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The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were
Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the
Pontic–Caspian steppe
The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extend ...
and the
Volga region
The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European Russ ...
during the 7th century. They became known as
nomadic equestrians in the
Volga-Ural region
Idel-Ural ( tt-Cyrl, Идел-Урал, translit=Idel-Üral, russian: Идель-Урал), literally Volga-Ural, is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means ''Volga-Urals'' in the Tatar language. T ...
, but some researchers say that their ethnic roots can be traced to
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
.
During their westward migration across the
Eurasian steppe, the Bulgar tribes absorbed other tribal groups and cultural influences in a process of ethnogenesis, including
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
,
Finnic and
Hunnic tribes.
Modern genetic research on Central Asian Turkic people and ethnic groups related to the Bulgars points to an affiliation with Western Eurasian populations.
The Bulgars spoke a
Turkic language
The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...
, i.e.
Bulgar language
Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is an extinct Oghur Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars.
The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mid- ...
of
Oghuric branch. They preserved the military titles, organization and customs of Eurasian steppes, as well as pagan shamanism and belief in the sky deity
Tangra.
The Bulgars became semi-sedentary during the 7th century in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, establishing the polity of
Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th- ...
c. 630–635, which was defeated by the
Khazar Empire
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
in 668 AD. In c. 679, Khan
Asparukh
Asparuh (also ''Ispor''; bg, Аспарух, Asparuh or (rarely) bg, Исперих, Isperih) was а ruler of Bulgars in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681.
Early life
...
conquered
Scythia Minor
Scythia Minor or Lesser Scythia (Greek: , ) was a Roman province in late antiquity, corresponding to the lands between the Danube and the Black Sea, today's Dobruja divided between Romania and Bulgaria. It was detached from Moesia Inferior by th ...
, opening access to
Moesia, and established the Danubian Bulgaria – the
First Bulgarian Empire, where the Bulgars became a political and military elite. They merged subsequently with established
Byzantine populations, as well as with previously settled
Slavic tribes
This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500.
Ancestors
*Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers)
** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of B ...
, and were eventually
Slavicized
Slavicisation or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something Slavic into a non-Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. To a lesser degree, it also means acculturation or adoption of something non-Slavic into Slavic culture or terms. Th ...
, thus forming the ancestors of modern
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely unders ...
.
The remaining Pontic Bulgars migrated in the 7th century to the
Volga River
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchme ...
, where they founded the
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...
; they preserved their identity well into the 13th century. The modern
Volga Tatars
The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars ( tt-Cyrl, татарлар, tatarlar) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are Russia's second-largest ethnicity after ...
and
Chuvash people
The Chuvash people ( , ; cv, чӑваш ; russian: чуваши ) are a Turkic ethnic group, a branch of Oghurs, native to an area stretching from the Volga-Ural region to Siberia. Most of them live in Chuvashia and the surrounding areas, a ...
claim to have originated from the Volga Bulgars.
Etymology and origin
The etymology of the ethnonym ''
Bulgar
Bulgar may refer to:
*Bulgars, extinct people of Central Asia
*Bulgar language, the extinct language of the Bulgars
* Oghur languages
Bulgar may also refer to:
*Bolghar, the capital city of Volga Bulgaria
*Bulgur, a wheat product
* Bulgar, an Ash ...
'' is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD.
Since the work of
Wilhelm Tomaschek
Wilhelm Tomaschek, or Vilém Tomášek (May 26, 1841, Olomouc – September 9, 1901, Vienna) was a Czech-Austrian geographer and orientalist. He is known for his work in the fields of historical topography and historical ethnography. (1873), it is generally said to be derived from
Proto-Turkic
Proto-Turkic is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Turkic languages that was spoken by the Proto-Turks before their divergence into the various Turkic peoples. Proto-Turkic separated into Oghur (western) and Common Turk ...
root *''bulga-'' ("to stir", "to mix"; "to become mixed"), which with the consonant suffix ''-r'' implies a noun meaning "mixed". Other scholars have added that ''bulğa'' might also imply "stir", "disturb", "confuse" and
Talat Tekin
Talat or Talaat may refer to:
People
*Talat (given name), includes Tallat
*Mehmet Ali Talat (born 1952), President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
*Talat Yaqoob
Geographic designations
*Talat Sao, a morning market in Vientiane, Laos ...
interpreted ''bulgar'' as the verb form "mixing" (i.e. rather than the adjective "mixed"). Both
Gyula Németh and
Peter Benjamin Golden initially advocated the "mixed race" theory, but later, like
Paul Pelliot
Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Early life and career ...
, considered that "to incite", "rebel", or "to produce a state of disorder", i.e. the "disturbers", was a more likely etymology for migrating nomads.
According to
Osman Karatay Osman is the Persian transliteration and derived from the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, , link=no ''‘uthmān'') or an English surname. It may refer to:
People
* Osman (name), people with the name
* Osman I (1258–13 ...
, if the "mixed" etymology relied on the westward migration of the
Oğurs, meeting and merging with the Huns, north of the Black Sea, it was a faulty theory, since the Oghurs were documented in Europe as early as 463, while the Bulgars were not mentioned until 482 – an overly short time period for any such
ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group".
This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introd ...
to occur. However, the "mixing" in question may have occurred before the Bulgars migrated from further east, and scholars such as
Sanping Chen have noted analogous groups in
Inner Asia
Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of 'Central Asia', mostly the ...
, with phonologically similar names, who were frequently described in similar terms: during the 4th century, the ''
Buluoji'' (
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
''b'uo-lak-kiei''), a component of the "
Five Barbarian" groups in Ancient China, were portrayed as both a "mixed race" and "troublemakers".
Peter A. Boodberg noted that the ''Buluoji'' in the Chinese sources were recorded as remnants of the
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...
confederation, and had strong Caucasian elements.
Another theory linking the Bulgars to a Turkic people of Inner Asia has been put forward by
Boris Simeonov
Boris may refer to:
People
* Boris (given name), a male given name
*:''See'': List of people with given name Boris
* Boris (surname)
* Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his d ...
, who identified them with the ''Pugu'' (僕骨; ''buk/buok kwət''; ''Buqut''), a
Tiele and/or
Toquz Oguz
The Toquz Oghuz ( otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰆𐰔:𐰆𐰍𐰔, Toquz Oγuz; ; "Turks of Nine Bones") was a political alliance of nine Turkic-speaking Tiele tribes in Inner Asia, during the early Middle Ages. The Toquz Oghuz was consolidated and subordina ...
tribe.
The Pugu were mentioned in Chinese sources from 103 BC up to the 8th century AD,
and later were situated among the eastern Tiele tribes, as one of the highest-ranking tribes after the
Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
. According to the ''Chronicle'' by
Michael the Syrian, which comprises several historical events of different age into one story, three mythical
Scythian
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
brothers set out on a journey from the mountain Imaon (
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
) in Asia and reached the river Tanais (
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
), the country of the
Alans
The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...
called
Barsalia, which would be later inhabited by the Bulgars and the Pugurs (''Puguraje'').
The names
Onoğur and Bulgar were linked by later Byzantine sources for reasons that are unclear.Tekin derived ''-gur'' from the Altaic suffix ''-gir''. Generally, modern scholars consider the terms ''oğuz'' or ''oğur'', as generic terms for
Turkic tribal confederations
The Turkic term ''oğuz'' or ''oğur'' (in z- and r-Turkic, respectively) is a historical term for "military division, clan, or tribe" among the Turkic peoples.
With the Mongol invasions of 1206–21, the Turkic khaganates were replaced by ...
, to be derived from Turkic ''*og/uq'', meaning "kinship or being akin to". The terms initially were not the same, as ''oq/ogsiz'' meant "arrow", while ''oğul'' meant "offspring, child, son", ''oğuš/uğuš'' was "tribe, clan", and the verb ''oğša-/oqša'' meant "to be like, resemble".
There also appears to be an etymological association between the Bulgars and the preceding
Kutrigur
Kutrigurs were Turkic nomadic equestrians who flourished on the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the 6th century AD. To their east were the similar Utigurs and both possibly were closely related to the Bulgars. They warred with the Byzantine Empire an ...
(''Kuturgur'' > ''Quturğur'' > ''*Toqur(o)ğur'' < ''toqur''; "nine" in Proto-Bulgar; ''toquz'' in Common Turkic) and
Utigur
Utigurs were Turkic nomadic equestrians who flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the 6th century AD. They possibly were closely related to the Kutrigurs and Bulgars.
Etymology
The name ''Ut(r)igur'', recorded as , and , is generally c ...
(''Uturgur'' > ''Uturğur'' < ''utur/otur''; "thirty" in Proto-Bulgar; ''otuz'' in Common Turkic) – as ''
'Oğur'' (Oghur) tribes, with the ethnonym Bulgar as a "spreading" adjective. Golden considered the origin of the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be obscure and their relationship to the Onogurs and Bulgars – who lived in similar areas at the same time – as unclear. He noted, however, an implication that the Kutrigurs and Utigurs were related to the
Šarağur (''šara oğur'', ''shara oghur''; "white oğhurs"), and that according to
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...
these were Hunnish tribal unions, of partly
Cimmerian
The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into Wes ...
descent.
Karatay considered the Kutrigurs and Utigurs to be two related, ancestral people, and prominent tribes in the later Bulgar union, but different from the Bulgars.
Among many other theories regarding the etymology of Bulgar, the following have also had limited support.
* an
Eastern Germanic
The East Germanic languages, also called the Oder–Vistula Germanic languages, are a group of extinct Germanic languages that were spoken by Germanic peoples, East Germanic peoples. East Germanic is one of the primary branches of Germanic langua ...
root meaning "combative" (i.e. cognate with the Latin ''pugnax''), according to D. Detschev;
* the Latin ''burgaroi'' – a Roman term mercenaries stationed in ''burgi'' ("forts") on the ''
limes
Limes may refer to:
* the plural form of lime (disambiguation)
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a ...
'' (G. A. Keramopulos);
* a reconstructed but unattested early Turkic term meaning "five oğhur", such as ''*bel-gur'' or ''*bil-gur'' (
Zeki Velidi Togan
Zeki Velidi Togan ( ba, Әхмәтзәки Әхмәтшаһ улы Вәлиди, Äxmätzäki Äxmätşah ulı Wälidi; russian: Ахмет-Заки Ахметшахович Валидов, tr, Ahmet Zeki Velidi Togan; 1890 – 1970 in Istanbul), ...
).
History
Turkic migration
The origin of the early Bulgars is still unclear. Their homeland is believed to be situated in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
and the North Caucasian steppes. Interaction with the Hunnic tribes, causing the migration, may have occurred there, but the
Pontic–Caspian steppe
The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extend ...
seems a more likely location.
The first clear mention and evidence of the Bulgars was in 480, when they served as the allies of the Byzantine Emperor
Zeno
Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to:
People
* Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Philosophers
* Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes
* Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
(474–491) against the
Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...
. Anachronistic references about them can also be found in the 7th-century geography work ''
Ashkharatsuyts
''Ashkharatsuyts'' or ''Ašxarhac′oyc′'' (Աշխարհացոյց (traditional); Աշխարհացույց ( reformed)), often translated as ''Geography'' in English sources, is an early Medieval Armenian illustrated book by Anania Shirakatsi. ...
'' by
Anania Shirakatsi
Anania Shirakatsi ( hy, Անանիա Շիրակացի, ''Anania Širakac’i'', anglicized: Ananias of Shirak) was a 7th-century Armenian polymath and natural philosopher, author of extant works covering mathematics, astronomy, geography, chronol ...
, where the ''Kup'i Bulgar'', ''Duč'i Bulkar'', ''Olxontor Błkar'' and immigrant ''Č'dar Bulkar'' tribes are mentioned as being in the North Caucasian-Kuban steppes. An obscure reference to ''Ziezi ex quo Vulgares'', with
Ziezi being an offspring of Biblical
Shem
Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran.
The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lu ...
, is in the ''
Chronography of 354
The ''Chronograph of 354'' (or "Chronography"), also known as the ''Calendar of 354'', is a compilation of chronological and calendrical texts produced in 354 AD for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus by the calligrapher and illustrator ...
''.
According to D. Dimitrov, the 5th-century ''
History of Armenia'' by
Movses Khorenatsi
Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; hy, Մովսէս Խորենացի, , also written as ''Movses Xorenac‘i'' and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Chorene, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the late a ...
speaks about two migrations of the Bulgars, from
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...
to
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
. The first migration is mentioned in the association with the campaign of Armenian ruler
Valarshak (probably
Varazdat
Varazdat (; flourished 4th century) was the king of Arsacid Armenia from 374/375 until 378. He was installed on the throne by the Roman emperor Valens after the assassination of his kinsman King Pap.
Name
The name Varazdat derives from Middle ...
) to the lands "named Basen by the ancients... and which were afterwards populated by immigrants of the vh' ndur Bulgar Vund, after whose name they (the lands) were named
Vanand
Vanand () is the area of historic Armenia that roughly corresponds to the Kars Province of present-day Turkey. Named after the Armenian family of Vanandi, it was a principality of the Kingdom of Armenia and a later province of the Democratic ...
". The second migration took place during the time of the ruler
Arshak III
Arshak III, also known as Arsaces III, Arsak III and Arshak III-Vagharshak ( hy, Արշակ Գ, flourished 4th century – died 387), was a prince who served as a Roman client king of Arsacid Armenia from 378 until 387. Arshak III is often known ...
, when "great disturbances occurred in the range of the great Caucasus mountain, in the land of the Bulgars, many of whom migrated and came to our lands and settled south of Kokh". Both migrations are dated to the second half of the 4th century AD. The "disturbances" which caused them are believed to be the expansion of the Huns in the East-European steppes. Dimitrov recorded that the toponyms of the Bolha and
Vorotan rivers, tributaries of the
Aras river, are known as ''Bolgaru-chaj'' and ''Vanand-chaj'', and could confirm the Bulgar settlement of Armenia.
Around 463 AD, the
Akatziroi
The Akatziri or Akatzirs ( gr, Άκατίροι, Άκατζίροι, ''Akatiroi'', ''Akatziroi''; la, Acatziri) were a tribe that lived north of the Black Sea, though the Crimean city of Cherson seemed to be under their control in the sixth centu ...
and other tribes that had been part of the Hunnic union were attacked by the Šarağurs, one of the first Oğuric Turkic tribes that entered the Ponto-Caspian steppes as the result of migrations set off in Inner Asia. According to
Priscus
Priscus of Panium (; el, Πρίσκος; 410s AD/420s AD-after 472 AD) was a 5th-century Eastern Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist)...: "For information about Attila, his court and the organization of life general ...
, in 463 the representatives of Šarağur, Oğur and Onoğur came to the Emperor in Constantinople, and explained they had been driven out of their homeland by the
Sabirs
The Sabirs (Savirs, Suars, Sawar, Sawirk among others; el, Σάβιροι) were nomadic people who lived in the north of the Caucasus beginning in the late-5th -7th century, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, in the Kuban area, and possibly ...
, who had been attacked by the
Avars. This tangle of events indicates that the Oğuric tribes are related to the
Ting-ling and
Tiele people
The Tiele (, Mongolian ''*Tegreg'' " eople of theCarts"), also transliterated as Dili (), Chile (), Zhile (), Tele (), also named Gaoche or Gaoju (, "High Carts"), were a tribal confederation of Turkic ethnic origins living to the north of Chi ...
. It seems that Kutrigurs and Unigurs arrived with the initial waves of Oğuric peoples entering the Pontic steppes. The Bulgars were not mentioned in 463.
The account by
Paul the Deacon in his ''
History of the Lombards
The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' ( la, Historia Langobardorum) is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate ...
'' (8th century) says that at the beginning of the 5th century in the North-Western slopes of the
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
the ''Vulgares'' killed the
Lombard king Agelmund.
Scholars attribute this account to the Huns, Avars or some Bulgar groups were probably carried away by the Huns to the Central Europe.
The Lombards, led by their new king Laimicho, rose up and defeated the Bulgars with great slaughter, gaining great booty and confidence as they "became bolder in undertaking the toils of war." The defeated Bulgars then became subjects of the Lombards and later migrated in Italy with their king
Alboin
Alboin (530s – 28 June 572) was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572. He had a lasting effe ...
. When the army of Ostrogoth chieftain
Theodoric Strabo
Theodoric (or Theoderic) Strabo ( la, Theodericus; died 481) was a Gothic chieftain who was involved in the politics of the Eastern Roman Empire during the reigns of Emperors Leo I, Zeno and Basiliscus. He was a rival for the leadership of the Ost ...
grew to 30,000-men strong, it was felt as a menace to Byzantine Emperor Zeno, who somehow managed to convince the Bulgars to attack the Thracian Goths.
The Bulgars were eventually defeated by Strabo in 480/481.
In 486 and 488 they fought against the Goths again, first as allies of the Byzantium, according to
Magnus Felix Ennodius
Magnus Felix Ennodius (473 or 47417 July 521 AD) was Bishop of Pavia in 514, and a Latin rhetorician and poet.
He was one of four Gallo-Roman aristocrats of the fifth to sixth-century whose letters survive in quantity: the others are Sidonius A ...
,
and later as allies of the
Gepids
The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion ...
, according to Paul the Deacon.
However, when
Theoderic the Great
Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy ...
with Ostrogoths parted for Italy in 489, the
Illyricum and
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
were open for Bulgar raids.
In 493, according to
Marcellinus Comes Marcellinus Comes (Greek: Μαρκελλίνος ό Κόμης, died c. 534) was a Latin chronicler of the Eastern Roman Empire. An Illyrian by birth, he spent most of his life at the court of Constantinople. His only surviving work, the ''Chronicl ...
, they defeated and killed
magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...
Julian. In 499, crossed Danube and reached Thrace where on the banks of the river Tzurta (considered a tributary of
Maritsa
Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,[Justin
Justin may refer to: People
* Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin
* Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire
* Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...]
and
Baduarius
Baduarius ( el, Βαδουάριος) was an East Roman aristocrat, the son-in-law of Byzantine emperor Justin II (r. 565–578). Theophanes the Confessor erroneously calls him a brother of the Emperor..
Biography
Possibly the son or grandson of ...
. However, Gothic general,
Mundus, offered allegiance to the Emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...
(527–565) in 530, and managed to kill 5,000 Bulgars plundering Thrace.
John Malalas recorded that in the battle was captured Bulgar warlord. In 535, magister militum
Sittas
Sittas ( el, Σίττας; died 538) was a Byzantine military commander during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). During the Iberian War against the Sassanid Empire, Sittas was given command of forces in Armenia, similar to the statu ...
defeated the Bulgar army at the river
Yantra
Yantra () (literally "machine, contraption") is a geometrical diagram, mainly from the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. Yantras are used for the worship of deities in temples or at home; as an aid in meditation; used for the benefit ...
.
Ennodius,
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...
and
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...
identified the Bulgars with the Huns in a 6th-century
literary topos
In classical Greek rhetoric, topos, ''pl.'' topoi, (from grc, τόπος "place", elliptical for grc, τόπος κοινός ''tópos koinós'', 'common place'), in Latin ''locus'' (from ''locus communis''), refers to a method for developing ar ...
, in which Ennodius referred to a captured Bulgar horse as "''equum Huniscum''". In 505, the alleged 10,000 Hun horsemen in the
Sabinian army, which was defeated by the Ostrogoths, are believed to be the Bulgars. In 515, Bulgar mercenaries were listed along with others from the Goths, Scythians and Hunnic tribes as part of the
Vitalian army. In 539, two Hunnic "kinglets" defeated two Roman generals during the raid into
Scythia Minor
Scythia Minor or Lesser Scythia (Greek: , ) was a Roman province in late antiquity, corresponding to the lands between the Danube and the Black Sea, today's Dobruja divided between Romania and Bulgaria. It was detached from Moesia Inferior by th ...
and
Moesia. A Roman army led by magister militum
Ascum Ascum ( el, ) was a general of the Byzantine Empire, active early in the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565). He was in command of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. His name is reported by John Malalas. Both Theophanes the Confessor and Geor ...
and
Constantiolus Constantiolus ( el, ) was a general of the Byzantine Empire, active early in the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565). He succeeded Justin in command of Moesia Secunda. A passage of Theophanes the Confessor incorrectly identifies him as "Constantin ...
intercepted and defeated them in Thrace, however, another raiding party ambushed and captured two Roman generals. In 539 and 540, Procopius reported a powerful Hunnic army crossed the Danube, devastated Illyricum and reached up to the
Anastasian Wall. Such large distances covered in short time indicate they were horsemen.
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...
described, in his work ''
Getica
''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the o ...
'' (551), the Pontic steppe beyond the Acatziri, above the Pontic Sea, as the habitat of the ''Bulgari'', "whom the evils of our sins have made famous". In this region, the ''Hunni'' divided into two tribes: the ''Altziagiri'' (who trade and live next to
Cherson) and ''Saviri'', while the ''Hunuguri'' (believed to be the Onoğurs) were notable for the
marten skin trade.
In the Middle Ages, marten skin was used as a substitute for minted money.
The Syriac translation of
Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor is the designation used by modern scholarship for the anonymous 6th-century author who compiled a twelve-part history in the Syriac language around 569. It contains portions of the otherwise lost ''Ecclesiastical History'' of ...
's ''Ecclesiastical History'' (c. 555) in Western Eurasia records:
The land Bazgun... extends up to the Caspian Gates and to the sea, which are in the Hunnish lands. Beyond the gates live the Burgars (Bulgars), who have their language, and are people pagan and barbarian. They have towns. And the Alans – they have five towns... Avnagur (Aunagur, considered Onoğurs) are people, who live in tents
Then he records 13 tribes, the ''wngwr'' (
Onogur), ''wgr'' (Oğur), ''sbr'' (
Sabir), ''bwrgr'' (Burğa, i.e. Bulgar), ''kwrtrgr'' (Kutriğurs), ''br'' (probably
Vars, also known as the Avars), ''ksr'' (''Kasr''; possibly
Akatziri
The Akatziri or Akatzirs ( gr, Άκατίροι, Άκατζίροι, ''Akatiroi'', ''Akatziroi''; la, Acatziri) were a tribe that lived north of the Black Sea, though the Crimean city of Cherson seemed to be under their control in the sixth centu ...
), ''srwrgwr'' (
Saragur), ''dyrmr'' (unknown), ''b'grsyq'' (''Bagrasir'', i.e.
Barsil), ''kwls'' (unknown), ''bdl'' (probably
Abdali), and ''ftlyt'' (Hephthalite) ... They are described in typical phrases reserved for nomads in the ethnographic literature of the period, as people who "live in tents, earn their living on the meat of livestock and fish, of wild animals and by their weapons (plunder)".
Agathias
Agathias or Agathias Scholasticus ( grc-gre, Ἀγαθίας σχολαστικός; Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), pp. 23–25582/594), of Myrina (Mysia), an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor (Turkey), was a Greek poet and the principal histo ...
(c. 579–582) wrote:
...all of them are called in general Scythians and Huns in particular according to their nation. Thus, some are Koutrigours or Outigours and yet others are Oultizurs and Bourougounds... the Oultizurs and Bourougounds were known up to the time of the Emperor Leo (457–474) and the Romans of that time and appeared to have been strong. We, however, in this day, neither know them, nor, I think, will we. Perhaps, they have perished or perhaps they have moved off to very far place.
According to D. Dimitrov, scholars partially managed to identify and locate the Bulgar groups mentioned in the Armenian ''Ashkharatsuyts''. The ''Olxontor Błkar'' is one of the variations used for the Onoğurs Bulgars, while others could be related to the ancient river names, such as the ''Kup'i Bulgar'' and the
Kuban (Kuphis). The ''Duč'i'' could read ''Kuchi Bulkar'' and as such could be related to the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and ...
(Kocho). However, the ''Č'dar Bulkar'' location is unclear. Dimitrov theorized that the differences in the ''Bulgar'' ethnonym could be due to the dialect differentiations in their language.
By the middle of the 6th century, the Bulgars momentarily fade from the sources and the Kutrigurs and Utigurs come to the front. Between 548 and 576, mostly due to Justinian I (527–565), through diplomatic persuasion and bribery the Kutrigurs and Utigurs were drawn into mutual warfare, decimating one another. In the end, the Kutrigurs were overwhelmed by the Avars, while the Utigurs came under the rule of the Western Turks.
The Oğurs and Onoğurs, in the 6th- and 7th-century sources, were mentioned mostly in connection with the Avar and Turk conquest of Western Eurasia. From the 8th century, the Byzantine sources often mention the Onoğurs in close connection with the Bulgars.
Agathon
Agathon (; grc, Ἀγάθων; ) was an Athenian tragic poet whose works have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's ''Symposium,'' which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy a ...
(early 8th century) wrote about the nation of Onoğurs Bulğars.
Nikephoros I (early 9th century) noted that
Kubrat
Kubrat ( el, Κοβρᾶτος, Kούβρατος; bg, Кубрат ) was the ruler of the Onogur–Bulgars, credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in ca. 632. His name derived from the Turkic words ''qobrat'' — ...
was the lord of the ''Onoğundurs''; his contemporary
Theophanes referred to them as ''Onoğundur–Bulğars''.
Constantine VII (mid-10th century) remarked that the Bulğars formerly called themselves ''Onoğundurs''. This association was previously mirrored in Armenian sources, such as the ''Ashkharatsuyts'', which refers to the ''Olxontor Błkar'', and the 5th century ''History'' by Movses Khorenatsi, which includes an additional comment from a 9th-century writer about the colony of the Vłĕndur Bułkar. Marquart and Golden connected these forms with the ''Iġndr'' (*Uluġundur) of
Ibn al-Kalbi
Hishām ibn al-Kalbī ( ar, هشام بن الكلبي), 737 AD – 819 AD/204 AH, also known as Ibn al-Kalbi (), was an Arab historian. His full name was Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib ibn Bishr al-Kalbi. Born in Kufa, he spent ...
(c. 820), the ''Vnndur'' (*Wunundur) of
Hudud al-'Alam (982), the ''Wlndr'' (*Wulundur) of
Al-Masudi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...
(10th century) and Hungarian name for Belgrad ''Nándor Fejérvár'', the ''nndr'' (*Nandur) of
Gardīzī (11th century) and ''*Wununtur'' in the
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
by the Khazar King
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
. All the forms show the phonetic changes typical of later Oğuric (prothetic v-).
Scholars consider it unclear how this union came about, viewing it as a long process in which a number of different groups were merged. During that time, the Bulgars may have represented a large confederation including the remnants of Onoğurs, Utigurs and Kutrigurs among others.
Old Great Bulgaria
![Bulgarians and Slavs VI-VII century](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Bulgarians_and_Slavs_VI-VII_century.png)
The Turk rule weakened sometime after 600, allowing the Avars to reestablish the control over the region. As the
Western Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate ( otk, 𐰆𐰣:𐰸:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, On oq budun, Ten arrow people) was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after t ...
declined, finally collapsing in the middle of the 7th century, it was against Avar rule that the Bulgars, recorded as ''Onoğundur–Bulğars'', reappeared. They revolted under their leader
Kubrat
Kubrat ( el, Κοβρᾶτος, Kούβρατος; bg, Кубрат ) was the ruler of the Onogur–Bulgars, credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in ca. 632. His name derived from the Turkic words ''qobrat'' — ...
(c. 635), who seems to have been prepared by
Heraclius (610–641) against the Sasanian–Avar alliance. With his uncle
Organa
Organa (Alpo-Morgan) was Kubrat's maternal uncle of the Ermi clan. According to John of Nikiu, he was regent (kavkhan) over the tribe of the Onogur Bulgars from 617 to 630 in place of his nephew, Kubrat, for the time Kubrat was growing up as a ...
in 619, Kubrat had been baptized in Constantinople.
He founded the
Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th- ...
(''Magna Bulgaria''), also known as ''Onoğundur–Bulğars'' state, or ''Patria Onoguria'' in the ''
Ravenna Cosmography
The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' ( la, Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia, "The Cosmography of the Unknown Ravennese") is a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland, compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around 700 AD. Textu ...
''.
Little is known about Kubrat's activities. It is considered that Onogur Bulgars remained the only steppe tribes in good relations with the Byzantines. His date of death is placed between 650 and 663 AD. According to Nikephoros I, Kubrat instructed his five sons to "never separate their place of dwelling from one another, so that by being in concordance with one another, their power might thrive".
Subsequent events proved Old Great Bulgaria to be only a loose tribal union, as there emerged a rivalry between the
Khazars
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
and the Bulgars over Turk patrimony and dominance in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Some historians consider the war an extension of the Western Turks struggle, between the ''Nushibi'' tribes and
Ashina clan Ashina may refer to:
*Ashina tribe, a ruling dynasty of the Turkic Khaganate
*Ashina clan (Japan), one of the Japanese clans
*Ashina District, Hiroshima, a former Japanese district
*Empress Ashina (551–582), empress of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty ...
, who led the Khazars, and the ''Duolu/Tu-lu'' tribes, which some scholars associated with the
Dulo clan
The Dulo clan was a ruling dynasty of the Bulgars. The origins of the Bulgars and Dulo clan are not known precisely, and there are many theories about their origin. It is generally considered that they – or at least the elite caste – were in ...
, from which Kubrat and many Bulgar rulers originated. The Khazars were ultimately victorious and parts of the Bulgar union broke up.
Subsequent migrations
![Bulgar necropolises on lower Danube](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Bulgar_necropolises_on_lower_Danube.jpg)
It is unclear whether the parting ways by brothers was caused by the internal conflicts or strong Khazar pressure. The latter is considered more likely. The Bulgars led by the first two brothers
Batbayan and
Kotrag
Kotrag was according to Nikephoros I of Constantinople a son of Kubrat of the Dulo clan of Bulgars. Following the death of his father, he began to extend the influence of his Bulgars to the Volga River. He is remembered as the founder of Volga ...
remained in the Pontic steppe zone, where they were known as ''Black Bulgars'' by Byzantine and Rus sources, and became Khazar vassals.
The Bulgars led by Kotrag migrated to the middle
Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...
region during the 7th and 9th centuries, where they founded
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...
, with
Bolghar
Bolghar ( tt-Cyrl, Болгар, cv, Пăлхар) was intermittently the capital of Volga Bulgaria from the 8th to the 15th centuries, along with Bilyar and Nur-Suvar. It was situated on the bank of the Volga River, about 30 km downstream ...
as its capital.
According to
Ahmad ibn Rustah
Ahmad ibn Rustah Isfahani ( fa, احمد ابن رسته اصفهانی ''Aḥmad ibn Rusta Iṣfahānī''), more commonly known as Ibn Rustah (, also spelled ''Ibn Rusta'' and ''Ibn Ruste''), was a tenth-century Persian explorer and geographer ...
(10th century), the Volga Bulgars were divided into three branches: "the first branch was called Bersula (Barsils), the second
Esegel Esegels (aka ''Izgil'' ( otk, 𐰔𐰏𐰠), ''Äsägel'', ''Askel'', ''Askil'', ''Ishkil'', ''Izgil'') were a dynastic tribe, of Turkic linguistic affiliation, in the Middle Ages who joined and would be assimilated into the Volga Bulgars.
Numerou ...
, and the third Bulgar".
In 922 they accepted
Islam as the official religion. They preserved their national identity well into the 13th century by repelling the first
Mongol attacks in 1223. They were eventually subdued by the Mongols in 1237. They gradually lost their identity after 1431 when their towns and region were captured by the Russians.
The third and most famous son,
Asparukh
Asparuh (also ''Ispor''; bg, Аспарух, Asparuh or (rarely) bg, Исперих, Isperih) was а ruler of Bulgars in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681.
Early life
...
, according to Nikephoros I:
Asparukh, according to the ''Pseudo''–Zacharias Rhetor, "fled from the Khazars out of the Bulgarian mountains". In the Khazar ruler Joseph's letter is recorded "in the country in which I live, there formerly lived the Vununtur (< Vunundur < Onoğundur). Our ancestors, the Khazars warred with them. The Vununtur were more numerous, as numerous as the sand by the sea, but they could not withstand the Khazars. They left their country and fled... until they reached the river called Duna (
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
)".
This migration and the foundation of the Danube Bulgaria (the
First Bulgarian Empire) is usually dated c. 679. The composition of the horde is unknown, and sources only mention tribal names Čakarar, Kubiar, Küriger, and clan names
Dulo
The Dulo clan was a ruling dynasty of the Bulgars. The origins of the Bulgars and Dulo clan are not known precisely, and there are many theories about their origin. It is generally considered that they – or at least the elite caste – were in ...
,
Ukil/Vokil, Ermiyar, Ugain and Duar. The ''Onglos'' where Bulgars settled is considered northern
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
, secured to the West and North by Danube and its
Delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
, and bounded to the East by the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
. They re-settled in North-Eastern Bulgaria, between
Shumen and
Varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
, including
Ludogorie
The Ludogorie ( bg, Лудогорие, usually used with a definite article, Лудогорието, ''Ludogorieto'') or Deliorman (''Делиорман'', tr, Deli Orman, lit=mad forest and Bulgarian: lud - "mad", "crazy" and gora - "forest"), ...
plateau and southern Dobruja. The distribution of pre-Christian burial assemblages in Bulgaria and Romania is considered as the indication of the confines of the Bulgar settlement.
In the Balkans they merged with the Slavs and other autochthonous Romance and Greek speaking population, like the
Thracians
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
and
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other E ...
, becoming a political and military elite. However, the influence of the pre-Slavic population had relatively little influence on the Slavs and Bulgars, indicating their population was reduced in previous centuries. The hinterlands of the Byzantine territory were for years occupied by many groups of Slavs. According to Theophanes, the Bulgars subjugated the so-called
Seven Slavic tribes
The Seven Slavic tribes ( bg, Седемте славянски племена, Sedemte slavyanski plemena), or the Seven clans ( bg, Седемте рода, Sedemte roda, links=no) were a union of Slavic tribes in the Danubian Plain, that was ...
, of which the
Severeis were re-settled from the pass of Beregaba or Veregava, most likely the
Rish Pass
Rish Pass ( bg, Ришки проход, Rishki Prohod) is a mountain pass in the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina) in Bulgaria. It connects Shumen and Karnobat. On the Shumen side of the pass is the village of Rish.
The Battle of the Rishki P ...
of the
Balkan Mountains, to the East, while the other six tribes to the Southern and Western regions as far the boundary with the Pannonian Avars. Scholars consider that the absence of any source recording the Slavic resistance to the invasion was because it was in their interest to be liberated from the Byzantine taxation. It is considered that the Slavic tribal organization was left intact, and paid tribute to the ruling Bulgars.
According to Nikephoros I and Theophanes, an unnamed fourth brother, believed to be
Kuber
Kuber, (also Kouber or Kuver), was a Bulgar leader who, according to the ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'', liberated a mixed Bulgar and Byzantine Christian population in the 670s, whose ancestors had been transferred from the Eastern Roman Empi ...
, "having crossed the river Ister, resides in Pannonia, which is now under the sway of the Avars, having made an alliance with the local peoples". Kuber later led a revolt against the Avars and with his people moved as far as the region of
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
in Greek
Macedonia.
The fifth brother, reported by Nikephoros I and Theophanes, "settling in the five
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...
te cities became a subject of the Romans". This brother is believed to be
Alcek Alcek or Alzeco was allegedly a son of Kubrat and led the Altsikurs to Ravenna that later settled in the villages of Gallo Matese, Sepino, Boiano and Isernia in the Matese mountains of southern Italy.
Alzeco should not be confused with the Pan ...
, who after a stay in Avar territory left and settled in Italy, in
Sepino
Sepino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian region Molise, located about south of Campobasso.
The archaeological site of Saepinum is located nearby. Sepino borders the following municipalities: Cercemag ...
,
Bojano
Bojano or Boiano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso, Molise, south-central Italy.
History
Originally named Bovianum, it was settled by the 7th century BC. As the capital of the Pentri, a tribe of the Samnites, it played a maj ...
and
Isernia
Isernia () or, in Pliny and later writers, ''Eserninus'', or in the Antonine Itinerary, ''Serni''. is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Molise, and the capital of province of Isernia.
Geography
Situated on a rocky crest ...
. These Bulgars preserved their speech and identity until the late 8th century.
Bulgarian empires
The First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018) had a significant political influence in the Balkans. In the time of
Tervel
Khan Tervel ( bg, Тервел) also called ''Tarvel'', or ''Terval'', or ''Terbelis'' in some Byzantine sources, was the khan of Bulgaria during the First Bulgarian Empire at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named ...
(700–721) the Bulgars helped Byzantines two times, in 705 the Emperor
Justinian II
Justinian II ( la, Iustinianus; gr, Ἰουστινιανός, Ioustinianós; 668/69 – 4 November 711), nicknamed "the Slit-Nosed" ( la, Rhinotmetus; gr, ὁ Ῥινότμητος, ho Rhinótmētos), was the last Eastern Roman emperor of the ...
to regain his throne, and 717–718 defeating the Arabs during the siege of Constantinople.
Sevar (738–753) was the last ruler from the Dulo clan, and the period until c. 768–772 was characterized by the Byzantino-Bulgar conflict and internal crisis. In the short period followed seven rulers from the Uokil and Ugain clan.
Telerig
Telerig ( bg, Телериг) was the ruler of Bulgaria from 768 to 777.
Although Telerig is first mentioned by Byzantine sources in 774, he is considered as he immediate successor of Pagan, who was murdered in 768. In May 774, Byzantine Empero ...
(768–777) managed to establish a pacific policy with Byzantium, and restore imperial power.
During the reign of Khan
Krum
Krum ( bg, Крум, el, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome ( bg, Крум Страшни) was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territory ...
(803–814), the Empire doubled its size, including new lands in Macedonia and
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. He also successfully repelled the invading force of the Byzantines, as well defeated the Pannonian Avars where additionally extended the Empire size. In 865, during the reign of Khan
Boris I (852–889), the Bulgars accepted Christianity as the official religion, and Eastern Orthodoxy in 879. The greatest expansion of the Empire and prosperity during the time of
Simeon I (893–927) is considered as the Bulgarian
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...
. However, from the time of
Peter I Peter I may refer to:
Religious hierarchs
* Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus
* Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint
* Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...
(927–969) their power declined. The Hungarians,
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
Slavs, as well
Pechenegs
The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა ...
and
Cumans
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many so ...
held many raids into their territory, and so weakened were eventually conquered in 1018 by the Byzantine Empire.
In 1185, the Bulgarians and Vlachs held a
revolt against the Byzantine Empire, and helped by the settled Cumans from Hungary, created the
Second Bulgarian Empire (1186–1396) ruled by the
Asen dynasty
The Asen dynasty ( bg, Асеневци, ''Asenevtsi'') founded and ruled a medieval Bulgarian state, called in modern historiography the Second Bulgarian Empire, between 1185 and 1280.
The Asen dynasty rose as the leaders of Bulgaria after a reb ...
(1187–1280). From 1280 till 1322 periodically ruled the
Terter dynasty
The House of Terter ( bg, Тертер), also Terterids or Terterovtsi (Тертеровци), was a Bulgarian noble and royal house of Cuman origin,István Vásáry (2005) ''Cumans and Tatars'', Cambridge University Press, p. 2 a branch of the C ...
, and from 1323 till 1396 the
Shishman dynasty, all the three of Cuman origin. In 1396, the Bulgarians were conquered by the
Ottoman Turks, and only in 1878 established an autonomous principality, while in 1908 declared independence.
Society
![JEŹDZIEC Z MADARY](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/JE%C5%B9DZIEC_Z_MADARY.JPG)
Bulgars had the typical culture of the nomadic equestrians of Central Asia, who migrated seasonally in pursuit of good pastures, as well attraction to economic and cultural interaction with sedentary societies. Being in contact with sedentary cultures, they began mastering the crafts of
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...
ing,
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
, and
carpentry.
The politically dominant tribe or clan usually gave its name to the tribal confederation. Such confederations were often encouraged by the Imperial powers, for whom it was easier to deal with one ruler than several tribal chieftains.
In nomadic society the tribes were political organizations based on kinship, with diffused power. Tribes developed according to the relation with sedentary states, and only managed to conquer them when had social cohesion. If the raiding by the nomads had negative effect on the economic development of the region it could significantly slow down their own social and cultural development. In a nomadic state the nomad and sedentary integration was limited, and usually had vassal tribute system.
When the Bulgars arrived in the Balkan their first generations probably still lived a nomadic life in
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...
s, but they quickly adopted the
sunken-featured building of rectangular plan and sedentary or seasonal lifestyle of the Slavs and autochthonous population. The Bulgar and Slavic settlements cannot be distinguished other than by the type of biritual cemeteries.
Social structure
The Bulgars, at least the Danubian Bulgars, had a well-developed clan and military administrative system of "inner" and "outer" tribes, governed by the ruling clan. They had many titles, and according to
Steven Runciman the distinction between titles which represented offices and mere ornamental dignities was somewhat vague.
Maenchen-Helfen
Otto John Maenchen-Helfen (German: Otto Mänchen-Helfen; July 26, 1894 – January 29, 1969) was an Austrian academic, sinologist, historian, author, and traveler.
From 1927 to 1930, he worked at the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow, and from 19 ...
theorized that the titles of the steppe peoples did not reflect the ethnicity of their bearers. According to Magnus Felix Ennodius, the Bulgars did not have nobility, yet their leaders and common men became noblemen on the battle field, indicating social mobility.
Tribute-paying sedentary vassals, such as the Slavs and Greek-speaking population, formed a substantial and important part of the ''khanates maintenance.
The ruler title in Bulgar inscriptions was ''
khan''/''kana''. A counterpart of the Greek phrase (''ho ek Theou archon'') was also common in Bulgar inscriptions. The ''
kavhan
The ''kavkhan'' ( grc-x-byzant, καυχάνος; bg, кавха̀н) was one of the most important officials in the First Bulgarian Empire.
Role and status
According to the generally accepted opinion, he was the second most important person ...
'' was the second most important title in the realm,
seemingly chief official. Some Bulgar inscriptions, written in Greek and later in
Slavonic, refer to the Bulgarian rulers respectively with the Greek title ''
archon'', or the Slavic titles ''
knyaz'' and ''
tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
''.
There are several possible interpretations for the ruler title, ''
kana sybigi'', mentioned in six inscriptions by the Khan
Omurtag
Omurtag (or Omortag) ( bg, Омуртаг; original gr, Μορτάγων and Ομουρτάγ', Inscription No.64. Retrieved 10 April 2012.) was a Great Khan ('' Kanasubigi'') of Bulgaria from 814 to 831. He is known as "the Builder".
In the v ...
and two by
Malamir. Among the proposed translations for ''sybigi'' or ''subigi'' are "lord of the army", from the reconstructed Turkic phrase ''syu-beg'' (army master) paralleling the attested
Orkhon Turkic ''
syubashi''. Runciman and
J. B. Bury
John Bagnell Bury (; 16 October 1861 – 1 June 1927) was an Anglo-Irish historian, classical scholar, Medieval Roman historian and philologist. He objected to the label "Byzantinist" explicitly in the preface to the 1889 edition of his ''Lat ...
considered ''ubige'' or ''uvege'' to be related to the
Cuman
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many so ...
-Turkic ''öweghü'' (high, glorious);
"bright, luminous, heavenly"; and more recently "(ruler) from God", from the Indo-European ''*su-'' and ''
baga-'', i.e. ''*su-baga''.
Florin Curta
Florin Curta (born January 15, 1965) is a Romanian-born American archaeologist and historian who is a Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida.
Biography
Curta works in the field of the Balkan history and is ...
noted the resemblance in the use of the ''kana sybigi'' with the Byzantine name and title ''
basileus''.
Members of the upper social class bore the title ''
boila
Boila (Old Bulgarian: ; bg, боила; el, βοιλα; otk, 𐰉𐰆𐰖𐰞𐰀, Boyla) was a title worn by some of the Bulgar and Göktürk aristocrats (mostly of regional governors and noble warriors) in the First Bulgarian Empire (681-10 ...
'' (later ''
boyar''). The nobility was divided onto ''small'' and ''great'' boilas. In the 10th century, there were three classes of boyars: the six ''great'' boilas, the ''outer'' boilas, and the ''inner'' boilas,
while in the mid-9th century there were twelve ''great'' boyars.
The ''great'' boilas occupied military and administrative offices in the state, as well the council where they gathered for decisions on important matters of state.
''Bagaïns'' were the lesser class of the nobility, probably a military class which also participated in the council.
The title ''
bagatur'', once as ''bogotor'', is found in several instances within the inscriptions. It derives from Turkish ''bagadur'' (hero) and was a high military rank. The Bulgarian military commander who was defeated by the Croats in the
Battle of the Bosnian Highlands
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
(926) was called
Alogobotur Alogobotur ( bg, Aлогоботур) (died 926) was a Bulgarian noble and military commander during the reign of Tsar Simeon the Great (893–926). He was probably a ''komit'' (duke) of one of Bulgaria's provinces. Some scholars indicate that ...
, which is actually a title comprised by ''alo'' (considered Turkic ''
alp, alyp''; chief) and ''bagatur''.
There are several title associations with uncertain meaning, such as ''boila kavkhan'', ''ičirgu boila'', ''kana boila qolovur'', ''bagatur bagain'', ''biri bagain'', ''setit bagain'' and ''ik bagain''.
''Kolober'' (or ''qolovur''), a rank title, is cited in two inscriptions, and it derives from the Turkish term for a guide, ''golaghuz''.
The title ''
župan
Župan is a noble and administrative title used in several states in Central and Southeastern Europe between the 7th century and the 21st century. It was (and in Croatia still is) the leader of the administrative unit župa (or zhupa, županij ...
'', also once as ''kopan'' in the inscriptions, was often mentioned together with the bearer's name. They were traditionally seen as Slavic chiefs. It seems to have meant "head of a clan-district", as among the South Slavs (Croats, Serbs) where it was more widely used, it meant "head of a tribe" with a high district and court function.
The title ''
tarkhan
Tarkhan ( otk, 𐱃𐰺𐰴𐰣, Tarqan, mn, or ; fa, ترخان; ; ar , طرخان; alternative spellings ''Tarkan'', ''Tarkhaan'', ''Tarqan'', ''Tarchan'', ''Turxan'', ''Tarcan'', ''Turgan, Tárkány, Tarján'') is an ancient Central Asia ...
'' probably represented a high military rank, similar to the Byzantine ''
strategos'', of the military governor of a province.
The variations ''kalutarkan'' and ''buliastarkan'' are considered to be officers at the head of the ''tarkans''. Curta interpreted the title ''zhupan tarqan'' as "''tarqan of (all the) zhupans''".
Although it was not recorded on inscriptions, the title ''sampses'' is considered to be related to the royal court. The title ''tabare'' or ''iltabare'', which derives from the old Turkish ''ältäbär'', like ''sampses'' is not mentioned on inscriptions, but is related to the legates and ambassadors.
The
Anastasius Bibliothecarius
Anastasius Bibliothecarius or Anastasius the Librarian (c. 810 – c. 878) was ''bibliothecarius'' (literally "librarian") and chief archivist of the Church of Rome and also briefly a claimant to the papacy.
Early life
He was a nephew of Bis ...
listed Bulgarian legates at the
Council at Constantinople in 869–870. They were mentioned as Stasis, Cerbula, Sundica (''vagantur''=''bagatur''), Vestranna (''iltabare''), Praestizisunas (''campsis''), and Alexius Hunno (''sampsi'').
Religion
Very little is known about the religion of the Bulgars, but it is believed to have been
monotheistic. In Greek language inscriptions from pagan Danube Bulgaria, Bulgar monarchs describe themselves as "ruler from God",
indicating authority from a divine origin, and making an appeal to the deity's
omniscience
Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are diffe ...
.
Presian's inscription from
Philippi (837) states:
It is traditionally assumed that the God in question was the Turkic supreme sky deity,
Tengri
Tengri ( zh, 騰格里; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰚:𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, Kök Teŋri/Teŋiri, lit=Blue Heaven; Old Uyghur: ''tängri''; Middle Turkic: تآنغرِ; ky, теңир; tr, Tanrı; az, Tanrı; bg, Тангра; Proto-Turkic *''teŋri / ...
. In the Chinese transcription as ''zhenli'', and Turkic as ''Tangara'' and ''Tengeri'', it represents the oldest known Turco-Mongolian word.
Tengri may have originated in the Xiongnu confederacy, which settled on the frontiers of China in the 2nd century BC. The confederacy probably had both pre-Turkic and pre-Mongolian ethnic elements.
In modern Turkish, the word for god, ''Tanrı'', derives from the same root.
Tengrism
Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is an ethnic and old state Turko- Mongolic religion originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on folk shamanism, animism and generally centered around the titular sky god Tengri. ...
apparently engaged various shamanic practices. According to
Mercia MacDermott
Mercia MacDermott (; bg, Мерсия Макдермот; born 7 April 1927) is an English writer and historian. MacDermott is known for her books on Bulgarian history.
Early life
Mercia was born on 7 April 1927 in Plymouth, Devon, United ...
, Tangra was the male deity connected with sky, light and the Sun.
The cult incorporated Tangra's female equivalent and principle goddess,
Umay
Umay (also known as Umai; otk, 𐰆𐰢𐰖; kk, Ұмай ана, ''Umay ana''; ky, Умай эне, ''Umay ene''; russian: Ума́й / Ымай, ''Umáj / Ymaj'', tr, Umay (Ana)) is the goddess of fertility in Turkic mythology and Tengrii ...
, the deity of fertility. Their
tamgha
A tamga or tamgha (from otk, 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga, lit=stamp, seal; tr, damga; mn, tamga; ; ); an abstract seal or stamp used by Eurasian nomads and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the emblem of a particular tribe, c ...
![Khans Dulo of Bulgaria](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Khans_Dulo_of_Bulgaria.jpg)
, which can be frequently found in early medieval Bulgaria is associated with deity Tangra. However, its exact meaning and use remains unknown. The most sacred creatures to Tangra were horses and eagles, particularly white horses.
Broze amulets with representations of the Sun, horses and other animals were found at Bulgar archeological sites.
This could explain the variety of Bulgars taboos, including those about animals.
Ravil Bukharaev believed that such an autocratic and monotheistic religion
henotheism
Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) used it to depict pri ...
, as seen in the report by
Ahmad ibn Fadlan
Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of hi ...
(10th century) about the
Oghuz Turks, kindred to the Bulgars,
made the acceptance of Islam more natural and easier in Volga Bulgaria:
Another mention of Tengri is on the severely damaged Greek inscription found on a presumed
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
stone near Madara, tentatively deciphered as "Khan ''sybigi'' Omurtag, ruler from god...was...and made sacrifice to god Tangra...''itchurgu boila''...gold". An Ottoman manuscript recorded that the name of God, in Bulgarian, was "Tängri".
A piece of ethnographic evidence which has been invoked to support the belief that the Bulgars worshipped Tengri/Tangra is the relative similarity of the name "Tengri" to "Tură", the name of the supreme deity of the traditional religion of the
Chuvash people
The Chuvash people ( , ; cv, чӑваш ; russian: чуваши ) are a Turkic ethnic group, a branch of Oghurs, native to an area stretching from the Volga-Ural region to Siberia. Most of them live in Chuvashia and the surrounding areas, a ...
, who are traditionally regarded as descendants of the Volga Bulgars. Nevertheless, the Chuvash religion today is markedly different from Tengrism and can be described as a local form of
polytheism
Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, t ...
, due to pagan beliefs of the forest dwellers of
Finnic origin, who lived in their vicinity, with some elements borrowed from Islam.
Paganism was closely connected with the old clan system, and the remains of
totemism
A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or '' doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.
While ''the w ...
and
shamanism were preserved even after the crossing of Danube.
The
Shumen plate in the archaeological literature is often associated with shamanism. In the 9th century, it was recorded that before a battle the Bulgars "''used to practice enchantments and jests and charms and certain auguries''".
Liutprand of Cremona
Liutprand, also Liudprand, Liuprand, Lioutio, Liucius, Liuzo, and Lioutsios (c. 920 – 972),"LIUTPRAND OF CREMONA" in '' The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'', Oxford University Press, New York & Oxford, 1991, p. 1241. was a historian, diplomat, ...
reported that Baian, son of
Simeon I (893–927), could through ''magicam'' transform into a wolf.
Clement of Ohrid
Saint Clement of Ohrid ( Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски, ; el, Ἅγιος Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας; sk, svätý Kliment Ochridský; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian ...
reported the worship of fire and water by the Bulgars, while in the 11th century
Theophylact of Ohrid
Theophylact ( gr, Θεοφύλακτος, bg, Теофилакт; around 1055after 1107) was a Byzantine archbishop of Ohrid and commentator on the Bible.
Life
Theophylact was born in the mid-11th century at Euripus (Chalcis) in Euboea, at the ...
remembered that before the Christianization the Bulgars respected the Sun, Moon and the stars, and sacrificed dogs to them.
Allegedly, the Dulo clan had the dog as its sacred animal. To this today Bulgarians still use the expression "he kills the dog" to mean "he gives the orders", a relic of the time when the Dulo Khan sacrificed a dog to the deity Tangra.
Remains of dog and deer have been found in Bulgars graves, and it seems the
wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
also had a special mythological significance.
The Bulgars were bi-ritual, either cremating or burying their dead, and often interred them with personal objects (pottery, rarely weapons or dress), food, and sacred animals.
![The Great Basilica Klearchos 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/The_Great_Basilica_Klearchos_1.jpg)
Because of the cult of the Sun, the Bulgars had a preference for the south. Their main buildings and shrines faced south, as well their
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...
s, which were usually entered from the south, although less often from the east. Excavations showed that Bulgars buried their dead on a north–south axis, with their heads to the north so that the deceased "faced" south.
The Slavs practiced only cremation, the remains were placed in urns, and like the Bulgars, with the conversion to Christianity
inhumed the dead on west–east axis. The only example of a mixed Bulgar-Slavic cemetery is in
Istria near ancient
Histria, on the coast of the Black Sea.
D. Dimitrov has argued that the Kuban Bulgars also adopted elements of Iranian religious beliefs. He noticed Iranian influences on the cult of the former Caucasian Huns capital Varachan (
Balanjar
Balanjar (''Baranjar'', ''Belenjer'', ''Belendzher'', ''Bülünjar'') was a medieval city located in the North Caucasus region, between the cities of Derbent and Samandar, probably on the lower Sulak River. It flourished between the seventh and t ...
), making a religious syncretism between the principal Turkic deity Tengri and the Iranian sun god
Hvare.
Dimitrov cited the work by V.A. Kuznetsov, who considered the resemblance between the layout of the
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
temples of fire and the Kuban Bulgar centre, Humarin citadel, situated 11 km to the north of the town
Karachayevsk
Karachayevsk (russian: Карача́евск; krc, Къарачай шахар, ''Qaraçay şaxar'') is a town in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia, located on the Kuban River in the Caucasus Mountains. Population:
History
It was founded i ...
, where the pottery belonged to the
Saltovo-Mayaki
Saltovo-Mayaki or Saltovo-Majaki is the name given by archaeologists to the early medieval culture of the Pontic steppe region roughly between the Don and the Dnieper Rivers, flourishing roughly between the years of 700 and 950.
History
Saltovo- ...
culture.
Kuznecov also found a connection in the plan of the Danube Bulgars sanctuaries at
Pliska
Pliska ( , cu, Пльсковъ, translit=Plĭskovŭ) was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the Middle Ages and is now a small town in Shumen Province, on the Ludogorie plateau of the Danubian Plain, 20 km northeast o ...
,
Veliki Preslav
The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav ( bg, Велики Преслав, ), former Preslav ( bg, link=no, Преслав; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new ...
, and
Madara.
The architectural similarities include two squares of
ashlars inserted one into another, oriented towards the summer sunrise.
One of these sites was transformed into a Christian church, which is taken as evidence that they served a religious function.
The view of the
Parthian Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
and
Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
influence, which
Franz Altheim
Franz Altheim (6 October 1898 – 17 October 1976) was a German classical philologist and historian who specialized in the history of classical antiquity. During the 1930s and 1940s, Altheim served the Nazi state as a member of Ahnenerbe, a ...
also argued, is considered debatable, showing the cultural impact of the Iranian world on communities in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Many scholars believe that the square shape, with the north–south and east–west axis of the Bulgar sacral monuments is very similar to those of Turkic khagans in Mongolia. However, that the Bulgar residence in Pliska and
Palace of Omurtag
The Palace of Omurtag or Aul (''Aulē'') of Omurtag ( bg, Аул на Омуртаг, ''Aul na Omurtag'') is an archaeological site in northeastern Bulgaria dating to Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages located near the village of Han Krum in ...
were inspired by the Byzantine architecture is considered indisputable.
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
had already begun to penetrate, probably via their Slavic subjects, when it was adopted in the First Bulgarian Empire by
Knyaz Boris I in 865 as a state religion. There was interest in
Islam as well, seen in the book ''Answers to the Questions of the King of the Burgar addressed to him about Islam and Unity'' by the
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
caliph
Al-Ma'mun (813–833) for the Pontic/Bosporan Bulgars, while it was officially adopted in Volga Bulgaria as a state religion in 922.
Language
![Copy of Chatalar Inscription](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Copy_of_Chatalar_Inscription.jpg)
The origin and
language of the Bulgars has been the subject of debate since around the start of the 20th century. It is generally accepted that at least the Bulgar elite spoke a language that was a member of the
Oghur branch of the
Turkic language family
Turkic may refer to:
* anything related to the country of Turkey
* Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages
** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation)
** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language
* ...
, alongside the now extinct
Khazar
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
and the solitary survivor of these languages,
Chuvash.
Some scholars suggest
Hunnic had strong ties with Bulgar and to modern Chuvash and classify them as separate
Hunno-Bulgar languages.
According to P. Golden this association is apparent from the fragments of texts and isolated words and phrases preserved in inscriptions. In addition to language, their culture and state structure retain many Central Asian features. Military and hierarchical terms such as ''khan/qan'', ''kanasubigi'', ''qapağan'', ''tarkan'', ''bagatur'' and ''boila'' appear to be of Turkic origin. The
Bulgar calendar within the ''
Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans'' had a twelve-year animal cycle, similar to the one adopted by Turkic and Mongolian peoples from the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
, with animal names and numbers deciphered as Turkic.
Tengri
Tengri ( zh, 騰格里; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰚:𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, Kök Teŋri/Teŋiri, lit=Blue Heaven; Old Uyghur: ''tängri''; Middle Turkic: تآنغرِ; ky, теңир; tr, Tanrı; az, Tanrı; bg, Тангра; Proto-Turkic *''teŋri / ...
(in Bulgar ''Tangra/Tengre'') was their supreme god.
Bulgar inscriptions were written mostly in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
or
Cyrillic characters, most commonly in Greek or Graeco-Bulgar, sometimes with Slavic terms, thus allowing scholars to identify some of the Bulgar
glosses
A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different.
A collection of glosses is a ''g ...
. Several Bulgar inscriptions were found in Northeastern Bulgaria and parts of Romania, written in runes similar to the
Old Turkic alphabet
The Old Turkic script (also known as variously Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script, Turkic runes) was the alphabet used by the Göktürks and other early Turkic khanates from the 8th to 10th centuries to record the Old Tu ...
; they apparently have a sacral meaning. Altheim argued that the runes were brought into Europe from Central Asia by the Huns, and were an adapted version of the old
Sogdian alphabet
The Sogdian alphabet was originally used for the Sogdian language, a language in the Iranian family used by the people of Sogdia. The alphabet is derived from Syriac, a descendant script of the Aramaic alphabet. The Sogdian alphabet is one of t ...
in the
Hunnic/Oghur Turkic language.
The custom of stone engravings are considered to have Sasanian, Turkic and Roman parallels. The
Madara Rider
The Madara Rider or Madara Horseman ( bg, Мадарски конник, ''Madarski konnik'') is an early medieval large rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in northeastern Bulgaria, near the village of Madara. The monument i ...
resembles work of the
Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
rock
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
tradition, but its actual masonry tradition and cultural source is unknown.
The Danubian Bulgars were unable to alter the predominantly Slavic character of Bulgaria, seen in the toponymy and names of the capitals Pliska and Preslav.
They preserved their own native language and customs for about 200 years, but a bilingual period was recorded since the 9th century.
Golden argued that Bulgar Turkic almost disappeared with the transition to Christianity and
Slavicisation
Slavicisation or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something Slavic into a non-Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. To a lesser degree, it also means acculturation or adoption of something non-Slavic into Slavic culture or terms. Th ...
in the middle of the 9th century. When the ruling class abandoned its native language and adopted Slavic, according to Jean W. Sedlar, it was so complete that no trace of Turkic speech patterns remained in Old Slavic texts. The Bulgarian Christian Church used Slavic dialect from Macedonia.
Among Bulgarian academics, notably Petar Dobrev, a hypothesis linking the Bulgar language to the
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau.
The Iranian languages are groupe ...
(
Pamir Pamir may refer to:
Geographical features
* Pamir Mountains, a mountain range in Central Asia
** Pamir-Alay, a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, part of the Pamir Mountains
*A pamir (valley) is a high plateau or valley surro ...
) has been popular since the 1990s. Most proponents still assume an intermediate stance, proposing certain signs of Iranian influence on a Turkic substrate.
The names
Asparukh
Asparuh (also ''Ispor''; bg, Аспарух, Asparuh or (rarely) bg, Исперих, Isperih) was а ruler of Bulgars in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681.
Early life
...
and Bezmer from the ''
Nominalia'' list, for example, were established as being of Iranian origin. Other Bulgarian scholars actively oppose the "Iranian hypothesis". According to
Raymond Detrez
Raymond Detrez (Antwerp 1948) is Professor of East European history and cultures and modern Greek history at the University of Ghent, Belgium.
Biography
He has studied Eastern European languages and history at the University of Ghent (1967–7 ...
, the Iranian theory is rooted in the periods of
anti-Turkish sentiment
Anti-Turkish sentiment, also known as Anti-Turkism ( tr, Türk karşıtlığı), or Turkophobia () is hostility, intolerance, or xenophobia against Turkish people, Turkish culture and the Turkish language.
The term refers to intolerance, not onl ...
in Bulgaria and is ideologically motivated.
Since 1989, anti-Turkish rhetoric is now reflected in the theories that challenge the thesis of the proto-Bulgars' Turkic origin. Alongside the Iranian or Aryan theory, there appeared arguments favoring an autochthonous origin.
Ethnicity
![A jug with golden medallions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/A_jug_with_golden_medallions.jpg)
Due to the lack of definitive evidence, modern scholarship uses an
ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group".
This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introd ...
approach in explaining the Bulgars origin. More recent theories view the nomadic confederacies, such as the Bulgars, as the formation of several different cultural, political and linguistic entities that could dissolve as quickly as they formed, entailing a process of ethnogenesis.
According to Walter Pohl, the existential fate of the tribes and their confederations depended on their ability to adapt to an environment going through rapid changes, and to give this adaptation a credible meaning rooted in tradition and ritual. Slavs and Bulgars succeeded because their form of organization proved as stable and as flexible as necessary, while the Pannonian Avars failed in the end because their model could not respond to new conditions. Pohl wrote that members of society's lower strata did not feel themselves to be part of any large-scale ethnic group; the only distinct classes were within the armies and the ruling elite.
Recent studies consider ethnonyms closely related with warrior elites who ruled over a variety of heterogeneous groups. The groups adopted new ideology and name as political designation, while the elites claimed right to rule and royal descent through origin myths.
When the Turkic tribes began to enter into the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the Post-Hunnic era, or as early as the 2nd century AD, their confederations incorporated an array of ethnic groups of newly joined Turkic, Caucasian, Iranian, and Finnic peoples. During their Western Eurasian migrations to the Balkans, they also came into contact with Armenian, Semitic, Slavic, Thracian and Anatolian Greek among other populations.
![Sivashovka group](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Sivashovka_group.svg)
From the 6th to 8th centuries, distinctive Bulgar monuments of the Sivashovka type were built upon ruins of the late
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
culture of the 2nd to 4th centuries AD,
and the 6th century
Penkovka culture
The Penkovka culture ( uk, Пеньківська культура ''Penkivska kultura'') is an archaeological culture in Ukraine spanning Moldova and reaching into Romania. Its western boundary is usually taken to at the middle Prut and Dniester ...
of the
Antes and Slavs. Early medieval
Saltovo-Mayaki
Saltovo-Mayaki or Saltovo-Majaki is the name given by archaeologists to the early medieval culture of the Pontic steppe region roughly between the Don and the Dnieper Rivers, flourishing roughly between the years of 700 and 950.
History
Saltovo- ...
(an
Alanic
Alanic is a sports and fitness clothing brand headquartered in North Hollywood, California, USA. Alanic corporate offices are located at 1/49 Lemana lane, Sydney, Australia. It has been the official supplier of the Miami Marathon USA, Vancouve ...
-based culture) settlements in the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
since the 8th century were destroyed by the Pechengs during the 10th century.
Although the older Iranian tribes were enveloped by the widespread Turkic migration into the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the following centuries saw a complete disappearance of both the Iranian and Turkic languages, indicating dominance of the Slavic language among the common people.
Anthropology and genetics
Genetic and anthropological researches have shown that the tribes of the Eurasian steppes were not always ethnically homogeneous, and were often
unions of multiple ethnicities.
Skeletal remains from
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
(Central Asia), excavated from different sites dating between the 15th century BC to the 5th century AD, have been analyzed. The distribution of east and west Eurasian lineages through time in the region agrees with available archaeological information. Prior to the 13th–7th century BC, all samples belong to
European lineages, while later, an arrival of
East Asian sequences that coexisted with the previous genetic substratum was detected. Hundreds of excavated mummies in the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
(West China) have Caucasoid features, revealing the presence of an ancient Caucasoid substratum in East Asia. These findings are associated with the ancient
Tocharians
The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). ...
and
Tocharian languages
The Tocharian (sometimes ''Tokharian'') languages ( or ), also known as ''Arśi-Kuči'', Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians. The ...
.
According to P. Golden, the Central Asian Turkic peoples have multiple points of origin and are a mixture of steppes ethnic groups.
Eric Hobsbawm considered the languages to be "almost always semi-artificial constructs". Political processes, rather than linguistic, tribal or ethnic elements, created new communities. Golden noted that the Turkic tribes in the Western Eurasia since the 1st millennium BC had contacts with
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a hypothetical prehistoric population of Eurasia who spoke Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the ancestor of the Indo-European languages according to linguistic reconstruction.
Knowledge of them comes chiefly from ...
. Those tribes were considered by Golden to be the ancestors of the Oğuric Turks.
Recent blood and DNA studies of present-day populations in Central Asia confirm the extreme genetic heterogeneity. The latest DNA studies on Turkic people in Central Asia and Eastern Europe also confirm genetic heterogeneity, indicating that the Turkic tribal confederations included various mtDNA and Y-DNA
haplogroup
A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a haplogroup (haploid from the el, ἁπλοῦς, ''haploûs'', "onefold, simple" and en, group) is a group of similar haplotypes that share ...
s. A 2013 comparative genetic study shows that modern Bulgarians primarily are represented by the Western Eurasian
Y haplogroups, with 40% belonging to haplogroups
E-V13
Haplogroup E-V68, also known as E1b1b1a, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup found in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia and Europe. It is a subclade of the larger and older haplogroup, known as E1b1b or E-M215 (also roughly ...
and
I-M423, and 20% to
R-M17
Haplogroup R1a, or haplogroup R-M420, is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup which is distributed in a large region in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia and Central Europe to southern Siberia and South Asia.
While R1a originated c. 22,000 to 2 ...
(R-M198 and
R-M458). Haplogroups common in the Middle East (
J-M172,
J-M267, and
G-M201) and in South Western Asia (
R-L23*) occur at frequencies of 19% and 5%, respectively. The central Asian and Altaic-Turkic haplogroups
C,
N and
Q together occur at the negligible frequency of only 1.5% among Bulgarians. It could indicate that "a shared paternal ancestry between proto-Bulgarians and Altaic and Central Asian Turkic-speaking groups either did not exist or was negligible". However according to the Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History by Hellenthal et al. 2014, using a
chromosome painting, to follow the
genetic admixture
Genetic admixture occurs when previously diverged or isolated genetic lineages mix.⅝ Admixture results in the introduction of new genetic lineages into a population.
Examples
Climatic cycles facilitate genetic admixture in cold periods and gene ...
, only a small Northeast Asiatic DNA signal among Bulgarians (2,4%) might correspond to the whole genetic legacy left from the invasions of the Bulgars. The DNA studies of the
Chuvash people
The Chuvash people ( , ; cv, чӑваш ; russian: чуваши ) are a Turkic ethnic group, a branch of Oghurs, native to an area stretching from the Volga-Ural region to Siberia. Most of them live in Chuvashia and the surrounding areas, a ...
, who speak a Turkic language (
Chuvash), show that they are genetically related to Caucasians, Mediterraneans, and Middle Easterners, partially Central or Northern Europeans (Finnic), but with little Central Asian-Altaic gene flow.
The DNA studies of the
Tatars
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different ,
Bashkirs
, native_name_lang = bak
, flag = File:Bashkirs of Baymak rayon.jpg
, flag_caption = Bashkirs of Baymak in traditional dress
, image =
, caption =
, population = approx. 2 million
, popplace ...
and Russians in
Chelyabinsk Oblast show European and Finnic impact on the Tatars; Caucasoid and East Asian impact were reported for the Bashkirs.
Some aspects of genetic relationships were found between Tatars and Chuvashes, as well Bulgarians, which could support the view that the Tatars may be descendants of ancient Bulgars.
It is currently unknown with which haplogroup the Bulgars should be associated; some scholars consider the possibility that only a cultural and low genetic influence was brought into the region.
A 2015 Bulgarian mtDNA study on 13 samples from the 8th–10th century suggests a Western Eurasian matrilineal origin for Proto-Bulgarians. The study established that "Proto-Bulgarians are positioned among South-Eastern and Southern European populations including modern Bulgarians. Proto-Bulgarians are genetically distant from Northern and Western Europeans and populations from the Near East and Caucasus. On the greatest distance from Proto-Bulgarians are Volga-Ural and Arabic populations." The study further mentions that "...proto-Bulgarians are genetically similar to modern Bulgarians and to certain South-Eastern European as well as Italian populations." Until now there's still not enough
archaeogenetic
Archaeogenetics is the study of ancient DNA using various molecular genetic methods and DNA resources. This form of genetic analysis can be applied to human, animal, and plant specimens. Ancient DNA can be extracted from various fossilized specime ...
data to confirm Turkic, Ugrian and/or Sarmatian origin and admixture of Proto-Bulgarian elite, however, Todor V. Chobanov and Svetoslav Samov in their research of available archaeological and genetical data presuppose "Proto-Bulgarians were a mixture of Late Sarmatians and older Caucasus populations, closely related to the Alans and preserving their genetic inheritance, even after arriving on the Balkans and mixing with Slav peoples and the remnants of the local Late Antiquity peoples".
The paleoanthropological material from all sites in Volga region, Ukraine and Moldova attributed to the Bulgars testify complex ethno-cultural processes.
The material shows the assimilation between the local population and the migrating newcomers.
In all sites can be traced the anthropological type found in the Zlivka necropolis near the village of Ilichevki, the district of
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: cities' alternative names), is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine loca ...
, of brachiocranic
Caucasoid
The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid or Europid, Europoid) is an obsolete racial classification of human beings based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The ''Caucasian race'' was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, de ...
with small
East Asian admixtures but with Bulgar males being more Mongoloid than females.
Despite the morphological proximity, there is a visible impact of the local population, in the Volga region of Finnic and ancient Turkic, in Ukraine of
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
-
Alans
The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...
, and in Moldova of Slavic people.
The comparative analysis showed large morphological proximity between the medieval and modern population of the Volga region.
The examined graves in Northern Bulgaria and Southern Romania showed different somatic types, including Caucasoid-
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
and less often East Asian.
The pre-Christian burial customs in Bulgaria indicate diverse social, i.e. nomadic and sedentary, and cultural influences. In some necropolises specific to the Danube Bulgars, artificial deformation was found in 80% of the skulls.
The Bulgars had a special type of shamanic "medicine-men" who performed
trepanations of the skull, usually near the
sagittal suture
The sagittal suture, also known as the interparietal suture and the ''sutura interparietalis'', is a dense, fibrous connective tissue joint between the two parietal bones of the skull. The term is derived from the Latin word ''sagitta'', meanin ...
. This practice had a medical application, as well as a symbolic purpose; in two cases the patient had brain problems.
According to Maenchen-Helfen and Rashev, the artificial deformation of skulls, and other types of burial artifacts in Bulgars graves, are similar to those of the Sarmatians, and Sarmatized Turks or Turkicized Sarmatians of the post-Hunnic graves in the Ukrainian steppe.
Legacy
In modern
ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...
there is some "rivalry for the Bulgar legacy" (see
Bulgarism). The
Volga Tatars
The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars ( tt-Cyrl, татарлар, tatarlar) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are Russia's second-largest ethnicity after ...
and
Chuvash people
The Chuvash people ( , ; cv, чӑваш ; russian: чуваши ) are a Turkic ethnic group, a branch of Oghurs, native to an area stretching from the Volga-Ural region to Siberia. Most of them live in Chuvashia and the surrounding areas, a ...
, are said to be descended from the Volga Bulgars, and there may have been ethnogenic influences on the
Bashkirs
, native_name_lang = bak
, flag = File:Bashkirs of Baymak rayon.jpg
, flag_caption = Bashkirs of Baymak in traditional dress
, image =
, caption =
, population = approx. 2 million
, popplace ...
,
Karachays
The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situa ...
and
Balkars
The Balkars ( krc, Малкъарлыла, Malqarlıla or Таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Ca ...
also.
See also
*
Bulgar calendar
*
Bulgar language
Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is an extinct Oghur Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars.
The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mid- ...
*
Eurasian nomads
The Eurasian nomads were a large group of nomadic peoples from the Eurasian Steppe, who often appear in history as invaders of Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, and South Asia.
A nomad is a member of people having no permanent ab ...
*
History of Bulgaria
The history of Bulgaria can be traced from the first settlements on the lands of modern Bulgaria to its formation as a nation-state, and includes the history of the Bulgarian people and their origin. The earliest evidence of hominid occupation d ...
*
Oghur languages
The Oghuric, Onoguric or Oguric languages (also known as Bulgar, Pre-Proto-Bulgaric or Lir-Turkic and r-Turkic) are a branch of the Turkic language family. The only extant member of the group is the Chuvash language. The first to branch off from ...
*
Turkic migration
The Turkic migrations were the spread of Turkic tribes and Turkic languages across Eurasia and between the 6th and 11th centuries. In the 6th century, the Göktürks overthrew the Rouran Khaganate in what is now Mongolia and expanded in all direct ...
*
Turkic tribal confederations
The Turkic term ''oğuz'' or ''oğur'' (in z- and r-Turkic, respectively) is a historical term for "military division, clan, or tribe" among the Turkic peoples.
With the Mongol invasions of 1206–21, the Turkic khaganates were replaced by ...
*
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...
Citations
General and cited sources
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Further reading
*
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*Karatay, Osman. "The Bulgars in Transoxiana: Some Inferences from Early Islamic Sources." Migracijske i etničke teme 1–2 (2009): 69–88.
*
*
External links
Bulgars''
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...
''
Arrival of the Bulgars''
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgar
Extinct Turkic peoples
History of Ural
Medieval Bulgaria
Migration Period
Moldova in the Early Middle Ages
Romania in the Early Middle Ages
Saltovo-Mayaki culture
Turkic peoples of Europe