The Ashina become ironworkers of the Rouran in the Altai
According to the Chinese histories, the Ashina — the future royal clan of the Turks — fled to the Rouran with 500 families after the Northern Wei destroyed the Northern Liang in 439 and lived for generations on the southern slopes of the Altai as the Rouran’s ironworkers. The helmet-like shape of the mountain, the same histories say, gave the people its name, Türk.
- Date
- between 439 and 460exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Southern slopes of the Altai (the “Golden Mountains”)approximate locationtoday: Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, China (location approximate) · Central and Northern Asia
- Participants
- Ashina, Rouran Khaganate
- Threads
- The Steppe and Central Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Ashina; Türks; Tujue; Golden Mountains; Jinshan; Tumen; Bumin; Ашина; Тюрки; Туцзюэ; Тугю; Золотые горы; Цзиньшань; Тумэнь; Бумын
The Book of Sui, compiled in the 7th century, says that the ancestors of the Turks were “mixed Hu” of Pingliang in Gansu, surnamed Ashina. When Emperor Taiwu of the Wei destroyed the Juqu family, the rulers of the Northern Liang, Ashina fled to the Rouran with 500 families, and they lived for generations in the Golden Mountains — the Altai — skilled in ironwork. The Book of Zhou — and the Book of Sui as an alternative version — tells a legend of descent from a she-wolf that hid in a cave in the mountains north of Gaochang (northwest of it in the Book of Sui); in the Book of Zhou’s account, after several generations the clan, grown to a few hundred families, came out, submitted to the Rouran and lived on the southern side of the Golden Mountains as “ironworkers of the Rouran”. Both histories explain the name Tujue (Türk) by the shape of the mountain, which resembled a helmet — in their speech, they say, the word for helmet.
Neither history dates the move to the Altai. The Book of Sui links the flight with the fall of the Northern Liang in 439; modern accounts place the settlement in the Altai in the mid-5th century, some in about 460, when the Rouran took Gaochang and destroyed the last Northern Liang stronghold — hence the interval. The Ashina were still the Rouran’s subjects a century later: between 546 and 551 the Rouran khagan Anagui, refusing a bride to the Turkic chief Tumen (Bumin), called him “my smith slave”, and in 552 Tumen destroyed the Rouran and founded the Turkic Khaganate.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Northern Wei takes Guzang and unites northern China18 October 439 · East Asiaaccording to the Book of Sui, the Ashina fled to the Rouran after the Northern Wei destroyed the Northern Liang in 439
Related events
- The Rouran make Kan Bozhou king of Gaochang460 · Central and Northern Asiasome historians date the Ashina’s move to the Altai to the Rouran conquest of Gaochang
- The Rouran Khaganate dominates the steppe402–552 · Central and Northern Asiathe Ashina remained subjects of the Rouran until their victory of 552
Adjacent events in the thread
- Emperor Taiwu’s great campaign against the Rouran429 · Central and Northern Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of the Catalaunian Plains20 June 451
- Vandal sack of Rome2–16 June 455
- Saint Patrick’s mission in Irelandbetween 432 and 461 – between 461 and 493
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
Eastern Europe
- Attila subjugates the Akatziribetween 447 and 448
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451
- Attila’s invasions of the Balkans441 – between 447 and 448
- Theodosian Code15 February 438
- Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450
Middle East and Egypt
- Battle of Avarayrbetween 26 May and 2 June 451
- Simeon Stylites on his pillarc. 423 – 2 September 459
- Reign of Bahram V Gurbetween 420 and 421 – 438
- Jerusalem Talmudbetween 360 and 450
Africa
- Martianus Capella’s Marriage of Philology and Mercurybetween 410 and 490
- Vandal conquest of Roman AfricaMay 429 – 442
South Asia
- Skandagupta repels the Hunasbetween 450 and 460
- Kumaragupta I and the founding of the Nalanda monasterybetween 415 and 455
- The later caves of Ajanta under the Vakataka king Harishenabetween 460 and 480 – between 480 and 550
East Asia
- Northern Wei takes Guzang and unites northern China18 October 439
- Zu Chongzhi presents the Daming calendar462
- The Yungang Grottoes: cave temples of the Northern Wei near Pingchengc. 460 – 494
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- The Liu Song expedition takes and sacks the capital of Linyi446
- The yupa inscriptions of King Mulavarman at Kutaibetween 350 and 450
- The inscriptions of Purnavarman, king of Taruma in western Javabetween 400 and 600
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Burial of the Lady of Cao at El Brujobetween 400 and 500
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Ashina tribe
- Wikipedia (English): Göktürks
- Wikipedia (Russian): Ашина
- Wikipedia (Russian): Тюркский каганат
- Вэй Чжэн и др. Суй шу (Book of Sui), гл. 84: жизнеописание тюрков.
- Линху Дэфэнь и др. Чжоу шу (Book of Zhou), гл. 50: жизнеописание тюрков.
- Golden P. B. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. — Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1992.