Ashinas

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Name of a general of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim and of the sacred clan of the First Turkic empire, transcribed in Chinese as Ashina 阿史那. While a folk etymology of his name is given in Tabari, al-Mu'tasim gave him the first rank among his Turkish generals and a text of Mas‘udi described him as a great noble. He should have been captured and enslaved in Central Asia. As the name Ashinas is not at all part of Turkish onomastic, and is only known for princes, it is quite certain that he was a late member of the imperial clan of the Turks. He was in charge at Samarra of the Turkish troops of al-Mu'tasim, recruited from prisoners of war in Central Asia. When he died in 844 he was the most powerful general serving the Abbassids.

References

Golden, Peter. An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples: Ethnogenesis and state-formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East, Harrassowitz, 1992.
E. de la Vaissière, Samarcande et Samarra. Elites d'Asie centrale dans l'empire abbasside, Peeters, 2007 [1]The Br
M. Gordon, The breaking of a Thousand Swords. A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra (A.H. 200-275/815-889 C.E.), State University of New York Press, 2001.

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