- Bilge Kağan
Bilge Khan or Piqie Khan (also Arslan Bilgä Khağan) (Chinese: 毗伽可汗) (683 or 684 - 734), personal name Ashina Mojilian (阿史那默棘連), was one of the most powerful emperors of the Göktürk Empire. His accomplishments are immortalized in the
Orkhon inscriptions .His name literally means "wise chieftain". In 716, he assumed the leadership together with his brother
Kul Tigin after a coup against the previous ruler, his cousinInal Khan who was a weak leader. Bilge Khan and Kul Tigin took their place in history as the wisest and most heroic figures among Gokturk statesmen. They asserted that the state could not be ruled only by fighting and bravery and the Khanate should also require wisdom.Fact|date=May 2007Bilge's empire spanned vast steppes from the
Caspian Sea toManchuria ; he also invaded the western sections of the Chinese territories. After his death from poisoning, severalstela e were erected in the capital area by theOrkhon River . TheseOrkhon inscriptions are the first known texts in theOld Turkic language .References
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, Vol. II, pp16-17
Illustrations
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/ubhist/turk.html The National Museum of Mongolian History: The early Turk Empire and the Uighurs]
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