The
Eurasian Avars, sometimes referred to as the
European Avars, or
Ancient Avars, were a highly organized and powerful confederation of a mixed ethnic background, thought to be closely related to the
Mongols,
Bulgars,
Khazars and other
Oghur Turkic peoples of the time. They were ruled by a
khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit retinue of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of
Turkic groups. They first appeared in the late 4th century as the
Rouran on the northern borders of China, where they maintained their power for two centuries.
[2] They appeared in
Central and Eastern Europe in the 6th century, where Avar rule persisted over much of the
Pannonian Plain up to the early 9th century.
The origin of the European Avars is unclear. Information about origins is derived primarily from the works of Byzantine historians Menander Protector and Theophylact Simocatta. The confusion is compounded by the fact that many clans carried a particular name because they believed it to be prestigious, or it was attributed to them by outsiders describing their common characteristics, believed place of origin or reputation.[citation needed] Such a case has been seen repeatedly for many nomadic confederacies.
According to the research of historian András Róna-Tas[3], the ethnic Avars formed in central Asia in the classical age through a fusion of several tribal elements. Róna-Tas suggests that Turkic Oghurs migrated to the Kazakh steppe, possibly moving south to inhabit the lands vacated by the Huns. Here they interacted with a body of Indo-European-speaking Iranians, forming the Xionites (Hunas). Sometime during the 460s, they were subordinated by the Mongolic Rouran. The Rouran imposed their own rulers, referred to as Uar, at the head of the confederacy. Being a highly cultured people, the Oghurs rose to prominence within the tribal confederacy.
The 6th century historian Menander Protector noted that the language of the Avars (which he called Ouarkhonitai "Vakonites") was the same as (possibly meaning similar to) that of the Huns. If language is an indicator of origin, this supports the theory that they might have been an Oghuric Turkic people[4]. Recently some scholars have proposed that they were an Iranic-speaking group[5]. The connection with the Rouran has prompted some scholars to suggest that the European Avars' ruling core was Mongolic, although this has been disputed by others.[6]
