Tarkhan

The tarkhan is a commander with a standing privilege. He is exempt from the dues that the ordinary subject owes. The rank sits below the princes of the ruling house and above the chiefs of tribes.

In the Roman account

After Maniakh’s death, an embassy from the Göktürks came west again. A man called Tagma led it, and his title was Tarkhan. With him went Maniakh’s son, a very young man who had been given his father’s title and ranked immediately after the tarkhan.^[1]

That sentence shows two things, and no other source this early shows them. The rank was hereditary enough for a very young man to inherit his father’s place. It was also precise enough for a Roman secretary to record who outranked whom.^[1]

The form of the title

The inscriptions write the word tarkan, with k after r, as they write irkin. They give it the plural tarkat. This plural has the ending that marks the plural of titles, as tegit does for the tegin.^[2]^[3] The ending may have come into the language together with the titles it is used with, possibly from a Mongolic language.^[4]

Apa Tarkan

In the Second Khaganate the title appears in a compound. The khan whom Tonyukuk had helped to the throne made him Apa Tarkan, with sole charge of military affairs.^[5] It is the highest command in the state that a man outside the Ashina held.

Later history of the title

Tarkhan outlived the khaganates by a thousand years. It passed into the Khazar, Bulgar, Mongol and post-Mongol worlds. It was still being conferred in Central Asia in the nineteenth century, always with the same core: a man and his household were freed from dues in return for service.

The title appears in two more places. A wall painting from the library room of the Manichaean ruin K at Qocho shows a row of marching warriors. They carry name tablets in Old Uyghur, and the first tablet is read inancu orongu targan.^[6] In the Arabic accounts of the conquest of Tokharistan, the lord of Badghis resisted the Arab armies at the beginning of the eighth century. He is called Nezak Tarkhan.^[7]^[8]

The persistence of the title says something about the institution. The rank was portable because the privilege was simple. Any ruler who has taxes to waive can grant a privilege that simple.

References

^ a b Menander Protector
^ Erdal 2004, p. 79,128,158
^ Tekin 1968, p. 311
^ Erdal 2004, p. 128,158
^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
^ von Le Coq 1913, pl. 2c
^ Tabari
^ Markwart 1938, p. 40–43

Sources

Literature

Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
Marcel Erdal, A Grammar of Old Turkic (2004)
Talât Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic (1968)
Albert von Le Coq, Chotscho. Facsimile-Wiedergaben der wichtigeren Funde der ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan (1913)
Josef Markwart, Wehrot und Arang. Untersuchungen zur mythischen und geschichtlichen Landeskunde von Ostiran (1938)