Alp-Tegin | |
|---|---|
| Persian: الپتگین | |
 Bust of Alp Tegin as one of the founders of the "16 Great Turkic Empires", part of the "Turkishness Monument" (Türklük Anıtı) in Pınarbaşı, Kayseri (opened 2000, 2012 photograph). | |
| Governor of Ghazna | |
| In office 962 – September 963 | |
| Monarch | Mansur I |
| Succeeded by | Abu Ishaq Ibrahim |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 910 |
| Died | September 963 Ghazna |
Alp-Tegin, (Persian: الپتگین Alptegīn or Alptigīn[1]) or Alptekin, was a Turkic slave commander of the Samanid Empire, who would later become the semi-independent governor of Ghazna from 962 until his death in 963.
Before becoming governor of Ghazni, Alp-Tegin was the commander-in-chief (sipahsalar) of the Samanid army in Khorasan. In a political fallout over succession of the Samanids he crossed the Hindu Kush mountains southward and captured Ghazna, located strategically between Kabul and Kandahar in present-day Afghanistan, and thereby establishing his own principality, which, however, was still under Samanid authority.[2] He was succeeded by his son, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim.
- ^ Alp is a Turkic honorific, translating to "brave" or "hero"; tegin is an Old Turkic word meaning "prince"; see C. E. Bosworth, Oriens 36 (2000), p. 304.
- ^ Bosworth 2001, pp. 578–583.