Ashide (Chinese: 阿史德; Middle Chinese: *ʔɑ-ʃɨXtək̚; Old Tibetan: A sha sde’) was one of the dominant clans of Turkic Khaganate. This clan was also the conjugal clan of the Göktürk khagans' Ashina clan.
According to Zheng Qiao's 1161 Comprehensive Records (vol. 29), Ashide descended from an ancient Shǐshàn kèhán 始善可汗 (lit. "First Good Khagan"), whose identity remains unknown.[1]
Yury Zuev reconstructed Old Turkic *Ashtak, further from Middle Persian Azdahāg, from Avestan: Aži Dahāka "Serpent, Dragon", related to Azhdaha.[2] Earlier, H. W. Bailey noticed similarity with Iranian *xšaita ‘ruler’, cf. Sogd. xšēδ, axšēδ ‘ruler’.[3]
The Ashide's status as the Ashina's conjugal clan[4] is documented in the Youyang Zazu, which contains a myth that Ashina's ancestor Shemo fell in love with the sea-goddess west of the Ashide cave.[5]
The baga-tarkhan (military leader) of four Göktürk khagans Tonyukuk and the mother of Chinese warlord An Lushan were both of Ashide origin.
Historian S. G. Klyashtorny said that originally Ashina and Ashide together were part of a dual system, well known among the Turkic and Mongolian peoples.[6][7]
Ashide chiefs bore the title Irkin (Hanzi: 俟斤; Pinyin: Sijin) common to tribal leaders in the Turkic Khaganate. However, their particular position is determined by kinship with the dynasty; it was no coincidence that one of Irkin Ashide tegin held the title 'the prince of the royal family'. The Ashide clan did not have a single source. The Tang Shu mentioned Da Ashide and Bayan Ashide; their tamgas differ from tamgas of Ashide.[8]
To the end of the 7th-8th centuries, it was probably more correct to speak about Ashide as one of the tribes of the khaganate, which together with Ashina was the main military and political support of the Turkic dynasty. Ashide leaders initiated the liberation revolt of the Turkuts (679-682) against the Tang dynasty.[9]
In 2015-2016, a Fudan University (Shanghai) study headed by ethnogenomist Wen Shao-Qing (文少卿) in China, ran tests to determine the Y-DNA haplogroup representatives from the aristocratic Turkic Ashide clan.
They found a subclade of the Ashide clan had the haplogroup Q1a-L53.[10]