Genealogical legends as a reflection of the historical memory of the ancient oghuzes

Abstract

The article discusses how the historical consciousness of the ancient Oghuzes, one of the main branches of the Turkic peoples, is reflected in their genealogical legends. Obviously, knowledge of their own ancestry and the glorious deeds of their ancestors occupy an exceptional place in the spiritual life of nomadic peoples, since this information, often sacred, was the "ideological" basis for the cohesion of a clan or tribe, ensuring the unity and solidarity of the entire ethnic community. Among Turkic peoples this information was reflected, as a rule, in the so-called "shejere" or "shejire" (literally, "genealogical trees'). A significant layer of genealogical traditions of the Oghuzes, known for the most part under the name "Oghuz-name", was recorded in medieval historical sources. The study of this kind of material allows us to judge the level of evolution of the historical consciousness of the ancient Oghuzes, their ideas about their own past, the origin and early history of their people, the customs and beliefs of their ancestors, etc.