Eurasian Journal of Researches in Social and Economics
Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi
ISSN:2148-9963
www.asead.com
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
Prof. Dr. Hasret Elçin Kürşat Coşkun
Yeditepe University, İstanbul
Leibniz Universität Hannover
ÖZET
Avrasya yapay çoban göçebeliğinin ekolojik sartları ve bunların getirdiği ekonomik ve sosyal
sonuçlar devletleşme sürecini zorlaştırmış, merkezi güç istikrar kazanamamıştır. Ancak İskit,
Doğu Hun ve Gök Türk, daha sonra da Moğol İmparatorlukları birbiriyle karşılastırıldığında,
yalnızca ortak bir kültür, devlet geleneği ve siyasi semboller değil, aynı zamanda devlet
yapısının da giderek geliştiği görülür. Sosyal tabakalaşma ve idari hiyerarşi gittikçe
farklılaşmış, sömürü metodları ve devlet ideolojisi geliştirilmiş, kompleksleşmiştir.
Hükümdarın yasallığı bütün Avrasya göçebe temelli devletterde kutsallık, karşılıklılık
(reciprocity) ve alınan artık ürünün tekrardan dağıtılma ilkesine-ideolojisine- dayalı kalmıştır.
Ayrıca, eski kültlerin hakim sınıflarca bilinçli olarak yeniden uyandırılması ve toplumsal
bütünleştirici, birleştirici siyasi sembollere dönüştürülmesi, siyasi hakimiyetin
merkezileşmesi sürecine dayanak olmuştur. Hükümdarın dünyevi görevleri bu gelişme
sürecinde kutsal görevlerine nazaran gittikçe önem kazanmıştır.
ABSTRACT
The ecological conditions of the extensive pastoral nomadism of Eurasia and their economic
and social consequences impeded the state formation process: the central power remained
unstable. But a comparison of the Scythian Kingdom, Hsiung-Nu and Kök Türk Empires and
later the Mongol Empire reveals not only a continuity of a collective culture, state tradition
and political symbols, but also a gradual development of the statehood, based on a more
differentiated social stratification, administrative hierarchy, methods of exploitation and a
more elaborate state ideology. The sacred legitimation of the ruler which remained connected
with the principle of reciprocity through its redistributive functions was a common trait of all
the steppe empires. Furthermore, a conscious promotion and revival of the ancient cults to
integrative political symbols underlined the centralization of political power. But the secular
functions of the ruler acquired an increasing importance in contrast to the sacred ones as the
nomadic state developed.
INTRODUCTION
There still exists no agreement among the social scientists dealing with the early history of
Eurasia - and even less among the historians - •how to define the political organizations of
the nomadic and semi-nomadic mode of existence prevalent in this steppe zone: The variety
of terms used in an undifferentiated avoidance of categorizing these political entities as
“states” even when it is justified to call them so indicate the theoretical confusion in
analyzing the state formation processes in the early ages. The early political organizations of
the Eurasian nomads are characterized by the short duration of dynasties, the extreme
instability of the central power which manifested itself in the strong tendency to disintegrate
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
under the centrifugal forces inherent to pastoral nomadism as well as the weakly developed
level of social differentiation and stratification in comparison to the primary (pristine) state
formations (1). These features do indeed raise the question whether to apply categories which
are used for the developed state formations, primarily based on a stable monopoly of physical
violence and of means of coercion (Elias N, 1939 and Weber M, 1922), a central hierarchical
administration, a well-differentiated, antagonistic class-structure for which foremost the
monopolization of economic resources is formative.
The Eurasian nomadic political entities certainly had a very heterogenous developmental
pattern and pace in the process of formation of states from chieftaincies. Inspite of the
repeated discussions in anthropology on the difficulty of an exact demarcation between the
pre-state level of political organizations and the point of emergence of states (Service ER,
1977: 377), various ethnic groups are known which definitely had not yet reached the stage
of a state. Sencer Divitçioğlu gives for the period between the VIth and the Xth centuries AD
the Vu-lo-hou among the Su-Shins, Pono-ma, the Uighures before 640, Tangus, Qitan (or
Kitan) before the IXth century and Kimeks as examples of tribes at a pre-state stage
summarizing the evidences of historical documents and publications (Divitçioğlu S, 1987:
266 - 267).
As an analytical model to characterize the Eurasian state formations of nomadic and seminomadic societies, the concept of Early State (Claessen HJM and Skalnik P, 1978; KürsatAhlers E, 1994 for Eurasia) seems to be appropriate. Sencer Divitçioğlu applies this concept
as one of the pioneers to the structure of the Göktürk (Kökturk Empire) (Divitiçoğlu S, 1987:
272). The emergence of the Islamic nomadic states such as the Qaraxanids (Karakhans or
Hakanids), Ghaznavids, Samanids or Se]juks constitutes a turning point since Islam created a
very powerful basis for the legitimation and stabilization of the central authority.
Furthermore, the increasing pace of sedenterization and volume of trade gave rise to more
developed forms of social stratification and exploitation while the tribute was the dominant
form of usurpation in the pre-Islamic nomadic empires.
The Concept of Early State
“The early state is a centralized socio-political organization for the regulation of social
relations in a complex, stratified society divided into at least two basic strata, or emergent
social classes - viz. the rulers and the ruled - whose relations are characterized by political
dominance of the former and tributary obligations of the latter, legitimized by a common
ideology of which reciprocity is the basic principle” (Claessen HJM and Skalnik P, 1978:
640).
This basic definition is being elaborated by the authors with the derived attributes of the
ability to avoid fission and enforce law and order, implying the development and gradual
concentration of instruments of coercion in the emerging central power. The guards of the
Kökturk Kagan ( or Qagan) called Fu-li (Avcioğlu D, 1978: 274), his ability to enforce
payment of the tribute through the army sent to the tribes (Karluk, Basmil) which failed to
fulfill their obligations in time as stated in the Orkhon Inscriptions (BK Eastside 41 and 25),
even the Hsiung-Nu Shan-Yu who was obviously able to send a central military force to
compel the dignitaries to come to his annual festival at Lung-Ch’êng (Shiratori K, l 929b: 7)
are all evidences of Early Statehood in Eurasia. Even the Scythian kings had a corps of
personal guards as agents of physical coercion.
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ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
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The structural attributes of the ideology of early states, as also determined in the Eurasian
nomadic empires, can be summarized in three components:
(1) The sacral legitimation of the ruler: Through the Greek sources (Herodotos) as well as
archeological findings, we know that the Scythian kings were sacred - see the interpretation
of the genetic legend below (Kurat AN 1972; Ökmen M-Herodotos, IV, 1973; Tarhan T,
1969: 143-170; Khazanov AM, 1975, 1978b). In case of the sacred status of the Shan-Yu of
the Hsiung-Nu and Kagan of the Kök Turks, there are very clear evidences of the Chinese,
Iranian, Byzantine sources and especially the original statements of the stone epitaphs
(Bugut, Ongin, Orkhun-Kem) which definitely prove this quality of the ruler: Both S.
Divitçioğlu (1987: 270) and Ümit Hassan (1987) as well as D. Avcioğlu (1978) are among
the Turkish anthropologists who do not only cite the historical, archeological sources, but
analyze them within a theoretical framework.
The centralization of power emerges in Early States primarily through the monopolization of
the access to the deities and supernatural world, which means the power to control the
conditions of reproduction (fertility, the nature and therefore the physical existence, etc.), as
through the monopolization of economic resources. The socio-economic and political
development manifests itself in the reduction of the importance of this sacral legitimation,
which is being replaced more and more by other objective functions of the sovereign. This
process can also be seen in the case of the Kökturk Kagans.
Yet the charisma or the sacredness of the sovereign, even if it had already become hereditary
and monopolized by a certain lineage, had to be constantly proven, where the level of
monopolization of power and coercive force was yet too low. A very illustrative case of the
“loss of charisma” or sacred power is known from the 2nd T’u chüeh (Gökturk) Empire (7th
Century AD): Inal Khagan had to be dethroned since he was unable to establish internal
peace and order in the face of continuous rebellion of the Oghus-tribes. It was believed that
“Tengri”, the God of Heaven, withdrew his “kut”, meaning charisma.
It is important to note that the sacred statute of the aristocracy, belonging to the same
dynastic clan or tribe, is derived from the divinity of the sovereign. I recall the explanation of
S. Divitçioğlu why the dynastic clan of the Kökturk Empire, A -shih-na, constituted the
ruling dynasty of numerous other nomadic tribes, too (On Ok, Karluk, Basmil, Khazar,
Pecheneg (Divitçioğlu S. 1987: 276; Hassan Ü, 1987; Esin E, 1980) through their
“sacredness”: Kut (charisma) derived from Tengri adhered to A-shih-na, which made its
members eligible to rule - an indicator of considerable development of social stratification in
the steppe societies. But this remarkable explanation must be related to the fact that both, the
Hsiung-Nu and Kökturk aristocracy, used matrimonial alliances through marriages between
the ruling clans of subordinate Eurasian tribes as well as city states within their empires both
as an instrument of policial cohesion and integration and as monopolizing the quality to rule
in a very narrow closed endogamous circle.
(2) The continuity of the principle of reciprocity from the pre-state stage, which manifests
itself in the redistributive function of the ruler both for the commoners (kara bodun) and for
the steppe aristocracy (ak bodun), officials, functionaries and dignitaries: It seems to me that
in no society could the ideological legitimation and justification of the centralization of
power be lasting on the basis of purely “imaginary services”, sacredness, etc., if the central
authority would not also objectively contribute to the vital communal functions in some way.
The ideological principle of reciprocity must have a realistic and visible foundation, and that
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Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
is the redistributive function of the nomadic sovereign at least in three traditional spheres,
which I briefly summarize below.
This claim to reciprocity becomes in the process of state formation ever more unbalanced in
reality (covert exploitation), since the redistributive function of the ruler concentrates itself
on “securing the conditions of reproduction” through cults or coordinating and regulating the
socio-economic relations, while the “reciprocal gifts” from the commoners are real goods and
their labor.
The redistributive function of the central power in nomadic societies seem to be evident in
the following traditional spheres:
1.
Since the need for grazing land per head by a nomadic population has always been
greater than the average cultivation land needed per person by the agriculturalists and the
increase in wealth measured by live-stock depended on the vastness of the territory
controlled, the nomadic Early States had to be always expansive, “an ecological monster
devastating large tracts of land” (Shifferd P, 1987: 43). The ability to conquer and expand the
grazing lands and to defend them constituted the major function of any pastoral political
organization as well as the proof for the continuation of the heavenly “kut” (charisma) of the
ruler. The cultural ideological elements of heroism, adoration of warfare, cult of war and
warriors, in short the tradition of a high level of lasting violence in nomadic societies was the
counterpart of the conditions of the nomadic mode of existence and high level of danger, of
uncertainty and mercilessness of the natural environment.
2.
The allocation of the grazing land, timing and laying down of the migration routes
were vital coordination functions of the central authority on which the internal peace and
pacification as well as the physical existence of the communities depended. The Orkhun
Inscriptions contain statements that the tribes of Az and Kirgiz (KT West 19) and Türgish
(KT West 38) were given territories by the Kagan. Divitçioğlu concludes, according to the
sources he presents, that the Kök Turk Empire had already an apanage system - dirlik (Divitçioğlu S. 1987: 243 and Togan AZV, 1946: 280). We know through De Groot (1921:
59) that a centrally determined pattern of territory allocation had also existed with the
Hsiung-Nu.
3.
The provision and distribution of both food supplies - especially cereals, but in years
of drought also live-stock as the Chinese chronicles witness repeatedly - and prestige goods
for the aristocracy, high ranking officials, personal guards, subordinate local and regional
elites and ever increasing demands of the court: Therefore the opening up and regulation of
the trade relations with China and other settled states as well as tributary relations to secure
the regular flow of both types of goods constituted an equally essential function of the ruler
and, at the same time, justified the centralization of power in his hands. All nomadic empires
directed their conquest to controlling the trade routes and followed a policy of providing the
security of these routes (Diyarbakirli N, 1992: 171-192 and Akiner Sh, 1992: 27-32; Ögel B,
1985: I,158) . I cannot go into the interrelationship between war and trade between the
nomadic and sedentary states in this short paper but refer to Ö. Izgi (1978: 90), B. Ögel
(1981: I, 43), S. Divitçioğlu (1987: 252) and further to L. Moses (1983), Ecsedy (1968), L.
Kwanten (1979), O. Lattimore (1962), Liu (1958), Macerras (1968).
The frequently mentioned economic and cultural self -sufficiency of the nomadic societies is
one of the romanticizing myths of centers of civilization on nomads. On the contrary:
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Throughout their history all nomad societies remained both economically with respect to the
exchange of goods or their attempt to create a strata of craftsmen within their society and
culturally through their immense attraction by the prestige and charisma of the dominant
centers of civilization, as we know from the Greek-Scythian relations and China’s relation
with the Hsiung-Nu, Goktürks as well as Uighurs, dependent on these centers. In case of both
Hsiung-Nu and T’u chüeh (Gökturks), the participation in the Chinese way of life through
cultural imitation and the symbolic acts of recognition of the newly enthroned nomadic ruler
by the Emperor of China - for example the act of donation of symbols of reign such as flags,
seal, silkrobe, golden wolfhead and drum in case of each new succession, political demand of
each nomad ruler to marry a Chinese princess thus becoming a relative to the Chinese
Emperor or the constant flow of silk for the nomadic upper strata - are all symptoms of power
and charisma differentials and periphery-core type of relations.
In accordance with the mechanisms of emergence of nomadic Early States, the territorial
expansion and the ability to redistribute the conquered land and tributes constituted the
ideological and objective foundation of the centralized power. The appearance of centrifugal
forces always coincided with the cessation of the conquest, territorial expansion and therefore
with the decrease in the redistributive capacity of the ruler which also implied the loss of kut
in the ideological sphere and accelerated the diminishing of consent to his rule. Claessen’s
description of the vicious circle of war and conquest in the Early States in general (Claessen
HJM, 1988) is even more true in case of nomadic Early States: “The growth of the
administrative apparatus was the consequence of the successes in war - but its maintenance
was a costly affair. The only way to get out of the problems was apparently another war. That
is exactly why they were repetitive” (See also Tunaya TZ, 1970; Arslan M, 1984; Kafesoğlu
I, 1987).
The Secret History of Mongols (translated by Ahmed Temir) is a very valuable empirical
case on the transformation of the existing tribal solidarity rules to a regular taxation system,
established by the central power, legitimized through the public functions of the state organs
but on the basis of the reciprocity principle. (§ 279) Ogadai introduces his demands by
proclaiming his intention to render his subjects joyful and free of destitution: He brings the
obligation to give a lamb each year “for the soup of the poor” as well as to keep and nurse
mares to quench the “thirst of the princess, army and corps of body guards. ... And when his
followers gather, he distributes to them gifts: For this purpose storehouses for the silk and
weapons (luxury goods) which will be distributed to the dignitaries must be established. But
Ogadai commands also to build houses for rice-storage (staple goods). He describes his
public and administrative functions as the distribution of water sources and pasture.
Therefore “pasture administrators” as well as officials to control the storehouses must be
selected from the thousand-men-units (social and military organizational units). We see here
how a central administration emerges and legitimizes the functions of the central power.
4.
The unequal power ratios and unequal access to the resources - the stratification - is
based within the framework of the ideology of the Early State on differential positions in the
lineage system, i.e. on the genealogical distance to the sacred ruler and to so much on the
control of means of production. Derived from this pattern of distribution of power, the
government positions were reserved for the members of the dynastic clan, and to some degree
for the related clans (such as Asheta in the Kök Turk Empire), the highest ranks
corresponding to the nearest relatives of the Kagan. The hereditary character of the state
offices in the Eurasian nomadic empires is a further evidence of centralization and
29
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
monopolization of power in the emerging states. Fuat Köprülü ascertained as early as 1939
the aristocratic character of the Kök Turk Empire (Köprülü F, 1939: 26; Togan AZV, 1949
and Bahaeddin Ögel for the Hsiung-Nu Empire (Ögel B, 1981: I, 219-220)).
THE BASIC THESES, ASSUMPTIONS AND QUESTIONS OF THE PAPER
The major historically documented Eurasian Early States with a nomadic origin of the preIslamic period are the Scythian Kingdoms (7th Century BC - 2nd Century AD), Hsiung-Nu
Empire (3rd Century BC - 2nd Century AD), Hsien-Pi (3rd Century AD) and Tabgach (T’o
pa), Juan Juan (or Jou-Jan, Avar) Empires (5th Century), 1st and 2nd Kök Turk (T’u-Ch’ueh)
Empires(6th - 8th with a fifty-year period of subordination to the Chinese Empire), 1st and
Qoco Uighur Empires (8th - 9th and 9th - 13th Centuries), Kirgiz ( 9th Century), Kitan (Ch’itan) (10th Century) and Mongol Empire (12th - 14th Century) . Among these, the Scythian
Kingdoms, the Hsiung-Nu, the Kök Turks and the medieval Mongol Empire were the
politically most important since they formed and fundamentally influenced the structures of
the Eurasian nomadic states while, as M. Arslan and Ö. Izgi present, the Uighurs made
undoubtedly the highest civilizational achievements (Arslan M, 1984; Izgi Ö, 1987; Turan O,
1976; Togan AZV, 1949; Avcioğlu D, 1978; Kafesoğlu I, 1987; Taneri A, 1975; Gabain Av,
1973).
This paper concentrates on three cases of early states, leaving out the Islamic states of
nomadic origin. Since it would not make any substantial contributions to understanding the
process of state formation, I do not intend to go into a discussion about numerous and
contradictory hypotheses on the ethnogenesis, changing names (according to different
historical records) and political entities of the various tribes.
Such an undertaking is not feasible within the framework of a paper: The unclear
correspondence of the tribal names found in the records of the sedentary neighbors to the
self-designation of these tribes as well as the repeated reconstruction of genealogies due to
political and ideological reasons and the unstability of political alliances render the
determination of the tribal past extremely difficult (Lindner RP, 1982: 696 - 699). I refer to
Emel Esin, who gives a very detailed and exact documentation of the Eurasian tribes with
respect to their anthropological relations, political-geographical locations from the period
before our era down to the middle ages (13th Cent.) (Esin E, 1980 and 1978). Bahaeddin
Ögel (1984) also supplies a detailed description.
E. Esin attracts the attention to the fruitlessness and high probability of scientific errors in the
common approach, especially in the past, in the Turkish anthropology to reconstruct the
ethnic origins of the Turks: “It is hazardous to try to distinguish the early Turks from other
Eurasian nomads, even in the light of anthropology; because already in early times, the
Eurasian nomads were ethnically mixed groups ... Whatever their ethnic appurtenance, the
Eurasian nomads, who had a common mode of life, produced works of art of more or less the
same style” (Esin E, 1980: 1-2).
The Karasuk culture (1700 - 1200 BC), born from the mixture of Yenisey Europeoids and
Mongoloids of Eastern Asia (at the longitude of Lake Balkash in the Paleolithic), probably
constituted the origin of some turcophone tribes like Kirgiz, Kök Turk . The Uighur
originated from the Baykal brachycephalic people. In the 1st Millennium BC an Indo-Aryan
group, Iranoids, populated South-Eastern Central Asia known today as Turkestan. Kök Turk
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ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
graves as late as the 5th - 7th Centuries AD have yielded these above-mentioned racial
groups in various mixtures (Ginzburg and Trifonov).
In the early stage of the emergence of pastoral nomadism in the 1st Millennium (“ancient
nomads”), the Iranian-speaking tribes of the steppe zone were the ethnic dominant groups
which were then quickly assimilated by the Turkic animal breeders. By the time of the Kök
Turk Empire (T’u-chüeh in Chinese records) the Turkic languages and turcophone ethnic
groups became dominant while at the same time - and actually as a result of this political
hegemony - the “imperial tradition” of the steppe was crystallized (Kwanten L, 1979: 136).
One of the basic assertions of this paper is the emergence of an increasingly common culture
and state tradition among the nomadic and semi-nomadic societies of Eurasia - with the same
ecological and economic conditions of existence -, irrespective of their ethnic and racial
origins.
Ümit Hassan points to the fact that the Ting-Ling, probably the predecessors of the Uighurs,
of the Kök Turks and Karluks, the Yüe-Chih, Usun and Kangli as well as the ancestors of the
Kirgis, Kien-Koen, Ki-Kun, Chie-Gu, were all subjected to the rule of the Hsiung-Nu
(Hassan Ü, 1987: 140), so that the very gradual cultural process had already started in the last
century BC.
B. Ögel states the actually relevant and promising direction of the investigations as: “For us it
is fundamental whether the Hun (meaning Hsiung-Nu) and Kök Turk states could create a
collective culture in Middle Asia and whether this culture continued in other Turkic tribes,
too” (Ögel B, 1984: XIV).
Since the pastoral mode of existence of the mounted (riding) nomads, which already
dominated the vast steppe zone in the 2nd half of the 1st Millennium BC, was composed of
groups with very heterogenous origins - tribes which changed over to mounted nomadism
from hunting and gathering stage or semi-agriculturalists, who had left the peripheries of the
arable lands, groups of mixed economy, etc. (see Kürsat-Ahlers E, 1994: Ch. III summarizing
the theories on the origin of pastoral nomadism), the secondary cultural elements of the
steppe are an amalgamation of very diverse sources.
Since various relicts of animism, totemism (and early shamanism) were not only preserved,
but later even consciously revived and reconstructed as ideologies of emerging early states,
they impregnated the culture and belief systems of the successive Islamic states, even of the
Ottoman Empire. Abdülkadir Inan points to the conservatism of the ideologies and to the
even contemporary residuals of the totemic beliefs (Inan A, 1954):
“What kind of difference exists between the Islamic custom of adorning the sacrificial
animals and the Altaic practice of doing the same thing to ensure the acceptance of the
sacrifice by the supernaturals?”
One of the central concepts of the political rule in the nomadic states, which depict these
ideological continuities, is the attribute “kut”: Already the title of the Hsiung-Nu ruler
contained this word (see the section on the Hsiung-Nu Empire). Orkhun Inscriptions (7th - 8
th Cent.) refer to this ideological component of political power, charisma derived through the
Sky God and divine sources and legitimizing the Kagan to exercise power, as “idik kut”. In
the Islamic Karakhan Empire (Karachanid or Hakanid) of the 11th Century, “kut” still
adheres to the ruler and constitutes the divine legitimation to rule, but it can as quickly escape
as the “mana” as we read about it in Kutadgu Bilig ( a case which holds also for the Kök
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Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
Turk Kagans): Kutadgu Bilig by Yusuf Khass Jajib (Mirror for Prices), which exists in three
original copies, the first one found by Joseph von Hammer-Pungstall in 1796 in Uighur
script, the second one known as the Cairo copy and the third one found by Zeki Velidi Togan
in 1914 in Fergana in Arabic alphabet, has been interpreted by many Turkish scholars
(Dilaçar A, 1972; Orkun N, 1940; Inan A, 1970; Köprülü F, 1928; Cagatay S, 1968 and
1970). Ibrahim Kafesoğlu’s interpretation as a “concept of sovereignty” but especially Resat
Genç’s perception of this quality of sacred legitimation and power to rule from the divine
sources seem to me more accurate than the mere translation of A. Caferoğlu as “luck”.
Kutadgu Bilig gives evidence of an additional long-lasting collective memory of the Eurasian
steppes: The mythical hero of the Sakai or Asian Scythians (of indo-european origin
according to the dominant view), who is often “assimilated “ in the Turkish “national
literature and history” as an ancient Turk, Tunga Alp Er or Alp Er Tonga, probably lived in
the 7th Century BC (Inan A, 1954: 189-206; Ögel B, 1971; Kraz M, 1967; Orkun HN 19). It
is a very remarkable phenomenon that both the Orkhun Inscriptions (2) (8th Cent.) of the
Kök Turk period and Kutadgu Bilig from the 11th Cent. contain components of this legend.
The customs and patterns of the redistributive function based on the reciprocity obligation of
the ruler towards his subjects seem to be a part of the collective political tradition with a
considerable continuity: Emel Esin points to the Chou-dynasty origin of the ritual, ceremonial
banquets given by the ruler for his subjects and followers (Esin E, 1980: 41, 11, 152) in all
Eurasian political entities from the Scythians, Eastern Hsiung-Nu, down to the Kök Turks
and Uighurs. This holds also for the ritual oath by mixing wine with blood and swearing on
an iron blade (usually a sword), which was regarded as sacred (Inan A, 1948: 279-290). I
recall the socio-political function of this ritual (and) of creating and sanctioning alliances
between the groups - clans, tribes, etc. - rather than between individuals.
Through the investigations of Faruk Sümer (Sümer F, 1980) on Oghuz tribes (9th Century),
we identify that the redistributive meals called “shölen” and connected with a subsequent
permitted plundering of the household and wealth of the ruler by the participants (Ergin M,
1969; Binyazar A, 1972) was still being practiced in the Seljuk Empire in the era of Melik
Schach (Turan 0, 1980 and 1971; Sevim A, 1983; Sevim A and Yücel Y, 1989; Kafesoğlu I,
1953 and 1972).
Another auspicing continuity of symbols and of common cultural-ideological motives can be
seen in the wolf -motive, which has come to be known primarily as the ancestral she-wolf
from whom the Turks were born according to the genetic legend of the ruling clan of the Kök
Turks, A-shih-na: Wolf-head was raised in the Kök Turk Empire to the emblem of the
dynasty fulfilling a major ideological function, and continued still in the Uighur period,
although they had been converted to Buddhism and Manichaeanism (Ögel B, 1971: 40; Esin
E, 1980: 17-18; Hassan Ü, 1985 and 1987). But the prototypes of metallic wolf-heads had
already appeared in the 1st Millinary BC among the Northern Ting-Ling, in the dynastic tribe
of the Wu-Sun (probably the ancestors of the Kirgiz) and of some other nomadic groups such
as T’ie-lê of the Baykal region (predecessors of Uighurs) before the Hsiung-Nu conquest in
209 BC (Esin E, 1972 and 1979; Ögel B, 1957 and 1971). Furthermore, the wolf also appears
in the Hsiung-Nu genetic legend as one of the ancestral parents, but it was a Hsiung-Nu
princess who wed a heavenly male-wolf (Esin E, 1980: 121, S3).
The fruitful productive elaboration of the ideal of continuity from the nomadic states of
Eurasia down to the Ottoman Empire f or a better insight in the socio-political structure of the
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ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
latter and of Turkey is a major contribution of Turkish scholars: In the 19th century, the
Western anthropology had already “sensed “ a connection between the Ottoman Empire and
Central Asia, but it considered this tie only in ethnic and racial terms. Yusuf Akçura(3) seems
to be the first scholar who left the level of ethnic affiliations and viewed this continuity in
political and socio­ economic categories. Through his investigations on the social
stratification, gradual centralization of power, “yasa” and “töre” as its instruments, he can be
designated as one of the pioneers of the processual socio-economic approach.
Fuat Köprülü developed and systematized this methodical approach. Although he is known
more as the founder and representative of the Turkish national history due to his
contributions on the emergence of the Ottoman State, he should be called at the same time as
a pioneer Turkish anthropologist. His adherence to the correct chronology of the formation of
the nomadic states in the middle of the dominant thesis of his time, which tried to trace the
“Turkic statehood” as far back as 7,000-5,000 BC, is worth mentioning. He explains the
origins of the centralization of power on the basis of endogenous d evelopments, social
stratification and differentiation which took place during the nomadic migrations. Thus,
Akçura and Köprülü can be regarded as scholars who contributed substantially to the
establishment of the idea and perspective of continuity in the Turkic history and
anthropology.
The well-established biased thesis of the repeated, cyclical phases of emergence of higher
political organizations and of their unavoidable, subsequent disintegration - phases of
centripetal and centrifugal forces -almost as a physical law of stagnation in the nomadic
world neglects the socio-political developments that took place slowly: It substantially
reflects Ibn Khaldun’s cyclical view of history.
A gradual process of increasing differentiation between the commoners, referred to as black
“bodun” or “bones” and the steppe aristocracy, associated with “white” bodun and bones,
which carried the marks of the shamanist belief (black-white, bones), both due to the
monopolization of economic resources such as tributes and distance trade, but even more
important than the economic factors, due to the elaboration of state ideologies as a basis of
the legitimation for the social stratification and the centralization of power; the creation and
inheritance of an administrative know-how and developing state tradition peculiar to the
Eurasian nomadic societies: all these indicate a non-stagnant (but slow) process. The new
political entities that arose after the periods of political chaos and absence of a hegemonial
political power in the steppe did not begin each time with a null-point of the process of state
formation (Elias N, 1939: II,379). The reference to the role of the “outside world “, to the
dependence of the nomadic societies on the transfer of economic surplus and culture from the
sedentary world for the emergence and preservation of a central power does not constitute a
sufficient argument for an absolute stagnation: then war and conquest would be a resource in
many secondary state formation processes of the non­ nomadic world (Carneiro, 1970: 733738).
“The nomadic economy could not provide a sufficient base for its own stabilization... an
outside source of surplus product was indispensable as a base for stable social stratification ...
In order for a state to emerge among nomads, it needed not only internal but also some
external prerequisites, and among the latter, successful expansion was the most important ...
The domination of nomads over the rural and urban population which was established as a
result of conquest was manifested in many ways ... a) in tribute relations; c) in fixed taxation;
d) in the creation within the nomadic society itself of agricultural and handicraft segments
from among the resettled groups ...” (Khazanov AM, 1981: 159, 162, 163).
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Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
But also Khazanov accepts, inspite of the insufficient surplus and economic basis as a
primary factor hindering the state-formation, that an absolute stagnation concept of the
cyclical model does not hold in the face of empirical historical comparisons:
“The only way they could meet a challenge was by extending and strengthening their sociopolitical organization and it is this process, again interrupted and reversible, that we observe
when we compare the Scythians and Hsiung-Nu with the ancient Turks and the ancient Turks
with the Mongols” (Khazanov AM, 1984: 263).
Exploitation is a prerequisite for the emergence of any central administration which is a
condition and attribute of the statehood. Both forms of transfer of external surplus in the
nomadic states - like in any other early states - booty as an occasional and instable form
corresponding to the most primitive stage of exploitation and tribute as a regular and more
developed form, were founded on an usurpation and rudimentary beginnings of the monopoly
of physical violence potential on an ethnic basis and differentiation; as a rule and exploitation
of one ethnic unit over the others. Sencer Divitçioğlu points out in agreement with Khazanov
that the ruling clan and dynasty becomes a class with respect to the conquered but only an
estate within their own ethnic group (Sencer D, 1987: 272; Khazanov AM, 1984: 256) . The
emergent state agencies, the central power and administration, often identical with the
aristocracy as well as the germs of a rudimentary standing army (mostly in the form of body
guards of the ruler at the beginning) could be financed through the appropriation of outside
surplus (of the conquered) without the necessity of establishing an internal taxation of the
core group of the empire. But this is not a peculiarity of the nomadic states: Patricia Shifferd
discovered in an empirical investigation of 22 early states that the external surplus resources
constituted the major proportion of the rudimentary fiscus (Shifferd P.).
It is often and rightly argued that exactly this possibility of the external tribute and other
irregular forms of appropriation of external surplus retards the transition to internal taxation
which is a decisive attribute of a more developed statehood, and perpetuates the inherent
instability of the central powers in the steppe empires. The case of Scythian Kingdoms
seems to support this thesis: The transition to internal regular exploitation could then be
achieved in the 3rd Kingdom with a substantially smaller territory and high ethnic
homogeneity after the 2nd Kingdom, which was mainly based on conquest and the tributary
form of exploitation. But in all this line of argumentation, one complementary aspect is being
overlooked: The ability to conquer and to transfer the surplus of the subjected to the central
authority already demands as a prerequisite the appropriation of the surplus labor of the coreethny by the ruling stratum; that means it entails the establishment of a rudimentary form of
internal exploitation. Furthermore, Claessen and Skalnik bring the thesis that war and
conquest, which require a high organizational capacity, can only be accomplished in a state.
Orkhun and Ongin Inscriptions (Tekin T, 1968) of the Kök Turk period state the obligation of
the commoners and aristocrats (KT East 9) to serve the Kagan. Nevertheless, all three cases
of nomadic Early States I selected for this paper - Scythians, Hsiung-Nu and Kök Turks entailed evidence of a beginning transition to an internal taxation (Kürsat-Ahlers E, 1994: Ch.
IV.2.3 and I.2.5, II.3.1.4.3; Ssu-MaChien, 1961: Ch. 110, 170 for the Hsiung-Nu).
THE FACTORS FOR THE INSTABILITY OF NOMADIC EARLY STATES
The social, cultural and economic integration within the nomadic societies were permanently
retarded by the nature of the man-environment-relationships (Kürsat-Ahlers E. 1993). The
division of functions and labor and therefore the functional dependencies, the integrating
34
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
force of internal economic differentiation and interdependences are always less developed in
a pastoral economy. Due to their characteristic specialization on the ecological zones
unsuited for the development of agriculture, the relatively high homogeneity of the products
based on live-stock in all social units (Khazanov, 1984), the nomadic societies of Eurasia
could never achieve the same degree of economic heterogeneity, exchange of goods and the
higher social and commercial interdependence between the social units as in the settled
agricultural mode of existence. On the contrary, the channels of trade were directed towards
the neighboring agricultural societies with such a higher degree of diversity of economic
surplus. When the exchangeable nomadic surplus was too low or inexistent - uncertainties of
the nomadic life such as mass extinction of the live-stock due to climatic calamities or
diseases, famines. etc. remained always high -, raids and wars became the only option.
This high dependence on the natural environment and high instability of reproduction mean
also the hindrance of the process of accumulation and therefore of state formation: herds have
always been easily perishable. Han -Shu tells for example (Golden PB, 1992: 66) that “three
out of every ten Hsiung-Nu died of hunger and five heads of cattle out of every ten” in 71/72
BC due to a very severe winter. As the famine was recurrent in 68 BC, 6-7 out of every ten
Hsiung-Nu and six to seven animals per ten perished (Khazanov AM, 1984: 78) Such
catastrophies are also known from the more recent times. The Kalmuks lost 1.201.187 cattle
within 28 days in 1892. In Kazakhstan the jute destroys between one-fourth and half of all the
cattle in cycles of six to eleven years. This high uncertainty of existence is very well
expressed in the following proverbs:
“Livestock belongs to any snowstorm and poweful enemy.”
“One jute suffices the rich man, and one arrow the hero.”
Furthermore, the extensive pastoralism hinders the intensification of production and therefore
the population increase in relation to existing grazing land. The low density of population and
the limited size of the social units ( for example the average size of Central-Asian Auls
encompassed seven to ten tents) determined by the conditions of grazing, such as the
avoidance of overgrazing and exhaustion of low water resources, therefore the expansionist
ideals of nomadic societies which in turn tend to scatter the small-sized populations over vast
steppes further. All factors are determined by the one-sided specialization and adaptation to
an ecological zone, which increase the centrifugal forces tremendously. Estimations and the
Chinese historical sources on the population size of the whole northern Hsiung-Nu in the 2nd
Century AD are about 70,000 - 100,000 families (Ögel B, 1985: I,161). Wesir Tonyukuk
once said that the Kök Turks would amount not even to one percent of the Chinese
population in the T’ang era, which would mean half a million (Divitçioğlu S. 1987: 210 and
Liu Mau-Tsai 1958: I, 173). The sparse population of nomadic societies due to the
ecological-environmental factors had to be in the long run a detrimental disadvantage in their
antagonistic relationships to the sedentary societies - especially in warfare, which was a
major source of surplus through tributes and booty and enabled the nomadic ruler to fulfill his
“reciprocity obligations” and redistributive functions: the most decisive integrating
instruments and cause of consent of his subjects as well as of the political elite.
The extent of monopolization of the means of physical coercion in the hands of a central
authority was yet too weak to enforce its domination. At least a partial consensual acceptance
of its power by the subordinates is a prerequisite for a certain stability. The nomadic
existence with its capacity for geographic mobility and withdrawal from the realm of an
established central power intensified the problems of fission, internal pacification and control
35
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
in a nomadic early state in comparison to settled Early States with an agricultural economic
basis.
The imperial Early States of Eurasia which overcame the social atomization of the nomadic
mode of existence in certain short-lived periods of centralization and political organization
emerged on the eve of conquest, as Khazanov (1984: 234) puts it, or of the chance of
domination of the steppe since the existing power-relations had been changed or in case of
threat through the neighboring states and groups. Only the historical epochs of collective
conquest and defense rendered the coordinating function of a central authority indispensable.
But the structural instability of the central power in comparison to the agricultural societies
remained immanent not only because of the environmentally determined socio-economic
factors I have briefly mentioned above, but also because of their social-psychological
implications; the slowly strengthening mechanisms of collective identifications correlate with
the capability of sociopolitical organizations to satisfy the essential needs of the people. The
scope of the presence and of the penetration of the state functions into the everyday life of the
people - for example through welfare actions, fulfillment of the requirements of the
reciprocityideology, internal pacification, jurisdiction, protection, organization of the productive sphere,
etc. - was considerably less perceivable in these vast territories of the early nomadic states
than in the early states of settled societies. Parallel to this disintegrated social structure, the
level of we-identifications, loyalities and collective identities remained primarily at the level
of the lowest or lower subdivisions of the nomadic societies. In short, the counterpart of a
segmented society was a segmented identification pattern. Even at the pre-state level, the
stratification, the establishment of unequal access to resources seems to be based on an
ideology which legitimized the existing differences in privileges. The process of state
formation has also necessarily been a process of elaboration of the state ideology. Any
differential power relation must entail a legitimation which renders the constant use of
physical coercion unnecessary.
The main consensual factor for a minimal cohesion of the socio-political organization had to
be the belief system or the ideology which legitimized the differential access to political
power between the lineages as well as ethnic-tribal units. Since this unequal distribution of
power created or enhanced a differential access to territories, to the productive resources such
as the quality of grazing lands or hunting realms, the ideologies, especially the genealogical
myths had to deliver a communicable frame of interpretations or explanations for both
spheres: The myth of origin of the Scythians demonstrates the central function of these
genealogical myths, not only to legitimize the power differentials between the segments, but
also to render them divine, unchangeable and unattackable.
THE SCYTHIAN KINGDOM OF WESTERN EURASIA
The first man in Scythia who was born of “Zeus” and the daughter of Dnepr, according to the
Greek records seems thus to incorporate two distinct systems of beliefs, the sky god of the
nomadic conquerors and the earth-bound river cult probably of the conquered (4). A new
synthesis of the myths, beliefs and deities of the subordinated social units with those of the
dominators appears as a frequently used instrument of integration in history. The Scythian
legend asserts not only the divine origin of the ancestral sovereign of the Royal Clan, but also
of the hierarchical order between the segments (tribes) through the symbolism of a miracle:
During the reign of Targitaos, golden tools descended from heaven to the land of the
Scythians, thus an act of sanctification of the “territory” of the Early State: a plough, a yoke,
36
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
a battle-axe and a bowl. One can perhaps interpret the choice of these divine objects as a
symbolization of the new incorporation of agriculturalists and nomads after the conquest.
According to the legend as we find it by Herodot, since these tools caught fire when the two
elder brothers tried to seize them, and according to the approach of Coloxais(5), they did not,
he could bring them to his dwelling (Herodot IV, 5 and 6: 254-255). Thus Leipoxais and
Arpoxais renounced the reign and offered the kingdom to the youngest brother. The tribes
descending from these elder brothers (from Leipoxais the Auchats and from Arpoxais Katiars
and Traspier) therefore became genealogically subordinate to the “Paralats”, the ruling
tribe(6) whose ancestor was the owner of this heavenly treasure, predestined by the divine
forces. The legend incorporates two important ideological elements, sanctifying and
legitimizing the power differentials: the divine origin of social hierarchy and the voluntary
consensual recognition of the dominance of the Paralats. Also in the Early States, the
dominant fantasies are the fantasies of the dominant.
The genealogies as the myths of social order seem to ensure an ideological flexibility through
the capability of integration or disintegration of new ethnic groups to the established
stratification without changing the structural principles of power. Genealogical amnesia
enables genealogical assimilation.
Herodot writes that the Scythian kings preserved this divine treasure carefully, made yearly
sacrifices to it, thus keeping the legitimizing collective memory of the legend alive. The tools
also remained objects of worship for the individual tribes. The monopolization of the sanctity
and of charisma which also encompassed the monopolization of the communication with the
deities to secure their favor seems to me the crucial source of power in all nomadic Early
States, because the economic and reproductive fertility and the protection from all
catastrophies, in short the general prosperity and existence of the community, appeared to
depend on this imaginary existential function of the ruling strata.
Breuer differentiates between two phases of the process of monopolization of power through
monopolizing the mediating function between the community and the deities (Breuer H,
1990): The central authority turns from being the representative of the community to the
deities to being the representative of the gods for the community. Through the incorporation
of the highest deities in their line of ancestors, the Scythian central power obviously achieved
the state of divine kings themselves. King Idanthyrsos calls Papaios (God of Heaven) and
Tabiti (Histia or the Goddess of Hearthfire) his ancestors.
The interesting aspect of this ideological function of the legend of origin is that it does not
only sanctify the hierarchy of lineages or kingdoms, but also the differential size of their
territories: Herodot records that since the land was big, Koloxais divided it into three
kingdoms and gave these to his three sons. He mad e the kingdom in which this golden
treasure is kept the largest (Herodot IV, 7: 255). That was the territory of the Royal Scythians
(7).
Nomads possess rights to grazing land and other natural resources not through their territorial
dwelling there, but through their belonging to a tribe and its subdivision. The entitlement of
the whole ruling clan to sharing the supreme power, therefore the conquered land with its
respective tribute and to rule over a specific group of nomads with its respective grazing land,
is actually a further adaptation of these traditional rights to the situation of conquest. But the
royal power descended from father to son, which is exceptional among nomadic early states
since they had no clear-cut rule of succession even down to the formative period of the
37
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
Ottoman Empire (Köprülü F, 1981; Turan O, 1980 and 1971; Arslan M, 1984; Inalcik H,
1959: 69-94; Taneri A, 1975; Sevim A and Yücel Y, 1989 et al.). Actually this
uninstitutionalized and unregulated succession practice often played a very crucial role in the
emergence of throne struggles in the nomadic states.
In contrast to the duofocal structure (as Western and Eastern halves, the latter constituting the
political legitimized supreme center) of the successive steppe empires, the Scythian Kingdom
was trifocal: Three sacred kings, who acquired their sacred status as the descendants of the
deities only after a ritual ceremony of enthronization (known also from the Kök Turk and
some other steppe empires), seem to have been the supreme judges, distributors of the booty,
war commanders and especially the unique performers of the cults - like the rulers of the Kök
Turks, Hsiung-Nu and Uighurs. From Herodotos we can ascertain that the “royal tours” called Gafol by Yurii Y Kobischanov - as a means of appropriating the local surplus by the
ruler and royal court during journeys that are also known from many other sedentary and
nomadic early states were regularly practised in Scythia (for the integrative and legitimizing
functions see: Kürsat-Ahlers E, 1994: Ch. 3.1.4.3.1).
The Scythian three-tier administrative hierarchy that is regarded as one of the proper­ ties of
an Early State (Claessen HJM, 1978: 598; Wright HT and Johnson G, 1977: 267) consisted of
the administrators of the provinces (groups of tribes) under the kings, whom the third tier, the
tribal administrative units called “nomes” were subordinated. These administrative units were
identical with the military organization, as it is also known from the successive steppe
empires, Hsiung-Nu and Uighur and later Mongols being the most prominent with their
decimal structure of units of tens, hundreds, thousands and ten-thousands (v. Gabain A, 1973:
58; De Groot JJM, 1921: 56; Grousset R, 1965: 51; Ögel B, 1984: 152 and 1981; Togan
AZV, 1941, 1949 and 1970; Köprülü F, 1931; Arslan M, 1984; Kafesoğlu I, 1987). The
administrative offices were partly hereditary and partly appointed, the latter being an
indication for reaching higher stages of development (Claessen HJM and Skalnik P, 1978:
641).
The administrative organization of the Scythians exemplifies the role of the sanctity in
establishing the concept of territorial boundaries or in the sanctification of a certain territory
(Ebert M, 1921: 101). Each “nomes” had its own religious center, a hill with the god of war
on its peak. No “nomes” may transgress this hill of the neighboring “nomes” without getting
involved in quarrels and conflicts. The god of war seems to be an important authority in
establishing and enforcing the boundaries, pacifying the nomads and in symbolizing the
territorial belongings of the social units. We can detect this type of sanctification of one’s
own territory also among the Hsiung-Nu and Kök Turks. The symbolism of certain
geographical localities which amalgamated both the residence of the ruler (therefore the
center of the reign) and the ancestral cult -center, seems to have crucially contributed to the
emergence of the nomadic Early State.
A codification of law had not yet emerged, which seems to have existed in the Hsiung-Nu
Empire corresponding to a higher stage of the state formation process in accordance with the
classification of H.J.M. Claessen and P. Skalnik (1978: 641). But in the Kök Turk Empire the
codification was definitely already elaborate whereas in the Uighur Empire of Qoco it
attained quite a high level of jurisprudence as the practice of the detailed commercial legal
contracts on transactions of goods and land-property prove (v. Gabain A, 1971; Izgi Ö,
1987).
As far as the Greek and Chinese sources permit a comparison, the Scythian Kingdom had a
separate stratum, a special corporation of professional and hereditary diviners, called
38
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
“enarei”, who also came from the aristocratic class, probably even from the royal dynasty,
whereas the Hsiung-Nu and Kök Turk rulers seem to have unified and monopolized both the
divine and secular power in themselves without a competing estate of divine power in the
state structure. As we shall see, the central power in the Kök Turk Empire did not tolerate
even the local clan-bound religious representatives and shamans.
The Chinese historian Ssu-Ma Ch’ien (Shih Chi) writes (Watson B Ed., 1961, Bd. II): “In the
first month of the year the tribal chieftains meet and have a small gathering in the court of the
Hsiung-Nu Emperor; and in the fifth month gather in Lung-Ch’êng and hold a grand meeting
to observe the ceremony of worshipping their ancestors, Heaven and Earth, spirits and
demons; and in autumn when the horses grow fat, they hold a grand meeting in Tai-Jin and
also count persons and cattle and levy poll taxes on them.” The grand festival at LungCh’êng was apparently the most important when all the members of the ruling strata were
assembled for worship as well as for the discussion of important affairs of state.
According to Shiratori, there is reason to believe that the ceremony of the heaven-worship
among Hsiung-Nu was a privilege granted only to the sovereign, Shun-Yu, whose eligibility
for the throne was imagined to arise through the divine appointment to this office by Heaven
(Shiratori K, 1929b: 29). The Lung-Ch’êng festival demonstrates the ideological unity of the
cult and the means and sources of the centralization of the power:
1.
The ideological legitimation of power on the basis of the monopolization of the cult,
of the rites of worship and of the divine ancestors, which in turn testifies the prevalence of
the principle of inheritance, ascribing a lineage the exclusive eligibility to intermediate
between the community and the deities, on which the prosperity and existence of the whole
community depended.
2.
The integrative function of collective participation in ceremonies of cults, directed at
the members of the local, regional and tribal elite of the subordinated and of the own ethnic
group: The necessity of mass legitimation and justification of power is a phenomenon of
mass participation, that means of popular sovereignty. In the Early States much of the
justification und publicly expressed consent, which Beetham regards as one of the basic
constituents of the legitimacy (Beetham D, 1992: 90), remained limited to the sphere of
relationships between the central power and the intermediary tribal aristocracy, and not
between the sovereign and the commoners at large . Both types of actions to express consent
“... in countries subject to conquest, the ceremonies in which the established leaders of the
conquered paid homage and swore allegiance to the conqueror, were an important element in
the legitimation of alien rule ... A second type of action expressive of consent is that of taking
part in consultations or negotiations with the powerful, either about aspects of policy or about
the terms on which a particular service is rendered, which culminate in agreement.”
(Beetham D, 1992: 93), are thus to be found in the obligation of all the members of the royal
clan, tribal chieftains, the high-ranking aristocrats of the lineages/tribes with marital and
kinship ties as well as the leaders of the subordinate tribes to participate in these festivals. In
this inseparable unity of political power and divine power, the expression of obedience and
consent of the subordinate to the central authority manifested itself through betaking oneself
to the territory of the sovereign and through the presence in the center of ancestral cult of the
ruler, that means through the veneration of the ancestors, cults and deities of the dominators
and negotiational participation in the political decision-making. Hou-han-shu reports many
incidences of denying to attend these meetings of allegiance:
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Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
“Shi-tzu ... remained within the Chinese border ... and under pretense of illness never went to
Lung-chêng, where the Shan-Yü summoned a meeting for the discussion of affairs of state”
(Shiratori K, 1929b: 28).
“The Wu-sun who had once submitted to the rule of the Hsiung-Nu, later ceased to consent to
the summons of the Shan-Yü, when they became powerful enough even though they were
still subject to the Hsiung-Nu Shan-Yii”. (Ibid.)
3.
These ceremonies of worshipping the Heaven and ancestors undoubtedly constituted
the major instance
of public manifestation of claim to the central juridical power: ShanYü personally sat in judgment and the cult center served as the place of court (Ögel B, 1981).
The justification for the central jurisdiction and punishment, which meant a process of
transfer of these traditional rights of the local clan and tribal authorities to the higher level of
the political organization, to the central power, was related to the special mediating
relationship of the sovereign to the sanctities. Its consequence, i.e. the partial loss of
autonomy of the social subdivisions at the lower level, is a part of the emergence of the
monopoly of coercion and violence in the Early States. Chinese chronicles give the
impression that the Hsiung-Nu made considerable progress in the unification of law and
penalty ( e.g., one who drew the sword against someone else would be executed, the
belongings of a family, which was sentenced as guilty of robbery, would be confiscated. A
minor offence would be punished through crushing under car­ wheels and a major one
through death. Imprisonment had the maximal duration of ten days so that there were only a
few prisoners in the whole Hsiung-Nu Empire) (De Groot, 1921: 60 or Ssu-Ma Ch’ien,
Watson B (ed)., Chapter 110: 164). Unfortunately we have no information about the agencies
of coercion, for example, whether there were specialized forces to secure the internal order,
compliance with the rules etc. other than the corps of the followers and soldiers, the; quasi
body guard, of the sovereign and other tribal leaders.
4.
These annual ceremonies of sacrifice and worship also constituted the foundations for
the emergence of a rudimentary centralization of tributes and gradual transformations in the
direction of establishing obligatory taxation on the basis of the second pillar of the Early
State besides the sacred rule, namely reciprocity. The ruler was obviously entitled
reciprocally to a certain annual share in the live-stock of the subordinates in return for his
mediation between the community and the sanctity and for his imaginary vital services of
guaranteeing the conditions of reproduction which he controlled exclusively through the
monopolization of cult-practices etc. Since the sacrifice to the deities justified the necessity
for a central census of the live-stock and people and the central collection of the tributary
obligation, which was probably seen at the beginning rather as the means of communal
raising of the “offerings to the gods” as the act of reciprocity towards the sovereign, the
monopoly of the dominant cult also legitimated the increasing seizure of the surplus by the
central power at the cost of the share of the local levels. In short, the fundamental process of
emergence and establishment of a centralized usurpation of the economic surplus for the
emergence of a state was intertwined with the divine functions of the sovereign, with the
ideology of the divine sovereign(9).
At least the upper strata of the Hsiung-Nu in the core developed a clear consciousness of an
empire and a collective identity. Mao-Tun, the founder of the Hsiung-Nu-Empire, stated in
his letter to the Chinese Emperor (176 BC) that through the heavenly blessing and the ability
of his soldiers and horses he could unify all the people “bending the bows” in one unique
family. The political unification of the Eastern steppe under a central power and of China at
40
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
the same time from eighteen hundred princes of the Chou period to seven till the Period of
the Contending States were interrelated developments, which exemplify the role of external
threat and warfare in some state-building processes. Similar to the sociogenesis of the
European medieval states as analyzed by Norbert Elias, a process of elimination and the
formation of a monopoly seem to have been a natural consequence of the competition and
contest for power (Elias N, 1976: II,135). The transformation of the official title of the
Hsiung-Nu sovereign designates the establishment of a powerful political center, competing
for supremacy with the Chinese Empire in the steppes. This increasing political power found
its counterpart in the further elaboration of the ideology.
The first title known from Mao-Tan in the Chinese sources, T’ang-li Ku-t’u Shan Yü (or
Ch’eng-li ku-t’u Chan-yu) is being translated as “the Great son of heaven” in the literature.
Shiratori and Lattimore would like to equate ‘‘Shan-Yü” with “the state of boundless
immensity of heaven” (Lattimore O, 1951: 450 and Shiratori K, l 929b: 72).
Literally translated, the title means “With the charisma of the Heaven”. During the reign of
Mao-tun’s son Lao-shan, the Hsiung-Nu sovereign was called “the Great Hsiung­ Nu
Emperor installed by Heaven and Earth and born of the Sun and Moon” (Schmidt PW, 1949:
9 and Grousset E, 1965: 51). The Hsiung-Nu sovereign is not only the direct descendant of
the two most venerated deities but also designated by the heavenly will to become the ruler.
The Sky god or the God of Heaven is pretended to be actively engaged in the rule and state of
the empire: Nothing occurred without the intention, will and plan of the Heaven. The HsiungNu sovereigns felt themselves as the “tools of the Heaven”, implementing his intentions and
will (Schmidt PW, 1949: 10-11).
Emel Esin puts forward a fundamental line of argumentation that the cosmology of
Universalism, which diffused in the Chou era (1st Millenary BC) from China to the nomadic
world and became the foundation of the Hsiung-Nu Empire, the Kök Turk as well as the
successive empires of the steppe, produced an “ideology”, a view of the universe that
contributed to the concept of harmony and centripetality:
“... the two principles of heaven and earth are differentiated, but unite each other to produce a
universe in harmony ... the Chinese, the Turks and other Inner-Asians were enjoined to
contribute to the erection of a centre where a harmonious balance between the influences of
the two principles would be maintained. Thence the centripetal ideal of the universal state. In
cosmography, the earth was imagined as a flat and square expanse over which rose a celestial
hemisphere. The corners of the square expanse which were left uncovered by the hemispheric
heavenly dome, were thought to be inhabited by the “outer states” of the four cardinal
directions who did not accept the humane rule of the universal state (thus depicted as
monsters) ... The Eastern Huns and the Turks particularly those who founded independent
states, naturally applied this cosmology from their own point of view. They saw the centre of
the world ... in their own royal residence. The ordu of the Turkish Kagan was described as the
point of intersection of the cardinal directions and therefore the pivot and centre of the world”
(Esin E, 1980: 46). Not only the royal tent but the microcosmos of each tent represents the
universe, the pillar symbolising the axis mundi, the pivot, connecting the earth and the
heaven. Furthermore, the cities built in the later steppe empires (like Ordu-Balik of the
Uighurs) all reflected the same cosmology (Ögel B, 1984: VII).
41
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
KÖK TURK (BLUE- OR HEAVEN-TURKS) EMPIRE
The appearance of the self -designation “Turk” and of the tribal name in the historical records
begins with the Kök Turks. According to the Chinese, the surface of the Empire extending
from the East to the West ten thousand “li” and from the North to the South 5 - 6 “li”,
amounted to 10.5 million square kilometers, the western border extending to North Caucasus
and Crimea (Kafesoğlu I, 1976: 713) from the Shantung plain and the Hingan mountains in
the East, in the North from the Kögmen mountains (Sayan) to the Indus Valley in the South
(Esin E, 1981: 80). It encompassed thirty different tribes in the period of Kapagan Kagan
(Divitçioğlu S, 1987: 179; Kafesoğlu I, 1976: 710-724) . The legitimation of the sovereign
remained sacred-based, but a transformation of power from cultic to political f unctions is
very clearly stated in these epitaphs. Even a comparison of the Kagan’s functions between the
Bugut Inscriptions (Cagatay S, 1976) of the early phase of the Kökturk Empire (VIth Cent.)
and the later Orkhun Inscriptions (VII - VIIIth Cent.) indicates this transition (Divitçioğlu S,
1987: 270). R. Sesen gives a remarkable description of the cultic-shamanist activities of the
Kagans of the 1st Kökturk Empire in the Arabic sources (Sesen R, 1968: 3).
The military success, the reglementation of the society through concrete norms, internal
pacification and order, establishment of political institutions to enforce the rule, the security
of the caravan routes, etc. now seem to be the most important functions of the sovereign in
the 2nd Kök Turk Empire.
The language of the inscriptions shows that besides his military function ( successful warfare)
the Kagan strove for the legitimation of his rule in terms of serving the vital common
interests: That means at his level of political development, secular public functions of the
central power, especially social prosperity, seem to be a decisive foundation of legitimacy,
which could disappear by the failure to fulfill them; it was interpreted as the withdrawal of
the approval and favor of the Tengri (compare also Avcioğlu D, 1978: 274). Bilge Kagan
describes how he made the “poor nation wealthy”, the few people “numerous” (as a sign of
prosperity), the “naked dressed ‘‘, how he supplied his subjects with gold, silver, silk, horses,
furs and cereals. In order to serve the Turkish “nation”(10), he and his brother Kül Tegin
(The Gökturk Empire had a dual form of political organization as the West and East parts.)
dispensed with sleep and rest and worked till dead (Bilge Khagan Ep. Northside 10, 11, 12,
Eastside 27; Kültegin Ep. Eastside 24, Tonjukuk Ep. 25). A.Z.V. Togan accentuates the
“caring-father” character (Togan AZV, 1946: 288) and O. Turan the arbitration function
(Turan O, 1980: 177) of the Turkic rulers.
The central power is designated as indispensable for the survival of Gökturks in the
inscriptions, and further the deities wish its establishment and support it: “The Turkic Heaven
above and the turkic Yersub (a synthetic concept of earthbound sanctities) below acted so: In
order that the Turk “budun” does not perish, but becomes again an independent ‘budun’(11),
they (deities) raised my father Elteris Kagan and my mother Elbilga Qatun by supporting
them from the summit of the Heaven” (according to the translation by Thomsen, 1924: 144145).
The Turkic inscriptions also state that the strength and the survival of the Gökturks depend on
their compliance with the traditional rules and laws, “töre”, and their residence at the
mythical place of origin, “sacred Otüken”, where, according to the mythology, also the cave
of ancestors was. The political interpretation of this strong admonition of the Bilge Khagan to
42
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
his subordinates ( “You will die if you leave Otüken”) is very frank: The central authority
tried to enhance its domination and control over the nomadic society by means of an ideology
which instrumentalized the nomadic tradition and belief system since its weak coercive
power could not accomplish to avoid fission, aiming at the reduction of the nomadic
mobility, warning against the option of subjugation to the Chinese Emperor instead of to
itself, which indeed brought the first Gökturk -Empire to an end ( 639), against the
acculturation and alienation from the nomadic way of life. The discovery of the cultural
loyalty - the conserving role of dominant culture and traditions - as an effective instrument to
stabilize the domination seems to be already realized. Bilge Khagan further explains the
reason for the subjugation of Turks, their “slavery” and misery during their subordination to
the Chinese rule as the disobedience and betrayal of the commoners towards the Kagan. In
two different passages Bilge Khagan states that the strength of the first Empire was based on
the unity and agreement between the “kara budun” and the “Begs” (aristocrats, members of
the ruling strata) (Bilge Khagan Epith. Eastside 3). Any disobedience towards the centralized
power will be punished by the deities through renewed catastrophies and death (Tonjukuk
Epith. Westside 1).
I agree with Kwanten, Thomsen and Grousset that the language style of the Orkun-Stone
inscriptions expresses a fully developed consciousness of their own history and an
established collective identity from the point of view of the powerful: according to this
dominant ideology, the integrity of the Turkic “nation” (budun) and its independent weidentity were founded on three pillars, which are always mentioned together in the
inscriptions:
- to have a sovereign of their own, KHAGA N(12) (see also Tekin T, 1963; Köprülü F, 1932:
II)
- to have a territory of the empire, IL
- compliance with the traditional tribal laws, TÖRÜ, which in reality were already subdued to
a rapid transformation through the progressing legislative acts of the ruler.
It is a great contribution of Ümit Hassan to reconstruct the genesis and ideological
transformation of these concepts from the ancient animist and totemist stages down to the
emergence of the early nomadic states, especially to the Kökturk Empire (Hassan Ü, 1985
and 1987).
Determined by the sacred basis of legitimation, the concept of “IL”, meaning “state
territory”, appears not only as a geographical term, but also as a sacred territory, on which the
sanctified social organization and sacred laws (TÖRÜ) are established . All through the
Epitaphs of Gökturks and their successors in power in steppes, of Uighure, “il” and “töre”
always appear connected. The intermingling of the sanctity with the social order is well
depicted in the following passages of the inscriptions:
“Otüken -Forest mountain is the place which holds the empire (il) together” (Kültegin Ep.
Soth 3). ... As long as the Turkish Kagan rules/resides on the Otüken -Mountain, ‘‘il’’
(meaning the empire) does not suffer any misery ... Tengri (Sky God) who gives ‘‘il’’…’’
Nevertheless, the emphasis on law and order (törü), which primarily fulfills secular functions
as political instruments of the centralized power, seems more and more irrespective of the
divine origin: The original sanctification enforces this central regulating function, but it is no
longer the unique cause.
43
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
“The more the early state developed however, the weaker the role of these ideological
components grew. ... The efficient governmental apparatus that developed after some time
was quite capable of maintaining the state organization without the necessity of recourse to
the ruler’s supernatural powers ...” ( Claessen HJM & Skalnik P, 1978c: 633-634).
As an illustration of this slow process of secularization:
“Bumin an Istemi Kagans established “il” and törü (that means the empire as a geographical
unit and the law) of the Turkic “budun” and they ordered it” (Kültegin Epith. Eastside1).
Otüken embodied the old mountain - and probably the earth - cult, which had been
monopolized by the ruling strata and localized in one place where the court of Khagan and
his ancestral cave were also situated (Hassan Ü, 1985 and 1987: 296). Ü. Hassan points out
that the cult of “Otüken yis” (Otüken forest) which continued also among the Uighurs, had its
origin in the hunting mode of existence. Later the tree motives were transformed into the cult
of yersub (earth-cult) parallel to the conscious ideological revival of archaic totems such as
the wolf (Ögel B, 1971: 40), bear, deer, etc. to political symbols. This cult of earth was
transformed later into the political concept of “Il”. Otüken-Mountain, and with it implicitly
the court of Khagan, the location of the center of power, was believed to be the center of the
universe, the cosmic axis (Divitçioğlu S, 1987: 106). The ideologies in general, but of the
Early States especially, illustrate the sociocentric and engaged, affective way of thinking and
world vision at these early levels of civilization and state-building processes (Elias N, 1983).
It is interesting to note that parallel to a gradual secularization of the political power and of
the legitimation of the rule, the residence of the Kagan was geographically separated from the
sacred Otüken (Ecsedy H, 1972: 256).
The Chinese documents inform us that the privilege of participating in the ceremonies of the
cult of ancestors, from whom the ruling stratum in the core derived its charisma, was reserved
to this group. The monopolization of access to the divine sources of authority remained a
major principle of stratification. “Kara budun”, the commoners held their ceremony of
sacrifice at the Orkun bank - away from the ancestral cave. The belief systems and ideologies
legitimating the stratification must define, create and establish not only shared values,
attitudes, purposes for the cohesion, but also distinctions, differential qualities and rights to
justify and ascribe the existing inequalities.
M.
Eliade (1987, Vol. 13: 87) asserts that the Turkic Religion was composed of two di­
verging branches, “the popular one is centered on shamanism, totemism and a vigorous
polytheism, the imperial one is antishamanist, antitotemist and has monotheistic tendencies in
its advocacy of the supremacy of Tengri, the sky god”. It seems that the Kagans
systematically undermined and gradually abolished the local totemist beliefs and the local
power of the shamans, but at the same time careful not to lose the loyalty and support of the
subdivisions and clans. The strategy was directed to change the balance of power in favor of
the religious center, which claimed to monopolize all the relationships with the deities,
gradually depriving the local tribal religions and their representatives of the religious power:
In short, the processual centralization of administrative and political power had to go hand in
hand with the ideological centralisation of the religious power in an Early State. The tribal
religion was reoriented promoting elements that had been secondary, “diluting or eliminating
elements that were in essence antimonarchist” (Eliade, 1987: 92).
The imperial ideology of the Gökturks illustrates how the “amalgamation of the oppositions
in an Early State”, as Kurtz puts it (Kurtz DV, 1981), can be transformed into a synthecized
44
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
secondary belief -system by the powerful, serving one of the most vital causes of coherence
and socio-political integration. But obviously other means of furthering the interdependence,
communication and integration consciously became ever more crucial, as we can observe by
the establishment of the Gökturk alphabet: It was deliberately chosen to be polyphonemic,
that means permitting different vowels between the consonants so that the tribes and
segments of the empire with differences in dialect could understand and use the unified
written language (Hassan D. 1987: 156; Pritsak O, 1953: 397-410 and 1952: 52).
The major aspects of this ideological synthesis - construct - as a substitute for the numerous
local religions can be summarized as below:
1.
The elevation of Tengri, Sky god, to the highest and universal deity of all the people.
Whereas for example among the Hsiung-Nu, the ranking sequence of sacrifices was
established as ancestors (first) - Sky - Earth - other deities, demons and spirits, Tengri
became the supreme god in the era of Gökturks as a creation of the imperial religion
(Universalization).
2.
The reduction of a great number of water and earth-bound deities or spirits of the
subordinate tribes and clans to one generalized or universalized goddess of iduq yer sub. The
numerous sacred mountains - or more precisely the mountain spirits - were then concentrated
in two or three summits, the most important of which “Otüken” has already been mentioned.
That means all the other spirits or totems were officially bound to Otüken, to the center of the
empire, at the same time court of the sovereign and birthplace of the ancestors of the dynasty.
Otüken, iduq yer sub and Tengri were somehow connected and indivisible.
3.
Promotion of new cults and rites such as the banner cult, flags carrying the wolf ‘s
head (mythical ancestor of the Turks) or the revival of ancient cults ( such as the adoption of
the very ancient practice of bloodless animal slaughter by strangling or suffocation) as
instruments of creating a new collective identity through such integrative symbols.
4.
Maintenance of the already firmly established divine power in the empires of the
steppe, derived from Tengri: The emperor “comes from him”, “resembles him”, receives and
transmits his orders, possesses the unique privilege to conduct conversations with him,
conquers in his name, names dignitaries in his name, distributes “kut “ and “ülüg” (charisma
and luck) .
Tengri determines the sovereign and the success of his rule: I will let the original tone of the
epitaphs, redacted by the sovereign and therefore reflecting the state ideology, be heard:
“I, the God resembling and by the Heaven appointed wise turkic Khagan…” Bilge Khagan
Epit. Eastside 1)
“According to the will of Heaven I became Khagan ...” (BK Epit. Northside 7)
“According to the will of the Heaven we take away from those who had an empire their
empire and bereave those who had a khagan of their khagan ...” (BK Eastside 15).
“With the blessing of the Heaven above and of the Earth below, I led my subjects (to the
distant lands)” (BK Northside 11).
There is no doubt that the Kök Turk Empire reached a higher developmental stage of a more
differentiated social stratification and administrative hierarchy with twenty eight different
titles of offices, which were according to the Chinese records hereditary, besides six Foreign
Ministers and three Ministers of the Interior (Mau -Tsai L, 1958: I,430; Ögel B, 1963: 27-42;
Chavannes E, 1903: 196; Köprülü F, 1932-39: II) . But Z.T. Tunaya argues in contrast that
45
Coşkun, H. E. K. Avrasya Sosyal ve Ekonomi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt 4, Sayı 4 (2017), s. 25-50.
this hereditary character of the offices was only limited to the highest ones - Shad, Yagbu,
Elteber - and S. Divitçioğlu extends it also to cover “Cor” and “erkin” (military) (Tunaya ZT,
1970: 39-41; Divitçioğlu S, 1987: 192).But where the environmental and economic factors
were impeding the process of centralization, the elaboration of the state ideology and
administration could not maintain this vast empire as well.
1
Pristine states were the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica, Peru, Mesopotamia,
Egypt, the Indus Valley and China and emerged autonomously through endogenous
developments ( see Serve ER, 1977; Fried MR, 1960: 713-731; Claessen HJM and
Skalnik P, 1981: 485; Khazanov AM, 1978c: 77-79).
2
According to the Epitaphs, Besbalig (city) was surrounded by Tunga Tigin on the
Yug-day.
3
Through his Üç Tarz-i Siyaset (three ways of politics), which he published in 1904,
Akçura came to be known as the creator of the ethnic nationalism, paving the way to PanTurkist ideals. But his contribution to the history and anthropology of
Turks is often overlooked.
4
Khazanov also concludes that this tradition was heterogeneous and incorporates
epico-mythological motifs of the various local tribes conquered by the Scythians. The final
redaction of the legend after the formation of the Scythian Kingdom occurred in circles of the
“Royal Scythians’’, i.e. by the rulers (Khazanov AM, l978b: 426).
5
Haussig explains that Coloxais was derived from the “xsaya” meaning king or ruler in
Indogermanic and from “skolo” which was the self-designation of Scythians according to
Herodot, so that the synthesis of both words in the legend elevated the youngest son to the
ancestor of all Scythians (Haussig W, 1955: 684).
6
The choice of words as symbols in myths can be important for the legitimation
purposes: “Paralats” (the original Iranian word being “paradata”) meant “put at the peak”.
7
Scythian Early State was organized in three subdivisions, all ruled by the members of
the Royal Clan. But the biggest subdivision was directly ruled by the Scythian king. Besides
the Royal Clan, the secular aristocracy, the third privileged estate were the priests (enarei)
who were drawn from the aristocratic strata, perhaps even from the royal dynasty.
8
Salmoran elucidates the prerequisite and quality of the centralized coercion: “the
existence of a system of social rules, that is legal rules, laid down by a centralized authority is
a sufficient condition of the state ... Agencies of coercion are usually centralized and their
actions ritualizes ... It is not necessary for the social structure to be maintained through
constant coercion, it is sufficient for members of the population to recognize that certain
individuals are empowered to use coercion” (Salmoran RT, 1981: 394).
9
There is only one historical source which depicts the transition from the develop­
mentally very early stage of usurpation of the surplus in form of “ideologically” voluntary
gifts to the next stage of obligatory tributes and taxation during the reign of the second
sovereign Lao-Shan, the son of Mao-Tun. According to Ssu-Ma Ch’ien (Chap. 110: 170) a
Chinese eunuch, who had changed the sides of loyalty, taught the Shan-Yü how to make an
itemized accounting of the live-stock and people as a basis for introducing taxation.
10
The term used for the collective identity unit of the Göktürks in the inscriptions is
“budun” which is unfortunately frequently translated as “nation” with the biased view of our
present organizational form. I will stick to it, but want to point out the problem of designating
socio-political units of the past (6th - 8th Century) with today’s terminology.
11
The epitaphs were written in the second Gökturk-Empire after the experience of fifty
years of subordination to the Chinese Empire.
12
There is a common tradition of the association between the smith-chieftains and the
shamans in the Eurasian mythology. It was always the royal clan •as a whole in nomadic
46
ASPECTS OF THE STATE FORMATION PROCESS
IN THE ANCIENT NOMADIC SOCIETIES OF EURASIA
Early States who possessed the Claim to political power from the Scythians to the Kökturks
and even down to the Ottomans so that the rules of succession were never clear. A study of
the dynastic descent of Turkic Khagans shows that the succession could go in the direction of
sons, brothers or uncles. Through the Bugut-Inscriptions (580) which were written before the
Orkun-Inscriptions for example it is known that a meeting of the male members of the royal
clan and high-ranking officials chose Tsapar-Khagan. The rank of the lineage of the mother
seems to have also influenced the outcome of the competition for power as we learn from the
case between Ta-lopin and An-Io (both candidates for the Khagan), the former losing the
chance because of the lower descent of his mother.
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