On the Oldest Relationship between Hungarians and Sarmatians: From Spali to Asphali

On the Oldest Relationship between Hungarians and Sarmatians: From Spali to Asphali *

By Tuomo Pekkanen (Helsinki)

Introduction

In his monumental work »Byzantinoturcica«, vol. 1-2, Berlin 21958, which provides a complete survey of the Byzantine sources on the Altaic peoples, Gyula Moravcsik (1.48 f.) regards it as certain that under the rule of the Iranian Scythians or at least in their neighbourhood there lived peoples that spoke other, non-Iranian languages. He is also of the opinion that it is at least probable that among these peoples there were Finno-Ugric and perhaps even Turkish tribes (For the earliest Iranian contacts of the Turks, see now P. Aalto, Studia Turcica 1971.29-37). As a matter of fact, some of the peoples already mentioned by Herodotus, have been tentatively identified by some scholars as Finno-Ugrians. Moravcsik gives a bibliography of the relevant studies (1.49 f.), but points out that »die eingehende, kritische Behandlung des diesbezüglichen antiken Quellenmaterials wird gewiß noch auf manche Einzelheiten der ältesten Geschichte der ural- altaischen Völker Licht werfen.«

The object of this study is to examine the question of the origin and the ethnic identity of the Urgoi (Ουργοι), mentioned by Strabo (7, 3,17) among the Sarmatian tribes of South Russia. This people has by some scholars been hypothetically connected with the later Hungarians, but in recent studies on the Sarmatians it has been almost completely neglected. In his work »The Sarmatians« (Southampton 1970), which is the first monograph which covers every period of Sarmatian history, T. Sulimirski does not even mention its name, and J. Harmatta, whose »Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians« have recently (Szeged 1970) been reprinted in a revised form, seems to consider the Urgoi (pp. 12, 32, 41) as one of the many otherwise unknown tribes. Of earlier scholars M. Vasmer (Schriften 1 .145 and 177) merely mentioned the name without attempting to explain its etymology, and L. Zgusta (Die Personennamen §§ 17, 66, 173, 679) rejected it altogether, considering it corrupt. A study establishing the historical value of the Strabonian information on the Urgoi has not yet been written and in this contribution I shall attempt to fill the gap.

1. The Ουργοι of Strabo

Having described the coast from the mouth of the Danube as far as the Dnieper, Strabo proceeds to discuss the area delimited by the two rivers : 7, 3, 17 η δε υπερκειμενη παςα χωρα του λεχθεντος μεταξυ Βορυσθενους και Ιστρου πρωτη μεν εστιν η των Γετων ερημια, επειτα οι Τυρεγεται, μεθ ους οι Ιαζυγες Σαρμαται καο οι Βασιλειοι λεγομενοι και Ουργοι, τό μεν πλέον νομάδες, ολίγοι δε και γεωργίας έπιμελούμενοι · τούτους φαβι καί παρά τον "Ιβτρον οίκεΐν, έφ εκατερα πολλακις. εν δε τη μεσσγαια Βασταρναι μεν τοις Τυρεγεταις ομοροι και Γερμανοις ... Ρωξολανοι δ αρκτικωτατοι τα μεταξυ του Ταναιδος καο του Βορυσθενους νεμομενοι πεδια. »Now the whole country that lies above the said seaboard between the Borysthenes (Dnieper) and the Ister (Danube) consists, first, of the Desert of the Getae ; then the country of the Tyregetae ; and after it the country of the Iazygian Sarmatians and that of the people called the Basileioi and Urgoi, who in general are nomads, though a few are interested also in farming; these peoples, it is said, dwell also along the Ister, often on both sides. In the interior dwell the Bastarnae, whose country borders on that of the Tyregetae and Germans... the Roxolani are the most northerly roaming the plains between the Tanais (Don) and the Borysthenes.« The Urgoi, who are the principal subject of this study, are known, at least by this particular name, from this passage alone. The Desert of the Getae, mentioned first, refers to the area between the lower Danube and the River Tyras (Dniester), from wich the following group, the Tyregetae, may have received their name. The Iazyges and οι Βασιλειοι λεγομενοι και Ουγροι may consequently be located between the Dniester and the Dnieper. Further inland the Bastarnae are mentioned as living between the Tyregetae and the Germans. In the north, on the plains between the Dnieper and the Don, are Roxolani, the most remote of the tribes known to Strabo. The Βασιλειοι λεγομενοι και Ουγροι are thus located between the Iazyges in the south near the Tyras and the Roxolani in the north beyond the Borysthenes.

Having established the successive order of the tribes in the coastal area between the Ister and the Borysthenes, Strabo tells that they were in general nomads and were said to dwell »also along the Ister, often on both sides«. It is not clear whether these words also refer to the Tyregetae or only to those mentioned after them. Anyway, Strabo seems to mean that the tribes whose normal abodes extended as far as the Borysthenes, at certain periods (πολλακις) also inhabited (οικειν) both sides of the Ister. A reliable interpretation of this constant changing of abodes has been given by Harmatta, who connects it with the nomadic habit of camping in winter-time beside rivers and lakes.

Of the tribes concerned only the Iazyges are mentioned in the other sources as living on the Danube. The absence of the Βασιλειοι λεγομενοι {1}

{59} Sarraatian upper-class is still mentioned by the name Sarmntae IAberi, and from the archaeological evidence of the Hunnic period (430-454 AD) P1r- ducz has concluded that the Sarmatians even at that time were still of considerable importance. Their military significance in the latter half of the fifth century is attested by Jordanes (Get. 191 and 277) and the archaeological finds of the Gepidian period (454-568) prove that the Sarmatians had retained their settlements in the Tisa-Danube area, in Banat and on the eastern side of the Tisa to the north of the Koros.

After the Avaric conquest (568 AD) there are no literary references to the Hungarian Sarmatians, but the facts we know about the organization of nomadic confederacies like that of the Avars suggest their continued existence even in the Avaric period. The silence on them of the literary sources may be attributed to the fact that during the Pax Chazarica little of historical interest happened in Eastern Europe.

The Hungarian Jasi, whose Iranian language is known from a document dating from 1422, may be called medieval Hungarian Sarmatians. Their Hungarian name jász may be directly connected with that of the Iazyges, which I derive from the stem asjaz - jasjjaz with the Ossetian suffix -ug (-ug, -ig, -ag). The fact that the settlements of the Jasi lie in the very same area in which we already have Sarmatian Iazyges in the first century AD suggests that a Sarmatian ethnic element remained in Hungary during and after the Avaric rule. This theory is also supported by Rumanian analogies.

The name Spali, used in the Gothic tradition for the Roxolani, reappears in Constantine Porphyrogenitus as "Ασφαλοι. According to Constantine, " Ασφαλοι was the ancient name of a people, called by him Τουρκοι, but in other Byzantine sources Ουγγροι. The identity of the names Spali - "Ασφαλοι may be explained on the assumption that some tribes of the later Magyars were once ruled over by the Spali. As the latter represent the Roxolani, which were also known as Ariar agamies, the Hungarian loanword aladar 'centurion' (cf. Osset. aldar 'prince, ruler') may have its origin in the early relationships between the Roxolani and some proto-Magyar tribes, which relationships are also attested by the name Spali /"Ασφαλοι. I have presented literary evidence which suggests the earliest contacts between Sarmatians and some proto-Magyar groups took place as early as the beginning of the first century AD if not even earlier. This evidence is proved by the name Materi\Mattzari, which belongs to a people who lived to the east of the Volga (Ptol. Geog. 5, 8, 12), but who also appeared together with the Iazyges on the lower Danube (Ov. Trist. 2, 191) and in Hungary (CIL III 5234). This name cannot be separated from the Byzantine forms Μαζαροι (already attested in Const. Porph. De adm. imp. 37, 1 ff.), Ματζαροι, and must therefore be considered as the earliest written testimony of the self-denomination of the Hungarians.

In the last chapter I have discussed the origin of the name by which the Hungarians are even today known among their neighbours. From a careful study of the ancient literary sources I have been able to establish that the names Spali and Ουργοι are two different designations of the Royal Sarmatians. On the other hand, the Ασφαλοι of Constantine Porphyroge {60} nitus is another name for the Ουγγροι of other Byzantine sources. The identity of the names Spali - Ασφαλοι, suggested and defended by prominent scholars like Gregoire, Veknadsky, Haussig and Szemerenyi, leads inevitably to the conclusion that the names Ουργοι - Ουγγροι are also identical.

In the language of the Sarmatians Old Iranian *-gr- appears as -gr- or -rg-. Therefore it is possible to reconstruct from Ουργοι (< ugra-) the parallel form *Ovypoi, which later changed into Ovyypoi. The phonetic difference may be explained from the influence of Ουννοι (cf. Ουννοι οι Ουγγροι) or be due to some other so far unknown reason. The conclusion that the names Ουγροι ~ Ουγγροι are identical definitely excludes the prevailing theory Ουγγροι < Ονογουροι, which in itself is suspect, because it is based on too many hypotheses.

In accordance with the theory of Boba I consider the Ουγγροι of the early ninth century as remnants of the defeated Avaric federation, but connect their appearance at that period with the disappearance of the Hungarian Sarmatians in 568, when the Avar power in Hungary was founded.

The early ethnic conditions in Eastern Europe are extremely complicated and in particular the theories on the migrations and earliest home of the Magyars are inevitably controversial. Every new contribution that may clear up the entangled controversies, is therefore of importance. I hope to have presented in this study certain aspects and some sources that have not so far been.