Hungarians on the Net

The Huns

The Huns appear officially in history only when their hordes coming from the east reach the Roman Empire and in a very short time they conquer most of Europe.
Before that time, they have been numbered among the nomadic tribes of the Asian steppes and their origin was almost unknown. Now we have many research elements that have brought more light about this people, or complex of peoples, and have discovered that they were present in the most ancient times in Mesopotamia, and that have even been linked in some way, though not ethnically, with the Israelites in different times along history.
The Huns' origin is directly connected with two well-known peoples of ancient Middle East: the Sumerians and the Scythians, namely, in the kingdom founded by Nimrod. Even though they belong to the Japhetic stock and their most creditable ancestor is Magog, the Sumerian heritage has been kept by them more than by any other people, which implies that they are in fact the result of a mixed background. According to their own legendary accounts (legends that are anyway founded on true facts), it is very feasible that Magog's descendance was under Nimrod's rule, and that they kept close ties with Sumerians even for a long time after the Sumerians disappeared from Mesopotamia as a national entity.
Their particular link with ancient Sumerians was found through the comparison of modern Hungarian (Magyar) and other related languages with documents of the ancient Middle East, that revealed a possible common origin. It is evident that the language element is absolutely not a sufficient basis to establish the origin of peoples, since language can be lost and adopted from other non-related cultures (for example, Yiddisch, a German-based tongue, became for centuries the language of European Jews, who are Semitic). Therefore, other more relevant elements like traditions, cultural heritage and, if existing, historic documents are needed.
Taking language as the starting point, we have to consider on one side the whole complex of peoples that may be regarded as Huns (Hunogurs, Bulgars, Magyars, Sabirs, etc) and on the other side, the relationship between Sumerians, Scythians, Hurrites and Elamites.
The ancient Sumerians, that in the dawn of history settled in Southern Mesopotamia, in the land commonly known as Shin'ar or Chaldea, arrived there from the north, precisely from the Ararat region, that they called "Subar-Ki" or "Subar-Tu". This area was also named after one of the peoples that inhabited there, the Hurri, whose language was agglutinative like Sumerian and had many words in common, even being a totally different tongue. Modern Hungarian shares many terms with both, Sumerian and Hurrian, as well as with Elamite. The peoples of that area, the Biblical Charan, were also called Subar, Supar, Sabir, etc. For example, Assyrian documents refer to them as Sapar-da; Persian records mention that country as the land of the Sabarda (Sabir) and the Matiene (Mada), while the Greek historian Herodotus refers to them as Sapir or Sabir, Makr or Magar and Matiene. One of the Subar tribes were the Mitanni, that ruled over the Hurrites and founded an important kingdom in association with them. Their land was then known also as Mada or Mata (not to be confused with Maday, the Medes, a different people). The term that may be transliterated as "mat", "madh", "madj" means "country" or "district" in Sumerian, Subarian, Parthian, and other related languages, and it was also used by the Assyrians and Egyptians with the same meaning. Notice that in those languages, the phonema "dh" or "dj" is equal to the modern Hungarian "gy", and "megye" is still "district" or "province" in Hungarian. Therefore, if the denomination has been transferred along the generations, the Magyars might be the ancient tribe of Mitanni. The territory of the Mada or Mitanni is referred by some Egyptian documents as Magor. Magor was also the name of one of the mythical ancestors of the Hungarian nation according to the Legend of the White Stag.
Descendants of the Hurrites are credited as the founders of the Central Asian kingdom of Khwarezm, which is considered by some scholars as the original land of the Finnic and Altaic peoples, and that is in some way related to the Székely, one of the Hungarian tribes that will be mentioned later in this chapter.
Among the many terms that link the Northern Mesopotamian peoples to modern Hungarians, it is interesting to notice the following: in Hurrian/Subar language, the word "tarshua" means "all the people", while in Sumerian "shag" conveyed the meaning of people as well as head or high. In Hungarian "társaság" means "society", as "köztársaság" is "republic" (notice that "s" in Hungarian sounds like "sh").
Byzantine documents concerning the Hungarian prince Termatzu from Árpád's lineage assert that the oldest name of the Hungarians was Sabartoi Asphali, recalling their ancient Mesopotamian name Subar-tu and Sabir-ki, while Asphali was the Arab name of the Lower Zab river. Arab and Persian records also mention the tribe of Mager in the area of Azerbaidzhan. Until the 15^th century c.e. there was a county in Armenia called Madzhar Agadzor, whose people believed that their origin was from one of Nimrod's sons, which coincides with the Hungarian legends. There are still geographic names in the Caucasus related to Magor and Nimrud.
The Magyar and Sabir peoples' names have been found in Northern Mesopotamia since the dawn of history, and then their traces lead eastwards to the Turkestan, where even today there are geographic names which attest their presence. Indeed, it is after the Sabirs that Siberia has been called like that.
Greek records mention two peoples called "Tibar and Moser" who were metal workers of the Caucasus; these names have an interesting though maybe only apparent resemblance with the Biblical Tuval and Meshek. In the chapter "The Peoples of the North", we have seen that Tuval is identified with the Tybareni, and such is actually the very name given by the Greeks, Tibar. These are believed by some historians to be the distorted names of Subar (Tibar) and Machar (Moser), which can also mean varieties of smiths in the Hungarian language: "mozser" meaning sword smith, "tibor" meaning smith in the past, but not in modern language. Similarly in Sumerian "tibir", smith, and Turkic "timur", iron. It is an interesting fact that the Subarians of the Caucasus were skilful metal smiths, and some metals names come from their language: in Sumerian "subur", bronze is apparent in the Hungarian "szobor", bronze statue. In the time of the Hungarian resettlement, the kind of steel used to make swords was called "sabura-kan". In the same way, the Subarian peoples were expert horsemen; and the Hungarian words for horse, warhorse and chariot are all from Northern Mesopotamia.
The Hungarian Chronicles say very little about the early history of the Magyars. The main references to that period are found in two accounts, one of which is the Legend of the White Stag, that suggests the unification of three nations: Magyars, Huns and Alans. Of course, the integration of Alans with the Hun/Magyar tribes refers not to the whole people of the Alans, but only to some of their tribes. A valuable document about the story of the magical hunt in early versions was taken from the Hungarian Royal Library captured by the Turks and re-published under the title "Tarihi Üngürüs" (History of the Hungarians), now in the Topkapi Museum of Istanbul.
The other reference to that period is very interesting since it mentions ancient rulers and Biblical patriarchs. That document starts with Tana, who is identified with Kush, the father of Nimrod - undoubtedly, the same as the Sumerian Etana of the city of Kish (Kush). The Kushan Scythians also had an ancestor called Kush-Tana. The Sumerian Etana was the first mighty one on earth who wanted to visit heaven, and did - this coincides with the Biblical account concerning Nimrod, and his role in the construction of the Tower of Bavel. In the Hungarian account, is son is called Menrot (Nimrud), whose sons were Magor, Hunor, and the ancestors of the Iranians. This resembles the myths recorded by Berosus, the outstanding historian of Babylon. Even the wife of Nimrud (Anuta/Bau) has similar names in the Hungarian version, Eneth/Boldog-asszony. Assyrian accounts refer that Nimrud had twin sons, one of whose names is Magor. Following this mythical ancestor there is a short list of patriarchs who can be associated to early Scythian ones as recorded by Herodotus. This period then is followed by the better documented historic Avar-Hun rulers, concluding with the early Hungarian leaders before and after the settlement in the Danubian Basin. They emphasize the strong dynastic bonds with the Huns. The Hun tribes were the heirs of the Scythians by culture and consanguinity. An interesting reference is the burial rites of Scythians and Huns, that were quite similar: the same barrows, burial frames of logs and thick timbers, burial blocks, sacrificial horses etc.
The name of Árpád, the founder of the modern Hungary, can be found in ancient records, from Egypt to Northern Mesopotamia. According to the Hungarian legend of the Turul Hawk (a mythical bird which corresponds to the Sumerian "Dugud"), Ügyek, the descendant of king Magog (the Scythian king Magog lived in Northern Mesopotamia, according to Assyrian records) and a royal leader of the land of Scythia, married the daughter of Ened-Belia, whose name was Emeshe (a word that means "priestess" in Sumerian language). From her was born their first son Álmos. Álmos, who was Árpád's father, is said to be a descendant of Attila the Hun.
Among the very few records attesting the earliest presence of the Huns in western Asia, there are some Persian documents: at Persepolis, there are written on the walls the names of some of the subject nations, among which Sapardia and Hunae. Being mentioned one next to the other may indicate that they were neighbours. Scythia, which early Hungarians called Hetumagyar ("Seven Magyars", of whom we speak furtherly) is recorded in the ancient legends of Persia, the Zend Avesta, under the name of "Haetumat", and located in Sakastan (Scythia).
The territories of the Huns at various times stretched from Central Asia to Central Europe, from Siberia and China to North India. To consider them as barbaric "nomads" is to really ignore their true history and to underestimate them. Modern researchers in the Huns' old homelands have found quite the opposite: paved streets, stone buildings, agriculture, metallurgy, and even writing. Much less pasturalism than the later Mongols who replaced them after they left. Europeans often equated and degraded all horsemen as "nomads and barbarians" even though there were sometimes great cultural differences between different groups. The Chinese historians clearly distinguish between Mongols and Huns, stating that the earlier Huns were much more advanced than the Mongols who came after them.
As stated previously, the Huns were indeed a complex of peoples rather than a single nation. After their arrival in Europe, the Hun tribes developed their own history and identity; some of them achieved in establishing themselves as an organized state, others were assimilated by non-related nations. Their heritage has been transferred to many Eurasian peoples, including the Uyghurs of Western China and several Turkic and Ugro-Finnic tribes. Indeed, they were no longer regarded as "Huns" and were considered separately. Two of them have given their name to modern European states: the Bulgars and the Magyars.