Coordinates: 47°33′38″N 102°50′28″E / 47.56056°N 102.84111°E
The Orkhon inscriptions (Turkish: Orhun Yazıtları, Azerbaijani: Orxon-Yenisey abidəsi, Turkmen: Orhon ýazgylary), also known as Orhon Inscriptions, Orhun Inscriptions and the Khöshöö Tsaidam monuments (Mongolian: Хөшөө цайдам, also spelled Khoshoo Tsaidam, Koshu-Tsaidam), are two memorial installations erected by the Göktürks written in Old Turkic alphabet in the early 8th century in the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia. They were erected in honor of two Turkic princes, Kul Tigin and his brother Bilge Khagan.
The inscriptions, in both Chinese and Old Turkic, relate the legendary origins of the Turks, the golden age of their history, their subjugation by the Chinese, and their liberation by Bilge Khagan. In fact, according to one source, the inscriptions contain "rhythmic and parallelistic passages" that resemble that of epics.
The inscriptions were discovered by Nikolay Yadrintsev's expedition in 1889, published by Vasily Radlov. The original text was written in Old Turkic alphabet and was deciphered by the Danish philologist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1893. Vilhelm Thomsen first published the translation in French in 1899. He then published another interpretation in Danish in 1922 with a more complete translation.