In ancient times, when states quickly began to emerge and disappeared just as quickly, when tribes roamed and fought for land, it was customary for the supreme rulers to have their own insignia symbolizing their kind. For some nationalities, this sign was called tamga.
For example, the Khazar tamga has survived to this day. That this is a symbol of the genus of numerous kagan families, archaeological finds dating from the 7-10th centuries prove.
The origins of the Khazar tamga
As far as one can judge, the history of the human race was often associated with the fact that some peoples adopted not only science and art from others, but also the attributes of power. It has always been so, from the era of the Sumerians who have sunk into oblivion to the present day.
The symbols of the supreme power were among the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, and the people who lived after them. In this vein, it is perhaps naive to believe that the Khazar tamga was actually invented by this nation.
Origin of the Cog
The bite as a symbol of power has its roots in the ancient Greek cult of Hades (Pluto). In mythological genealogy, he was the son of Kronos and was a brother to Zeus, Poseidon and Dimeter. After the brothers defeated Kronos and the Titans, a division of the world took place, in which Hades got the underground kingdom of the dead. He terrified people so much that his name was not uttered aloud, and all the famous images of God were painted with his attribute of power - a two-pronged one. Two prongs meant the duality of the world, life and death.
The Khazar Tamga as a symbol of power did not initially appear among the Khazars, but among the progenitor of the Turkic peoples and its ancestor Togarma. The Khazars became an independent people only in the 7th century A.D. In one of the Turkic Khagans, the cult of a dragon with two wolf heads was revered. Later he began to depict in the form of a two-pronged. Later, some tribes adopted it, and this tamga of the Khazar Khaganate belonged to many noble families. To make the son’s tamga different from the father’s sign, the heirs of the clan added various curls and lines.
Some Turkic tribes depicted a dragon with three wolf heads, which after many years were transformed into a sign with three teeth. As a trident, the Khazar tamga is related to the ruler of Dulo of one of the branches of the Khazar tribe. All of his heirs at the heart of the supreme sign was an image with three teeth, to which various geometric elements or points were added. Thus, the heirs of Dulo reckoned themselves to this clan.
The origin of the trident
In fact, the Turkic tribes did not invent something new. Even the ancient Sumerians “handed” the trident to two gods at once - the supreme goddess Inanna, who ruled the legendary country of Aratta, and Ishkur, who were in charge of the waters of heaven, thunder and lightning.
After the Sumerians, this symbol was used by representatives of the Minoan civilization, as well as the inhabitants of ancient India.
They have associated this sign for a long time with the element of water, until they “handed it” to the fire god Agni. Centuries later, this image began to be associated with the name of the Buddha, and he already symbolized his Three Jewels.
These civilizations either disappeared (Sumerians), or were transformed into great religions (Buddhism), but the trident itself “passed on” to both the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans, and centuries later it was appropriated by the Turkic peoples.
The Khazar Tamga became the successor of all these Turkic peoples, but among the Khazars the sign in the form of three prongs belonged to only one noble family - Dulo. In addition to this people, the symbol with three teeth was used by the clan of the Borghigins, where he was a personal symbol of Genghis Khan, after which he passed on to his successor - the son of Jochi. In the days of Batu, the sign was minted on coins.
Since inheritance went from father to eldest son, for other members of the family, the Khazar tamga - the emblem of belonging to the clan, always changed. Each representative of the male family was obliged to invent his tamga, taking as a basis the sign of the ancestor.
History of the Khazar kingdom
As a separate state, the Khazaria existed for only a few centuries - from the 7th to the 10th centuries A.D. Initially, it was part of the Turkic Kaganate, but after it broke up, it became a separate Kagan. Among those who were part of the new tribal union were the Huns, Ugric peoples, Savannahs and Iranians.
In the 7th century, all subjects of the king of this union of tribes began to be called the Khazars, regardless of their origin. The tribes, which entered the kaganate on a voluntary basis, had to pay a symbolic tribute for the security of their borders. The Khazar tamga (photo of an example is presented below) indicated that the carrier belongs to the ruling clan of the tribe.
The most dangerous enemy of the Khazars at that time was the Arab caliphate, constant skirmishes with which with varying success increased the territory of the kingdom, then reduced. After the signing of the peace agreement between the Khazars and the caliphate in 737, the appearance of peace was established, and Islam became the religion of the kaganate.
At the beginning of the 8th century, there was a gradual transition from Islam to Judaism, after which a century later it was declared the state religion. The change of faith took place more than once, since in the 10th century the Khazars again converted to Islam at the conclusion of a military alliance with Khorezm. Toward the end of the 10th century, scattered tribes remained from the Khazar kingdom, which was the fault of Prince Vladimir, who made a campaign in 985 and imposed a tribute to the Haganate.
Kievan Rus
According to the social and ethnic norms adopted at that time, most of the states that lived in those lands were called kaganates. This has been true for many centuries. Kievan Rus did not escape this, but from the end of the 9th century, scattered tribes were united, and Russia became a state. This was done by Prince Oleg, who in 882 left Novgorod and killed Askold and Dir, the rulers of Kiev. By uniting the tribes, he declared the land Russian, and Kiev made the capital of the state.
Askold and Dir were governors of Rurik, who was called to the principality first in Ladoga and then in Novgorod. From Rurik, Duke of Jutland, a new dynasty of princes began. Prince Oleg as his successor began to reign in Kiev after his capture.
Although Kiev was founded in the 5th century, and the territories around it and the tribes who lived there were called Russes, Kievan Rus became a united and strong state in the 10th century. As was customary with all the rulers, Rurik had his own tribal sign, which was based on his name.
Rurik sign
The original coat of arms of Rurik was the image of a falcon. He was painted either flying out of the nest or standing on the wings.
On coins dated 939, a cross and three dots symbolizing the Holy Trinity are located above the head of the falcon. This is understandable, since Rurik was baptized while still living in Jutland.
Rorik of Jutland, the duke in exile, later became known as Rurik. He placed on his coat of arms, or, as such signs were called then, tamge, the image of the fastest falcon - roraha, since the name of the bird was consonant with his name. Thus, we can say that the Ladoga was given the coat of arms of the Danish Duke, which is evidenced by numerous archaeological excavations.
This sign has become common not only in places where Rurik ruled, but also in other cities. So, at the tip of a belt cast in bronze, the falcon is depicted with a tail of two inverted Vs, and a cross is clearly visible on the right wing and belt. This tip was found in a mound near Chernigov and dates from the late 9th - early 10th centuries.
The graphic image of the wings and the head of the falcon was the prototype and basis of the tamga of Vladimir the Great. Since he was a bastard, his coat of arms should have been different from the signs of other princes, who basically had the inverted letter P and were two-pronged.
Sign of Vladimir Red Sun
Since the Rurikovich constantly competed with the Khazar kingdom, the Khazar tamga is fundamentally different from the signs of the Danish duke's clan. So, in the “Word on Igor’s Regiment” all princes of the Rurikovich are called falcons, and the events of the work tell of the campaigns of the falcons against the Polovtsy, which are called galitsy in the book: “Do not storm the falcons brought across the fields, the flocks of the herd run to Don the Great.”
There are suggestions that the falcon was a totem of a great kind, to which Rurik belonged, whose closest relative was the Danish prince Amlet.
The modification of the falcon into a two-pronged, and then into a trident, took place gradually, until the sign of Vladimir acquired the features that the emblem of Ukraine has today.
The Khazar tamga, which was originally based on a two-headed or three-headed dragon with wolf heads, has nothing to do with the arms of the princes of Kiev. Tamga called all the patrimonial signs of that time.
Numerous archaeological finds confirm this.
Emblem of Ukraine
Before Vladimir the Great, the signs of the Kiev princes were two-prongs, symbolizing a falcon soaring into the sky. A cross was depicted above his head. After Vladimir began to rule Kiev, he changed the Rurikovich’s trident to a trident, being his illegally born son. His symbol meant a falcon flying out of their nests.
The modern coat of arms of Ukraine was first introduced as a symbol of the country in 1917 on state credit cards.
