A coarse-grained diorite stele about 3.4 metres high, resting on a carved stone turtle base, raised in 732 by Bilge Khagan of the Second Turkic Khaganate in memory of his younger brother, Prince Kul Tigin. Carved in the earliest known Old Turkic runic script, with a parallel Chinese text, it is one of two principal Orkhon inscriptions, the other honouring Bilge Khagan himself. The inscription is the earliest surviving documentary attestation of Tengri, the sky god, in the historical record, addressing him directly as the source of the khagan's authority to rule; Tengri is nowhere given a human image on the stele or anywhere else in the Old Turkic textual tradition, appearing only as the sky invoked in words, which this atlas records as the deity's own iconography rather than treating the absence as an oversight. The stele stands today in the Orkhon Valley, Mongolia, within the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Facts
Origins
Date of Creation CountrySourced to the subject's own account Custody
Current LocationSourced to the subject's own accountOrkhon Valley, Ovorkhangai Province, Mongolia 1 Physical Form
MediumSourced to the subject's own accountCarved diorite stele on a stone turtle base 1 DimensionsSourced to the subject's own account Medium (class) Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectNo figural depiction; an Old Turkic and Chinese royal commemorative inscription naming Kul Tigin, Bilge Khagan and Tengri. 2 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own accountThis atlas describes and cites the stele and its inscription rather than reproducing an image of it. 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names Bilge Khagan directly: "stone turtle base, raised in 732 by Bilge Khagan of the Second Turkic Khaganate in memory of his younger brother, Prince Kul Tigin."
Source Orkhon inscriptions (the Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan steles)Anonymous (Old Turkic royal inscription)
This source names Mongolia directly: "The stele stands today in the Orkhon Valley, Mongolia, within the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site."
Source Orkhon inscriptions (the Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan steles)Anonymous (Old Turkic royal inscription)
This source names Tengri directly: "surviving documentary attestation of Tengri, the sky god, in the historical record, addressing him directly as the source of the khagan's authority to rule; Tengri is nowhere given a human image on..."
Source Orkhon inscriptions (the Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan steles)Anonymous (Old Turkic royal inscription)
Belongs to Tradition
Source Orkhon inscriptions (the Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan steles)Anonymous (Old Turkic royal inscription)
Sources
1. Orkhon Inscriptions, Wikipedia
WikipediaLead section, naming Kul TiginQuote, Lead section, naming Kul Tigin
They were created in honor of two Turkic princes, Kul Tigin and his brother Bilge Qaghan.
2. Orkhon inscriptions (the Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan steles)
Anonymous (Old Turkic royal inscription), 732catalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A coarse-grained diorite stele about 3.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.