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Afrasiab paintings Wall paintings of about 660 in the Hall of the Ambassadors at Samarkand. Long-haired Göktürks usher the embassies to the Sogdian king Varkhuman, and two figures in feathered caps are identified as Koreans.
al-Balādhurī minimal Arab historian of the ninth century, author of the Futūḥ al-buldān. He is a witness to the Khazar victory at Ardabil in 730 and to the khagan's submission to Marwan in 737.
al-Iṣṭakhrī Arabic geographer of about 932. His chapter on the Khazars names a Jewish king over a mixed population, seven judges, and the strangling of the khagan at his investiture.
al-Masʿūdī Arabic historian and geographer of the tenth century. Two of his works treat the Khazars, the Bulgars and the Turks; he wrote from Baghdad and from travel, and he names what he heard.
Altai runiform inscriptions More than a hundred short runiform texts cut into rock in the Altai Republic, first reported in 1819. They are undated, many are damaged, and most readings are provisional.
Altın Köl Inscriptions Two runiform stelae found in 1878 in Khakassia, Yenisei texts E 28 and E 29. Stone I names a leopard, Erklig and perhaps Umay; stone II is a hero's epitaph. Some scholars tie them to Bars Beg.
Ammianus Marcellinus Latin history of the Roman empire to the death of Valens in 378, finished about 392. Its last book holds the first full description of the Huns and of their attack on the Alans and the Goths.
aṯ-Ṯaʿālibī Arabic history of the Persian kings, written for a Ghaznavid prince about 1017 to 1021 and ascribed to aṯ-Ṯaʿālibī. It preserves the Persian tradition on the khāqān and on Bahrām's war with Šāba.
Begre inscription (E 11) Runiform epitaph on a stele in north-eastern Tuva for Tör Apa, who rode against the Tabgach khan at fifteen and died at seventy-seven. Placements run from the seventh century to the ninth and later.
Bei Qi Shu (Book of Northern Qi) Official history of the Northern Qi, largely lost and made good from the Bei Shi.
Bei Shi (History of the Northern Dynasties) History of the northern dynasties from the Northern Wei to the Sui, completed by Li Yanshou in 659. It abridges the Wei Shu, the Zhou Shu and the Sui Shu and is not an independent witness.
Bilge Khan inscription Runiform monument for Bilge Khan on the Orkhon, with the text of its faces. Its historical section runs parallel to the Kül Tegin inscription; its own passages give the khan's campaigns by age.
Bilge Khan's Golden Crown Gold diadem with a bird of prey on its front panel, found in 2001 in a silver chest at the Bilge Khan complex. The excavators date the hoard to 735, a later critique to the Uyghur age.
Bugut inscription A stone of about 582 to 584 on a stone tortoise in central Mongolia, in Sogdian. The earliest monument of the Göktürk state, set up for Taspar Khan according to some scholars and for Mahan Tegin according to others.
Cefu yuangui Chinese encyclopaedia arranged by topic, compiled under Wang Qinruo and Yang Yi and completed in 1013. Its chapters on foreign vassals date the embassies of the western Göktürks year by year.
De administrando imperio Handbook of statecraft by the emperor Constantine VII, about 948 to 952. It tells how Sarkel was built and gives the only report of the Kabar secession from the Khazars.
Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk Mahmud al-Kashgari's dictionary of the Turkic languages, written between 1073 and 1077 for the caliph. It contains a world map, the tribes and their brands, the animal calendar, proverbs and verse.
Epitaph of Qarï Čor Tegin (Xi'an) minimal Gravestone found at the end of 2012 in Xi'an, the former Tang capital Chang'an. It has a long Chinese text and seventeen short lines in runiform Turkic, for an Uyghur prince.
Fengshi Wenjian Ji minimal Collection of notes by the Tang official Feng Yan, written in the late eighth century. Its section on tea follows the custom from a monastery on Mount Tai to the capital and on to the Uyghurs.
Gardīzī (Zayn al-akhbār) minimal Persian history of about 1050 with chapters on the Turkic peoples. It gives the road from the Toghuzghuz to the Kirghiz khan's encampment and draws, like the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, on an older common source.
Han Shu Dynastic history of the Former Han. Chapter 94 is the fullest early account of the Xiongnu, chapter 96 of the Wusun and the Western Regions.
Hou Han Shu Dynastic history of the Later Han, compiled in the fifth century. Chapter 89 treats the southern Xiongnu, chapter 90 the Xianbei who took their place.
Hoyto Tamir inscriptions Thirty-four painted runiform texts on the Tayhar rock by the Tamir river in Mongolia. Three have animal-year dates that have been placed in 753 and 756, and three name a journey to Beshbalik.
Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam Anonymous Persian geography of 982, the Regions of the World. It lists the Turkic peoples region by region, with their neighbours, their trade and their rulers.
Ibn Fadlan Report of an Abbasid embassy that travelled from Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars in 921 and 922. The one eyewitness account of the Oguz, and a description of the Khazar state from just outside it.
Ibn Rusta Arabic geographical encyclopaedia of about 903. It says that the Khazar ruler and his circle are Jews and that the rest keep a faith like that of the Turks. Part of its material is older.
Irk Bitig The one long text in runiform script on paper: sixty-five omens copied at a Dunhuang monastery. The colophon gives the monastery, the day and the people it was written for.
Issyk inscription Inscription on a silver cup from the Issyk kurgan near Almaty, fifth to third century BC. Some scholars call its signs early runes, others the script of Iranian nomads. Outside the secured corpus.
Jabogan inscription minimal Five runiform lines on a split rock from Jabogan in the Altai Republic, found in 1927 and again in 2004. One line names three saddled horses. The stone is undated.
Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang) The first official history of the Tang, completed 945; the principal Chinese source for the western Göktürks after 618, the Ten Arrows and the Türgesh.
John of Ephesus Syriac church history by John, Monophysite bishop of Ephesus, written at Constantinople in the 570s and 580s. Its sixth book carries the earliest account of Zemarchus's embassy to the Göktürks.
Jordanes Latin history of the Goths, written by a Goth in 551 as an abridgment of the lost Gothic history of Cassiodorus. It contains the fullest surviving account of Attila, drawn from Priscus.
Karabalghasun inscription Trilingual stele from the Uyghur capital on the Orkhon, found in 1889. The only early source for the Uyghur conversion to Manichaeism.
Kartlis Tskhovreba The collection of Georgian chronicles. Its account of Heraclius's war brings 'Turks from the west' to the siege of Tiflis and names an eristaw Djibghou, whom some identify with the yabgu.
Kül Tegin inscription Runiform monument of 732 on the Orkhon, with the full text of its three Turkic faces. It tells the history of the Göktürk state, the service record of one man, and a speech to the living.
Küli Čor inscription Runiform stele at Ikhe Khushotu in central Mongolia for Küli Čor, a lord of the Tardush. It tells his campaigns to the Iron Gate and his death in battle. Dated between 719 and 725.
Kutadgu Bilig Mirror for princes in Turkic verse, finished at the Karakhanid court in 1069–1070. Its four figures stand for law, Kut, intellect and the end, and it is the oldest work of Islamic Turkic literature.
Li Deyu's Letters to the Kirghiz minimal Letters of the Tang chief minister Li Deyu to the Kirghiz khan, written in the emperor's name from 843 to 845. They answer the envoys, claim kinship through Li Ling and refuse the title Tengri Khan.
Liang Shu Chinese history of the Liang dynasty, 502 to 557, presented in 636. Its chapter 54 holds the entry on the Hephthalites, called Hua, with their embassies of 516, 520 and 526.
Life of Xuanzang Biography of the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, begun by his disciple Huili and completed by Yancong in 688. Its second book describes the pilgrim's reception by the western Yabgu Khan near Suyab.
Marvazī (Ṭabāʾiʿ al-ḥayawān) minimal Arabic compendium of about 1120 by the physician Marvazī, with chapters on the Chinese, the Turks and the Indians. Its chapter on the Turks describes the Kirghiz and their diviner, the faghīnūn.
Menander Protector Greek history of the years 557 to 582, written under Maurice and surviving in fragments. It is the source for the embassies between the Göktürks and Byzantium.
Mount Mugh documents minimal The archive of Dēwāštīč, lord of Panjikent, found in 1933 on Mount Mugh in Tajikistan. Sogdian letters and contracts of the decade after 710, the chief Sogdian documents from Sogdiana itself.
Movsēs Dasxurancʿi The Armenian History of the Caucasian Albanians. It records the mission of Bishop Israyēl to the Huns north of Derbent in 681 and names their ruler Alp Ilitʿuer.
Murfatlar inscriptions About sixty runiform inscriptions on the rock walls of the churches of a cave monastery near Constanța, in the Bulgar lands on the lower Danube. Ninth to tenth century.
Nalaikh Inscription Four-line runiform text from Nalaikh, dated by estimate to about 730 and read as naming Tengri and Umay. A catalogue of 1983 lists it as a tile and a later fake made for tourists.
Nan Qi Shu Dynastic history of the Southern Qi, 479 to 502, compiled by Xiao Zixian under the Liang. Its chapter 59 records the Ruirui embassies of 478 to 483 and their plan for a joint war against the Wei.
Nan Shi History of the Southern Dynasties, 420 to 589, completed by Li Yanshou in 659. It condenses the southern histories and records the Rouran embassies to the Liang up to 541.
Narshakhī, History of Bukhara Local history of Bukhara, written in Arabic for the Samanid amir in 943 or 944 and kept in a Persian version of 1128. It runs from the oasis legend through the Arab conquest to the Samanids.
Nikephoros Short History of the years 602 to 769 by Nikephoros, later patriarch of Constantinople, probably of the 780s. It tells how Heraclius crowned the Göktürk ruler and promised him his daughter.
Old Tibetan report on the northern kings Old Tibetan manuscript from Dunhuang, Pelliot tibétain 1283, a report of about 750 on the kings and peoples of the north. It lists Göktürk tribes and tells three Göktürk myths.
Ongi inscription Runiform stele on the Ongi river in southern Mongolia, put up by a son for his father in the reign of Bilge Khan. Its date is argued, from 716 to 740.
Priscus Greek history of the eastern Roman empire from about 434 to the 470s by Priscus of Panium, surviving in fragments. Its author went on an embassy to Attila's court in 449 and described what he saw.
Procopius Roman history of the wars of Justinian, written in the 550s. The Greek witness to the Hephthalites, and the one that calls them Huns with white bodies who had long lived apart from the Huns.
Protobulgarian sign corpus More than a thousand runiform-looking marks from Pliska, Madara, Preslav and other sites of the first Bulgar state, mostly of the ninth century. Whether they are letters or marks is disputed.
Record of the Western Regions Xuanzang's account of the lands he crossed between 629 and 645, set down by the monk Bianji. Its first book describes Suyab, the Thousand Springs and the states under Göktürk rule.
Rock inscriptions found in Mongolia, 2018 to 2021 Fifteen short runiform texts on rock, found in four provinces. They contain names such as Ädiz, Tuŋrač, Čur and Yegän Irkin, and a Yaglakar tamga. None is dated.
Runiform finds in Mongolia, 1990 to 1999 Thirteen short runiform inscriptions found in Mongolia in the 1990s: seven one-line texts in Bayan-Ölgii, four on Del Uul, one at Ikh Bichigt and a vessel from Tsetsuuhey.
Runiform inscriptions of the Khazar lands Short texts and marks in runiform signs from the Don, the North Caucasus and the Crimea, seventh to tenth century. They have been ascribed to the Khazars, the Bulgars and others.
Russian Primary Chronicle Chronicle of the Rus, compiled about 1113. It records Khazar tribute from the Slavic tribes, the campaign of Sviatoslav against the Khazars in 965 and Khazar Jews at Vladimir in 986.
Sanguozhi minimal History of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou, with Pei Songzhi's commentary of 429. Its chapter 30 treats the Wuhuan and the Xianbei, and the commentary quotes an older account of their customs.
Sebeos Armenian history of the seventh century, attributed to a bishop Sebeos. It follows the wars of Khosrow II to 661 and shows the Göktürks from the Persian side of the frontier.
Shahnameh Ferdowsi's Persian verse epic, completed about 1010, four centuries after the events. The only narrative source for the war of 588.
Shiji Sima Qian's history, completed around 91 BC. Chapter 110 is the earliest sustained account of the Xiongnu, chapter 123 the earliest of the Wusun.
Šine-Usu inscription Runiform memorial stele found in northern Mongolia in 1909. It speaks in the first person in the name of the second khan of the Uyghurs and tells his campaigns.
Sogdian Ancient Letters Sogdian letters on paper, found sealed in 1907 in a Han watchtower west of Dunhuang. Written by Sogdian merchants in Gansu, most probably in 313. Letter II names the destroyers of Luoyang xwn.
Sogdian inscriptions of the Talas valley minimal A few graffiti in the gorges south of the Talas river, in Sogdian and late Sogdian cursive but with Turkic names. Tenth to early eleventh century; the last dates from 1026.
Sogdian inscriptions of the upper Indus More than 650 Sogdian graffiti on the rocks of the upper Indus below Gilgit, most at Shatial. Left by merchants on the road to India, third to fifth century. A common name among them is xwn, the Hun.
Song Shu Dynastic history of the Liu Song, 420 to 479, compiled by Shen Yue in 487 and 488. Its chapter on the Tuoba ends with the Rouran under the southern name Ruirui.
South Yenisei inscriptions minimal Some seventeen short texts in a second runiform alphabet, on rock, stelae and grave goods in Khakassia and Tuva. Graves date them to the eighth to tenth century. None has been read with confidence.
Sui Shu (Book of Sui) The official history of the Sui and the principal Chinese source for the western wing.
Suji inscription Runiform inscription in Mongolia, spoken by a Kirghiz officer. Its date is argued: before 780 on one view, after 840 by another. One translation has a teacher called mar in it, another has none.
Szarvas needle case inscription minimal Short runiform text on a bone needle case from a late Avar cemetery at Szarvas in Hungary, found in 1983. About the eighth century.
Tabari Arabic universal history of the early tenth century. Its Sasanian section preserves the Persian tradition on the Göktürk wars and the king Šāba.
Talas and Tian Shan runiform inscriptions More than thirty runiform inscriptions in Kyrgyzstan, from the Talas valley, Issyk Kul and the Kochkor valley. Mostly epitaphs and visitors' texts, undated, with many unreliable readings.
Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang) minimal Compendium of Tang institutions, completed in 961 by Wang Pu. Its chapter on the Uyghurs gives the only complete list of the nine tribes of the Toquz Oghuz.
Tariat inscription Runiform stele found in Mongolia in 1957. It speaks in the name of the second Uyghur khan and gives his campaigns year by year, from 741 to 748.
Tes inscription minimal Runiform stele of the Uyghur Khaganate from the valley of the Tes river in north-western Mongolia, found in 1915. It survives only in pieces, and its date is placed anywhere from 750 to after 761.
The Khazar correspondence Hebrew letters of the 950s between Hasdai ibn Shaprut of Córdoba and a Khazar ruler named Joseph. Joseph's reply is the Khazar court's own account of its Judaism, and its authenticity is still argued.
The Kievian letter Tenth-century Hebrew recommendation letter from the Cairo Genizah. Its closing line was read as a Khazar word in runes. That reading and the letter's origin at Kiev are both disputed.
The Schechter letter Anonymous Hebrew letter of the tenth century from the Cairo Genizah, by a Khazar Jew. It tells the conversion differently and reports a war with the Rus and Byzantium. Its reliability is disputed.
Theophanes of Byzantium Lost Byzantine history of the years 566 to 581, known from a summary by Photios. It tells of the first Göktürk embassy to Justin II and of the Göktürk victory over the Hephthalites.
Theophanes the Confessor Byzantine chronicle of the years 284 to 813, compiled about 810 to 814 under the name of Theophanes the Confessor. It records Heraclius's alliance with the Göktürk commander Ziebel before Tiflis.
Theophylact Simocatta Byzantine history of the reign of Maurice, 582 to 602, written under Heraclius. It is the Greek witness to the Göktürk civil war, to the war of 588, and to Göktürk religion.
Tomb of An Jia minimal Tomb of the Sogdian sabao An Jia at Xi'an, buried in 579 under the Northern Zhou. The reliefs of its stone funerary couch show him at talks with a long-haired Göktürk ruler in a tent.
Tomb of Kang Ye minimal Tomb of Kang Ye at Xi'an, a man of Central Asian descent who died in 571 under the Northern Zhou. Of four such tombs found since 1999, his stone couch alone has no Zoroastrian scenes.
Tomb of Princess Linhe minimal Tomb of Princess Linhe, granddaughter of the Rouran khan Anagui, near Cixian in Hebei. Excavated in 1978 and 1979, with wall paintings and an epitaph that dates her death to 550.
Tomb of Shi Jun Tomb of the Sogdian leader Shi Jun (Wirkak), buried at Xi'an in 580. Its sarcophagus shows him with a caravan before a king in a yurt whose winged crown is identified as Hephthalite.
Tomb of Yu Hong minimal Tomb of Yu Hong at Taiyuan, who died in 592 under the Sui. His epitaph gives a career that begins at a Rouran khan's court, and his marble sarcophagus shows Zoroastrian ritual and paradise.
Tongdian Encyclopaedia of Chinese institutions by Du You, completed in 801. Its frontier chapters treat the Göktürks from their origin to the Türgesh, a century and a half before the Jiu Tangshu.
Tonyukuk inscription Runiform monument of two stones at Bain Tsokto on the upper Tola. In sixty-two lines the counsellor tells, in the first person, how the state was restored.
Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós Hoard of gold vessels known since 1799, with runiform and Greek inscriptions, from the Avar age in the Carpathian basin. The date of the runiform inscriptions against the vessels is disputed.
Ulaangom inscription minimal Gravestone with eight lines in Uyghur letters, found in 1955 near Ulaangom in Mongolia. Its language is Old Turkic of the Orkhon kind, the name in line 1 is read in four ways, and its date is argued.
Wei Shu Dynastic history of the Northern Wei, presented in 554. Its chapter 103, the principal Chinese account of the Rouran and the Gaoche, was lost and survives in the form the Bei Shi gave it.
Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang) The second official history of the Tang, completed 1060; for the Uyghurs and the Kirghiz the companion of the Jiu Tangshu, briefer, less precisely dated, and drawing on it.
Yenisei inscriptions More than 150 runiform epitaphs and short texts on stone along the upper Yenisei. They are the writing of the Kirghiz, in a regional form of the script of the Orkhon stones.
Yuefu Shiji (Collection of Yuefu Songs) minimal Anthology of songs and ballads compiled under the Northern Song. Juan 86 gives the Chile song and a song of the general Xue Rengui against the Göktürks of the Nine Surnames.
Zhou Shu (Book of Zhou) The official history of the Northern Zhou and the earliest sustained account of the Göktürks.
Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance) An eleventh-century chronicle compiling the earlier histories; useful for chronology, not for attestation.

Image credits

Afrasiab paintings: The left half of the west wall of the Hall of the Ambassadors, as mounted in the museum beside the Afrasiab mound: in the lower file three figures in white caftans, above them the caftan bearing the long Sogdian inscription. Photograph: Richard Mortel, 2023, CC BY 2.0.
al-Iṣṭakhrī: Map of Khurasan from a manuscript of al-Istakhri's geography, the Book of Routes and Realms. Al-Istakhri, manuscript map, reproduction, public domain.
Ammianus Marcellinus: Page of a ninth-century manuscript of Ammianus Marcellinus (Vaticanus lat. 1873) with Res gestae 31,2, the description of the Huns. Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 1873, reproduction, public domain.
Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk: The world map of Mahmud al-Kashgari's dictionary, from a manuscript of the work. Mahmud al-Kashgari, eleventh century, manuscript copy, reproduction, public domain.
Irk Bitig: The booklet open at page 6: runiform lines in black with red punctuation, and the Chinese Buddhist text of the other side showing at the edge. British Library, Or.8212/161, via the International Dunhuang Project. Public domain.
Kül Tegin inscription: The cutting of runic stones on the steppe, in a modern illustration. The inscription names its makers otherwise: the carvers were sent by the Chinese emperor, and Yollug Tegin wrote the text. Illustration as published by e-history.kz.
Kutadgu Bilig: A page of the Vienna manuscript, copied at Herat in 1439 in Uyghur script, with a heading in Arabic letters. Facsimile of the Vienna manuscript, St Petersburg 1890, public domain.
Life of Xuanzang: The Big Wild Goose Pagoda in the Ci'en monastery at Xi'an, the former Chang'an, where Xuanzang translated the scriptures he brought back. Photograph: Gary Todd, 2009, CC0.
Russian Primary Chronicle: Opening leaf of the Radziwiłł (Königsberg) Chronicle, a fifteenth-century copy of the Rus chronicle. Radziwiłł Chronicle, 15th century, reproduction of the manuscript, public domain.
Shahnameh: Folio 707v of the Shahnama made for Shah Tahmasp, showing Khusrau Parviz's charge against Bahram Chubina. Painted in Iran, about 1530–35. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1970.301.72, Gift of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., 1970, Open Access, public domain (CC0).
Tabari: Opening pages of the Persian version of al-Tabari's History by Bal'ami, a manuscript of the Il-Khanid period. Library of Congress, African and Middle East Division, Persian Manuscript Collection, 1-85-154.69, item record, public domain (no known restrictions).
Tomb of An Jia: The painted and gilded back panels of the stone funerary couch from the tomb of An Jia at Xi'an, buried in 579. Photograph: Momo and Gary Todd, 2022, file page, CC0.
Tomb of Princess Linhe: Modern copy of the painting above the gate of the tomb: a monster mask between two winged figures, over the arch of the doorway. Hebei Museum. Copy: Hebei Museum. Photograph: Gary Todd, 2014, CC0.
Tonyukuk inscription: The Tonyukuk tomb, seen from the southwest corner of its earth bank, in 1909. Photograph: Sakari Pälsi, 1909, Finnish Heritage Agency, CC BY 4.0.
Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós: Gold bowl from the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós, seventh to ninth century, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photograph: Wolfgang Sauber, 2015, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Yenisei inscriptions: The inscription of Ujuk-Archan on the upper Yenisei, five lines of runiform script with transcription, as Wilhelm Radloff printed it from the squeezes of the Finnish expedition. W. Radloff, Die alttürkischen Inschriften der Mongolei, St Petersburg 1895, p. 305. Public domain.
Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance): Opening of chapter 1 of the Zizhi tongjian in a printed edition of the Song period. Sima Guang, Zizhi tongjian, Song-period edition, reproduction, public domain.

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