Volker Rybatzkı

Keywords: Uighur steppe empire, runic inscriptions, Tes, Terx, Sine Usu, chronology, philological relations, dating

Abstract

Previous scholars have been assuming a close historical and philological connection between the Tes, Terx and Sine Usu inscriptions of the Uighur steppe empire. In this discussion the chronology of the three inscriptions is critically examined with the result that a new one is offered. With regard to the philological similarities it is shown that these are much less than has been supposed which is due to the fact that the function of the three inscription is not identical. Whereas the Sine usu inscription is connected with a grave structure, the Terx and Tes inscriptions are kinds of boundary stones with inscription