Rouran Khaganate

The Rouran Khaganate (柔然; Róurán), also known as Ruanruan or Juan-juan (蠕蠕; Ruǎnruǎn) (or variously Jou-jan, Ruruan, Ju-juan, Ruru, Ruirui, Rouru, Rouruan or Tantan)^[6][7] was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.^[8][9] The Rouran supreme rulers used the title of "khagan", a popular title borrowed from the Xianbei.^[10] The Rouran Khaganate lasted from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century, when they were defeated by a Göktürk rebellion at the peak of their power, which subsequently led to the rise of the Turks in world history.

Rouran Khaganate
330 AD–555 AD
Core territories of the Rouran Khaganate in Eastern Asia
Status	Khaganate
Capital	Ting northwest of Gansu^[1] Mumocheng^[1]
Common languages	Mongolic (Rouran & Mongolian)^[2] Old Turkic Middle Chinese(diplomacy)^[3]
Religion	Tengrism Shamanism Buddhism
Khagan
• 330 AD	Mugulü
• 555 AD	Yujiulü Dengshuzi
Legislature	Kurultai
Historical era	Late antiquity
• Established	330 AD
• Disestablished	555 AD
Area
405^[4]^[5]	2,800,000 km^2 (1,100,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Xianbei state First Turkic Khaganate Northern Qi Northern Zhou
Today part of	China Kazakhstan Mongolia Russia

Rouran
Chinese	柔然
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Róurán Wade–Giles Jou^2-jan^2 IPA [ɻǒʊ.ɻǎn] Middle Chinese Middle Chinese /ȵɨu ȵiᴇn/
Ruru or Ruanruan
Chinese	蠕蠕
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Rúrú, Ruǎnruǎn Wade–Giles Ju^2-ju^2, Juan^3-juan^3 IPA [ɻǔ.ɻǔ], [ɻuàn.ɻuàn] Middle Chinese Middle Chinese /ȵɨo ȵɨo/, /ȵiuᴇn^X ȵiuᴇn^X/
Ruru
Chinese	茹茹
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Rúrú Wade–Giles Ju^2-ju^2 IPA [ɻǔ.ɻǔ]
Ruirui
Chinese	芮芮
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Ruìruì Wade–Giles Jui^4-jui^4 IPA [ɻwêɪ.ɻwêɪ]
Rouru or Rouruan
Chinese	蝚蠕
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Róurú, Róuruǎn Wade–Giles Jou^2-ju^2, Jou^2-juan^3 IPA [ɻǒʊ.ɻǔ], [ɻǒʊ.ɻuàn]
Tantan
Chinese	檀檀
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tántán Wade–Giles T'an^2-t'an^2 IPA [tʰǎn.tʰǎn]

Their Khaganate overthrown, some Rouran remnants possibly became Tatars^[11][12] while others possibly migrated west and became the Pannonian Avars (known by such names as Varchonites or Pseudo Avars), who settled in Pannonia (centred on modern Hungary) during the 6th century.^[13] These Avars were pursued into the Byzantine Empire by the Göktürks, who referred to the Avars as a slave or vassal people, and requested that the Byzantines expel them. While this Rouran-Avars link remains a controversial theory, a recent DNA study has confirmed the genetic origins of the Avar elite as originating from the Mongolian plains.^[14] Other theories instead link the origins of the Pannonian Avars to peoples such as the Uar.

Considered an imperial confederation, the Rouran Khaganate was based on the "distant exploitation of agrarian societies", although according to Nikolay Kradin the Rouran had a feudal system, or "nomadic feudalism". The Rouran controlled trade routes, and raided and subjugated oases and outposts such as Gaochang. They are said to have shown the signs of "both an early state and a chiefdom". The Rouran have been credited as "a band of steppe robbers", because they adopted a strategy of raids and extortion of Northern China. The Khaganate was an aggressive militarized society, a "military-hierarchical polity established to solve the exclusively foreign-policy problems of requisitioning surplus products from neighbouring nations and states."^[1]

Name

Nomenclature

Róurán 柔然 is a Classical Chinese transcription of the endonym of the confederacy;^[15] meanwhile, 蠕蠕 Ruǎnruǎn ~ Rúrú (Weishu), which connoted something akin to "wriggling worm" , was used derogatorily in Tuoba-Xianbei sources.^[16][17][18] Other transcriptions are 蝚蠕 Róurú ~ Róuruǎn (Jinshu); 茹茹 Rúrú (Beiqishu, Zhoushu, Suishu); 芮芮 Ruìruì (Nanqishu, Liangshu, Songshu), 大檀 Dàtán and 檀檀 Tántán (Songshu). However, Baumer (2018), while acknowledging that Ruanruan (蠕蠕) was a "derogatory pun" on Rouran (柔然), proposes that the ethnonym Rouran (柔然) is indeed derived from the name Ruru (茹茹) or Ruirui (芮芮) of a "tribal father"^[a].^[20]

Mongolian Sinologist Sükhbaatar suggests Nirun Нирун as the modern Mongolian term for the Rouran, as Нирун resembles reconstructed Chinese forms beginning with *ń- or *ŋ-. Rashid-al-Din Hamadani recorded Niru'un and Dürlükin as two divisions of the Mongols.^[21]

Etymology

Klyastorny reconstructed the ethnonym behind the Chinese transcription 柔然 Róurán (LHC: *ńu-ńan; EMC: *ɲuw-ɲian > LMC: *riw-rian) as *nönör and compares it to Mongolic нөкүр nökür "friend, comrade, companion" (Khalkha нөхөр nöhör). According to Klyashtorny, *nönör denotes "stepnaja vol'nica" "a free, roving band in the steppe, the 'companions' of the early Rouran leaders". In early Mongol society, a nökür was someone who had left his clan or tribe to pledge loyalty to and serve a charismatic warlord; if this derivation were correct, Róurán 柔然 was originally not an ethnonym, but a social term referring to the dynastic founder's origins or the core circle of companions who helped him build his state.^[22]

However, Golden identifies philological problems: the ethnonym should have been *nöŋör to be cognate to nökür, & possible assimilation of -/k/- to -/n/- in Chinese transcription needs further linguistic proofs. Even if 柔然 somehow transmitted nökür, it more likely denoted the Rouran's status as the subjects of the Tuoba. Before being used as an ethnonym, Rouran had originally been the byname of chief Cheluhui (车鹿会), possibly denoting his status "as a Wei servitor".^[19]

History

Origin

Primary Chinese-language sources Songshu and Liangshu connected Rouran to the earlier Xiongnu (of unknown ethnolinguistic affiliation) while Weishu traced the Rouran's origins back to the Donghu,^[23] generally agreed to be Proto-Mongols.^[9] Xu proposed that "the main body of the Rouran were of Xiongnu origin" and Rourans' descendants, namely Da Shiwei (aka Tatars), contained Turkic elements, besides Mongolic Xianbei.^[11] Even so, the Xiongnu's language is still unknown^[24] and Chinese historians routinely ascribed Xiongnu origins to various nomadic groups, yet such ascriptions do not necessarily indicate the subjects' exact origins: for examples, Xiongnu ancestry was ascribed to Turkic-speaking Göktürks and Tiele as well as Para-Mongolic-speaking Kumo Xi and Khitans.^[25]

Kwok Kin Poon additionally proposes that the Rouran were descended specifically from Donghu's Xianbei lineage,^[26] i.e. from Xianbei who remained in the eastern Eurasian Steppe after most Xianbei had migrated south and settled in Northern China.^[27] Genetic testings on Rourans' remains suggested Donghu-Xianbei paternal genetic contribution to Rourans.^[28]

Khaganate

 

Portrait of a Rouran (芮芮國, Ruirui) ambassador by Emperor Yuan of Liang in 526-539 CE.^[29] Portraits of Periodical Offering, 10th century copy.

 

Ambassador from the Ruoran (Ruiruiguo 芮芮國) in The Gathering of Kings (王会图), circa 650 CE

The founder of the Rouran Khaganate, Yujiulu Shelun, was descended from Mugulü, a slave of the Xianbei. Rouran women were commonly taken as wives or concubines by the Xianbei.^[30][31][32]

After the Xianbei migrated south and settled in Chinese lands during the late 3rd century AD, the Rouran made a name for themselves as fierce warriors. However they remained politically fragmented until 402 AD when Shelun gained support of all the Rouran chieftains and united the Rouran under one banner. Immediately after uniting, the Rouran entered a perpetual conflict with Northern Wei, beginning with a Wei offensive that drove the Rouran from the Ordos region. The Rouran expanded westward and defeated the neighboring Tiele people and expanded their territory over the Silk Roads, even vassalizing the Hephthalites which remained so until the beginning of the 5th century.^[33][34]

The Hepthalites migrated southeast due to pressure from the Rouran and displaced the Yuezhi in Bactria, forcing them to migrate further south. Despite the conflict between the Hephthalites and Rouran, the Hephthalites borrowed much from their eastern overlords, in particular the title of "Khan" which was first used by the Rouran as a title for their rulers.^[34]

The Rouran were considered vassals (chen) by Tuoba Wei. By 506 they were considered a vassal state (fanli). Following the growth of Rouran and the turning of Wei into a classical Chinese state, they were considered partners of equal rights by Wei (lindi gangli).^[34]

In 424, the Rouran invaded Northern Wei but were repulsed.^[35]

In 429, Northern Wei launched a major offensive against the Rouran and killed a large number of people.^[33]

The Chinese are foot soldiers and we are horsemen. What can a herd of colts and heifers do against tigers or a pack of wolves? As for the Rouran, they graze in the north during the summer; in autumn, they come south and in winter raid our frontiers. We have only to attack them in summer in their pasture lands. At that time their horses are useless: the stallions are busy with the fillies, and the mares with their foals. If we but come upon them there and cut them off from their grazing and their water, within a few days they will be either taken or destroyed.^[33]

— Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei

In 434, the Rouran entered a marriage alliance with Northern Wei.^[36] In 443, Northern Wei attacked the Rouran.^[33] In 449, the Rouran were defeated in battle by Northern Wei.^[37] In 456, Northern Wei attacked the Rouran.^[33] In 458, Northern Wei attacked the Rouran.^[33]

In 460, the Rouran subjugated the Ashina tribe residing around modern Turpan and resettled them in the Altai Mountains.^[38] The Rouran also ousted the previous dynasty of Gaochang (the remnants of the Northern Liang) and installed Kan Bozhou as its king.^[33]

In 492, Emperor Tuoba Hong sent 70 thousand horsemen against Rouran. The outcome of the expedition does not appear in Chinese sources and is thus unknown. According to Nikolay Kradin, since Chinese sources are silent about the outcome of the expedition, it is probable that it was unsuccessful.^[1] Kradin notes that, possibly strained after the battle with Wei, the Rourans were not able to prevent the Uighur chief Abuzhiluo from heading "a 100 thousand tents" west, in a series of events that led to the overthrowing and killing of Doulun Khan.^[1] Two armies were sent in pursuit of the rebels, one led by Doulun, the other by Nagai, his uncle. The Rouran emerged victorious. In the war against the Uighurs, Doulan fought well, but his uncle Nagai won all the battles against the Uighurs. Thus, the soldiers thought that Heaven didn't favor Doulan anymore, and that he should be deposed in favor of Nagai. The latter declined. Nonetheless, the subjects killed Doulan and murdered his next of kin, installing Nagai on the throne. In 518, Nagai married the sorceress Diwan, conferring her the title of khagatun for her outstanding service.^[1]

Between 525 and 527, Rouran was employed by Northern Wei in the suppression of rebellions in their territory, with the Rourans then plundering the local population.^[1]

The Rouran Khaganate arranged for one of their princesses, Khagan Yujiulü Anagui's daughter Princess Ruru, to be married to the Han Chinese ruler Gao Huan of the Eastern Wei.^[39]

Heqin

 

 

 

CHAM-
PA

500

SASANIAN
EMPIRE

BYZANTINE
EMPIRE

NORTHERN
WEI

HYMYAR

SOUTHERN
QI

Alchon
Huns

Nezaks

TOCHA-
RIANS

ZHANGZHUNG

FUNAN

TUYUHUN

GUPTA
EMPIRE

HEPHTHALITES

ROURAN KHAGANATE

Kyrgyzs

Gaoju
Turks

Yueban

Magyars

Sabirs

Alans

Kutrigurs

Venedae

Finnish

Ugrians

Yakuts

Bashkirs

Antes

GOGU-
RYEO

AKSUM

◁ ▷

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The Rouran Khaganate and contemporary continental Asian polities c. 500 CE

The Rourans were involved many times in royal intermarriage (also known as Heqin in China), with the Northern Yan as well as the Northern Wei dynasty and its successors Eastern and Western Wei, which were fighting each other, and each seeking the support of Rouran to defeat the other. Both parties, in turn, took the initiative of proposing such marriages to forge important alliances or solidify relations.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1970s, the Tomb of Princess Linhe was unearthed in Ci County, Hebei. It contained artistically invaluable murals, a mostly pillaged but still consistent treasure, Byzantine coins and about a thousand vessels and clay figurines. Among the latter was the figurine of a shaman, standing in a dancing posture and holding a saw-like instrument. This figurine is thought to reflect the young princess' Rouran/nomadic roots.^[40]

On one occasion, in 540, the Rourans allegedly attacked Western Wei reportedly with a million warriors because a Rouran princess reported being dissatisfied with being second to Emperor Wendi's principal wife.^[40]

The first khagan Shelun is said to have concluded a "treaty of peace based on kinship" (huoqin) with the rulers of Jin.^[1] The royal house of Rouran is also said to have intermarried with the royal house of the Haital (Hephthalites) in the 6th century.^[41]

Society

Since the time of Shelun Khan, the khans were bestowed with additional titles at their enthronement. Since 464, starting with Yucheng Khan they started to use epoch names, in imitation of the Chinese. The Rouran dignitaries of the ruling elite also adopted nicknames, referring to their deeds, similarly to the titles the Chinese gave posthumously. Kradin notes that this practice is analogous with that of later Mongolian chiefs. There appears to have been a wide circle composing the nomadic aristocracy, including elders, chieftains, military commanders. The grandees could be high or low ranking. According to Kradin, the khagan could confer titles in reward of services rendered and outstanding deeds. He cites as an example of this an event occurred in 518, when Nagai entitled the sorceress Diwai khagatun, taking her as his wife, and gave a compensation, a post and a title to Fushengmou, her then former husband.^[1] The Rouran titles included mofu, mohetu (cf. Mongolian batur, baghatur), mohe rufei (cf. Mongolian baga köbegün), hexi, sili and sili-mohe, totoufa, totouteng, sijin (cf. Turkic irkin), xielifa (cf. Turkic eltäbär).

 

Gaochang was subjugated by the Rouran in 460.^[42]

It is known that in 521 Khagan Anagui was given two bondmaids as a gift from the Chinese, while Khagan Shelun is said to have once declared that the soldiers who fought outstandingly would receive captives. However, "there is nothing in the sources about the enslavement of prisoners of war".^[1] There is, however, evidence that the Rouran resettled people in the steppe.^[1]

Initially the Rouran chiefs, having no letters to make records, "counted approximately the number of warriors by using sheep's droppings".^[1] Later, they learned to make records using notches on wood. A later source claims that the Rouran later adopted the Chinese written language for diplomatic relations,^[3] and under Anagui, started to write internal records. According to the same source, there were also many literate people among the Rouran by that time.^[1] Kradin notes that the level of literacy "based on the knowledge of written Chinese" was rather high, and that it didn't affect only the elite and the immigrants, but also some cattle-breeders were able to use Chinese ideograms.^[1] In the Book of Song there is the story of an educated Rouran "whose knowledge shamed a wise Chinese functionary". There is no record of monuments erected by the Rouran, though there is evidence of the latter requesting doctors, weavers and other artisans to be sent from China.^[1]

 

The Rouran Khaganate and main polities in Asia around 500 AD

Imitating the Chinese, Anagui Khan introduced the use of officials at court, "surrounded himself with advisers trained in the tradition of Chinese bibliophily", and adopted a staff of bodyguards, or chamberlains.^[1] Hyun Jin Kim notes a similar use of bodyguards performing the same function in the contemporary Hunnic Empire to the west.^[43] Kim also compared the "rudimentary bureaucratic organisation" of the Rourans to that of the Huns, as well as their "hierarchical, stratified structure of government".^[44] Anagui's chief advisor was the Chinese Shunyu Tan, whose role is comparable to that of Yelü Chucai with the Mongols and Zhonghang Yue with the Xiongnu (or Huns).^[1]

Capital

The capital of the Rouran likely changed over time. The headquarters of the Rouran Khan (ting) was said to be initially northwest of Gansu. Later the capital of the Rouran became the legendary town of Mumocheng, said to have been "encircled with two walls constructed by Liang Shu".^[1] The existence of this city would be proof of early urbanization among the Rouran.^[1] However, no trace of it has been found so far; its location is unknown, and debated among historians.^[1]

Decline

In 461, Lü Pi, Duke of Hedong, a Northern Wei general and Grand chancellor of royal Rouran descent, died in Northern Wei. The Rouran and the Hephthalites had a falling out and problems within their confederation were encouraged by Chinese agents.^{[citation needed]}

 

Epitaph of Yujiulü Furen (郁久闾伏仁), died on 29 November 586

In 508, the Tiele defeated the Rouran in battle. In 516, the Rouran defeated the Tiele. In 551, Bumin of the Ashina Göktürks quelled a Tiele revolt for the Rouran and asked for a Rouran princess for his service. The Rouran refused and in response Bumin declared independence.^[45]

Bumin entered a marriage alliance with Western Wei, a successor state of Northern Wei, and attacked the Rouran in 552. The Rouran, now at the peak of their might, were defeated by the Turks. After a defeat at Huaihuang (in present-day Zhangjiakou, Hebei) the last great khan Anagui, realizing he had been defeated, took his own life. Bumin declared himself Illig Khagan of the Turkic Khaganate after conquering Otuken; Bumin died soon after and his son Issik Qaghan succeeded him. Issik continued attacking the Rouran, their khaganate now fallen into decay, but died a year later in 553.^{[citation needed]}

In 555, Turks invaded and occupied the Rouran and Yujiulü Dengshuzi led 3000 soldiers in retreat to Western Wei.^[46] He was later delivered to Turks by Emperor Gong with his soldiers under pressure from Muqan Qaghan.^[47] In the same year, Muqan annihilated the Rouran.^[45][48][49] All the Rouran handed over to the Turks, reportedly with the exception of children less than sixteen, were brutally killed.^[1]

On 29 November 586 Yujiulü Furen (郁久闾伏仁), an official of Sui and a descendant of the ruling clan, died in Hebei, leaving an epitaph reporting his royal descent from the Yujiulü clan.^[50]

Possible descendants

Tatars

According to Xu (2005), some Rouran remnants fled to the northwest of the Greater Khingan mountain range, and renamed themselves 大檀 Dàtán (MC: *da^H-dan) or 檀檀 Tántán (MC: *dan-dan) after Tantan, personal name of a historical Rouran Khagan. Tantan were gradually incorporated into the Shiwei tribal complex and later emerged as Great-Da Shiwei (大室韋) in Suishu.^[11] Klyashtorny, apud Golden (2013), reconstructed 大檀 / 檀檀 as *tatar / dadar, "the people who, [Klyashtorny] concludes, assisted Datan in the 420s in his internal struggles and who later are noted as the Otuz Tatar ("Thirty Tatars") who were among the mourners at the funeral of Bumın Qağan (see the inscriptions of Kül Tegin, E4 and Bilge Qağan, E5)".^[51]

Avars

Some scholars claim that the Rouran then fled west across the steppes and became the Avars, though many other scholars contest this claim.^[52] New genetic data seem to answer that question, says Walter Pohl, a historian at the University of Vienna. "We have a very clear indication that they must have come from the core of the Rouran Empire. They were the neighbors of the Chinese." "Genetically speaking, the elite Avars have a very, very eastern profile," says Choongwon Jeong, a co-author and a geneticist at Seoul National University.^[53]

 

 

 

400

ROURAN KHAGANATE

Kyrgyzs

Kokel

Gaoju
Turks

CHAM-
PA

FUNAN

Sargat

Khotan

HYMYAR

EASTERN
JIN

NORTHERN
WEI

GOGU-
RYEO

WESTERN
SATRAPS

VAKA-
TAKAS

GUPTA
EMPIRE

KIDARITES

XIONITES

AFRIGHIDS

SASANIAN
EMPIRE

BYZANTINE
EMPIRE

HUNS

Jushi

TOCHARIANS

TUYUHUN

N. LIANG

Paleo-Siberians

Samoyeds

Tungus

MEROË

AKSUM

◁ ▷

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The Eurasian Steppe Belt (in   on the map), the Rouran Khaganate, and main contemporary continental Asian polities circa 400 CE. Towards the east of the Steppe Belt, the rise of the powerful Rouran Khaganate may have encouraged the migration of the Huns to the west.^[54] On the other hand, other historians have noted a high synchronicity between the "reign of terror" of Attila in the west and the southern expansion of the Hephthalites, a vassal state of the Rourans, with extensive territorial overlap between the Huns and the Hephthalites in Central Asia.^[55]

That genetic data backs up two historical accounts of the Avar's origins. One sixth century Chinese source describes an enigmatic steppe people called the Rouran, one of many horse-riding nomadic groups that swept out of the Mongolian steppes to attack their northern borders. The Rouran's grassland empire was reportedly defeated by rival nomads in 552. In 567, diplomats from the Eastern Roman Empire reported the arrival of a new group from the east on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The newcomers called themselves the Avars, and claimed to be related to a far-off people known as the Rouran.^[53]

However, it's unlikely that Rouran would have migrated to Europe in any sufficient strength to establish themselves there, due to the desperate resistances, military disasters, and massacres.^[47] The remainder of the Rouran fled into China, were absorbed into the border guards, and disappeared forever as an entity. The last khagan fled to the court of the Western Wei, but at the demand of the Göktürks, Western Wei executed him and the nobles who accompanied him.^{[citation needed]}

The Avars were pursued west by the Gokturks as most-wanted fugitives and accused of unlawfully usurping the imperial title of Khagan and also the prestigious name of the Avars. Contemporary sources indicate the Avars were not native to the Western Steppe but came to the region after a long wandering. Nor were they native to Central Asia to the south of which lay the Hephthalite Empire which has on and off been identified with the Avars by certain scholars. Instead the Avars' origins were further to the east, a fact which has been corroborated through DNA studies of Avar individuals buried in the Pannonian Basin which have shown that they were primarily East Asian. Their pretensions to empire despite their relatively small numbers indicate descendance from a previously hegemonic power in the Far East. The first embassy of the Avars to Justinian I in 557 corresponds directly to the fall of the Rouran Khaganate in 555. The Rouran Khaganate had fallen not through gradual decline but through a sudden internal revolution led by the Göktürks, hence the still vivid memories of empire in the Avar Khagan, a fact paralleled later by the Kara-Khitans who migrated a long distance west after being suddenly dislodged from northern China but still kept their pretensions to empire and defeated the Great Seljuk Empire in the Battle of Qatwan as the Western Liao. The Hephthalite Empire in southern Central Asia would not fall to the Göktürks until 560. The Hephthalites themselves had previously been vassals to the Rouran and adopted the title Khagan from them. They were also already known as the Hephthalites to the Byzantines. In view of these facts a strong Rouran component in the Avar Khaganate has been seen as likely, although the Khaganate later included many other peoples such as Slavs and Goths.^[56]

Genetics

See also: Donghu people § Genetics, Xianbei § Genetics, Xiongnu § Genetics, Huns § Genetics, and Pannonian Avars § Genetics

 

Component analysis of the Ruanruan ( ) and the Xiongnu ( ) against modern population ( ). The Rouran are closest to modern East Asian populations such as the Buryats, the Oroqen or the Mongols.^[57]

Li et al. 2018 examined the remains of a Rouran male buried at the Khermen Tal site in Mongolia. He was found to be a carrier of the paternal haplogroup C2b1a1b and the maternal haplogroup D4b1a2a1. Haplogroup C2b1a1b has also been detected among the Xianbei.^[58]

Several genetic studies have shown that early Pannonian Avar elites carried a large amount of East Asian ancestry, and some have suggested this as evidence for a connection between the Pannonian Avars and the earlier Rouran.^[59] However, Savelyev & Jeong 2020 notes that there is still little genetic data on the Rouran themselves, and that their genetic relationship with the Pannonian Avars therefore still remains inconclusive.^[60]

Language

Main article: Rouran language

The received view is that the relationships of the language remain a puzzle and that it may be an isolate.^[61] Alexander Vovin (2004, 2010)^[62][63] considered the Rouran language to be an extinct non-Altaic language that is not related to any modern-day language (i.e., a language isolate) and is hence unrelated to Mongolic. Vovin (2004) notes that Old Turkic had borrowed some words from an unknown non-Altaic language that may have been Rouran. In 2018 Vovin changed his opinion after new evidence was found through the analysis of the Brāhmī Bugut and Khüis Tolgoi inscriptions and suggests that the Rouran language was in fact a Mongolic language, close but not identical to Middle Mongolian.^[64]

Rulers of the Rouran

The Rourans were the first people who used the titles Khagan and Khan for their emperors, replacing the Chanyu of the Xiongnu. The etymology of the title Chanyu is controversial: there are Mongolic,^[65] Turkic,^[66] and Yeniseian versions.^[67][68]

Tribal chiefs

1. Mugulü, 4th century
2. Yujiulü Cheluhui, 4th century
3. Yujiulü Tunugui, 4th century
4. Yujiulü Bati, 4th century
5. Yujiulü Disuyuan, 4th century
6. Yujiulü Pihouba, 4th century
7. Yujiulü Wenheti, 4th century
8. Yujiulü Heduohan, 4th century

Khagans

Personal name	Regnal name^[69]^[70]	Reign	Era names
Yujiulü Shelun	Qiudoufa Khagan (丘豆伐可汗, Mongolian: Жолоо барих хаан)	402–410
Yujiulü Hulü	Aikugai Khagan (藹苦蓋可汗, Mongolian: Ухаалаг хаан)	410–414
Yujiulü Buluzhen		414
Yujiulü Datan	Mouhanheshenggai Khagan (牟汗紇升蓋可汗, Mongolian: Мохошгуй хаан)	414–429
Yujiulü Wuti	Chilian Khagan (敕連可汗, Mongolian: Тэнгэрийн хаан)	429–444
Yujiulü Tuhezhen	Chu Khagan (處可汗, Mongolian: Цор хаан)	444–464
Yujiulü Yucheng	Shouluobuzhen Khagan (受羅部真可汗, Mongolian: Зол завшаан хаан)	464–485	Yongkang (永康)
Yujiulü Doulun	Fugudun Khagan (伏古敦可汗, Mongolian: Бэхэд хаан)	485–492	Taiping (太平)
Yujiulü Nagai	Houqifudaikezhe Khagan (侯其伏代庫者可汗, Mongolian: Хөгжих бэхлэгч хаан)	492–506	Taian (太安)
Yujiulü Futu	Tuohan Khagan (佗汗可汗, Mongolian: Дархан хаан)	506–508	Shiping (始平)
Yujiulü Chounu	Douluofubadoufa Khagan (豆羅伏跋豆伐可汗, Mongolian: Дүрэм бадралт хаан)	508–520	Jianchang (建昌)
Yujiulü Anagui	Chiliantoubingdoufa Khagan (敕連頭兵豆伐可汗, Mongolian: Тэнгэрийн мэдэлт хаан)	520–521
Yujiulü Poluomen	Mioukesheju Khagan (彌偶可社句可汗, Mongolian: Амар тайван хаан)	521–524
Yujiulü Anagui	Chiliantoubingdoufa Khagan (敕連頭兵豆伐可汗, Mongolian: Тэнгэрийн мэдэлт хаан)	522–552

Khagans of West

1. Yujiulü Dengshuzi, 555

Khagans of East

1. Yujiulü Tiefa, 552–553
2. Yujiulü Dengzhu, 553
3. Yujiulü Kangti, 553
4. Yujiulü Anluochen, 553–554

Rulers family tree

The family tree of the Khaghans of the Rouran

Mugulü 木骨闾 Cheluhui 车鹿会 Tunugui 吐奴傀 Bati 跋提 Disuyuan 地粟袁 Wenheti 缊纥提 Pihouba 匹候跋 Puhun 僕渾 □ Jiguizhi 诘归之 Shelun 社崘 ?-402–410 Hulü 斛律 ?-410–414 Héduōhàn 曷多汗 ?-?–402 Qiba 启拔 Wujie 吴颉 Lü Dafei 闾大肥 Lu Dàníbèiyí 闾大埿倍颐 Lu Lín 闾驎 Buluzhen 步鹿真 ?–414 Duba 度拔 Shèba 社拔 ?–414 Zhāoyí 昭仪 Feng Ba 馮跋 (d. 430) Datan 大檀 ?-414–429 Tāw Wúluhú 他吾无鹿胡 Pili 匹黎 Lu Fèng 闾凤 Princess Xihai 西海公主 Wuti 吴提 ?-429–444 Tulugui 秃鹿傀 Qǐlièguī 乞列归 Qilifu 俟力弗 Lu Zuǒzhāoyí 闾左昭仪 Emperor Taiwu 北魏太武帝 408–452 Tuhezhen 吐贺真 ?-444–464 Emperor Tuoba Yu 拓拔余 Yucheng 予成 ?-464–485 Nagai 那盖 ?-492–506 Doulun 豆仑 ?-485–492 Dengshuzi 邓叔子 ?-553–555 Futu 伏图 ?-506–508 □ □ Chounu 丑奴 ?-508–520 Qínifa 俟匿伐 Anagui 阿那瓌 ?-520–552 Zuhui 祖惠 Yǐjufa 乙居伐 ?–520 Tahan 塔寒 Tutujiā 秃突佳 Poluomen 婆羅門 ?-521–525 Dengzhu 登注俟利 ?-552–553 Wen of Western Wei 507–535–551 Empress Dao 悼皇后 525–540 Anluochen 庵罗辰 ?-553–554 Lanling of Eastern Wei 乐安公主 Princess Ruru 蠕蠕公主 Gao Cheng 高澄 (521–549) Kangti 库提 ?–553 Tiefa 铁伐 ?-552–553 Lu Chidelian 郁久閭叱地連 537–550 Wucheng of Northern Qi 537–569 Gao Shi 高氏 □ Yujiulü Furen^[50] Died on 29 November 586

See also

• History of the eastern steppe

Notes

1. likely Cheluhui, compare Book of Wei 103^[15] and Golden (2013).^[19]

References

Citations

1. Kradin NN (2005). "From Tribal Confederation to Empire: The Evolution of the Rouran Society". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 58 (2): 1–21 (149–169). doi:10.1556/AOrient.58.2005.2.3.
2. Seregin, Nikolai N.; Matrenin, Sergey S. (December 2020). "Mongolia in Rouran time: main aspects of the interpretation of archaeological materials". Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya [The Volga River Region Archaeology]. 4 (34): 36–49. doi:10.24852/pa2020.4.34.36.49. S2CID 234514608.
3. Kradin 2004, p. 163.
4. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 129. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 170959.
5. Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
6. Zhang Min (June 2003). "On the Defensive System of Great Wall Military Town of Northern Wei Dynasty". China's Borderland History and Geography Studies. 13 (2): 15.
7. Kradin, Nikolay N. (2016). "Rouran (Juan Juan) Khaganate in "The Encyclopedia of Empire"". The Encyclopedia of Empire. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 1–2.
8. Wei Shou. Book of Wei. vol. 103 "蠕蠕，東胡之苗裔也，姓郁久閭氏" tr. "Rúrú, offsprings of Dōnghú, surnamed Yùjiŭlǘ"
9. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000). (PDF). Early China. 25. Cambridge University Press: 20. doi:10.1017/S0362502800004259. JSTOR 23354272. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
10. Vovin, Alexander (2007). "Once again on the etymology of the title qaγan". Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, vol. 12 (online resource)
11. Xu Elina-Qian, Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan, University of Helsinki, 2005. pp. 179–180
12. Golden, Peter B. "Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran", in The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Them. Ed. Curta, Maleon. Iași (2013). pp. 54–56.
13. Findley (2005), p. 35.
14. "Origins of the Avars elucidated with ancient DNA". www.eva.mpg.de. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
15. Weishu Vol. 103 "木骨閭死，子車鹿會雄健，始有部眾，自號柔然" "Mugulü died; [his] son Cheluhui, fierce and vigorous, began to gather the tribal multitude, [his/their] self-appellation Rouran"
16. Weishu Vol. 103 "而役屬於國。後世祖以其無知，狀類於蟲，故改其號為蠕蠕。" tr. "yet [Cheluhui/Rouran] [was/were] vassal(s) of (our) state. Later, (Emperor) Shizu took him/them as ignorant and [his/their] appearance worm-like, so [the Emperor] changed his/their appellation to Ruanruan ~ Ruru."
17. Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.
18. Pohl, Walter (2018). The Avars A Steppe Empire in Central Europe, 567–822. Cornell University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-5017-2940-9. Additionally, the Chinese often sought to translate names into their language, or replaced them with a similarly sounding Chinese word that seemed to fit: for instance, the Rouran were also called Ruanruan, "wriggling worms.
19. Golden, Peter B. "Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran", in The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Them. Ed. Curta, Maleon. Iași (2013). p. 58.
20. Baumer, Christoph (2018). History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume Set. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2. in Mongolia the tribal confederation of the Rouran, whose name derives from that of tribal father Ruru or Ruirui.50 The name Juan Juan was given to them by the Tuoba emperor Taiwudi, a derogatory pun meaning 'wriggling worms'.
21. Golden, Peter B. "Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran", in The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Them. Ed. Curta, Maleon. Iași (2013). p. 54.
22. Golden, Peter B. (2016) "Turks and Iranians: Aspects of Türk and Khazaro-Iranian Interaction" in Turcologica 105. p. 5
23. Golden, Peter B. "Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran", in The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Them. Ed. Curta, Maleon. Iași (2013). pp. 54–55.
24. Lee, Joo-Yup (2016). "The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal. 59 (1–2): 116. It is not known which language the Xiongnu spoke.
25. Lee, Joo-Yup (2016). "The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal. 59 (1–2): 105.
26. Pan, Guojian (1983). The Northern Wei state and the Juan-juan nomadic tribe (Doctor of Philosophy). The University of Hong Kong Scholar hub. doi:10.5353/th_b3123015 (inactive 12 April 2024). Retrieved 16 November 2015.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2024 (link)
27. Hyacinth (Bichurin), Collection of information on peoples lived in Central Asia in ancient times, 1950. p. 209
28. Li, Jiawei; et al. (August 2018). "The genome of an ancient Rouran individual reveals an important paternal lineage in the Donghu population". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 166 (4). American Association of Physical Anthropologists: 895–905. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23491. PMID 29681138. We conclude that F3889 downstream of F3830 is an important paternal lineage of the ancient Donghu nomads. The Donghu‐Xianbei branch is expected to have made an important paternal genetic contribution to Rouran. This component of gene flow ultimately entered the gene pool of modern Mongolic‐ and Manchu‐speaking populations.
29. "他的《番客人朝图》及《职贡图》至今在中国画史上占据重要的位置。" in Yi, Xuehua (2015). "江南天子皆词客——梁元帝萧绎之评价 – 百度文库". Journal of Huanche S&T University. 17: 83.
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31. Theobald, Ulrich. . Chinaknowledge. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. [Mugulu] had been a slave of the Taɣbač, a sub-division of the Xianbei. His descendants later chose the name Yujiulü 郁久閭 as their family name. Mugulü's son Che-lu-hui 車鹿會 was the first to assemble a lot of other families around him, and in the mid-4th century the tribal federation of the Rouran took shape.
32. Golden, Peter B. (2010). Central Asia in World History. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-19-972203-7. According to the Wei dynastic annals, [the Rouran] ruling house descended from an early fourth-century Wei slave.
33. Grousset (1970), p. 67.
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36. Xiong 2009, p. xcix.
37. Xiong 2009, p. c.
38. Bregel 2003, p. 14.
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44. Kim, Hyun Jin (2018). Geopolitics in Late Antiquity The Fate of Superpowers from China to Rome. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-86926-3.
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48. Syvänne, Ilkka (2022). Military History of Late Rome 565–602. Pen and Sword. Appendix I. ISBN 978-1-4738-7221-9. Soon after his accession Muhan began a campaign of conquest by destroying the remnants of the Juan-juan.
49. Xiong 2009, p. 103.
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55. Lomazoff, Amanda; Ralby, Aaron (August 2013). The Atlas of Military History. Simon and Schuster. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-60710-985-3.
56. Silić, Ana; Heršak, Emil (30 September 2002). "The Avars: A Review of Their Ethnogenesis and History". Migracijske I Etničke Teme (in Croatian). 18 (2–3): 201–202. ISSN 1333-2546.
57. Savelyev & Jeong 2020.
58. Li et al. 2018, pp. 1, 8–9.
59. Neparáczki et al. 2019, pp. 5–6, 9. "The Avar group carried predominantly East Eurasian lineages in accordance with their known Inner Asian origin inferred from archaeological and anthropological parallels as well as historical sources. However, the unanticipated prevalence of their Siberian N1a Hg-s, sheds new light on their prehistory. Accepting their presumed Rouran origin would implicate a ruling class with Siberian ancestry in Inner Asia before Turkic take-over. The surprisingly high frequency of N1a1a1a1a3 Hg reveals that ancestors of contemporary eastern Siberians and Buryats could give a considerable part the Rouran and Avar elite..."; Csáky et al. 2020, pp. 1, 9. "A recent manuscript described 23 mitogenomes from the 7th–8th century Avar elite group5 and found that 64% of the lineages belong to East Asian haplogroups (C, D, F, M, R, Y and Z) with affinities to ancient and modern Inner Asian populations corroborating their Rouran origin."
60. Savelyev & Jeong 2020, p. 17. "Population genetics in the current state of research is neutral as regards the question of continuity between the Rourans and the Avars. What it is supported is that at least some European Avar individuals were of Eastern Asian ancestry, be it Rouran-related or not."
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• Definition 17 September 2003 at the Wayback Machine
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External links

•   Media related to Rouran Khaganate at Wikimedia Commons