Oghuz Myths

[discovering]

I have read about the oghuz khan myth ( the wolf ). Although every myth originated from something. does anyone know the origins about oghuz khan. What caused the myth to emerge. What is the truth behind the myth?

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

The Legend of Oghuz Qaghan or Oghuz Khan emerged as a part of the Oghuz myths, gathered under the name Oghuznama (a perhaps now-lost collection of Oghuz myths that included the Oghuz Khan Legend, the Dede Qorqud tales and perhaps other myths). It tells the story of how disunited Turkic tribes were united under the banner of Oghuz Qaghan who conquered the entire known world of the time, and later distributed his tribes between his six sons. The Yabghu rulers of the Oghuz living north of the river Sayhun (Jaxartes) descended from Oghuz Qaghan according to the legend. However, from historical records we know that no such Oghuz rulers conquered such vast amounts of territory strecthing from China to Byzantium. According to some scholars, the legend carries some remnants from the historical memory of Modu Chanyu of the Asian Huns (Xiongnu), but this is doubtful. The conquests of Genghis Khan might have been influential in the creation of the figure and conquests of Oghuz Qaghan, because the earliest known manuscripts of the legend date from the 14th-15th centuries and they were written in the Ilkhanid court.