Golden, the Karluks are an example of an ethnic group that
participated (along with the Uyghurs) in the destruction of the last remnants
of the Western Turks and for a long time did not dare to accept the khagan title
for its own dynasty.153 If this title was really associated with the Ashina clan, in
this case clan affiliation was not key for its acceptance. According to the prin-
ciple of legitimacy, after the destruction of the Turkic Khaganate the khagan
title should have gone to the dynasty of the Basmils who were the successors
of Ashina, and not to the Uyghurs or even the Karluks. By the end of the ninth
and the beginning of the tenth century, the khagan title was also adopted by
the ruler of the Kimeks (who was first Shad Tutuk and then Yabghu after 840).154
Assuming that “the sacralization of the early state invariably contains a
cultural theory about legitimacy” which is supported by creation myths,155
the legitimacy in Khazaria during the time of Joseph was deduced through
149 Golden 1980, 44, 207, and 219–220.
150 Golden 1980, 41.
151 On this issue, see Stepanov 2000, 198–203 and 2005b, 263–279.
152 Kliashtornyi 1964, 139; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 99–100 and 105–106; Khazanov
1994, 259–260.
153 Golden 1980, 41.
154 Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 119 and 125; Kumekov 1972, 113–116.
155 See Cohen 1988, 6–8.