page_title: Orkhon inscriptions
section_title: Content of the inscriptions
hierarchical_section_title: Orkhon inscriptions / Content of the inscriptions
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration 1: Reconstruction of Kül Tigin’s memorial. Only altar [behind the bark] and the balbal line [in front of the enterence] cannot be seen (after Nowgorodova 1981).
context_page_description: The Orkhon inscriptions, also known as the Orhon inscriptions, Orhun inscriptions, Khöshöö Tsaidam monuments, or Kul Tigin steles, are two memorial installations erected by the Göktürks written in Old Turkic alphabet in the early 8th century in the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia. They were erected in honor of two Turkic princes, Kul Tigin and his brother Bilge Khagan.
  The inscriptions, in both Chinese and Old Turkic, relate the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese, and their liberation by Ilterish Qaghan. In fact, according to one source, the inscriptions contain "rhythmic and parallelistic passages" that resemble that of epics.
context_section_description: A full English translation of the inscriptions may be found in The Orkhon Inscriptions: Being a Translation of Professor Vilhelm Thomsen's Final Danish Rendering
  The two monuments themselves have engravings on all four sides. However, some of the script was not preserved, or is missing, and therefore only portions of the original message remain. What follows is a summary of the most complete section of the inscriptions.
  One translation of the first and second monuments seems to indicate that the text continues from one side to the other.
  
  The first portion of the Turkic translations seems to be Bilge Khagan discussing the commemoration of the tablet, as well as mentioning the extent of the empire. One passage reads, 
  "To the East I have made campaigns as far as the Shantung plain, and almost reached the sea; to the South I have made campaigns as far as Tokuz-Ersin and almost reached Tibet; to the West I have made campaigns beyond Yenchii-Iigiiz (Pearl River) as far as Timir-Kapig (The Iron Gate); to the North I have made campaigns as far as the land of the Yer-Bayirku's. To all these lands have I led (the Turks). The forest of Mount Otiikin has no [foreign] overlord; the forest of Mount Otiikin is the place where the kingdom is held together."
   Continuing on, the inscriptions discuss the conquests of the Bilge Khagan and the struggles that he and his people face with the Chinese. The inscriptions even describe the Turks being enslaved by the Chinese.
  However, the inscriptions also highlight Bilge Khagan's accomplishment of uniting his people. As one passage reads, 
  "By the will of Heaven, and because I was greatly deserving and it so brought it about, I brought the dying people back to life; for the naked people I found clothing, the poor people I made rich, the scanty people I made numerous. I have made the other, which has a kingdom and a kagan, to stand higher. All the peoples in the four quarters of the world I have brought to keeping the peace and making an end of hostilities; they all have obeyed me, and serve me."
  The rest of the inscriptions are broken up and sporadic, but seem to detail the conquests against the Kirghiz and the Tangut peoples and also the death of Kul-Tegin in battle, and eventually the succession of Bilge Khagan by his son.
caption: Reconstruction of Kül Tigin's memorial.
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