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Oghuz Khagan or Oghuz Khan (; ; ) is a legendary khan of the Turkic people and an eponymous ancestor of Oghuz Turks. Some Turkic cultures use the Dastan of Oghuz Khan to describe their ethnic and tribal origins. The various versions of the narrative preserved in many different manuscripts have been published in numerous languages as listed below in the references. The narratives about him are often entitled Oghuzname, of which there are several traditions, describing his many feats and conquests, some of these tend to overlap with other Turkic epic traditions such as Seljukname and The Book of Dede Korkut.
The name of Oghuz Khan has been associated with Maodun, also known as Mete Han; the reason being that there is a remarkable similarity between the biography of Oghuz Khagan in the Turkic mythology and the biography of Maodun found in the Chinese historiography, which was first noticed by the RussiansChuvash people Sinology Hyacinth.Bichurin N.Ya., "Compilation of reports on peoples inhabiting Central Asia in ancient times", vol. 1, Sankt Petersburg, 1851, pp. 56–57Taskin V.S., "Materials on history of Sünnu", transl., 1968, Vol. 1, p. 129
After Oghuz killed Kiyant, he became a people's hero. He formed a special warrior band from the forty sons of forty Turkic Baig (lords, chiefs), thus gathering the clans together. But his Chinese stepmother and half-brother, who was the heir to the throne, became intimidated by his power and convinced Qara Khan that Oghuz was planning to dethrone him. Qara Khan decided to assassinate Oghuz at a hunting party. Oghuz learned about this plan and instead killed his father and became the khan. His stepmother and half-brother fled to Chinese lands.
After Oghuz became the khan, he went to the steppes by himself to praise and pray to Tengri. While praying, he saw a circle of light coming from the sky with a supernaturally beautiful girl standing in the light. Oghuz fell in love with the girl and married her. He had three sons whom he named Gün (Sun), Ay (Moon), and Yıldız (Star) (all in Turkmen). Later, Oghuz went hunting and saw another mesmerizing girl inside a tree. He married her as well and had three more sons whom he named Gök (Sky), Dağ (Mountain), and Deniz (Sea) (in Turkmen).
After his sons were born, Oghuz Khan gave a great toy (feast) and invited all of his Baig (lords). At the feast, he gave this order to his lords:
Then, he sent letters to the Kings of the Four Directions, saying: "I am the Khan of the Turks. And I will be Khan of the Four Corners of the Earth. I want your obedience."
Altun Khan (Golden Khan), on the right corner of the earth, submitted his obedience, but Urum (Roman Republic), Khan of the left corner, did not. Oghuz declared war on Urum Khan and marched his army to the west. One night, a large male wolf with grey fur (which is an avatar of Tengri) came to his tent in an aura of light. He said, "Oghuz, you want to march against Urum, I want to march before your army." So, the grey sky-wolf marched before the Turkic army and guided them. The two armies fought near the river İtil (Volga). Oghuz Khan won the battle. Then, Oghuz and his six sons carried out campaigns in Turkestan, India, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Syria, with the grey wolf as their guide. He became the Khan of the Four Corners of the Earth.
In his old age, Oghuz saw a dream. He called his six sons and sent them to the east and the west. His elder sons found a golden bow in the east. His younger sons found three silver arrows in the west. Oghuz Khan broke the golden bow into three pieces and gave each to his three older sons Gün, Ay, and Yıldız. He said, "My older sons, take this bow and shoot your arrows to the sky like this bow." He gave the three silver arrows to his three younger sons Gök, Dağ and Deniz and said, "My younger sons, take these silver arrows. A bow shoots arrows and you are to be like the arrow." Then, he passed his lands on to his sons, Oghuz Turks (Gray Arrows - elder sons) and Üçoks (Three Arrows - younger sons) at a final banquet. (Abū’l-Ghāzī identifies the lineage symbols, tamga seals and ongon spirit guiding birds, as well as specifying the political hierarchy and seating order at banquets for these sons and their 24 sons). Then he said:
The dynasty was founded by commander Anush Tigin Gharchai, a former Turkic slave of the Seljuq sultans, who was appointed as governor of Khwarezm. His son, Qutb ad-Din Muhammad I, became the first hereditary Shah of Khwarezm.Encyclopædia Britannica, "Khwarezm-Shah-Dynasty", ( LINK)
Yazıcıoğlu Ali, in the early 15th century, traced Osman I's genealogy to Oghuz Khagan, through his senior grandson of his senior son, so giving the Ottoman sultans primacy among Turkish monarchs. Yazıcıoğlu quotes as follows:
Bayezid I advanced this claim against Timur, who denigrated the Ottoman lineage.
According to Ottoman historian Neşri, Osman had a grandfather with a king's name and came from a lineage of the senior branch of Oghuz Turks:
Cem Sultan, Bayezid II's brother, linked their genealogy to Oghuz Khagan which would prevail as a tool of legitimization from the sixteenth century onwards:
Sweden geographer and cartographer of the 17th-18th centuries Philip Johan von Strahlenberg, based on the Ancient Greece historian Diodorus Siculus and other historians, concludes that Oghuz Khan was the leader of the ancient Scythian peoples, under whose leadership they conquered vast territories in the Middle East, Southeast Europe and Egypt in ancient times. Stralenberg also notes that among the Central Asian peoples, Oghuz Khan enjoys the same fame as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar among Europeans.Записки капитана Филиппа Иоганна Страленберга об истории и географии Российской империи Петра Великого. Северо-восточная часть Европы и Азии (Memoirs of Captain Philip Johan Stralenberg on the history and geography of the Russian Empire of Peter the Great. Northeastern part of Europe and Asia.). М.-Л. АН СССР. (Moscow-Leningrad. USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House).1985
In scientific literature, the name of Modu Chanyu is usually associated with Oghuz Khagan. The reason for that is a striking similarity of the Oghuz-Kagan biography in the Turko-Persian manuscripts (Rashid al-Din, Hondemir, Abulgazi) with the Maodun biography in the Chinese sources (feud between the father and son and murder of the former, the direction and sequence of conquests, etc.), which was first noticed by Nikita Bichurin (Collection of information, pp. 56–57).
Preliminary studiesArstan Bisianov (2025) Oghuz Khan as a historical figure of the 6th-7th centuries ( SocArXiv)Arstan Bisianov (2025) Oğuz Han as a historical figure of the 6th–7th centuries: new perspectives and refinements ( SocArXiv) suggest that Oghuz Khan may have lived during the 6th to 7th centuries CE, possibly as a member or a leader of the Tiele tribal group known as Kibir (Qibi). Presumably he was an ally and supporter of a Yabgu-Kaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate up to a certain point. Moreover, it is proposed that Oghuz Khan might have been a close relative and companion of the Qibi chief Geleng (哥楞) also known as Yiwuzhenmohe Qaghan. The possibility of a kinship link between Oghuz Khan and the ruling Ashina clan is also examined.
Oghuz Khan is sometimes considered the legendary founder of most Turkic people, and ancestor of the Oghuz subbranch. Even today, subbranches of Oghuz are classified in order of the legendary six sons and 24 grandsons of Oghuz Khan. In history, Turkmen dynasties often rebelled or claimed sovereignty by saying their rank was higher than the existing dynasty in this tribal classification.
Oghuz Khan appears on the 100 manat banknote.
Oğuz and Oğuzhan are common masculine Turkish and Turkic given names, which come from Oghuz Khan.
Mary Province's district Oguzhan District, in Turkmenistan, is named after him.
The International airport in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan is named after Oghuz Khan.
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