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The Eurasian Avars were a Nomadic People of Eurasia , who appeared in central and eastern Europe in the 6th Century . They are known to history as Avars, though the Romans called them "pseudo-Avars." Avar rule persisted over much of the Pannonian Plain up to the early 9th Century . HISTORY The 6th Century historian . Nevertheless, historian Walter Pohl asserted in 1998, instancing the detailed attempts made by H. W. Haussig in 1953H. W. Haussig, "Theophylakts Exkurs über die skythischen Völker" ''Byzantion'' 23 (1953) pp 275-436. and K. Czeglèdy in 1983K. Czeglèdy, "From East to West" ''Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi'' '''3''' (1983) pp 25-126. and his own methodological objectionsin ''Die Awaren'' (1988) and in "Verlaufsformen der Ethnogenese: Awaren und Bulgaren," '' Typen der Ethnogenese'', ed. H. Wolfram and W. Pohl, vol. I, (1990) pp. 113-24.: "It is pointless to ask who exactly the forefathers of the European Avars were. We only know that they carried an ancient, very prestigious name (our first hints to it date back to the times of Herodotus); and we may assume that they were a very mixed group of warriors who wanted to escape domination by the Turks ." Walter Pohl , "Conceptions of Ethnicity in Early Medieval Studies" ''Debating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings'', ed. Lester K. Little and Barbara H. Rosenwein, (Blackwell), 1998, pp 13-24) p. 18 ( On-line text ). The Avars were driven westward when the Justinian I , they pushed north into Germany (as Attila The Hun had done a century before), eventually reaching as far north as the Baltic. Finding the country unsuited to their Nomadic lifestyle (and the Franks stern opponents), they turned their attention to the Pannonian Plain , which was then being contested by two Germanic Tribes , the Lombards and the Gepids . Siding with the Lombards , they destroyed the Gepids in 567 and established a state in the Danube River area. Their harassment soon (ca. 568 ) forced the Lombards to try their luck in northern Italy , an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass movement in the Migrations Period . According to Menander, the Avar leader '' found itself unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar Mercenaries , the Avars took to raiding Roman communities in the Balkans as well. At first, the Byzantines resisted successfully, even crossing the Danube to harass the Avars in their homeland, but the Emperor Maurice 's decision to maintain his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter instead of returning home as was customary caused the army to revolt (602). The ensuing Civil War prompted an opportunistic Persian Invasion and gave the Avars a free hand in the now undefended Balkans. An invasion of northern Italy was also attempted in 610. Walter Pohl notes that payments in gold and goods reached the record sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626.Walter Pohl, ''Die Awaren'' (Munich) 1988.. In 626 , the Avars and the Persians jointly besieged but failed to capture Constantinople . Following this defeat, the Avars retreated to Pannonia, leaving most of the Balkans in the hands of Slav Tribes , with neither Avars nor Byzantines able to reassert control. Most of the Avars' subject peoples became independent, with just Pannonia remaining under direct Avar rule. By the early in the north (later Great Moravia ) and the Balaton Principality in the central parts of Pannonia. Their remnants were probably the "Huns" encountered by the invading Magyar s in the 10th Century. Their hypothetical descendants, the Szekely (who apparently preserved the Avar Dragon Totem well into the 15th century), were relocated to Transylvania in the 12th century. In the Republic of Hungary there are a number of Avar ruins, mostly burial mounds, that display symbols nearly identical to those of the Caucasian Avars. Some claim that the Avars were the first tribe to introduce the Stirrup to Europe . However, the subject is under debate and other candidates for the importers include the Huns . ANTHROPOLOGICAL ORIGINS There are several popular points of origin suggested for the Avar peoples:
Perhaps a suitable synthesis of these ideas may be that they were originally inhabitants of Khwarezmia , and had thus influence in all three areas. If the Avars were ever a distinct ethnic group, that distinction does not seem to have survived their centuries in Europe. Being an 'Avar' seems to have meant being part of the Avar State (in a similar way that being 'Roman' ceased to have any ethnic meaning). The ). Modern scholars have seen these two groups as representing the War or Var. These matters are still highly contentious. The skeletons found in European Avar graves show heterogeneity, including some Asiatic Features , and sometimes contain objects displaying Jewish influences. The reasons for the latter peculiarity are disputed. Some historians link it to the cultures of the Caucasus region, where the Turkish Khazars are supposed to have adopted Judaism as a way of remaining neutral between the Christian Byzantine s and the Muslim Caliphate to the south. Others trace it back to 5th Century Khwarezmia , where a form of Mosaic Law was supposedly practised. LANGUAGE OF THE EURASIAN AVARS The extinct language of the Eurasian Avars is now classified as belonging to the Oghur-Turkic subgroup, and the language itself is referred to as Turkic Avar or '''Eurasian Avar''' in order to distinguish it from the North-Caucasian Avar spoken by the modern Caucasian Avars . LITERATURE
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