A tamga, or tamgha (; , ; ) is an abstract seal or brand that was used by Eurasian nomads and cultures influenced by them, initially as a livestock branding. The tamga was used as a livestock branding for a particular tribe, clan or family. They were common among the Eurasian nomads throughout Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Beyond livestock branding, tamgas served as dynastic and state symbols on coinage, architectural inscriptions, and official seals. The Khazar Khagan adopted a bident tamga as a dynastic emblem, which was later appropriated by the Rurikid dynasty of Kievan Rus, appearing on coins minted by Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise. Among the Mongols, tamgas were used as administrative stamps on official documents, giving rise to the Persian and Turkish word "damgha" meaning customs duty or tax seal, from which the English word "tammage" derives. In the Caucasus, the term was borrowed into Adyghe and Kabardian languages where it still denotes clan identity markers. As clan and family identifiers, the collection and systematic comparison of tamgas is regarded to provide insights into relations between families, individuals and ethnic groups in the steppe territory.Bobir Gayibov (2016). "About To the Question of the Main Origin of Sogdian Rulers". International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies III(I): 235–242.Shnanov, U. R.; Artykbaev, Z. O.; Kazhenova, G. T.; & Abdykulova, G. (2020). "Historical significance of tribal Tamgas and its relation to the runic script". Opción: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (91). pp. 833–850.
Similar tamga-like symbols were sometimes adopted by sedentary peoples adjacent to the Pontic–Caspian steppe both in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Branding of livestock was a common practice across most sedentary populations, as far back as the ancient Egyptians. Among the Circassians, most families maintain a tamga to this day, and the customs related to tamga are integrated into Adyghe Khabze.
It has been speculated that Turkic tamgas represent one of the sources of the Old Turkic script of the 6th–10th centuries,Aristov, N. (1896). Notes on Ethnic Composition of Turkic Tribes and People and Population Record. ZhS 3–4, 277–456 but since the mid-20th century, this hypothesis is widely rejected as being unverifiable.Talat Tekin (1965), "A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic", PhD thesis, University of California, Los Angeles for a literature overview
Tamgas in the steppe tradition Ancient origins
Tamgas originate in prehistoric times, but their exact usage and development cannot be continuously traced over time. There are, however, symbols represented in rock art that are referred to as tamgas or tamga-like.Rogozhinskiy, A. E. (2011). Rock art sites in Kazakhstan. Rock Art in Central Asia, 9. If they serve to record the presence of individuals at a particular place, they may be functionally equivalent to medieval tamgas.
In the later phases of the Bosporan Kingdom of the Crimea, the ruling dynasty applied personal tamgas, composed of a fragment representing the family and a fragment representing the individual king, apparently in continuation of steppe traditions and in an attempt to consolidate sedentary and nomadic factions within the kingdom.
Hunnic empires Several tamgas belonging to Hunnic peoples are known. They were sometimes countermarked on their coinage during their periods of imperial rule.
Turkic peoples
According to Clauson (1972, p. 504f.), Common Turkic tamga means "originally a `brand' or mark of ownership placed on horses, cattle, and other livestock; it became at a very early date something like a European coat of arms or crest, and as such appears at the head of several Türkü and many O[ld] Kir[giz] funary monuments".
Among modern Turkic peoples, the tamga is a design identifying property or cattle belonging to a specific Turkic clan, usually as a cattle brand or stamp.Samashev, S. K. (2021). Horse branding tradition among the Turks. Вестник КазНУ. Серия историческая, 103(4), 53-62. In Turkestan, it has remained what it originally was: a cattle brand and clan identifier. The Turks who remained pastoral nomad kings in eastern Anatolia and Iran, continued to use their clan tamgas and in fact, they became high-strung nationalistic imagery. The Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu, like many other royal dynasties in Eurasia, put their tamga on their flags and stamped their coinage with it.
When Turkish clans took over more urban or rural areas, tamgas dropped out of use as pastoral ways of life became forgotten. That is most evident in the Turkish clans that took over western and eastern Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. The Turks who took over western Anatolia founded the Sultanate of Rûm and became Roman-style aristocrats. Most of them adopted the then-Muslim symbol of the Seal of Solomon after the Sultanate disintegrated into a mass of feuding ghazi states (see Isfendiyarids, Karamanids). Only the Ottoman ghazi state (later to become the Ottoman Empire) kept its tamga, which was so highly stylized that the bow was stylized down eventually to a crescent moon.
Tamgas of the 21 Oghuz tribes (as Charuklug had none) according to Mahmud al-Kashgari in Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk:
List of Kazakh tamga symbols that were used by clans Clan Subclan Tamga Senior Jüz
Qaŋlı , Jalayır
Dulat
,
Siqım , ,
Janıs
Botbay
Şımır
Alban
Suwan
Sarı-Üysin
Şapıraştı
, , Oşaqtı
Istı
,
Oyıq ,
Tilik
Sirgeli
, , , Şanışqılı
, Middle Jüz
Arğın
Joğarı şekti
Tömengi şekti
Taraqtı , Nayman
,
Baltalı
Bağanalı , ,
Buwra
Qarakerey
Matay
Sadır , Qıpşaq
Qoŋırat
Saŋğıl
Waq
, ,
Ergenekti Waq , Kerei
Aşamaylı
Abaq
Junior Jüz
Bayulı
Aday ,
Beriş , , ,
Altın ,
Jappas , , ,
Esentemir ,
Taz ,
Baybaqtı , , ,
Tana
Masqar
Altıbas (Alaşa) , ,
Qızılqurıt , , ,
Şerkeş , ,
Isıq , Älimulı
Qarasaqal , ,
Qarakesek ,
Törtqara
Şekti , ,
Şömekey
Jetiruw
Tabın , ,
Tama , ,
Jağabayl
Telew ,
Kerderi
Kereyit ,
Ramadan
Out of Jüz system
Töre
, Qoja
, Töleñgıt
Noğay-Qazaq
Mongolian "Tamga", or "tamag'a", literally means "stamp" or "seal" in Mongolian and designates emblematic symbols which were historically used by various Mongolic tribes or clans in Central Asia. According to Clauson, it was originally a Turkic word also "used for a Chinese 'seal' and passed into Mong[olian] in this meaning as tamaga".p.504
In the Mongol Empire, a tamgha was a seal placed on taxed items and, by extension, a tax on commerce along cities and trade routes. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Mongol tax collectors marked the goods with a seal (tamgha) as proof of payment at city gates after the tax was paid.Enerelt Enkhbold, "Religious Services and Rational Choices: Two Cases of Limited Tax Exemption in the Mongol Empire," Central Asiatic Journal 67, no. 1–2 (2024): 195–219, https://doi.org/10.13173/CAJ.67.1-2.195. These officials were known in Mongolian as tamghachi (seal/stamp presser).Bayarsaikhan Dashdondog, "The Mongols and the Armenians (1220-1335)" (Netherlands: Brill, 2011), p. 114.
Over a hundred different Mongolian tamga are known. Certain tamga were adopted by individual medieval Mongol and Chinggisid rulers, and were consequently used on coins and seals issued by these rulers. Tamga are most widely found on Islamic coins issued by the descendants of Chinggis Khan in the various khanates of Central Asia during the 13th and 14th centuries, in particular the Chaghatai Khanate. Tamga are of immense interest to numismatists, and are discussed in many academic works relating to the medieval Islamic coins of Central Asia. However, numismatists and historians currently have limited options for representing tamga symbols in text, and cannot reliably interchange text including tamga symbols because they are either represented as images, or are handdrawn, or use an ad hoc font. Doctor Nyamaa identifies nearly a hundred tamga signs used on coins, although only about half of them can be assigned to a specific ruler, and some of them are variant forms or presentation forms of the same tamga.
Tamgas are also stamped using hot irons on domesticated animals such as horses in present-day Mongolia and others to identify that the livestock belongs to a certain family, since livestock is allowed to roam during the day. Each family has their own tamga markings for easier identification. Tamga marks are not very elaborate, since they are made from curved pieces of iron by the individual families.
A tamag'a is also used as the "state seal" of Mongolia, which is handed over by the President of Mongolia as part of the transition to a new president. In the presidential case, the tamag'a is a little more elaborate and is contained in a wooden box.
Caucasus From Turkic, the term "tamga" has also been loaned into Caucasian languages, e.g., ; . Among the Circassians, almost every family has a tamga to this day.Цуекъо, Алый. Адыгэ лъэкъуацIэхэмрэ тамыгъэхэмрэ The tamga consists of simple lines and hooks and functions as a family crest, property mark, and lineage symbol. The rules for using a tamga are integrated directly into Khabze. Families used it primarily to brand livestock, such as horses and sheep. Fathers passed the tamga down to their sons, and customary law strictly forbade anyone from forging or using another family's mark. The tamga had several uses beyond agriculture. A tamga was often used as a seal or signature on documents. Craftsmen stamped it on their products to show origin. Families carved it on tombstones to identify the dead, and commanders drew it on military flags. Losing a flag that carried the family tamga was a source of shame. In the modern era, the tamga lost its practical use for branding livestock or sealing documents, but is preserved as a "Family Symbol" or family coat of arms. Tamgas are still used in arts and frequently incorporated into the geometric patterns of traditional multi-colored woven mats and prayer rugs. Families still engrave them on weapons and rings, and carve them into gravestones to clearly identify the burial sites of their relatives. In Turkey, since Circassians were forced to adopt Turkish language surnames as per the Surname law, they carved their tamgas into gravestones to preserve memory of their Circassian families.
In Ingushetia, members of the aristocracy used tamgas as hereditary emblems, examples of which can be seen on tower complexes in auls such as Erzi, Egikal, Targim, Khamkhi, Yevloy, and Vovnushki.
Secondary usage Eastern Europe
Throughout the early Middle Ages, the Rurikid nobles of Rus' used Tamga-like symbols to denote property rights over various items (Rurikid symbols). Very likely, these are of Khazar (Turkic) origin and have been adopted along with the expansion of the Rus into steppe territory.Noonan, T. S. (2001). The Khazar qaghanate and its impact on the early Rus’ state: The translatio imperii from Itil to Kiev. In: A.M. Khazanov and A. Wink (eds.), Nomads in the Sedentary World, Routledge, London and New York, p. 76-102. A similar process of acculturation of steppe elements can also be suspected for (or before) the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396), as its flags closely resemble the Rurikid symbols in taking the shape of a trident.