Ediz

Rouran epoch Göktürk epoch Uyghur epoch Kirghiz epoch

Rouran First Göktürk Tang rule Second Göktürk Uyghur Kirghiz Huns Western Göktürk Türgesh Karluk Khazar

Rouran 400–554
First Göktürk 552–630
Tang rule 630–682
Second Göktürk 682–744
Uyghur 744–840
Kirghiz 840–924
Huns 370–469
Western Göktürk 552–659
Türgesh 699–766
Karluk 766–800
Khazar 650–969

The Ediz appear in the Tang record as a tribe of the Toquz Oghuz. From 795 the khagans of the Uyghur Khaganate were drawn from them. They were no longer drawn from the Yaglakar.^[1]

Whether they belonged to the nine from the beginning is argued. A governor-general of the tribe came to China as an ambassador in 788. This shows the tribe inside the confederation by then. It may have been there from the foundation. By this date the division of the Uyghurs into nine would then have become political rather than ethnic: a count of the seats at the top rather than a list of peoples.^[1]

In Turkic texts

The name appears in a few runiform texts of the Uyghur age, and all of them are uncertain. In line 2 of the north face of the Tariat inscription, one editor reads ediz, with a query, beside the Tongra among the people of the khan.^[2] A short text cut into a rock at Zamyn Buuts in Bayankhongor province in Mongolia may belong to the time of the Uyghur Khaganate. It has been taken to name the Ädiz.^[3] Three interpretations differ on whether it records the passing of Ädiz men and horses or an Ädiz camp.^[3] At Dukhyn Buuts, in the same province, a tamga beside another rock text may belong to the Ediz, according to its finders.^[4]

References

^ a b Mackerras 1972, p. 158
^ Saadettin 1995, p. 75
^ a b Badam 2024, p. 31
^ Badam 2024, p. 34

Sources

Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215 (after Jiu Tangshu)

Literature

Colin Mackerras, The Uighur Empire According to the T'ang Dynastic Histories (1972)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Gömeç, Saadettin, Terhin Yazıtı'nın Tarihi Açıdan Değerlendirilmesi (1995)
Azzaya Badam, Moğolistan’da 2018–2021 Yılları Arasında Bulunan Runik Yazıtlar (2024)