Kül Tegin

an eighth-century text in Turkic runic writing on a stone stela, discovered in 1889 by the Russian researcher N. M. Iadrintsev in the Kosho-Tsaidam valley on a bank of the Orkhon River (Mongolia).

The stone stela was erected in honor of the Turkic kagan Mogilian (died 734) and his brother, Prince Kül Tegin (died 732). Two inscriptions, one long and one short, were carved on the stela, each in two languages—Chinese, and the language of the Orkhon-Yenisei Turks. The short inscription is a eulogy to the kagan, who united the Turkic clans and tribes; the long inscription contains historical information on the Turkic kaganate. The inscriptions were deciphered in 1893 by the Danish scholar V. Thomsen; the first Russian translation (1897) was made by Professor P. M. Melioranskii from the German translation by Academician V. V. Radlov (1894). The text contains valuable historical data and offers a wealth of linguistic material.