Uokil, or Vokil, was a name of Bulgar dynastic clan listed in the '' Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans''. The first listed in Nominalia was Kormisosh (r. 737–754) and the last was

Umor Umor ( bg, Умор) was the ruler of Bulgaria in 766. According to the Namelist of Bulgarian Rulers, Umor reigned for only 40 days in 766 and belonged to the Ukil clan, which makes him a relative of the former rulers Vinekh and possibly Kormiso ...

(r. 766).

Theories regarding origins

Kazakh Turkologist Yury Zuev had drawn attention to circumstantial evidence suggesting links between the Vokil and various Central Asian peoples, during

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

and the early Middle Ages. The peoples concerned include: * the ''Hūjiē'' (呼揭) or ''Wūjiē'' (烏揭), whom Zuev believed to have been an offshoot of the Yuezhi or

Wusun The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <

Old Chinese

(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi-

; * the ''Xījiē'' (奚結), a Tiele tribe. * the ''Augaloi'' of the Transoxiana region beyond the Oxus, among the Indo-European-speaking '' Tocharii''; However, such theories are controversial and cannot be all true. Conclusive evidence proving or disproving them has never been presented and there is no consensus amongst scholars on whether or not such links exist.

Yuezhi and Wusun

Yuezhi and

Wusun The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <

Old Chinese

(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi-

are Chinese exonyms for two separate

Indo-European peoples The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

, who lived in western China and Central Asia, during ancient times. Before the end of the 4th Century BCE, the Yuezhi and Wusun were located in areas that were later part of the Chinese provinces of

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

and Xinjiang. There was substantial interaction between the Yuezhi, the Wusun and a neighbouring people, the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 ...

, whom many scholars have suggested were precursors of the Huns. In about 200 BCE, the Xiongnu leader Modu Chanyu attacked the Yuezhi, and subjugated several other peoples. The Yuezhi subsequently attacked the Wusun, in about 173 BC, and killing their king, Nandoumi (). According to a Wusun legend, Nandoumi's infant son Liejiaomi was left in the wild, but was miraculously saved by a she-wolf, which allowed him to suckle, and ravens, which fed him meat. This pivotal myth shared similarities with the founding myths of many other peoples in Central Asia. It has been, in particular, the basis of theories that the

Ashina Ashina may refer to: *Ashina tribe, a ruling dynasty of the Turkic Khaganate *Ashina clan (Japan),_one_of_the_Japanese_clans *Ashina_District,_Hiroshima.html" ;"title="DF 7 of 80; retrieved 2013-5-4 ..., one of the Japanese clans *Ashina District, H ...

– the royal clan of the Göktürk Turks – originated amongst the Wusun. In 162 BC, the Yuezhi suffered a further, more decisive defeat at the hands of the Xiongnu and retreated from

. According to Zhang Qian, the Yuezhi fragmented and most fled westward into the

Ili Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to: Abbreviations * Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent * Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics * Influenza-like illness * Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...

river valley. The Wusun and Xiongnu later drove the main body of the Yuezhi southward, through

Sogdia Sogdia (Sogdian language, Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also ...

, into Bactria. The Wusun settled afterwards in Gansu, in the Wushui-he (Chinese: "Raven BlackWater River") valley, as vassals of the Xiongnu. According to the Chinese chronicle '' Hanshu'', in 49 BCE the Xiongnu ruler, Zhizhi defeated three small states. Zuev reads the names of these states as the ''Hujie'' (呼揭) or ''Wūjiē'' (烏揭), ''Jiankun'' (堅昆) (i.e. Kyrghyz) and '' Dingling'' (丁零). While other scholars have regarded the Hujie ~ Wujie as most likely an offshoot of the Wusun, Zuev considers it possible that they were a remnant of the Yuezhi. The ''Hanshu'' recorded that the Hujie'' retreated to the

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

area and the

Great Khingan The Greater Khingan Range or Da Hinggan Range (; IPA: ), is a -long volcanic mountain range in the Inner Mongolia region of Northeast China. It was originally called the Xianbei Mountains, which later became the name of the northern branch of th ...

slopes (next to the Dingling).Yu. Zuev, ''"Early Türks: Sketches of history and ideology"'', p. 56 According to Zuev, the ''Hujie'' emigrated further westward, initially to the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...

area, and may have joined the Yuezhi in their migration to Sogdia and Bactria.

Augaloi

In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy (VI, 12, 4) wrote of the Lower

Syr-Darya The Syr Darya (, ),, , ; rus, Сырдарья́, Syrdarjja, p=sɨrdɐˈrʲja; fa, سيردريا, Sirdaryâ; tg, Сирдарё, Sirdaryo; tr, Seyhun, Siri Derya; ar, سيحون, Seyḥūn; uz, Sirdaryo, script-Latn/. historically known ...

that near a northern section of the Amu Darya were the Iatioi and '' Tokharoi'' (Tukharas, i.e. Bactrians), and south of them were a people known as the ''Augaloi''. Yury Zuev postulated that the ''Augaloi'' mentioned by Ptolemy with the Ukil. However, a majority of scholars regard ''Augaloi'' as a misrendering of

Sacaraucae The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who histo ...

Xijie

This name may be a sinicisation of ''igil'', a Turkic root meaning "many" (''Xijie'' < 奚結 ''γiei-kiet'' < ''igil''). In the middle of the 7th century, the Xijie were reported to be located on the northern bank of the Kherlen River. The text of an

Old Uyghur Old Uyghur () was a Turkic language which was spoken in Qocho from the 9th–14th centuries and in Gansu. History The Old Uyghur language evolved from Old Turkic after the Uyghur Khaganate broke up and remnants of it migrated to Turfan, Qomu ...

funeral monument for Eletmish-Kagan (d. 759), referred to the ''Qara Igil bodun'': a combination of the determinative ''qara'' ("blackness") and ''igil'' ("people"). (This name may also have suggested the influence of

Manichaeanism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (AD ...

, which had a "black and white" dualistic cosmology.) In a 9th-century Yugur text, the ''Xijie'' were mentioned as having a strong leader named Igil kül-irkin ( Old Tibetan ''Hi-kil-rkor-hir-kin''), and were located next to the ''Iduq-kas'', ''Iduq-qash'', or ''Iduk- Az'' ( OTib ''Hi-dog-kas''), who may have been offshoot or successor of the Yuezhi or Alans or Turkicized Yeniseian speakers.

Oghuz connection

A circumstantial link between the Oghuz and the Bulgar Vokil is the naming of Verkil, a hero of the epic ''Kitab-i dedem Korkut''.Yu. Zuev, ''"Early Türks: Sketches of history and ideology"'', p. 57

References