Turkic mythology and influence from Indo-European myth
By KalinThis article will surely be controversial, but the topic is well worth it. Turks are a bit of a mystery to many, and their pre-Abrahamic beliefs are even less known. I hope to bring to light the beliefs of various Turkic peoples and show evidence that they were influenced by IE peoples. Ancient Turks may have even shared genetics with said IE peoples, but that is not the main focus of this post.
Overview of Turkic Mythology and Deities
One of the most important myths of the Turks is The Story of The Gray Wolf, which bears resemblance to the story of Romulus and Remus with a child being nurtured by a She-Wolf (also Gray Wolf or Asena). The child she nurses back to health then impregnates her and has ten half-wolf and half-human hybrids. The She-Wolf, while pregnant, escapes from her enemies to the Qocho mountains near a Tocharian city and gives birth; one of the children is the progenitor of the legenendary Ashina clan. This myth is seen as the Turkic Ethnogenesis describing the birth of most Turkic tribes. The next myth, The Legend of Ergenekon is shared by both Mongolic and Turkic peoples and is a bit different in each culture, but we will focus on the Turkish version. The Legend of Ergenekon, is the story of the foundation of the First Turkic Khaganate. Following a military blunder, the Turks are forced into the Ergenekon valley and remain stuck there for four hundred years. They are saved by a blacksmith who melts the stone and lets Asena the Gray Wolf lead the way out.
Turks did not always have a pantheon like the Greeks or Romans, and from the fourth century BCE Tengrism has been recorded as being a religion for some Turkic tribes. Tengrism is more of a type of Monotheistic religion in which the Turkic Sky God Tengri is the head god. Turks such as the Tatars had a more polytheistic religion. Most Turkic tribes had proven influence from or at the very least contact with Finno-Ugric, Indo-European or Mongoloid tribes, and some mythology possibly was absorbed. Other notable deities include Kayra, Ülgen, Mergen and Ay Ata. Kayra is the supreme God of the Tatars and is the spirit of creation, or simply the God of Creation. He is the son of of Gök Tengri as well, which is more or less the same Tengri from Tengrism. Ülgen is a son of Kayra and is a deity shared by both Mongolians and Turks, though that may mean little, as you will see later on. Horse sacrifice was a part of his worship which is seen in some Indo-European traditions as well. Mergen is a another son of Kayra and is sometimes depicted with a bow and arrow and white horse. He is also aassociated with the color white. He is a God of wisdom and is said to symbolize thought and intelligence. Ay Ata is the Moon God of Turkic lore, he lives with the Sun God, Gün Ana, on the sixth level of the sky.
The Race of Turks
The genetic and physical characteristics of Turks have always been puzzling, especially considering differences in Western Steppe Turkic tribes, those farther east, and Anatolian tribes. Ancient sources seem to at the very least suggest they had European admixture or maybe were Europeans at some point. I will post some excerpts from various ancient sources about Turkic and even Mongolian peoples which lend credit to my claim.
"Khyagas [Kyrgyz] is the ancient state of Gangun, it lies from Hami to the west, from Kharashar to the north, near the White Mountains, and others call it the state of Guywu and Giegu. The inhabitants were mixed with the Dinglings. Khyagas domain once was the western limit of the Xiongnu country [...]The soil is marshy in summer and heavy snow in the winter. The inhabitants are generally tall, with red hair, with a ruddy face and blue eyes. Black hair was not considered a good sign, and with brown eyes were considered the descendants of [Chinese general] Li Lin. There were fewer men than women. Men wore rings in their ears. They are proud and sturdy. Brave of them tattoo their hands, and women, after getting married, tattoo their neck..." - From Chinese chronicle The story of the Huxue [Uyghur] house
"Kincha (Kipchak) is about 30 thousand li from the Middle State. In summer the nights are extremely short. The sun will hardly turn down and immediately rises. This country produces excellent horses, and rich people breed them in a great variety. Residents usually recline on metal and skin. Courageous and brave; strong and ardent. Their eyes are blue, their hair is reddish. Möngke with the army came to the sea Khuan-tkhien-hi-si. Suddenly a strong wind rose and the sea waters dried up". - From Chinese chronicle Gan-mu
"The Wusun are very different in appearance from the other foreigners of the Western Territory. Now the Turks with blue eyes and red beards, similar to monkeys, are the descendants of them" - from Chinese historian Yan Shy-Gu
"Man of goodly stature, good size, robust, with red hair, gifted with energy, bravery and fearlessness, skillful archer, deep thinker and excellent counsel."- description of Genghis Khan from the Georgian Chronicles
The Steppe Turks and Mongolians were most likely a mixture especially in later times such as the twelfth century CE, but even in Mongolian royalty of that time they were recorded as fair skinned and fair haired. In some Mongol lore Genghis Khan's blood line was started by a blue eyed wolf and a fallow doe.
The Turkic identity now is mostly associated with the country Turkey where most people identify as Turks despite them being Turkified by the Seljuk Turks. The Seljuks were an Islamic branch of the Oghuz Turks who conquered Christian and Greek speaking Anatolia and made it Turkey. Ancient Turks were not these Anatolians, but as you can see in this map that the earliest Turks came from Central Asia.
Theories about influence by Indo-Europeans
It has already been proven in the scholary world that Turkic tribes were influenced by Indo-European, Finno-Ugric and Mongoloid peoples, but I'd like to theorize here and maybe point out some of the beliefs and parts that are Indo-European in Turkic mythology. One possible link to IE beliefs is the worship of Ülgen and the practice horse sacrifice which is seen in many IE peoples throughout their pre-Abrahamic history. Another possible source responsible for IE influence is the Tocharians. The She-Wolf Asena gave birth to her children in the Qocho mountains, near a Tocharian city. Tocharians were an IE people, one of the oldest, who ventured east deep into Asia. The early Turks migrated to Altai not long after that and were influenced by the peoples there, including, later on, the Xiongnu which were hybridized Mongoloid and Indo-European and are speculated to have spoken an Indo-European language, as well as having had some of the same beliefs. The next example could have been taken from Finno-Ugric or IE beliefs, which is the belief in a World Tree, but the world tree is a common belief in almost every culture. In my opinion, the Old Turkic Script used from the sixth century CE to the tenth century CE is strikingly similar to the writing system used by Germanic and Hungarian peoples but is not evidence in itself of influence due to its later adoption, and most likely it having been used for trading purposes. Tengrism and the God Tengri could also be a copy of the Proto-Indo-European Sky God Dyeus, but sadly there isn't enough information on Dyeus to base this on, however Tengri's worship also includes horse sacrifice, which could lend some credit to my claim.
Tengrism
Tengrism is very interesting because it differs from other Turkic beliefs like those of the Tatars. Tengrists are monotheistic and devote themselves to Tengri and to spirits similar to angels in Abrahamic myth. The name Tengri was first recorded in a fourth century Chinese chronicle calling him the Sky God of the Xiongnu, who as I've said before may have been a mixture of IE and Mongoloid peoples. Genghis Khan said himself he was a descendant of a long line of Tengrist shaman-kings.
Final Thoughts
Surely this post has answered some question about Turks, their religion and racial origins. This was by no means comprehensive and I'm sure I have glossed over some important myths or deities. I think this article is a decent synopsis of Turkic mythology and their influences. Hopefully it helped some to understand Turkic tribes better as well.
Thank you for reading.