Khan's Den: Turkic and Steppe History episodes
Xiongnu Culture and Religion: Tengri, Shamans and the Skull Cup

Xiongnu Culture and Religion: Tengri, Shamans and the Skull Cup

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Around 43 BC, two Chinese envoys joined the Chanyu of the Xiongnu on a hill in present-day Mongolia. They sacrificed a white horse and drank its blood from a cup made from a king’s skull, calling on Heaven to punish whoever broke their oath.

What did the Xiongnu believe? Explore their religion, culture and daily life through Chinese chronicles and archaeological discoveries, from sacred oaths and shamanic rituals to elite tombs filled with silk. Discover Chengli, the Heaven recorded by Chinese chroniclers, and its connections to Tengri and later Göktürk traditions.


In this episode:

  • The oath at the Nuoshui: a white horse, a sacred sword and a king’s skull cup.
  • Chengli Gutu Chanyu: the title “Son of Heaven” and its connection to Tengri.
  • Sacrificial assemblies honoring ancestors, Heaven, Earth and spirits, and the golden figure associated with the king of Xiutu.
  • Shamans, the curse against Han general Li Guangli and spirits speaking in the name of a dead Chanyu.
  • Everyday life on the steppe: horses, bows, herds, border markets and the fortified settlement of Ivolga.
  • Women and power: the Yanzhi, Wang Zhaojun and high-ranking women in Xiongnu burial sites.
  • The tombs of Noin-Ula: silk, felt carpets, embroidery and a lacquer cup from Sichuan.
  • Were the Xiongnu Turkic? Evidence from language, titles, genetics, the name Bagatur and shared religious traditions.

Sources: Sima Qian, Shiji (chapters 110 and 123); Ban Gu, Han Shu (chapters 55, 61, 68, 94 and 96); Fan Ye, Hou Han Shu (chapter 89); Jin Shu (chapter 95); Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, “Early Nomads of the Eastern Steppe and Their Tentative Connections in the West,” Evolutionary Human Sciences 2 (2020), e20, CC BY 4.0. Archaeological and genetic research includes Miller et al. (2018), Lee et al. (2023) and Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. (2025). On-screen Chinese quotations follow the wording of the sources.


Visual credits: The photograph of the Kül Tegin stele comes from the Finnish Orkhon expedition of 1890 (Heikel 1892, public domain). Other images and film scenes are AI-generated.

Terrain flights: Elevation data from SRTM/GMTED via AWS Terrain Tiles; contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2023.

A film by Emre-E Yavuz.
Maps © Emre-E Yavuz 2026.

#Xiongnu, #Tengri, #Turkic history, #Göktürks, #steppe history, #Xiongnu religion, #Xiongnu culture, #Chengli, #Chanyu, #shamans, #skull cup, #Nuoshui oath, #Eurasian steppe, #ancient Mongolia, #Han dynasty, #Li Guangli, #Wang Zhaojun, #Yanzhi, #Noin-Ula, #Ivolga, #Xiongnu archaeology, #Xiongnu genetics, #Bagatur, #Turkic origins

Timeline

00:00:The oath

00:50:Son of Heaven

02:34:The assemblies and the golden man

04:56:Shamans

06:38:Life in the saddle

08:42:The women of the steppe

10:38:Tombs of silk

12:25:The oath from the skull cup

13:42:Were the Xiongnu Turkic?