Rouran epochGöktürk epochUyghur epochKirghiz epoch
RouranFirst GöktürkTang ruleSecond GöktürkUyghurKirghizHunsWestern GöktürkTürgeshKarlukKhazar
  • 400
  • 500
  • 600
  • 700
  • 800
  • 900

The Xin Tang Shu names the ruling house of the Yenisei Kirghiz after the word for its lord. According to the text, the Kirghiz call their lord Are. The clan accordingly took the surname Are, 阿熱氏.[1] The word is a title and a family name at once. It has been read as a Chinese writing of the title inal, as a Samoyedic word for father, as the tribal name Az and as the Turkic idi, lord. None of these readings is secure. Turkic Atlas treats the title under Aco.[2] The Chinese give the word both as the ruler’s title and as his clan name. Therefore the sources may have confused a personal name with a title.[3]

From the Uyghur grant of the title Bilga Ton Irkin after 758 to the war of 840, the Chinese text calls the Kirghiz ruler Are.[1] When the Uyghurs weakened, he called himself khan. In 840 Are Khan burned the camp of the Uyghurs.[1] The realm he ruled is the Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate. The notice gives him no personal name and names no other member of the house. For the investiture of 847 it names no ruler.[1]

The Kirghiz traced themselves to the Han general Li Ling. After they took the princess Taihe, the Xin Tang Shu says, the Kirghiz thought themselves descended from Li Ling and of one clan with the Tang. For that reason they sent her home with an envoy.[1] The Jiu Tang Shu gives the same reason.[4] The Xin Tang Shu adds that those among the Kirghiz with dark eyes say they are Ling’s descendants.[1] The Tang court did not dispute the claim. In the Huichang years it ordered that Are be entered in the register of the imperial clan.[1] No source shows whether the house itself descended from Li Ling. The record shows a claim made by one court and accepted by the other. Turkic Atlas tells it under the descent from Li Ling.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217
  2. ^ Mokeev 2019, p. 31–33
  3. ^ Drompp 2002, p. 482
  4. ^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 195

Sources

Literature

  • Anvarbek Mokeev, Yenisey ve Altay Kırgızlarında siyasi unvan olarak aco ve idi terimlerinin menşesi ve anlamı (2019)
  • Michael R. Drompp, The Yenisei Kyrgyz from Early Times to the Mongol Conquest (2002)

Related

What links here1

Persons
Are Khan

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Are.” Turkic Atlas, revised 4 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/lineages/are-lineage/

Last revised: 4 November 2026