Askel

Askel was a king of the Hermichiones. His envoys came to Constantinople in the reign of Justinian.^[1] Theophanes the Confessor, the Byzantine chronicler, records the embassy in one sentence: “In the same month envoys arrived (in Constantinople) from Askel, king of the Hermichiones, who dwell inland of the barbarian nation near the Ocean.”^[1] The month is July of the year of the world 6055, that is July 563.^[1]^[2] The chronicler says nothing of what the envoys wanted.^[1]

Identity

Modern accounts identify the Hermichiones, or Kermichiones, with the Göktürks. They rely on Theophanes of Byzantium, a Greek historian of the sixth century.^[3] He wrote that the Turks east of the Don, called Massagetae of old, are called Kermichiones by the Persians in their own language.^[4] Askel may be the A-hsi-chieh of the western Göktürks. In that case his embassy would be the first from the Göktürks to Byzantium.^[5] The Chinese records give the name A-hsi-chieh to tribes of the On Ok west of Suyab. It is understood as Ärski or Äskil.^[6] Two further points are made. Askel was the name of the first tribe of the Nushibi, the westernmost group of the western Göktürks, and of its ruler alike. The Persian name Kermichiones may go back to the “red” Hephthalites taken into the Göktürk realm.^[7]

A different explanation identifies the Hermichiones with the people who came to Europe as the Avars. It regards Askel as one of their kings.^[8] It points out that the first Göktürk embassy reached Byzantium in 568, five years after Askel’s.^[9] Menander records an Avar embassy at Constantinople in the thirty-sixth year of Justinian, 562 to 563.^[10] It accepts the conjecture that Theophanes wrote “inland of the Avar nation” and not “of the barbarian nation”.^[2]^[11]

Name

ἈσκήλGreekTheophanes the Confessor
AsceltusLatin
ScultorLatin

In his praise of Justin II, the Latin poet Corippus names a Scultor. Scultor sent envoys and many gifts and was ready to serve in the emperor’s hall.^[2] Scultor has been identified with Askel.^[2] Another takes Scultor as a form of the name of Istemi.^[12] Modern accounts question the equation of Askel with Scultor.^[3] It remains open whose king Askel was. The date of the first Göktürk embassy to Byzantium depends on this: 563 if he was a Göktürk, 568 if he was not.

References

^ a b c d Theophanes the Confessor; Scott 1997, p. 351
^ a b c d Chavannes 1903, p. 231
^ a b Scott 1997, p. 352
^ Theophanes of Byzantium
^ Golden 1992, p. 128
^ Golden 1992, p. 136
^ Sinor 1990, p. 302
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 231–232
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 233
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 232
^ de Boor 1883, p. 239
^ Nöldeke 1879, p. 158

Sources

Theophanes the Confessor (after Theophylact Simocatta)
Theophanes of Byzantium

Literature

Cyril Mango, Roger Scott (trans.), The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern History AD 284–813 (1997)
Carl de Boor (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia, vol. I (1883)
Édouard Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) occidentaux (1903)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Theodor Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden. Aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari übersetzt und mit ausführlichen Erläuterungen und Ergänzungen versehn (1879)
Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)