Tamgas: Tribal Seal of the ancient Turks and Mongols

In this episode, we take a closer look at an important part of Turkic culture: Tamgas. A Tamga was a sort of seal used by individuals, families, tribes and even entire states to distinguish themselves from other entities. It could be used for self-identification when conducting trade or diplomacy, too. But which of the important Turkic tribes and states used tamgas? You'll see that Oghuz Turks and the Göktürks prided themselves with Tamgas, but also the non-Turkic Mongolic peoples until the era of Genghis Khan.

BOOK 2: [Coming Soon]

Chapters:
00:00-01:04 Intro
01:05-02:44 What are Tamgas?
02:45-04:06 Kinds of Tamgas
04:07-05:46 Oghuz Turks
05:47-06:48 From Bulgars in Europe to Babur in India
06:49-07:47 The Seljuk Eagle
07:48-10:22 Hunnic and Mongol Tamgas
10:23-11:50 Tamgas in Türkiye
11:51-12:36 Preview and Outro

[nenenindonu]

It's likely that the Tamga of Attila the Hun was the same as that used by the Dulo Bulgars. Hyun Jin Kim in his book The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe (2013). Cambridge University Press. p. 256. also argued that various Oghuric entities like Kutrigurs,  Utigurs,  Onogurs,  & Akatzir were all ruled by branches of the Attilid dynasty

[BayPizzaTR]

btw the first tamga that is shown in the beginning of the video (which is yellow, on a blue surface = blue means sky) is Crimean tamga. It was founded by Giray Khan (founder of Crimea).

[papazataklaattiranimam]

Making an argument from silence, we may assume that the Khazars were the first permanent tribute-taking polity in the area. Kiev, which two centuries later was to become a key centre of a Rus' state formation, was founded by the Khazars as an outpost. When, in the ninth century, Vikings from the North appeared and formed the first polity centred on this area, it was the Khazars against whom they had to compete. Archaeological findings document a Scan- dinavian presence from the middle of the seventh century. By the beginning of the ninth century, they were residents (Noonan 1986: 339). By 839, we know from the Annals of St. Bertin that they had established a polity known as the Rus' Khaganate. To quote the leading Khazar scholar, Peter Golden,

As for the Rus' qaghanate, we know nothing concrete about its origins. Both Pritsak and the writer of these lines concluded that there must have been some marital connection between the Khazar qaghanal line and the Rus rulers. Pritsak suggested that the founder of the line was a Khazar Qaghan who fled the Kabar (Qabar) revolt in the 830's and 'found refuge in the Rus' factory (trading post) dominating the vital Volga-Donets route from the region near Iaroslavl'-Rostov. I also argued for a blood tie because anything less, in steppe Eurasia (the most important audience for such imperial pre- tentions), would have been meaningless.

(Golden 2001: 32)

[vindemarque]

Tamga, resembling a crescent moon with a stick in the middle (or a person raising two hands), was also an early symbol in Sakha right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some wanted it to be the republic's emblem, but it was rejected, probably by the state

[paulmears]

Another excellent video! Thank you for sharing your scholarship 👍🏹

[dbuyandelger]

This video focuses almost entirely on turkic, West Asian and East European tamga.
Perhaps there is a language barrier, as most Mongolian research is not available in English.
When it comes to the study of Mongolian Tamga, the Member of Mongolian Academy of Sciences, historian Perlee has done foundational work on the tamga carvings of Rashaan rock, Khentii province, Mongolia. The tamga he found there represent the tamga of Mongol tribes pre and during Chinggis Khaan. When compared to the tamga that Mongolians use at the time of the research (1980s) all tamga found on Rashaan rock were present and used in modern times.

[raraavis]

It's mind-blowing, to imagine all these generations upon generations of people, empires come and gone...all in a time so very different from our 21th century world.
I kinda randomly started to watch the Magnificent Century Hurrem/Kosem series here on YouTube and it got me interested in the history of that part of the world.
Looking forward, to checking out more of your videos.

[naturealbums]

Always so many new things to learn about my Turkish history we never get to know about in history lessons. Literally even the word tamga I always thought it was damga (in Turkiye) so originally it was tamga.

[Томирис-нх]

Nice video :) We, in Kasachstan have tamgas for each tribe. For example I’m from Argyn tribe and our tamga is an infinity symbol.

[olalamalo]

Ben Türk'üm atalarımızın dini TENGRİ dinine geri döndüm Ne mutlu Türk'üm diyene 🤟🇹🇷🤟

[oguzmen]

I'm still hung-up over certain Japanaese clan symbols - the name Ashina, and how it reached the island.

[WilliamAPBodie]

Thank you very much for the hard work and education of the "lost" past 👍🌘🌟

[ulgenkoc]

Excellent video, great job.Thank you, I hope you'll have millions followers.

[papazataklaattiranimam]

My favorite Tamgas are Hephthalite ones 🌝

Which is your favorite tamga? Mine is Yazır because it resembles an air defense system, it is very protective. 😆

[oguztribesmen]

My favourite Tamga > the old Dodurga one

[CrimeanKhan_]

Is it known what tribe Çaka bey originated from along with the Danishmendid dynasty? Judging by some recreations of the danishmendid flag it shows some sort of resemblance to the Afshar tamgha. As for Çaka bey his tribal origins seem to be disputed but I’ve seen two instances of him either being associated with the Çavuldur or Çepni.

[Tulga]

In Mongolian “tamga” or “tamaga (тамага)” means stamp

[nicholasphilip]

Whats the soundtrack at 4:10 mins in ?

[AbduvohidOdiljonov]

are you from Bayondur tribe? you chose their symbol