Türk-shad

The embassy of Valentinos in 576 was received first by Türk-shad. Menander calls him Turxanthos and names him one of the leaders among the Göktürks.^[1] At the first mention in the account of the embassy, the manuscripts read the name as Τουρξάθου, without the n. The printed Τουρξάνθου is an emendation. One manuscript has Τούρξαθος again at the last mention.^[2]^[3] The Greek name has also been taken for a title, *Turuq-shad, the shad of the Turuk, that is of the five Duolu tribes east of Suyab.^[3] Another proposal places him one step below Tardush in the political order, as a governor.^[4] Valentinos had come to greet the Göktürk leaders on the elevation of Tiberius to Caesar. He was to keep firm the treaties that Istemi had made with the emperor Justin. He was also to ask the Göktürks to attack the Persians.^[1] He found Türk-shad in mourning, because his father had just died.^[1] Menander calls the dead man Silziboulos. Most scholars take him for Istemi.^[5] Others deny it. They give four reasons. The names stand far apart in sound. Istemi’s name has a Greek form of its own in Theophylact. The Chinese sources give Istemi no son but Tardush. Tardush was already khan of the Western Frontier Region in 576 and would have come to his father’s burial.^[6] In their view Silziboulos was one of the eight chiefs of whom Menander writes. Turxanthos inherited the dignity and was no more than that.^[7]

Türk-shad charged the Romans with speaking with ten tongues and deceiving with all of them. As he said it, he stopped his mouth with his ten fingers.^[1] He said that their emperor spoke of friendship to him. He said that the emperor had made a treaty with the Varchonitai, the Göktürks’ runaway slaves, by whom he meant the Avars.^[1] He boasted that the Alans and the Utigurs had set themselves against the Göktürks. He added that they now stood in the place of slaves.^[1] After his father’s burial rites he sent Valentinos on to his brother Tardush on the mountain Ektel.^[1]

Some scholars take him for only a governor. In their view he let the envoys pass on to Tardush’s court. Meanwhile he set Anagai, prince of the Utigurs, and the Göktürk general Bochan to invade Byzantine land.^[4] In Menander, Türk-shad threatened, as Valentinos left, that he would take Bosporos at once.^[1] He sent Bochan with a very large Göktürk army to destroy the city. Anagai already lay encamped there with another Göktürk force.^[1] The city fell while the Roman envoys were still with the Göktürks. From then on the Göktürks were at war with the Romans.^[1] Türk-shad held Valentinos and his companions. He insulted and mocked them, and then he let them go.^[1]

Menander’s context puts the fall of the city in 576, the year of the embassy.^[1] Others date the attack to 576 and the fall of the city to about 579.^[8] A third group has the Göktürks go on to besiege Chersones.^[4] In their view there was no war with Byzantium. Tardush and Valentinos agreed that the alliance stood, and the Göktürks kept the Crimea.^[4] With the siege of Bosporos the Göktürk realm reached the Black Sea.

References

^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Menander Protector
^ Menander Protector; Blockley 1985, p. 172
^ a b Markwart 1938, p. 149
^ a b c d Yavuz 2025, p. 321
^ Sinor 1990, p. 302,303
^ Sinor 1990, p. 303,305
^ Sinor 1990, p. 304,305
^ Golden 1992, p. 100,131

Sources

Menander Protector

Literature

Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)
R. C. Blockley, The History of Menander the Guardsman: Introductory Essay, Text, Translation, and Historiographical Notes (1985)
Josef Markwart, Wehrot und Arang. Untersuchungen zur mythischen und geschichtlichen Landeskunde von Ostiran (1938)