{"history":[],"article":{"id":"52d8f7c8-3b5f-4a0c-a12c-e04f852f0f07","title":"Ashina tribe","slug":"ashina-tribe","content":":::summary\n![Ashina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Tamga///of///Ashina.png)\n**Group:** Ashina \n**Native Name:** 阿史那 Āshǐnà \n**Native Name Lang:** zh \n**Image Caption:** The [tamga](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamga) of the Ashina clan, representing the [mountain goat](https://bliptext.com/articles/siberian-ibex) \n**Regions:** [Central](https://bliptext.com/articles/central-asia) and [East Asia](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-asia) \n**Languages:** [Old Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-turkic-language) [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-language) [Tocharian](https://bliptext.com/articles/tocharian-languages) \n**Religions:** [Tengrism](https://bliptext.com/articles/tengrism) [Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/buddhism) (minority) \n:::\n\n# \nThe **Ashina** ([Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese): ([Guangyun](https://bliptext.com/articles/guangyun)) ) were a Turkic tribe and the ruling dynasty of the [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks).\nThis clan rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when the leader, [Bumin Qaghan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bumin-qaghan) (died 552), revolted against the [Rouran Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/rouran-khaganate).\nThe two main branches of the family, one descended from Bumin and the other from his brother [Istämi](https://bliptext.com/articles/ist-mi), ruled over the eastern and western parts of the [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks) confederation, respectively, forming the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate) (552–603).\n\n# Origin\nPrimary Chinese sources ascribed different origins to the Ashina tribe.\nAshina were first attested to 439, as reported by the [Book of Sui](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-sui): on the 18th day of the 10th month, the [Tuoba](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuoba) ruler [Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei](https://bliptext.com/articles/emperor-taiwu-of-northern-wei) overthrew [Juqu Mujian](https://bliptext.com/articles/juqu-mujian) of the [Northern Liang](https://bliptext.com/articles/northern-liang) in eastern [Gansu](https://bliptext.com/articles/gansu), and 500 Ashina families fled northwest to the [Rouran Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/rouran-khaganate) near [Gaochang](https://bliptext.com/articles/gaochang).\nAccording to the [Book of Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-zhou), [History of the Northern Dynasties](https://bliptext.com/articles/history-of-the-northern-dynasties), and [New Book of Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-book-of-tang), the Ashina clan was a component of the [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) confederation.\nbut this is contested.\nGöktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu.\nAccording to the Book of Sui and the [Tongdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/tongdian), they were \"mixed barbarians\" (záhú) from [Pingliang](https://bliptext.com/articles/pingliang).\nAccording to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, and Lung) the Ashina tribe was descended from the [Tiele confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people), who were likewise associated with the Xiongnu.\nLike the [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks), the Tiele were probably one of many nomadic Turkic peoples on the steppe.\nHowever, Lee & Kuang (2017) state that Chinese histories did not describe the Ashina-led Göktürks as descending from the [Dingling](https://bliptext.com/articles/dingling) or belonging to the [Tiele confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people).\n\n## Etymology\nSeveral researchers, including [Peter B. Golden](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-benjamin-golden), H. W. Haussig, S. G. Klyashtorny, [Carter V. Findley](https://bliptext.com/articles/carter-v-findley), D. G. Savinov, B. A. Muratov, S. P. Guschin, and [András Róna-Tas](https://bliptext.com/articles/andr-s-r-na-tas) have posited that the term Ashina ultimately descends from an Indo-European source, possibly Tocharian or from one of the many Eastern Iranian tribal groups, such as the [Saka](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka) and [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun).\nJonathan Ratcliffe supports this theory citing numerous academics that the Ashina ethnic core could have been Indo-Iranian culturally, speaking Sogdian or variant of Tocharian.\n[Carter V. Findley](https://bliptext.com/articles/carter-v-findley) assumes that the name \"Ashina\" comes from one of the [Saka languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka-languages) of central Asia and means \"blue\" (which translates to [Proto-Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-turkic) *kȫk, whence [Old Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-turkic) 𐰚𐰇𐰚 kök, and same in all Modern Turkic languages).\n[The color blue is identified with the east](https://bliptext.com/articles/cardinal-direction), so that Göktürk, another name for the Turkic empire, meant the \"Turks of the East\"; meanwhile, [Peter Benjamin Golden](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-benjamin-golden) favours a more limited denotation of Göktürks as denoting only the [Eastern Turks](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-turkic-khaganate).\nThis idea is seconded by Hungarian researcher [András Róna-Tas](https://bliptext.com/articles/andr-s-r-na-tas), who finds it plausible \"that we are dealing with a royal family and clan of [Saka](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka) origin\".\nFindley also said that the term böri, used to identify the ruler's retinue as 'wolves', probably also derived from one of the [Iranian languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/iranian-languages).\nH. W. Haussig and S. G. Kljyashtorny suggest an association between the name and the compound \"kindred of Ashin\" ahşaẽna (in [Old Persian](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-persian)).\nThis is so even in [East Turkestan](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-turkestan); then the desired form would be in the [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-language) 'xs' yn' k (-әhšēnē) \"blue, dark\"; Khotan-Saka (Brahmi) āşşeiņa (-āşşena) \"blue\", where a long -ā- emerged as development ahş-> āşş-; in [Tocharian A](https://bliptext.com/articles/tocharian-a) āśna- \"blue, dark\" (from Khotan-Saka and [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-language)).\nThere is textual support for either of these versions in the [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk) [Orkhon inscriptions](https://bliptext.com/articles/orkhon-inscriptions), in which the [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk)s are described as the \"Blue Turks\"; being descended from the marriage between Blue Sky and the Brown Earth.\nAccording to Kuastornyj, the perfect translation of \"Ashina\" as an Indo-European word meaning \"blue\" indicates that the Türks of the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate) period were aware of the non-Türkic origin of the name \"Ashina\", and of the dual ethnic origin of the early Türks.\nIn the view of [Louis Bazin](https://bliptext.com/articles/louis-bazin), this knowledge was being suppressed in the [Second Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-turkic-khaganate) period by the Türkic nationalist policies of [Bilge Qaghan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bilge-qaghan).\nThe name \"Ashina\" was recorded in ancient Muslim chronicles in these forms: Aś(i)nas ([al-Tabari](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-tabari)), Ānsa ([Hudud al-'Alam](https://bliptext.com/articles/hudud-al-alam)), Śaba ([Ibn Khordadbeh](https://bliptext.com/articles/ibn-khordadbeh)), Śana, Śaya ([Al-Masudi](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-masudi)).\n# [Turkic horseman (Tomb of An Jia, 579 AD). | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Turkic///horseman///%28Tomb///of///An///Jia%2C///579///CE%29.jpg]\n\n### Alternative etymologies\nBased on Chinese sources' testament that the Ashina, upon becoming the head of [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks), exhibited a [tuğ banner](https://bliptext.com/articles/tug-banner) with a wolf head over their gate in reminiscence of its origins,\nthe name \"Ashina\" is translated by some researchers as \"wolf\", cf.\n[Tuoba](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuoba-language) 叱奴 *čino, [Middle Mongol](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-mongol) činua, [Khalkha](https://bliptext.com/articles/khalkha-mongolian) čono.\nHowever, Golden contends that derivation from Mongolic is mistaken.\nOn the Khor-Asgat inscription, the form Ašїnas is written and is similar to the Sogdian form Ašinas from the Bugut and Karabalgasun steles and the Arabic forms Ašinās and Ašnās from medieval Islamic sources.\nChinese editors usually avoided the coda /-s/.\nTakashi Ōsawa hypothtically derives the family name Ašїnas from their tribal ancestress's name *A-ši-na and the final element -as, which he explains as a plural suffix (similar to the Turkic Käŋäräs < Käŋär \"([Kangar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kangar-union) / [Kangly](https://bliptext.com/articles/kangly))\" + suffix -(ä)s) as proposed by Marquart, Melioranskii and others.\nHe further links *A-ši-na to the Xiongnu title 閼氏, which was pronounced *′ât-zie in Late [Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese), meant \"wife of a ruler\", and might be derived from *aš / eš, *azhi / *ezhi < *ašïn / *ešin, and *azhïn / *ezhin, further from [Tungusic](https://bliptext.com/articles/tungusic-languages) *Aši < *asun / *asi < *hasun < *khasu < *kasun < *katsun and [Turko](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkic-languages)-[Mongolic](https://bliptext.com/articles/mongolic-languages) *Ači < ačun < *hatun < khatun < katun.\n# [The Sogdian merchant An Jia conversing with a Turkic Chieftain in his yurt (579 AD). | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/An///Jia///with///a///Turkic///Chieftain///in///Yurt.///Xi%E2%80%99an%2C///579///CE.///Shaanxi///Provincial///Institute///of///Archaeology%2C///Xi%E2%80%99an.jpg]\n\n## Legends\nChinese chroniclers recorded four origin tales, which Golden termed \"Wolf Tale I\", \"Wolf Tale II\", \"Shemo (Žama) and the Deer Tale\" and \"Historical Account\", of the Turks in [dynasty histories and historical compilations](https://bliptext.com/articles/twenty-four-histories) \"based on or copied from the same source(s) and repeated in later collections of historical tales\".\nThese stories were sometimes pieced together to form a chronologically coherent narrative of early Ashina history.\nHowever, as the Book of Zhou, the Book of Sui, and the Youyang Zazu were all written around the same time, during the early [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty), it is debatable whether they could truly be considered chronological or rather should be considered competing versions of the Ashina's origin.\nThe record of Turks in [Zhoushu](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhoushu) (written in the first half of the seventh century) describes the use of gold by Turks around the mid-fifth century: \"(The Turks) put gold sculpture of wolf head on their [tuğ banner](https://bliptext.com/articles/tug-banner); their military men were called Fuli, that is, wolf in Chinese. It is because they are descendants of the wolf, and naming so is for not forgetting their ancestors.\"\nAccording to Klyashtorny, the origin myth of Ashina shared similarities with the [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun), although there is a significant difference that, whereas in the [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun) myth the wolf saves the ancestor of the tribe, it is not as in the case of the Turks.\nHe also adds that Turk system of beliefs linking at least some sections of the Turk ruling class to the [Sogdians](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdians) and, beyond them, to the [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun).\n# [Turkic horsemen with long hair on the Miho funerary couch. Circa 570 AD. Northern Dynasties, China. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Turkic///horsemen///with///unidentifiable///ambassadors///on///top.jpg]\n\n# Funeral rite\nThe Chronicle of Northern Zhou describes the funeral rites of the Ashina.\nThe deceased were laid to rest in a tent, and animals would be sacrificed around the tent.\nRelatives of the deceased would ride horses around the tent and ritualistically cut themselves about the face as a display of mourning, or \"blood tears\".\nThe individual and their belongings would then be incinerated.\nAccording to D. G. Savinov, no burials in South Siberia nor Central Asia that are fully consistent with the description of Ashina burials have been found.\nAccording to D. G. Savinov this may be for several reasons:\nIt is thought that the rite of cremation which was adopted by the ruling elite did not spread among the common people of the Qaganate.\nThis may be attributed to the different ethnic origin of the ruling family.\n\n# Physical appearance\nAccording to the [Book of Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-zhou) and [History of the Northern Dynasties](https://bliptext.com/articles/history-of-the-northern-dynasties), the Ashina clan was related to the \"Yenisei Kyrgyz\", who resided near the Pamir mountains and are described as possessing red hair and blue eyes in the [New Book of Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-book-of-tang) (Xin Tangshu 217b.6147), a description previously used to describe the Wusun.\nHowever according to Lee & Kuang (2017), the Göktürks differed from the Qirghiz in their physiognomy and \"no comparable depiction of the Kök Türks or Tiele is found in the official Chinese histories.\"\nLee & Kuang state that the most likely explanation for the West Eurasian physiognomy of the Yenisei Kirghiz is a high frequency of the Eurasian Indo-European haplogroup [R1a-Z93](https://bliptext.com/articles/haplogroup-r1a).\n[Muqan Qaghan](https://bliptext.com/articles/muqan-qaghan), the third Qaghan of the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate), was described by Chinese authors as having an unusual appearance.\nHe had eyes like \"colored glazes\", he had a red complexion, and his face was wide.\nHowever, a complete genetic analysis of Muqan Qaghan's daughter [Empress Ashina](https://bliptext.com/articles/empress-ashina) (551–582) in 2023 by Xiaoming Yang et al. found nearly exclusively [Ancient Northeast Asian](https://bliptext.com/articles/ancient-northeast-asian) ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,3%), and no Chinese (\"Yellow River\") admixture.\nAccording to Chinese historian [Xue Zongzheng](https://bliptext.com/articles/xue-zongzheng), the original Ashina tribe members had physical features that were quite different from those of East Asian people.\nHowever, over time, members of the Ashina tribe intermarried with Chinese nobility, which shifted their physical appearance to a more East Asian one.\nAccording to Xue, having a physical appearance like a [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-people) was by the time of [Qilibi Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/qilibi-khan) (Ashina Simo), an eighth generation descendant of Bumin Qaghan (founder of the First Turkic Khaganate), presented as a sign of mixed ancestry among the Ashina.\nThis suggests that the transformation of the physical appearance of the Ashina tribe was almost complete by the mid-7th century AD. Both [Shibi](https://bliptext.com/articles/shibi-khan) (609-619 AD) Khagan and [Chuluo](https://bliptext.com/articles/heshana-khagan)\t(604-612 AD) Khagan were doubtful of Qilibi Khan being Ashina because he resembled a Sogdian more than a Tujue(Turk) and prevented him from being a [shad](https://bliptext.com/articles/shad-prince).\nTurkish historian [Emel Esin](https://bliptext.com/articles/tr-emel-esin) noted that \"the members of the Kök-Türk dynasty, and particularly [Köl Tigin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kul-tigin), had frankly Mongoloid features\", probably as a result of repeated marriages.\nShe also wrote that members of the Ashina tribe sought to marry Chinese nobles, \"perhaps in the hope of finding an occasion to claim rulership over China, or because the high birth of the mother warranted seniority\".\nEsin notes that the later depiction of an Ashina prince, the [Bust of Kul Tigin](https://bliptext.com/articles/bust-of-kul-tigin), has an East Asian appearance.\n# [Bust of Kul Tigin (684–731), an Ashina Prince. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Turkic///Head///of///Koltegin///Statue///%2835324303410%29.jpg]\n\n# Genetics\nAccording to Canadian scholar Joo-Yup Lee, it is possible that the Ashina tribe belonged to the paternal haplogroup [R1a1](https://bliptext.com/articles/haplogroup-r1a).\nThe reasoning for this assumption is that the Ashina tribe was said to be closely related to the [Yenisei Kirghiz](https://bliptext.com/articles/yenisei-kirghiz) people, and also to the Iranian [Saka](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka).\nThe modern-day descendants of the Yenisei Kirghiz, the [Kyrgyz people](https://bliptext.com/articles/kyrgyz-people), have one of the highest frequencies of haplogroup R1a-Z93.\nThis lineage believed to be associated with Indo-Iranians who migrated to the Altai region in the Bronze Age, and is carried by various [Türkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkic-peoples) groups.\nAmerican historian [Peter Golden](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-benjamin-golden) has reported that Y-DNA genetic testing of the proposed descendants of the Ashina tribe does seem to confirm a link to the [Indo-Iranians](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-iranians), emphasizing that \"the Turks as a whole ‘were made up of heterogeneous and somatically dissimilar populations\".\nThe first genetic analysis on an early royal Ashina member ([Empress Ashina](https://bliptext.com/articles/empress-ashina), the daughter of [Mugan Khagan](https://bliptext.com/articles/muqan-khagan), second son of [Bumin Khagan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bumin-khagan), the founder of the [Göktürk Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk-khaganate)) in 2023 by Xiaoming Yang et al. found nearly exclusively Northeast Asian ancestry (97.7%) next to a minor West-Eurasian component (2.3%).\nThe West-Eurasian component corresponded to a single admixture event (possibly [Afanasievo](https://bliptext.com/articles/afanasievo-culture)-related) dating to around 1566 ± 396 years before Ashina's lifetime (ie dating to c. 1000 BC).\nThe authors determined that [Empress Ashina](https://bliptext.com/articles/empress-ashina) belonged to the North-East Asian mtDNA haplogroup [F1d](https://bliptext.com/articles/haplogroup-f-mtdna).\nThe Ashina individual was found to be genetically closer to East Asians than Turkic groups and was genetically closest to post-Iron Age Tungusic and Mongolic Steppe pastoralists, supporting the near-exclusively Northeast Asian origin of the Ashina tribe.\nThe ancient Türkic royal family of the [Göktürk Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk-khaganate) was found to share genetic affinities to post-Iron Age Tungusic and Mongolic pastoralists, while having heterogeneous relationships towards various later Turkic-speaking groups, suggesting genetic heterogeneity and multiple sources of origin for the later populations of the Turkic empire.\nThis shows that the Ashina lineage had a dominating contribution on Mongolic and Tungusic speakers but limited contribution on Turkic-speaking populations.\nAccording to the authors, these findings \"once again validates a cultural diffusion model over a demic diffusion model for the spread of Turkic languages\" and refutes \"the western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses\" in favor of an East Asian origin for the royal Ashina family.\n\n# Legacy\nMembers of the Ashina dynasty also ruled the [Basmyls](https://bliptext.com/articles/basmyl), and [Karluk Yabghu](https://bliptext.com/articles/karluk-yabghu)'s State; and possibly also [Khazars](https://bliptext.com/articles/khazars) and [Karakhanids](https://bliptext.com/articles/karakhanids) (if the first Karakhanid ruler [Bilge Kul Qadir Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bilge-kul-qadir-khan) indeed descended from the [Karluk Yabghu](https://bliptext.com/articles/karluk-yabghu)s).\nAccording to some researchers, the [Second Bulgarian Empire](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-bulgarian-empire)'s [Asen dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/asen-dynasty) might be descendants of Ashina.\n\n# Gallery\n\n# Sources","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T21:26:29.317Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T21:26:29.317Z","search_vector":"'ashina':1 'tribe':2","search_content":" \n \n**Group:** Ashina \n**Native Name:** 阿史那 Āshǐnà \n**Native Name Lang:** zh \n**Image Caption:** The [tamga](https://bliptext.com/articles/tamga) of the Ashina clan, representing the [mountain goat](https://bliptext.com/articles/siberian-ibex) \n**Regions:** [Central](https://bliptext.com/articles/central-asia) and [East Asia](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-asia) \n**Languages:** [Old Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-turkic-language) [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-language) [Tocharian](https://bliptext.com/articles/tocharian-languages) \n**Religions:** [Tengrism](https://bliptext.com/articles/tengrism) [Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/buddhism) (minority) \n \n\n# \nThe **Ashina** ([Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese): ([Guangyun](https://bliptext.com/articles/guangyun)) ) were a Turkic tribe and the ruling dynasty of the [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks).\nThis clan rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when the leader, [Bumin Qaghan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bumin-qaghan) (died 552), revolted against the [Rouran Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/rouran-khaganate).\nThe two main branches of the family, one descended from Bumin and the other from his brother [Istämi](https://bliptext.com/articles/ist-mi), ruled over the eastern and western parts of the [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks) confederation, respectively, forming the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate) (552–603).\n\n# Origin\nPrimary Chinese sources ascribed different origins to the Ashina tribe.\nAshina were first attested to 439, as reported by the [Book of Sui](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-sui): on the 18th day of the 10th month, the [Tuoba](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuoba) ruler [Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei](https://bliptext.com/articles/emperor-taiwu-of-northern-wei) overthrew [Juqu Mujian](https://bliptext.com/articles/juqu-mujian) of the [Northern Liang](https://bliptext.com/articles/northern-liang) in eastern [Gansu](https://bliptext.com/articles/gansu), and 500 Ashina families fled northwest to the [Rouran Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/rouran-khaganate) near [Gaochang](https://bliptext.com/articles/gaochang).\nAccording to the [Book of Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-zhou), [History of the Northern Dynasties](https://bliptext.com/articles/history-of-the-northern-dynasties), and [New Book of Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-book-of-tang), the Ashina clan was a component of the [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) confederation.\nbut this is contested.\nGöktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu.\nAccording to the Book of Sui and the [Tongdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/tongdian), they were \"mixed barbarians\" (záhú) from [Pingliang](https://bliptext.com/articles/pingliang).\nAccording to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, and Lung) the Ashina tribe was descended from the [Tiele confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people), who were likewise associated with the Xiongnu.\nLike the [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks), the Tiele were probably one of many nomadic Turkic peoples on the steppe.\nHowever, Lee & Kuang (2017) state that Chinese histories did not describe the Ashina-led Göktürks as descending from the [Dingling](https://bliptext.com/articles/dingling) or belonging to the [Tiele confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people).\n\n## Etymology\nSeveral researchers, including [Peter B. Golden](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-benjamin-golden), H. W. Haussig, S. G. Klyashtorny, [Carter V. Findley](https://bliptext.com/articles/carter-v-findley), D. G. Savinov, B. A. Muratov, S. P. Guschin, and [András Róna-Tas](https://bliptext.com/articles/andr-s-r-na-tas) have posited that the term Ashina ultimately descends from an Indo-European source, possibly Tocharian or from one of the many Eastern Iranian tribal groups, such as the [Saka](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka) and [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun).\nJonathan Ratcliffe supports this theory citing numerous academics that the Ashina ethnic core could have been Indo-Iranian culturally, speaking Sogdian or variant of Tocharian.\n[Carter V. Findley](https://bliptext.com/articles/carter-v-findley) assumes that the name \"Ashina\" comes from one of the [Saka languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka-languages) of central Asia and means \"blue\" (which translates to [Proto-Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-turkic) *kȫk, whence [Old Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-turkic) 𐰚𐰇𐰚 kök, and same in all Modern Turkic languages).\n[The color blue is identified with the east](https://bliptext.com/articles/cardinal-direction), so that Göktürk, another name for the Turkic empire, meant the \"Turks of the East\"; meanwhile, [Peter Benjamin Golden](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-benjamin-golden) favours a more limited denotation of Göktürks as denoting only the [Eastern Turks](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-turkic-khaganate).\nThis idea is seconded by Hungarian researcher [András Róna-Tas](https://bliptext.com/articles/andr-s-r-na-tas), who finds it plausible \"that we are dealing with a royal family and clan of [Saka](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka) origin\".\nFindley also said that the term böri, used to identify the ruler's retinue as 'wolves', probably also derived from one of the [Iranian languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/iranian-languages).\nH. W. Haussig and S. G. Kljyashtorny suggest an association between the name and the compound \"kindred of Ashin\" ahşaẽna (in [Old Persian](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-persian)).\nThis is so even in [East Turkestan](https://bliptext.com/articles/east-turkestan); then the desired form would be in the [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-language) 'xs' yn' k (-әhšēnē) \"blue, dark\"; Khotan-Saka (Brahmi) āşşeiņa (-āşşena) \"blue\", where a long -ā- emerged as development ahş-> āşş-; in [Tocharian A](https://bliptext.com/articles/tocharian-a) āśna- \"blue, dark\" (from Khotan-Saka and [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-language)).\nThere is textual support for either of these versions in the [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk) [Orkhon inscriptions](https://bliptext.com/articles/orkhon-inscriptions), in which the [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk)s are described as the \"Blue Turks\"; being descended from the marriage between Blue Sky and the Brown Earth.\nAccording to Kuastornyj, the perfect translation of \"Ashina\" as an Indo-European word meaning \"blue\" indicates that the Türks of the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate) period were aware of the non-Türkic origin of the name \"Ashina\", and of the dual ethnic origin of the early Türks.\nIn the view of [Louis Bazin](https://bliptext.com/articles/louis-bazin), this knowledge was being suppressed in the [Second Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-turkic-khaganate) period by the Türkic nationalist policies of [Bilge Qaghan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bilge-qaghan).\nThe name \"Ashina\" was recorded in ancient Muslim chronicles in these forms: Aś(i)nas ([al-Tabari](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-tabari)), Ānsa ([Hudud al-'Alam](https://bliptext.com/articles/hudud-al-alam)), Śaba ([Ibn Khordadbeh](https://bliptext.com/articles/ibn-khordadbeh)), Śana, Śaya ([Al-Masudi](https://bliptext.com/articles/al-masudi)).\n# [Turkic horseman (Tomb of An Jia, 579 AD). | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Turkic///horseman///%28Tomb///of///An///Jia%2C///579///CE%29.jpg]\n\n### Alternative etymologies\nBased on Chinese sources' testament that the Ashina, upon becoming the head of [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks), exhibited a [tuğ banner](https://bliptext.com/articles/tug-banner) with a wolf head over their gate in reminiscence of its origins,\nthe name \"Ashina\" is translated by some researchers as \"wolf\", cf.\n[Tuoba](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuoba-language) 叱奴 *čino, [Middle Mongol](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-mongol) činua, [Khalkha](https://bliptext.com/articles/khalkha-mongolian) čono.\nHowever, Golden contends that derivation from Mongolic is mistaken.\nOn the Khor-Asgat inscription, the form Ašїnas is written and is similar to the Sogdian form Ašinas from the Bugut and Karabalgasun steles and the Arabic forms Ašinās and Ašnās from medieval Islamic sources.\nChinese editors usually avoided the coda /-s/.\nTakashi Ōsawa hypothtically derives the family name Ašїnas from their tribal ancestress's name *A-ši-na and the final element -as, which he explains as a plural suffix (similar to the Turkic Käŋäräs < Käŋär \"([Kangar](https://bliptext.com/articles/kangar-union) / [Kangly](https://bliptext.com/articles/kangly))\" + suffix -(ä)s) as proposed by Marquart, Melioranskii and others.\nHe further links *A-ši-na to the Xiongnu title 閼氏, which was pronounced *′ât-zie in Late [Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese), meant \"wife of a ruler\", and might be derived from *aš / eš, *azhi / *ezhi < *ašïn / *ešin, and *azhïn / *ezhin, further from [Tungusic](https://bliptext.com/articles/tungusic-languages) *Aši < *asun / *asi < *hasun < *khasu < *kasun < *katsun and [Turko](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkic-languages)-[Mongolic](https://bliptext.com/articles/mongolic-languages) *Ači < ačun < *hatun < khatun < katun.\n# [The Sogdian merchant An Jia conversing with a Turkic Chieftain in his yurt (579 AD). | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/An///Jia///with///a///Turkic///Chieftain///in///Yurt.///Xi%E2%80%99an%2C///579///CE.///Shaanxi///Provincial///Institute///of///Archaeology%2C///Xi%E2%80%99a n.jpg]\n\n## Legends\nChinese chroniclers recorded four origin tales, which Golden termed \"Wolf Tale I\", \"Wolf Tale II\", \"Shemo (Žama) and the Deer Tale\" and \"Historical Account\", of the Turks in [dynasty histories and historical compilations](https://bliptext.com/articles/twenty-four-histories) \"based on or copied from the same source(s) and repeated in later collections of historical tales\".\nThese stories were sometimes pieced together to form a chronologically coherent narrative of early Ashina history.\nHowever, as the Book of Zhou, the Book of Sui, and the Youyang Zazu were all written around the same time, during the early [Tang dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty), it is debatable whether they could truly be considered chronological or rather should be considered competing versions of the Ashina's origin.\nThe record of Turks in [Zhoushu](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhoushu) (written in the first half of the seventh century) describes the use of gold by Turks around the mid-fifth century: \"(The Turks) put gold sculpture of wolf head on their [tuğ banner](https://bliptext.com/articles/tug-banner); their military men were called Fuli, that is, wolf in Chinese. It is because they are descendants of the wolf, and naming so is for not forgetting their ancestors.\"\nAccording to Klyashtorny, the origin myth of Ashina shared similarities with the [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun), although there is a significant difference that, whereas in the [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun) myth the wolf saves the ancestor of the tribe, it is not as in the case of the Turks.\nHe also adds that Turk system of beliefs linking at least some sections of the Turk ruling class to the [Sogdians](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdians) and, beyond them, to the [Wusun](https://bliptext.com/articles/wusun).\n# [Turkic horsemen with long hair on the Miho funerary couch. Circa 570 AD. Northern Dynasties, China. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Turkic///horsemen///with///unidentifiable///ambassadors///on///top.jpg]\n\n# Funeral rite\nThe Chronicle of Northern Zhou describes the funeral rites of the Ashina.\nThe deceased were laid to rest in a tent, and animals would be sacrificed around the tent.\nRelatives of the deceased would ride horses around the tent and ritualistically cut themselves about the face as a display of mourning, or \"blood tears\".\nThe individual and their belongings would then be incinerated.\nAccording to D. G. Savinov, no burials in South Siberia nor Central Asia that are fully consistent with the description of Ashina burials have been found.\nAccording to D. G. Savinov this may be for several reasons:\nIt is thought that the rite of cremation which was adopted by the ruling elite did not spread among the common people of the Qaganate.\nThis may be attributed to the different ethnic origin of the ruling family.\n\n# Physical appearance\nAccording to the [Book of Zhou](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-zhou) and [History of the Northern Dynasties](https://bliptext.com/articles/history-of-the-northern-dynasties), the Ashina clan was related to the \"Yenisei Kyrgyz\", who resided near the Pamir mountains and are described as possessing red hair and blue eyes in the [New Book of Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-book-of-tang) (Xin Tangshu 217b.6147), a description previously used to describe the Wusun.\nHowever according to Lee & Kuang (2017), the Göktürks differed from the Qirghiz in their physiognomy and \"no comparable depiction of the Kök Türks or Tiele is found in the official Chinese histories.\"\nLee & Kuang state that the most likely explanation for the West Eurasian physiognomy of the Yenisei Kirghiz is a high frequency of the Eurasian Indo-European haplogroup [R1a-Z93](https://bliptext.com/articles/haplogroup-r1a).\n[Muqan Qaghan](https://bliptext.com/articles/muqan-qaghan), the third Qaghan of the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate), was described by Chinese authors as having an unusual appearance.\nHe had eyes like \"colored glazes\", he had a red complexion, and his face was wide.\nHowever, a complete genetic analysis of Muqan Qaghan's daughter [Empress Ashina](https://bliptext.com/articles/empress-ashina) (551–582) in 2023 by Xiaoming Yang et al. found nearly exclusively [Ancient Northeast Asian](https://bliptext.com/articles/ancient-northeast-asian) ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,3%), and no Chinese (\"Yellow River\") admixture.\nAccording to Chinese historian [Xue Zongzheng](https://bliptext.com/articles/xue-zongzheng), the original Ashina tribe members had physical features that were quite different from those of East Asian people.\nHowever, over time, members of the Ashina tribe intermarried with Chinese nobility, which shifted their physical appearance to a more East Asian one.\nAccording to Xue, having a physical appearance like a [Sogdian](https://bliptext.com/articles/sogdian-people) was by the time of [Qilibi Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/qilibi-khan) (Ashina Simo), an eighth generation descendant of Bumin Qaghan (founder of the First Turkic Khaganate), presented as a sign of mixed ancestry among the Ashina.\nThis suggests that the transformation of the physical appearance of the Ashina tribe was almost complete by the mid-7th century AD. Both [Shibi](https://bliptext.com/articles/shibi-khan) (609-619 AD) Khagan and [Chuluo](https://bliptext.com/articles/heshana-khagan)\t(604-612 AD) Khagan were doubtful of Qilibi Khan being Ashina because he resembled a Sogdian more than a Tujue(Turk) and prevented him from being a [shad](https://bliptext.com/articles/shad-prince).\nTurkish historian [Emel Esin](https://bliptext.com/articles/tr-emel-esin) noted that \"the members of the Kök-Türk dynasty, and particularly [Köl Tigin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kul-tigin), had frankly Mongoloid features\", probably as a result of repeated marriages.\nShe also wrote that members of the Ashina tribe sought to marry Chinese nobles, \"perhaps in the hope of finding an occasion to claim rulership over China, or because the high birth of the mother warranted seniority\".\nEsin notes that the later depiction of an Ashina prince, the [Bust of Kul Tigin](https://bliptext.com/articles/bust-of-kul-tigin), has an East Asian appearance.\n# [Bust of Kul Tigin (684–731), an Ashina Prince. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Turkic///Head///of///Koltegin///Statue///%2835324303410%29.jpg]\n\n# Genetics\nAccording to Canadian scholar Joo-Yup Lee, it is possible that the Ashina tribe belonged to the paternal haplogroup [R1a1](https://bliptext.com/articles/haplogroup-r1a).\nThe reasoning for this assumption is that the Ashina tribe was said to be closely related to the [Yenisei Kirghiz](https://bliptext.com/articles/yenisei-kirghiz) people, and also to the Iranian [Saka](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka).\nThe modern-day descendants of the Yenisei Kirghiz, the [Kyrgyz people](https://bliptext.com/articles/kyrgyz-people), have one of the highest frequencies of haplogroup R1a-Z93.\nThis lineage believed to be associated with Indo-Iranians who migrated to the Altai region in the Bronze Age, and is carried by various [Türkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkic-peoples) groups.\nAmerican historian [Peter Golden](https://bliptext.com/articles/peter-benjamin-golden) has reported that Y-DNA genetic testing of the proposed descendants of the Ashina tribe does seem to confirm a link to the [Indo-Iranians](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-iranians), emphasizing that \"the Turks as a whole ‘were made up of heterogeneous and somatically dissimilar populations\".\nThe first genetic analysis on an early royal Ashina member ([Empress Ashina](https://bliptext.com/articles/empress-ashina), the daughter of [Mugan Khagan](https://bliptext.com/articles/muqan-khagan), second son of [Bumin Khagan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bumin-khagan), the founder of the [Göktürk Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk-khaganate)) in 2023 by Xiaoming Yang et al. found nearly exclusively Northeast Asian ancestry (97.7%) next to a minor West-Eurasian component (2.3%).\nThe West-Eurasian component corresponded to a single admixture event (possibly [Afanasievo](https://bliptext.com/articles/afanasievo-culture)-related) dating to around 1566 ± 396 years before Ashina's lifetime (ie dating to c. 1000 BC).\nThe authors determined that [Empress Ashina](https://bliptext.com/articles/empress-ashina) belonged to the North-East Asian mtDNA haplogroup [F1d](https://bliptext.com/articles/haplogroup-f-mtdna).\nThe Ashina individual was found to be genetically closer to East Asians than Turkic groups and was genetically closest to post-Iron Age Tungusic and Mongolic Steppe pastoralists, supporting the near-exclusively Northeast Asian origin of the Ashina tribe.\nThe ancient Türkic royal family of the [Göktürk Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk-khaganate) was found to share genetic affinities to post-Iron Age Tungusic and Mongolic pastoralists, while having heterogeneous relationships towards various later Turkic-speaking groups, suggesting genetic heterogeneity and multiple sources of origin for the later populations of the Turkic empire.\nThis shows that the Ashina lineage had a dominating contribution on Mongolic and Tungusic speakers but limited contribution on Turkic-speaking populations.\nAccording to the authors, these findings \"once again validates a cultural diffusion model over a demic diffusion model for the spread of Turkic languages\" and refutes \"the western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses\" in favor of an East Asian origin for the royal Ashina family.\n\n# Legacy\nMembers of the Ashina dynasty also ruled the [Basmyls](https://bliptext.com/articles/basmyl), and [Karluk Yabghu](https://bliptext.com/articles/karluk-yabghu)'s State; and possibly also [Khazars](https://bliptext.com/articles/khazars) and [Karakhanids](https://bliptext.com/articles/karakhanids) (if the first Karakhanid ruler [Bilge Kul Qadir Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bilge-kul-qadir-khan) indeed descended from the [Karluk Yabghu](https://bliptext.com/articles/karluk-yabghu)s).\nAccording to some researchers, the [Second Bulgarian Empire](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-bulgarian-empire)'s [Asen dynasty](https://bliptext.com/articles/asen-dynasty) might be descendants of Ashina.\n\n# Gallery\n\n# Sources","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}