, image = Pınarbaşı 5.JPG , caption = Bust of Alp Tegin as one of the founders of the " 16 Great Turkic Empires", part of the "Turkishness Monument" (''Türklük Anıtı'') in

Pınarbaşı, Kayseri Pınarbaşı () is a town and district of Kayseri Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is mostly made up of Circassians who settled this area by the Ottomans after their migration to Turkey as a result of Circassia ...

(opened 2000, 2012 photograph). , office = Governor of

Ghazna Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...

, term_start = 962 , term_end = 963 , monarch = Mansur I , predecessor = , successor = Abu Ishaq Ibrahim , death_date = September 963 , death_place =

Alp-Tegin, ( fa, الپتگین ''Alptegīn'' or ''Alptigīn'') was a Turkic slave commander of the

Samanid Empire The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian peoples, Ira ...

, who would later become the semi-independent governor of

from 962 until his death in 963. Before becoming governor of Ghazni, Alp-Tegin was the commander-in-chief (''

sipahsalar ''Ispahsālār'' ( fa, اسپهسالار) or ''sipahsālār'' (; "army commander"), in Arabic rendered as ''isfahsalār'' () or ''iṣbahsalār'' (), was a title used in much of the Islamic world during the 10th–15th centuries, to denote the se ...

'') of the Samanid army in

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

. In a political fallout over succession of the Samanids he crossed the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

mountains southward and captured Ghazna, located strategically between

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

in present-day

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, and thereby establishing his own principality, which, however, was still under Samanid authority. He was succeeded by his son, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim.

Biography

Origin

Alp-Tegin was originally part of the nomadic Turks that roamed the

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

s, but was later captured and brought as a slave to the Samanid capital of

Bukhara Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...

, where he was raised in the Samanid court. Despite being of Turkic stock and allegedly in speech, Alp-Tegin was highly

Persianized Persianization () or Persification (; fa, پارسی‌سازی), is a sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Persian society becomes "Persianate", meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Persian ...

.David Christian: ''A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia''; Blackwell Publishing, 1998; pg. 370: "Though Turkic in origin ��Alp Tegin, Sebuk Tegin and Mahmud were all thoroughly Persianized".

Service under Nuh I and Abd al-Malik I

During the reign of

Nuh I Nuh ibn Nasr, or Nuh I (died 954), was the Amir of the Samanids in 943–954. He was the son of Nasr II. It is rumoured that he married a Chinese princess.Richard N. Frye, ''Bukhara, the Medieval Achievement'', (University of Oklahoma Press, 1965 ...

(r. 943–954), Alp-Tegin was appointed as the head of the royal guard ('' hajib al-hujjab''). During the reign of Nuh's son and successor Abd al-Malik I (r. 954–961), Alp-Tegin was appointed as the governor of

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

, and by 961 he was the commander-in-chief (''

'') of the Samanid army in

, thus succeeding Abu Mansur Muhammad. On 10 February 961, Alp-Tegin arrived to

Nishapur Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...

with his vizier Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn al-Shibli. Alp-Tegin also played a major role in the appointment of

Muhammad Bal'ami Abu Ali Muhammad Bal'ami ( fa, ابو علی محمد, d. 992-997 CE), also called Amirak Bal'ami () and Bal'ami-i Kuchak (, "Bal'ami the Younger"), was a 10th-century Persian historian, writer, and vizier to the Samanids. He was from the influ ...

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

, whom he became close allies with. Iran circa 1000AD

Abd al-Malik I died a few months later (November). Alp-Tegin and Bal'ami sought to use his death as an opportunity to make the deceased ruler's young son Nasr the new ruler, in order to rule on his behalf. However, several powerful figures of the Samanid state, such as Fa'iq Khassa, favored Abd al-Malik's brother Mansur I, and managed to make him the new ruler. Bal'ami then quickly went over to Fa'iq's side, leaving Alp-Tegin isolated. Mansur I upon his accession had Alp-Tegin dismissed from the governorship of Khorasan.

Flight and recognition as governor of Ghazna

Alp-Tegin then took his personal guard of Turkic slave-soldiers and group of Iranian ''

ghazis A ''ghazi'' ( ar, غازي, , plural ''ġuzāt'') is an individual who participated in ''ghazw'' (, '' ''), meaning military expeditions or raiding. The latter term was applied in early Islamic literature to expeditions led by the Islamic prophe ...

'' to Balkh, where he in April 962 defeated an army sent by Mansur I. He then left for Ghazna, a small town in

Zabulistan Zabulistan ( fa, زابلستان ''Zābulistān''/''Zābolistān''/''Zāwulistān'' or simply ''Zābul'', ps, زابل ''Zābəl''), was a historical region in southern Afghanistan roughly corresponding to the modern provinces of Zabul and G ...

ruled by the local

Lawik dynasty The Lawīk dynasty or (Pashto: د لویکانو شاهي کورنۍ) Lōyak dynasty was based in Ghazni and Gardez, present-day Afghanistan. The Lawik were closely related to the Turk Shahi dynasty. The ''Siyasatnama'' of Nizam al-Mulk, the ''T ...

, defeating the forces of the local rulers of Bamiyan and

along the way. He seized Ghazna from

Abu Bakr Lawik Abu Bakr Lawik was a ruler of Ghazna (in modern Afghanistan) from the Lawik dynasty. He was most likely a vassal of the Samanid Empire. In 962, the Turkic slave commander Alp-Tegin captured Ghazna after besieging the Citadel of Ghazni for four ...

, a kinsman of the Kabulshah, and secured his position by receiving an investiture from the Samanids as the governor of Ghazna. Alp-Tegin died a few months later (September 963) and was succeeded by his son Abu Ishaq Ibrahim.

Sabuktigin Abu Mansur Nasir al-Din Sabuktigin ( fa, ابو منصور سبکتگین) ( 942 – August 997), also spelled as Sabuktagin, Sabuktakin, Sebüktegin and Sebük Tigin, was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 367 A.H/977 A.D to 38 ...

, a slave who was bought by Alp-Tegin and had accompanied him to Ghazna, was appointed as the ruler of Ghazna by the Turks of the town in 977, marking the start of the

Ghaznavid dynasty The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

, which would go on to conquer all of

Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...

and Khorasan.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alp-Tegin 10th-century births 963 deaths Ghilman 10th-century Turkic people Samanid generals Samanid governors of Khorasan Samanid governors of Ghazna Medieval slaves Slaves of the Samanid Empire