The Avars, a nomadic people originally from Asia, created a powerful empire in central Europe by the end of the sixth century C. E., centered in present-day Hungary and northern Serbia and extending south to north from the Adriatic Sea to the Baltic Sea and from the Elbe River to the Dnieper River. It endured for more than 200 years.
Origins
Little is known about the origins of the Avars, although they are generally believed to have been an Asian people of Mongolic or Turkic ancestry. They were known to the Chinese, whom they raided as the Juan-Juan. After migrating through northern Iran, they settled in the steppes of present-day western Kazakhstan and southern Russia. They mingled with other peoples both Turkic (see Turkics) and Hunnic (see Huns), primarily the Turkic Uygurs. By the sixth century at the latest they had reached southwestern Europe. They also fought or mingled with the Caucasians, some among whom claim to be descended from the Avars.
Provides us with much of what we know about the Avars. Theophylactus distinguishes between true Avars and false Avars (Pseuda-varoi). The true Avars were the people known formerly as the Juan-Juan: a people of Mongol stock who had been masters of Mongolia throughout the fifth century, until crushed and superseded by the T’u-chueh Turks in 552. The “false Avars” were those of European medieval history, who usurped that formidable name. These are said to have comprised two united hordes: that of the Uar (or Var), whence the name Avar, and that of the Kunni or Huni; the latter term suggests a Hunnic origin. The two linked names of Uar and Huni would thus stand for Avar and Hun. It is also claimed, however, that these Uars and Huni, from whom the Byzantines coined their word Ouarkhonitai, were two tribes of Ogor; or the Uygur. But the Uygur of history were Turkics, whereas the Avars of Europe seem to have been mostly Mongols.
LANGUAGE
The dialects of the ancient Avars are not known with certainty. As it is known today, Avar or Avarish is a North caucasic language that is part of the North-East or Dagestanian group of languages, originating around Dagestan, Russia, and including the Andi and Dido languages. Avarish is the only language in the group with a written form and is also used for intertribal communication by Andi-and Dido-speaking peoples. Other related languages in the Dagestanian group are Lak-Dargwa and Lezgian.
HISTORY
In the fourth and fifth centuries c. E. the Avars, skilled horsemen, dominated the high steppes of western Asia and eastern Europe. In about 460 they defeated the Uygurs, a Turkic people, and absorbed them. The Avars are known to have been in the Causcasus region by 558. At that time they sent an envoy to the Byzantines centered at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey) and on the lower Danube to the north by 561; sometime later they were decisively defeated by the Turkics. survivors, many of them Uygurs led by Avar chiefs, split into two groups. One group remained in the east; the others migrated westward, settling in present-day Ukraine and along the Danube River in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.
In 567 the Avars became involved in tribal wars among the Germanics and joined the Lombards to overthrow the Gepids, who were allies of Byzantium. They founded the Avar haganat (empire), centered in the Hungarian plain between the Danube and Tisza Rivers, and from there they carried out raids on Byzantium. In 568 the Avars invaded Dalmatia on the Adriatic coast (parts of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, croatia, and Yugoslavia). Justin II, emperor of the Byzantines, sent a large force; the resulting war lasted three years, after which the Byzantines were forced to pay huge yearly tributes. In 599 after continuing conflict, when the Byzantines under Maurice refused to pay ransom, the Avars executed a reported 12,000 Byzantine prisoners. They seized more territory on the Balkan Peninsula. From the mid-sixth century into the seventh century the Avar Empire was at its height. In 626 the Persians, Avar allies at the time, were stymied at sea by Byzantine naval forces, and the Avars failed to occupy constantinople (modern Istanbul). The Avars also mounted attacks on the Merovingian Franks.
The Avar Empire ultimately extended south to north from the Adriatic sea to the Baltic Sea and between the Elbe and the Dnieper Rivers. Baian was their khagan (leader) during the period of expansion of the late sixth and early seventh centuries. One important result of the Avars’ hegemony was the movement of large numbers of Slavs from the region. (Some of them invaded new lands as allies of the Avars; others migrated on their own.) Many of the Slavs moved south to the northern Balkans, where they have remained.
Later in the seventh century internal disputes, especially expansion by the Bulgars and the creation of a Bulgarian state in the
Balkans in 679, weakened the Avars. The Avars never regained their former influence as both the Slavs and Bulgars grew in power.
Charlemagne of the Franks effectively crushed the Avars, destroying the “Avar Ring”—their military fortifications—in 791 and defeating their armies in 805. The Moravians subsequently attacked and dispersed the Avars further. Early in the ninth century Krum, the Bulgarian khan, was victorious against Avar remnants. Those Avars who did survive were assimilated by the Slavs who settled in the Hungarian plain.
Although they were absorbed by other peoples, a group known as Avars have endured in the Caucasus region in the Dagestan Republic of southern Russia; these Avars, who call themselves Maarulal as a group and consist of a number of tribes, including ANDIS and DIDOS, speak Caucasic dialects. Shamil, who in 1834-59 unsuccessfully led the people of the Caucasus in their struggle for freedom from Russia, reportedly was an Avar.
Economy
The basis of the Avar economy, like that of all steppe peoples from time immemorial, was grazing. The harsh climate of the steppes, bitter winters and parching hot summers, meant that grasslands were few and far apart, sometimes as much as 1,000 miles. Thus life for the Avars was a continual search for the best grazing grounds, endless migrations from pasture to pasture, driven mainly by the needs of their herds. Groups of nomads would circulate throughout a territory, a movement sometimes not completed for centuries as a result of the vast distances involved. Everything about these people—their physical build and their way of life—had become adapted to this way of life. Another activity of the Avars, skilled at warfare on horseback, was raiding of agricultural peoples in or near their territory and of the trade routes that spanned central Eurasia. Some among them settled down among local populations as farmers after they had invaded Europe. As did nomadic groups of the steppe, Avars probably also engaged in exchange of goods between peoples to their north, who had such goods as furs and amber, and civilizations to their south, which provided manufactured goods of metal and cloth.
The nomadic way of life of the Avars, as of most steppe nomads, worked against centralization of authority among them, and their society probably consisted of loose networks of kinship groups ruled by elite warriors whose status was based on protection of their moving families and the booty they obtained in raids. This pattern changed, however, when circumstances such as war or famine brought on by adverse weather (such as a grass-killing drought) made it necessary for these loose networks to join in a more disciplined group, either to fend off invaders or to invade other territories where grazing was still available. Avar men, women, and children would unite in a horde. Periodically, in a ripple or domino effect, disturbance emanating from a given point would travel across Eurasia as different peoples were forced to migrate in hordes seeking relief in a new territory, displacing early inhabitants who were forced to move in turn. This happened when the Avars were driven from Mongolia by the T’u-chueh Turks in the sixth century. Avar chiefs bore the ancient Turko-Mongol title of tudun. Khagan, similar to the Mongol khan, was another title.
Avar men were similar to Huns in appearance, but with their hair in two long plaits down their back. As did all steppe horsemen, they wore trousers. Earrings, fibulae (clasps), and other jewelry were common ornaments among the Avars. In later periods waist belts, better suited for holding the clothing of horseback riders, became more prevalent than fibulae.
Evidence from Avar gravesites indicates that the Avars were the earliest people in Europe to use stirrups and probably introduced them to other European peoples.
Through the seventh century the primary Avar motifs were geometrical, with a Byzantine influence. A transitional period followed. After 720 B. C.E. figures of animal and plants became commonplace, indicating an Asian influence, which was thought to result from new migrations from the east.
Archaeological finds in Hungary illustrate the character of Avar art, a branch of steppe art, with stylized animal forms and spiraling geometric or plant motifs gracefully interwoven and covering the entire surface of an object, whether belt buckle or goblet. The assortment of objects made by Avars is typical of steppe peoples: belt plaques and buckles, ornaments on equipment or harness, hooks, and fibulae. The Avar finds of Hungary have similarities with bronzes made by the Juan-Juan and T’u-chueh Turks. Avar art also bears a particular affinity to the Siberian art style known as that of the Nomad Horsemen. Avar goldsmiths created works of exceptionally high quality and were counted among the ruling class.
Burials Avar elites were buried with their horses, horse trappings, and weapons. If their funerals were similar to those of other steppe peoples, they were probably occasions for sometimes extravagant acts of mourning, such as the gashing of face and arms by mourners, and possibly sacrifice of horses, retainers, and wives. Avars were shamanists, as were most steppe peoples. Theophylactus mentions one of their sorcerers, called a bocolabras (from the Mongol boga, sorcerer).
Igbi Festival Several modern groups who trace their ethnicity to the Avars (in the Caucasus in the Republic of Daghestan) hold a special festival each February 5, which may have originated in the ancient Avar religion. The festival is called Igbi Day, after the ringshaped loaves called igbi (singular, ig) that play an important role. The festival features a group of youths called “wolves” who collect igbi from each household, threatening to punish anyone who will not comply. Masks are worn on these rounds to represent forest peo-ples—a devil, skeleton, doctor, policeman, and so on. Masks for these characters are made out of animal skins or papier-mache. The climax of the festival is a ceremonial naming of the good and bad deeds of the villagers, which then are blamed on a demon, called the Kvidili. The demon is ritually “executed,” as a scapegoat freeing the villagers of guilt for bad conduct. Before this moralistic tone was imposed on the festival, its import was probably purification of the village from bad luck and evil spirits before the start of the agricultural year, symbolized by the grain with which the loaves were made.
Considering the extent of the Avar Empire and its importance to the early medieval history of central Europe, it is remarkable how little is known about this people.
Further Reading
Istvan Erdelyi. The Art of the Avars (Budapest: Corvina Press, 1966).
Eva Garam. Avar Finds in the Hungarian National Museum (Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1975). Attila Kiss. Avar Cemeteries in County Baranya (Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1977).
Pal Lipak. Avars and Ancient Hungarians (Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1983).
World History
