Turkic mythology in the context of "World tree"

Irk Bitig or Irq Bitig (Old Turkic: 𐰃𐰺𐰴 𐰋𐰃𐱅𐰃𐰏‎), known as the Book of Omens or Book of Divination in English, is a 9th-century manuscript book on divination that was discovered in the "Library Cave" of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China, by Aurel Stein in 1907, and is now in the collection of the British Library in London, England. The book is written in Old Turkic using the Old Turkic script (also known as "Orkhon" or "Turkic runes"); it is the only known complete manuscript text written in the Old Turkic script. It is also an important source for early Turkic mythology.

Ötüken or Otuken (Old Turkic: 𐰇𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰖𐰃𐱁, romanized: Ötüken yïš, lit. 'Ötüken forest' or 𐰵𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰘𐰼, romanized: Ötüken jer, lit. 'land of Ötüken'; Old Uighur: 𐰵𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰘𐰃𐱁, romanized: Ötüken yïš; Chinese: 於都斤) was the capital of the First Turkic Khaganate, the Second Turkic Khaganate and the Uyghur Khaganate. It has an important place in Turkic mythology and Tengrism.

Ötüken is located within the borders of the Arkhangai Province and Övörkhangai Province of present-day Mongolia.

Oghuz Khagan or Oghuz Khan (Turkish: Oğuz Kağan or Oğuz Han; Azerbaijani: Oğuz Xan or Oğuz Xaqan; Turkmen: Oğuz Han or Oğuz Kağan) is a legendary khan of the Turkic people and an eponymous ancestor of Oghuz Turks. Some Turkic cultures use the legend of Oghuz Khan to describe their ethnic and tribal origins. The various versions of the narrative preserved in many different manuscripts have been published in numerous languages as listed below in the references. The narratives about him are often entitled Oghuzname, of which there are several traditions, describing his many feats and conquests, some of these tend to overlap with other Turkic epic traditions such as Seljukname and The Book of Dede Korkut.

The name of Oghuz Khan has been associated with Maodun, also known as Mete Han; the reason being that there is a remarkable similarity between the biography of Oghuz Khagan in the Turkic mythology and the biography of Maodun found in the Chinese historiography, which was first noticed by the Russo-Chuvash sinologist Hyacinth.

The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians.

Div or dev (Classical Persian: دیو dēw; Iranian Persian: دیو dīv) (with the broader meaning of demons or fiends) are monstrous creatures of Middle Eastern lore and probably of Persian origin. Their origin may lie in the Vedic deities (devas) who were later demonized in the Persian religion (see daeva). Most of their images, when disseminated into the Islamic world, including Armenia, Turkic countries, and Albania, assimilated with the demons and ogres of ancestral beliefs. As such they have been adapted according to the beliefs of Islamic concepts of otherworldly entities. Muslim authors often identified them with the ifrit (demons) and shayatin (devils) of their own belief-system. In Sufism they became symbols of human vices and evil urges.

In folklore and legends, they are often described as having a body like that of a human, only of gigantic size, with two horns upon their heads and teeth like the tusks of a boar. Powerful, cruel and cold-hearted, they have a particular relish for the taste of human flesh. Some use only primitive weapons, such as stones: others, more sophisticated, are equipped like warriors, wearing armour and using weapons of metal. Despite their uncouth appearance – and in addition to their great physical strength – many are also masters of sorcery, capable of overcoming their enemies by magic and afflicting them with nightmares.

This is a list of mythologies native to Asia:

• Buddhist mythology
• Chinese mythology
• Christian mythology (in Western Asia)
• Georgian mythology
• Greek mythology (see Greco-Buddhism)
• Hindu mythology
  • Ayyavazhi mythology
  • Tamil mythology
  • Vedic mythology
• Hittite mythology and religion
• Indo-Iranian mythology
  • Ossetian mythology
  • Persian mythology
  • Scythian mythology
    • Assianism
  • Zoroastrianism
• Indonesian mythology
  • Balinese mythology
• Islamic mythology
• Japanese mythology
  • Oomoto
  • Shinto
• Kanglei mythology
• Korean mythology
• Meitei mythology (Manipuri mythology)
• Mesopotamian mythology
  • Ancient Mesopotamian religion
  • Babylonian mythology
• Mongol mythology
  • Tengriism (indigenous Mongol & Turkic belief)
• Philippine mythology
  • Diwata
  • Anito
  • Gabâ
  • Kulam
• Semitic mythology and
  • Arabian mythology
  • Jewish mythology
• Shamanism in Siberia
• Tungusic creation myth
• Turkic mythology
  • Tatar mythology
• Vietnamese mythology

The Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus), also known as the common wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Europe and Asia. It was once widespread throughout Eurasia prior to the Middle Ages. Aside from an extensive paleontological record, Indo-European languages typically have several words for "wolf", thus attesting to the animal's abundance and cultural significance. It was held in high regard in Baltic, Celtic, Slavic, Turkic, ancient Greek, Roman, Dacian, and Thracian cultures, whilst having an ambivalent reputation in early Germanic cultures.

It is the largest of Old World grey wolves, averaging 39 kg (86 lb) in Europe; however, exceptionally large individuals have weighed 69–79 kg (152–174 lb), though this varies according to region. Its fur is relatively short and coarse, and is generally of a tawny colour, with white on the throat that barely extends to the cheeks. Melanists, albinos, and erythrists are rare, and mostly the result of wolf-dog hybridisation. According to Erik Zimen, the howl of the Eurasian wolf is much more protracted and melodious than that of North American grey wolf subspecies, whose howls are louder and have a stronger emphasis on the first syllable.

The Scythian religion refers to the mythology, ritual practices and beliefs of the Scythian cultures, a collection of closely related ancient Iranic peoples who inhabited Central Asia and the Pontic–Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe throughout Classical Antiquity, spoke the Scythian language (itself a member of the Eastern Iranic language family), and which included the Scythians proper, the Cimmerians, the Sarmatians, the Alans, the Sindi, the Massagetae and the Saka.

The Scythian religion is assumed to have been related to the earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian religion as well as to contemporary Eastern Iranic and Ossetian traditions, and to have influenced later Slavic, Hungarian and Turkic mythologies.