Issik Qaghan Explained

Issik Qaghan
Succession:Qaghan of the First Turkic Khaganate
Reign:552 – 553
Predecessor:Bumin Qaghan
Successor:Muqan Qaghan
Issue:Ishbara Qaghan
Bagha Qaghan
Royal House:Ashina
Father:Bumin Qaghan
Birth Name:Ashina Keluo (阿史那科罗)
Death Date:553

Issik Qaghan was the second ruler of the Turkic Khaganate.

Biography

His personal name was Ashina Keluo which is reconstructible in Middle Chinese as *kʰuâ-lâ, which is transliterated as either non-Turkic *Kvara or Old Turkic Qara.[1] His regnal name Yixiji was reconstructed by Ahmet Taşağıl as Ilji.[2] He is also referred to as Ayi Qaghan (阿逸可汗) in Cefu Yuangui.[3]

During his brief rule, he defeated the Rouran khagan Yujiulü Dengzhu near Mulai Mountain to north of Woye Town (modern Wuyuan County, Inner Mongolia). He is recorded to have sent a tribute of 50,000 horses to Western Wei in May 553. He died the same year after an illness and was succeeded by his younger brother Yandou.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Golden, Peter B. . An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples: ethnogenesis and state-formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East . 1992 . O. Harrassowitz . 978-3-447-03274-2 . Turcologica . Wiesbaden . 121.
  2. Book: Taşağıl, Ahmet . Kök Tengri'nin Çocukları - Avrasya Bozkırlarında İslam Öncesi Türk Tarihi . Bilge Kültür Sanat . 2013 . 9786055261658 . Istanbul . 128 . tr . Children of Kök Tengri - Pre-Islamic Turkish History in the Eurasian Steppes.
  3. Erkoç . Hayrettin İhsan . 2016 . Batı Göktürk Kağanlığı’nın Kuruluşu . Foundation of the Western Türk Qaġanate . Journal of Faculty of Letters . tr . . 33 . 1 .
  4. Book: Hongsheng, Cai . Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchange: A Historical Perspective . 2023-11-24 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-003-80491-8 . 120 . en.