The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 65
Kangju should also be noted. The tamga-like signs on the coins of the rulers
can be seen as further evidence. On this basis, B. Vainberg distinguishes a par-
ticular Yuezhi group (the Yuezhi from the House of Zhaowu) that remained in
Middle Asia (unlike the others that continued on southwards and established
the Kushan Empire) and founded the royal dynasties of Sogd and Khwarezm.
Marital relations between the rulers of Kangju and Sogd that became tra-
ditional from the first century AD onward were maintained also during the
seventh to eighth centuries. This is also evidenced by the appearance of the
trident (!) on coins in Sogd (according to B. Vainberg, the trident originated
from Kangju). The trident began appearing on coins from Khwarezm by the
end of the third century AD.207 Precisely this symbol is depicted on one of the
aforementioned versions of the special Khazar coin emission from 837/838.
The inscription by Kul Tigin gives an interesting example with regard to the
bek’s status in Khazaria. In it the chieftain of the tribe (?) Az (cf. with the As
Tarkhan in Khazaria) Bars-bek received the title of khagan after marrying the
sister of Bilge Khagan.208 The possibility of such a relation between the family
of the vicegerent-bek in Khazaria and that of the khagan shall be discussed in
more detail later on in the book.
1.4 Mythological Notions and Political Reality in Khazaria during the
Tenth Century
An image on a Khazar (Saltovo) silver vessel (from the eighth to ninth century)
from the Kotskii Township (on the lower reaches of the Ob River) depicts a
fight between two dismounted horsemen. According to V. Petrukhin, it repre-
sents the notion of the royal power struggle in the Iranian pictorial and epic
tradition. He agrees with N. Foniakova,209 who identifies one of the horsemen
with the Khazar khagan. Thus, the notion of the khagan as a sacral king merges
with the Frazerian theme of the battle between the king and his rival to the
throne. The youthfulness of one of the horsemen is also a part of this theme,
as old age was among the main reasons for the sacral king’s killing. The same
207 Vainberg 1990, 251–252, 274, and 277.
208 Golden 2003, no. 6, 88; of special interest with regard to the status of the tarkhan among
the Oghuz is the account of Ibn Fadlan, according to which a person named Tarkhan
was perceived as the most noble and revered among them (Ibn Fadlan. Puteshestvie do
Volzhska Bulgariia, in Naumov 1992, 32–33; Kovalevskii 1956, 26 and 129).
209 See Foniakova 2003, 45–48.