The Historical Alphabet/Qalam
Discovering something new about the world in which our ancestors lived—and our own today—is a truly exciting experience! To share this joy with our readers, the Qalam editorial staff, together with the technology company Citix @citix.me, has created a fascinating project of important and interesting historical facts collected in an alphabet. You can now see them on Citix city smartboards and read more on our website.
Qağan
The ‘Khan of Khans’, the Highest Ruler in the Nomadic Hierarchy
The title of qağan existed as early as the middle of the first millennium BCE, when it was recorded by Chinese chroniclers. This originally Mongolian term was later adopted by the Turkic people.
The qağan is the supreme ruler that the other local khans must obey. There were at least three states ruled by qağans, the Khazar, Avar, and Turkic khaganates. Some researchers believe that there was also a Russian khaganate, since qağan is regularly used to refer to Russian princes in various historical annals and correspondence. For example, this was the name that the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus', Hilarion of Kiev, used for Yaroslav the Wise. Other researchers consider this version erroneous, believing that in this case, Qağan is only a polite form of address to any ruler, adopted from the language that used Turkic terms in abundance at that time.
Genghis Khan (top left), Ögedei Khan (top middle-left), Kublai Khan (top middle-right), Temur Khan (top right), Buyantu Khan (bottom left), Külüg Khan (bottom middle-left), Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temur (bottom middle-right), Rinchinbal Khan (bottom right)/Giorgiomonteforti/Wikimedia Commons