Chronological references - Magyars

[Xiongnu]

Some interesting exerpts from: Chronological Historical References to the dynamic history of the horsemen of Western Asia.

ca 2000 BC Linguists estimate the time at which Hungarian broke away from the neighboring Ural-Altaic & Finn-Ugor language family to become an independent language. This is based on the many differences which occur in pronunciation between Hungarian and other Finno_Ugrian languages. Naturally the location where this occurred is highly speculative and unfortunately also very politically biased.

The Magyar name is fund in the Caucasus Mountain area for well over 2,000 years before the Central European resettlement. Naturally not in modern Hungarian spelling, especially since the Hungarian "gy" sound is unique and can only be approximated in other languages. Macar, Mazar, Madar are the most common early spellings of the name./ Viktor Padanyi, "Dentu Magaria", Buenos Aires/.

1st Century BC Sakauraka tribe
Two medallions are found in India originating from the displaced Sakauraka tribe from Central Asia. The inscription of one of the medallions states:
1. "Turannountos Eraoy 2. Saka Kaganoi"
The second medalion states
"1. Yrkodoy Makaroy while side two is S.K. Ur "

If we tie this fact to the reference made by Greek writers to the Sakauraka, which stated that their name "Sakauraka" means "Lord of the Saka, which in Hungarian would be pronounced "Saka Urak" also, while the term "Yrkodoy Makaroy" is nothing but "Ruling Makar" (Urkodo Magyar in modern Hungarian). The term "Saka Kaganoi" is again one of the earliest references to the "Kagan" term commonly used by the Altaic nations for their emperors. The Hungarian "Magyar" term originally was only used in reference to
the clan of the royal family.

23-79 AD Plinius
"Indum accolunt MEGARI, .. URI, ABAORTA, OSI" talks of the Magars, Avars ?, and Yazig.

150 AD Ptolemi
The central Asian Magyars are mentioned living next to Parthia. "Quae autem juxta Parthiam et Caramaniam desertam Mazorani tenent." Other ancient maps show the south eastern shores of the Caspian Sea a nation called the Maxera and a similarly named river. This was probably their eastern most outposts.

214 AD Choronei Mozes, "The history of Armenia"
Talks of the Huns, Chasi, and Makar/Magyar near the Sarmatian Scythians. Perhaps this is the earliest
settlements of the Hungarians near Baskiria, who are also called Mozeryan (ie Magyar) by the Russians and who were the last nation to have a Sarmatian tribe. Herodotus also has the Royal Scythians next to the Sarmatians.. but the Sar-mata term can simply mean royal-lands.
" Sarmatai pars altera orientalibus Sarmatae finibus, Riphaeio monte, Tanai flume, Maeotide palude a Sarmata prima distinguitur, atque inde per Caucasos montes propter Iberian, Albanian versus Caspium Mare partient. hae autem gentes plurimae Sarmatiam alteran incolunt: Chasi (Kasi), Basili, Hunni, Guda-Makari

352 AD Chronicle of Derbent (Caucasus)
"70 years before the birth of Mohamed (352AD), the uncountable people of the Magors apeared, who came from the area north [north-west] of Tibet and descended on the plains of Astrakan, here they split into two branches, one of which went north east to live along the river Volga (Magna Hungaria of old maps or more properly Baskiria). The other branch went further west and also founded the city of Madjar [in the Cuban between the Caspian and Black Sea]. " It should however be mentioned that the Madar, Mazar and Makar variations of this name appear for a very long period before this in the Caucasus Mountains, the route by which these eastern Magars supposedly came. However the Saka-Uraka Scythians, whose kings were called
Makar did indeed come from the area described by this chroniclers.. these can be viewed as the most eastern component of the so called Makar/Magar/Magyar designation. These people were not Huns, not Turkic and not even Altaic in origin. However the Hun tidal wave caught up with them anyways and they were engulfed in their new empires.

Prokopius
The Avar-Huns are white skinned, have an organized kingship. Their life is not wild/nomadic but live in cities. [However today because their royal clans were found to have mongoloid elements all of them are mistaken to be mongoloids.]

600 AD: Sukralla, Arab historian, about the Magyars: "There is constant war between the Slavs and Magyars. The Magyars always defeat the Slavs and take prisoners from them which they sell to the Byzantines. The Turkic nations have the following branches: Guz (Turkic Uz), Kaji, Kirghiz, Sari, Kimak, Bedsenak and Madsar (Magyar)."

The Utigur and Kutrigur (Bulgar) tribes again joined forces because they were being hard pressed by the Avars and by the Turks. It must also be noted that the Utiguri might count on the support of the Onoguri an Ugrian (Magyar) tribe which had been in friendly relations with them since the sixth century./Moravchik/ Such was the background of the unification of the Bulgar and Ugrian tribes in the Pontic and Azov steppes.

The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Purporigenitos wrote:
"The people of the Turks (which is what he called the Magyars) gained their lands near the Khazars. But at this time they did not call themselves Turks, but Sabartu-Asfalu. They lived together with the Khazars for three years. They fought together with the Khazars. The chief of the Khazars, the Khagan, gave a royal Khazar bride to their first vovoid Lebedi, because of his bravery and alliance." ... "Originally the Petchegens lived near the Volga River, next to the Magyars (west) and Uzez (east). The leading clan of the Petchegens was called Kangar, because he was more gallant and more noble than the rest. This is the meaning of the name Kangar. The tribes of the Petchegens are the follows: 1)Ertem 2)Tzur, 3)Gila, 4)Kulpe, 5)Kharoboe, 6)Thalmat, 7)Khoplon, 8)Tzoplon. The nations of the Magyars are the following 1)Khabar 2)Neke 3)Megere 4)Kurtu-Germat 5)Tarjan 6)Kari 7)Kasi." <note the actual leading tribe is not the first but the center.>

735-743 Baladhur Futuh al-Athir and Ibn Al-Athir Chronicles (from Egypt).
Refer to these early conquests in the Caucasus Mountains including the territory of Al-Laks south of the Caucasus. Western Armenia and Azerbedjan. The chronicle mentions the two rivers Samur and Shabiran [Sabir] .. separated by a mountain range called Pejbart. From 735 to 743 the Arab Empire's northern ruler, the Damascus Kaliph appointed the ruling families member called Marwan to guard the northern Caucasian frontiers and he also leads several armies against Khazaria north of the Caucasus. The armies of Marwan are held up by a very determined local resistance in 734-740. Almost daily skirmishes are fought by the locals mainly of Al-Laks, lead by their local leader Upas Ibn-Madar which is Opos fia Madjar in modern Hungarian. The Opos clan is a famous Hungarian clan.

870-920 Djayhani
The most complete description of the Hungarians before their settlement in Hungary is from Djayhani, a historian from Bukhara. His original manuscript did not survive. He mentions the Hungarians around 870 under the Magyar name. Other later historians used his references like Ibn Rusta (ca. 930) and Gardizi (ca. 1050-1053). One of Djayhani's statements is that the Magyars are a Turkic people .. they have many plowed lands, ... they are of handsome outer appearance with much noticeable wealth.

886-912 Leo the Wise, Emperor of Byzantium writes in his book on Tactics. He writes of the tactics of the many known neighboring nations. He calls the Magyars Türk and writes: "The makeup of the Magyar armies is similar to the other Scythian nations.. The shoot their arrows from horseback while turning backwards on their mounts. [also called the Parthian shot] "

903 Lazus, A 15th century Austrian wrote that based on a document from 1,000 AD "The Hun-Avars turned away from their Christian faith and adopted the Magyar Pagan belief." A rather unlikely fact since the documents of the time claimed the Magyars to be Christian also, with other monotheistic religions also represented like Manichean, Muslims and Magians. This probably means that they renounced German domination of their religious hierarchy.

N. Fetich & V.V. Arendt have recently defined some of the antiquities found in certain settlements and grave sites of Kharkov, Tambov and Voronezh provinces as Magyar in origin. Both toponymical and archaeological evidence likewise indicates that the Magyars stayed in Southern "Rusia" for a protected period which could be measured by decades or even centuries rather than by years. Had they merely paraded through the Pontic steppes without living there for a number of decades, they would hardly have left so many traces in local names and in the kurgan graves. An example is the buffer state of Lebedia (Hungarian Levente, Levedi) found as a village in Chigirin district of Kiev province; Lebedin in Braslav province (16th century) Lebedin in Kharkov province; Lebedinan in Tambov province; Lybed River discharging into the Dnieper at Kiev; two rivers of the same name in Chernigov and Riazan province. One of the tributaries of the Oka is called Ugra. Such town names ending with Kut are of Magyar origin, meaning Well . Kut Snezhkov of the Valki district, and Krasni Kut of the Bogodukhov district, both of the Kharkov province.