Tarkhun ( Chinese: 突昏 ''tū-hūn'', died 710) was a

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

n ruler ( Sogdian: ''

ikhshid ''Ikhshid'' ( sog, xšyδ, ) was the princely title of the Iranian rulers of Soghdia and the Ferghana Valley in Transoxiana during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods. The title is of Iranian origin; scholars have derived it variously from ...

'') of

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

from somewhere 705-707 to 710. After receiving the news of the capture of

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

by the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

general

Qutayba ibn Muslim Abū Ḥafṣ Qutayba ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ Muslim ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī ( ar, أبو حفص قتيبة بن أبي صالح مسلم بن عمرو الباهلي; 669–715/6) was an Arab commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who became governor of ...

in 709, Tarkhun sent envoys to the latter and acknowledged the authority of the Umayyad Caliphate. His two sons had to be kept at the Umayyad court as hostages. However, one year later, Tarkhun was overthrown by a local rebellion because of his pro-Muslim policy, and was succeeded by another Sogdian prince named

Gurak Gurak or Ghurak (Chinese: 乌勒伽 ''wūlèjiā'') was a medieval Sogdian ruler in Central Asia during the period of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. In 710, he was installed as king ( Sogdian: ''ikhshid'') of Samarkand after the populace over ...

, who had Tarkhun imprisoned. Tarkhun shortly after committed suicide. His two sons, however, managed to flee to the court of another Sogdian ruler named Divashtich at Panjikant, where they were treated honorably. The accession of Tarkhun is reported in the Chinese chronicles of the ''

Tang Huiyao The ''Tang Huiyao'' () is an institutional history of Tang dynasty compiled by Wang Pu and presented it to Emperor Taizu of Song in 961. The book contains 100 volumes and 514 sections, it has an abundant content for the period before 846, and scar ...

'': "During the years of Shenlong (705-707), Ninieshishi astich-Unash (698-700)died. And his son Tarkhun was put on the throne".''

'' Book 99 (唐会要　卷九十九): "神龙中泥涅师师卒，又册其子突昏" "During the years of Shenlong (705-707), Ninieshishi died. And his son Tarkhun was put on the throne" in . It is also reported in the ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'': "After his death Mastich-Unash succeeded him. After the death of Mastich-Unash, the people chose Tarkhun as King".In New Book of Tang, Book 221. 新唐书/卷221下: "高宗永徽时，以其地为康居都督府，即授其王拂呼缦为都督。万岁通天中，以大首领笃娑钵提为王。死，子泥涅师师立。死，国人立突昏为王。开元初，贡锁子铠、水精杯、码瓶、驼鸟卵及越诺、侏儒、胡旋女子。其王乌勒伽与大食亟战不胜，来乞师，天子不许。久之，请封其子咄曷为曹王，默啜为米王，诏许。乌勒伽死，遣使立咄曷，封钦化王，以其母可敦为郡夫人。" "In the Yonghui era (650–655 CE) Emperor Gaozong named Wartramuka as Governor of

Kangju Kangju (; Eastern Han Chinese: ''kʰɑŋ-kɨɑ'' < *''khâŋ-ka'' (c. 140 BCE)) was the Chinese name of a kingdom in Central Asia during the first half of t ...

. In the Wansui Tongtian era (696-697 CE)

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

ordained the great leader Tukaspadak as King. After his death Mastich-Unash succeeded him. After his death, the people chose Tarkhun as King. (...) Then King Ghurak lost in war against the Arabs, came to plead for help, but the Emperor refused. Later, he asked for his son

Turgar Tūrgār, also Thurgar ( Sogdian: ''twrγ'r'', Chinese: 咄曷 ''Duō-hé'') was a medieval Sogdian ruler (an Ikhshid) in Transoxiana and successor to his father Ghurak during the period of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. He was the last r ...

to be ordained King, which was accepted...." in

Sources

*Al-Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir. ''The History of al-Tabari.'' Ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater. 40 vols. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1985-2007. * * *Wang Pu, Institutional History of Tang唐会要,volume 99.

References

710 deaths Sogdian rulers Year of birth unknown 8th-century Iranian people {{Iran-royal-stub