Tagma Tarkhan

Tagma was a Göktürk envoy whose title was tarkhan.^[1] Istemi sent him to the Roman emperor Justin II. He went with the returning embassy of Zemarchos, in place of the Sogdian Maniakh, who had died.^[1] Menander tells the embassy of Zemarchos. He gives Tagma’s name and title in a single sentence: “His successor’s name was Tagma, and his title was Tarkhan.”^[1]

The embassy

Istemi had received Zemarchos and a Persian envoy at a feast. He prepared for war on Persia.^[1] Then he summoned Zemarchos and reaffirmed his friendship with the Romans. He sent Zemarchos home with another envoy, since the former one had died.^[1] That envoy was Tagma.^[1] With him went the son of Maniakh, a very young boy. The boy had been given his father’s title and ranked immediately after the tarkhan.^[1]

The Göktürk envoys crossed the steppe with Zemarchos.^[2] In the land of the Alans, their ruler Sarosius received the Romans gladly. He refused to admit the Göktürk envoys until they had disarmed.^[3] The dispute lasted three days. Zemarchos then settled it, and the Göktürks came before Sarosius without their weapons.^[3]

At Constantinople

In a later fragment Menander names the Göktürks as the nation that most encouraged Justin to open the war with Persia.^[4] The Göktürks had invaded the land of the Medes and laid it waste. They sent an embassy to urge Justin to join them, so that the Persians would be destroyed from two sides.^[4] This embassy may be Tagma’s, and it would then have reached Constantinople in the autumn of 571.^[5] Justin, Menander says, made every preparation to keep the friendship of the Göktürks firm.^[4]

Title

The title is the Göktürk tarkhan. The Göktürks often gave it to envoys and counsellors.^[6] The same title stands in the inscription of Bilge Khan and in the Chinese transcriptions.^[7] One account calls Tagma a tarkhan of Istemi who was to escort Zemarchos home.^[8] Menander does not name him again. Nothing is recorded of his return.

References

^ a b c d e f g Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.3
^ Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.4
^ a b Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 10.5
^ a b c Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, fr. 13.5
^ Blockley 1985, p. 269
^ Blockley 1985, p. 265
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 239
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 292

Sources

Menander Protector

Literature

R. C. Blockley, The History of Menander the Guardsman: Introductory Essay, Text, Translation, and Historiographical Notes (1985)
Ludwig Dindorf (ed.), Historici Graeci minores, Bd. II: Menander Protector et Agathias (1871)
Édouard Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) occidentaux (1903)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)