Auda Abu Tayeh
Auda Abu Tayeh (d. 1924). Bedouin tribal leader and warrior.
Many consider Auda Abu Tayeh the real hero of the Arab revolt of World War I. T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) described him as the “greatest fighting man in northern Arabia.”
Auda could trace his roots back through many generations of great desert Howeitat warriors of the Arabian peninsula. He epitomized everything noble, powerful and proud about the Bedouin.
Lawrence wrote of Auda, “he saw life as a saga, all the events in it were significant: all personages in contact with him heroic, his mind was stored with poems of old raids and epic tales of fights.”
As was customary in the desert, Auda was known for his sweeping hospitality and generosity that “kept him always poor, despite the profits of a hundred raids.”
He married 28 times and was wounded more than a dozen times in action. Legend had it that he had killed 75 Arabs by his own hand. Auda did not even bother to keep count of the Turks.
In battle, Auda became a wild beast assuaged only after he had killed. He was hot headed but always kept a smile on his face. Despite his fierce reputation, he was described as modest, direct, honest, kind-hearted and warmly-loved.
Auda lived in the desert near the Hejaz Railway. He preferred the isolation – and isolation came when he killed one too many debt collectors from Constantinople and the Turks put a price on his head. These desert landscapes were the precise areas Faisal and Lawrence needed to operate in order to avoid close attention from the Turks.
“Only by means of Auda abu Tayi” wrote Lawrence, “could we swing the tribes from Maan to Aqaba so violently in our favour that they would help us take Aqaba and its hills from their Turkish garrisons.”
Auda’s tribesmen were reputedly the finest fighters in the desert which is why his support and assistance was vital to the Arab Revolt. With the incentives of kicking the Turks out of Arabia – and the lure of gold and booty – Auda joined the Revolt.
He was repeatedly approached by the Turks with further financial inducements if he would switch to their side, but he refused to go back on his word. He was an Arab patriot and he rode with Lawrence, proving instrumental in the capture of Aqaba.
The great warrior was by Lawrence’s side when they entered Damascus. The crowds, yelling, dancing and firing volleys into the air, cheered Auda and Lawrence, covering them in flowers and kisses.
After the war, Auda returned to his home town of el-Jefer to build himself a great kasr (palace) of mud-brick using Turkish prisoner-labor.
His golden years were short, years of hard riding and fighting finally caught up with Auda, who died in 1924.
Tayeh, Auda Abu see Auda Abu Tayeh
“greatest fighting man in northern Arabia” see Auda Abu Tayeh
Auda abu Tayi see Auda Abu Tayeh
Tayi, Auda abu see Auda Abu Tayeh
Many consider Auda Abu Tayeh the real hero of the Arab revolt of World War I. T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) described him as the “greatest fighting man in northern Arabia.”
Auda could trace his roots back through many generations of great desert Howeitat warriors of the Arabian peninsula. He epitomized everything noble, powerful and proud about the Bedouin.
Lawrence wrote of Auda, “he saw life as a saga, all the events in it were significant: all personages in contact with him heroic, his mind was stored with poems of old raids and epic tales of fights.”
As was customary in the desert, Auda was known for his sweeping hospitality and generosity that “kept him always poor, despite the profits of a hundred raids.”
He married 28 times and was wounded more than a dozen times in action. Legend had it that he had killed 75 Arabs by his own hand. Auda did not even bother to keep count of the Turks.
In battle, Auda became a wild beast assuaged only after he had killed. He was hot headed but always kept a smile on his face. Despite his fierce reputation, he was described as modest, direct, honest, kind-hearted and warmly-loved.
Auda lived in the desert near the Hejaz Railway. He preferred the isolation – and isolation came when he killed one too many debt collectors from Constantinople and the Turks put a price on his head. These desert landscapes were the precise areas Faisal and Lawrence needed to operate in order to avoid close attention from the Turks.
“Only by means of Auda abu Tayi” wrote Lawrence, “could we swing the tribes from Maan to Aqaba so violently in our favour that they would help us take Aqaba and its hills from their Turkish garrisons.”
Auda’s tribesmen were reputedly the finest fighters in the desert which is why his support and assistance was vital to the Arab Revolt. With the incentives of kicking the Turks out of Arabia – and the lure of gold and booty – Auda joined the Revolt.
He was repeatedly approached by the Turks with further financial inducements if he would switch to their side, but he refused to go back on his word. He was an Arab patriot and he rode with Lawrence, proving instrumental in the capture of Aqaba.
The great warrior was by Lawrence’s side when they entered Damascus. The crowds, yelling, dancing and firing volleys into the air, cheered Auda and Lawrence, covering them in flowers and kisses.
After the war, Auda returned to his home town of el-Jefer to build himself a great kasr (palace) of mud-brick using Turkish prisoner-labor.
His golden years were short, years of hard riding and fighting finally caught up with Auda, who died in 1924.
Tayeh, Auda Abu see Auda Abu Tayeh
“greatest fighting man in northern Arabia” see Auda Abu Tayeh
Auda abu Tayi see Auda Abu Tayeh
Tayi, Auda abu see Auda Abu Tayeh
Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb. See Aurangzib.
Aurangzeb. See Aurangzib.
Aurangzib
Aurangzib (Aurangzeb) (Muhi ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I) (Al-Sultan al-Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Abul Muzaffar Muhi ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I, Padshah Ghazi) (b. November 3, 1618, Dahod, Mughal Empire [present day Gujarat, India] – d. March 3, 1707, Ahmednagar, Mughal Empire [present day Maharashtra, India]). The last of the great Mughal emperors of India (r. 1658-1707). During his reign, the Mughal Empire reached its widest extent but also began its descent. Towards the end, the Empire was in shambles, ruined by a series of wars (many of which were of Aurangzib’s own making).
Aurangzib, also known by his chosen imperial title Alamgir I (Conqueror of the Universe), was the 6th Mughal Emperor whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707. Aurangzib's reign as the Mughal monarch was marked by years of wars of expansion and a series of rebellions by his non-Muslim subjects.
Aurangzib (Aurangzeb) was the third son of Shah Jahan. His mother was Shah Jahan’s principal wife, Mumtaz Mahal. He was originally named Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, but was given the name Aurangzib (“Ornament of the Throne”) while still a prince.
His first responsible assignment under his father as emperor came with his appointment to the viceroyalty of the Deccan (1636-1644). He was subsequently governor of Gujarat (1645-1647) and of Multan (1648-1652). He led two expeditions against Kandahar (1649 and 1652), but was unsuccessful. In 1652, he was reappointed viceroy of the Deccan. He reorganized the revenue administration of the Deccan with the assistance of Murshid Quli Khan and led successful expeditions against Golconda (in 1656) and Bijapur (in 1657).
When his father was incapacitated by illness in 1657, Aurangzib and his brothers began a deadly struggle for the succession. First, Aurangzib seized the opportunity offered by the sudden illness of Shah Jahan to unite with his younger brother Murad Bakhsh and overthrow the imperial forces at Dharmatpur (in April 1658). The civil war continued for some time, but the ultimate result was that Shah Jahan (d. 1666) became his prisoner; Dara Shikoh was captured and executed (in August 1659); his other elder brother Shuja driven to exile and death in Araccan (1660-1661); and Murad Bakhsh imprisoned (in 1658) and executed (in 1661).
Aurangzib prevailed and ascended to the throne in June 1659, adopting the title Alamgir (“Conqueror of the World”). He began his reign by organizing a vigorous campaign in the Deccan against Bijapur and the Marathas under Shaista Khan (1660-1661) and against Cooch Bihar and Assam under Mir Jumla (1661-1663). These campaigns were not as successful as expected; and in the Deccan the Mughals received a great setback when Shivaji overran Shaista Khan’s camp at Pune in 1663 and plundered Surat in 1664. A large army under Jai Singh forced Shivaji to accept the treaty of Purandhar (1665), but the subsequent campaign against Bijapur proved a failure (1665-1666). This lack of success was compounded by Shivaji’s flight from Agra (1666) and his renewal of war with a second sack of Surat (1670). This period was also one of considerable agrarian distress, marked by scarcities and high prices, which continued until 1670. Aurangzib issued two important firmans (farmans) containing detailed regulations to protect peasants against excessive revenue demand and to encourage them to extend cultivation. Whether these had any practical effect is debatable. The agrarian “crisis” might have been one factor behind uprisings such as those of the Jats in 1669 and the Satnamis in 1672. The Afghan tribes revolted from 1672 to 1675, necessitating Aurangzib’s own stay at Hasan Abdal from 1674 to 1675.
These difficulties probably explain Aurangzib’s recourse to a more orthodox religious policy than his predecessors as a possible means of gathering firmer Muslim support. He doubled customs duties on non-Muslims (1665), sanctioned temple destruction (1669), and imposed the poll tax (jizya) on non-Muslims (1679). These measures were not without qualifications. Many great ancient temples were allowed to stand; many areas, and the Rajputs and Hindu officers, were exempted from the jizya. The Rajput and Maratha component in the nobility was not directly affected by the new policy. The Rajput revolt of 1679 to 1681 involved the Marwar and Mewar principalities, and the latter returned to its allegiance in 1681. But the revolt was complicated when Aurangzib’s son Akbar joined it (in 1681). As the revolt died out, Akbar fled to Shambhuji in Maharasta, and this compelled Aurangzib in 1682 to march to the Deccan, never to return to the North.
Aurangzib initiated vigorous campaigns against the Deccan powers. Bijapur was annexed in 1686, and Golconda in 1687. Shambhuji was captured and executed in 1689. He also extracted a tribute from Tanjore (now Thanjavur) and Trichinopoly (now Tiruchchirappalli) in 1691.
A four year campaign (1691-1695) by Asad Khan and Zulfiqar Khan resulted in the occupation of all of South India, with the exception of Kerala. But Maratha power was revived in its homeland, and Aurangzib’s armies proved unable to contain the Maratha sardars (chiefs). Aurangzib himself besieged and took fort after fort while large parts of the Deccan were sacked by the Marathas. During a great famine in the Deccan from 1702 to 1704, more than two million people perished, according to a contemporary estimate. Aurangzib was compelled to open the ranks of the Mughal nobility so as to win over opponents, and this brought about a crisis in jagirs, which was also a reflection of the financial strains caused by war on the Mughal administration. In spite of revolts such as those of the Jats and Sikhs, North India by and large remained peaceful.
Aurangzib died in February 1707, and lies buried in a simple grave at Khuldabad, near Aurangabad. Unlike his three predecessors, Aurangzib was not a great builder nor a great patron of the arts. His interests lay elsewhere. He patronized the compilation of a great collection of rules of Muslim law, the Fatawa-i Alamgiri, and liberalized awards of land grants to theologians. He was not, however, a blind fanatic, and tried to maintain the administrative machinery of the empire in as efficient a shape as he had found it. He had few personal vices, and remained dedicated to his work until his death. His death was followed by a war of succession among his sons Mu’azzam (Bahadur Shah), Azam, and Kam Bakhsh; and although Mu’azzam was successful (1709), the empire was badly shaken by the war. Aurangzib’s failure to resolve the Maratha question also left alive a threat to the empire that would only grow with time.
From a contemporary perspective, Aurangzib is perceived to have been a shrewd military leader and a brilliant ruler, with an administrative talent matched by cunning statesmanship. A devote Muslim, Aurangzib unwisely abandoned the religious tolerance of his Mughal predecessors and ruled the Hindu majority by ruthless force that earned him their universal hatred. Aurangzib also won the enmity of the Sikhs when he executed their ninth guru, Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675). Nevertheless, when Aurangzib died, on an expedition against the Marathas, he left a vast empire, albeit an internally weakened one that would not long endure.
Today, Aurangzib is usually perceived as being the complete opposite in temperament to his great grandfather, Akbar. If Akbar’s reign was characterized by the word “tolerance”, then Aurangzib’s was summed up by the word “persecution.”
Aurangzib observed the precepts of Islam faithfully. He lived in the palace almost as if he were an ascetic and, like his great grandfather, turned to a largely vegetarian diet. A strict legalist, Aurangzib could not condone the “idolatry” of his Hindu subjects. Ironically, his fanatical dedication to Islam did more to hamper the spread of Islam than did Akbar’s alleged apostasy.
Under Aurangzib, Hindu Indians once again resisted their foreign rulers. Within Aurangzib’s Islam, bitterness developed between those who were doggedly determined to follow the militaristic rules of the Qur’an and those inclined to the spreading of faith in Allah by example and preaching. Aurangzib’s reign marked the beginning of the end for the Mughal empire. His narrow vision of justice and his grim determination to unite his subjects by force finally shattered the fragile foundations of peaceful cooperation which Akbar had sought to establish.
Aurangzeb see Aurangzib
Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I see Aurangzib
Muhammad, Muhi-ud-Din see Aurangzib
“Ornament of the Throne” see Aurangzib
Alamgir see Aurangzib
“Conqueror of the World” see Aurangzib
Avars
Avars. Ibero-Caucasian people inhabiting the mountainous part of Dagestan and the northern part of Azerbaijan.
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 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. 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.They are also found in north India as ahirs.
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. Such a case has been seen repeatedly for many nomadic confederacies.
The ethnic Avars formed in central Asia in the classical age through a fusion of several tribal elements. 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.
Early in the sixth century, the confederacy was conquered by the Göktürk empire (the Göktürks were previously yet another vassal tribal element under Rouran supremacy). The Göktürks enslaved the Oghur tribe, which was one of the most powerful, and was accomplished in the art of war. One body of people, perhaps wishing to evade Göktürk rule, escaped and migrated to the northern Caucasus region c. 555 C.C. Their new neighbors believed them to be the true Avars. They established diplomatic contact with the Byzantines, and the other nomadic tribes of the steppes lavished them with gifts. However, the Göktürks later persuaded the Byzantines that these nomads were not the real Avars, but were instead a group of "fugitive Scythians" who had fled from the Göktürks and stolen the prestigious name of Avar. Hence they have subsequently been called pseudo-Avars.
If the Avars were ever a distinct ethnic group, that distinction does not seem to have survived their centuries in Europe. Being an "Avar" seems to have meant being part of the Avar state (in a similar way that being "Roman" ceased to have any ethnic meaning). What is certain, by the time they arrived in Europe, the Avars were a heterogeneous, polyethnic people. Modern research shows that each of the large confederations of steppe warriors (such as the Scythians, Xiongnu, Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Khazars, Cumans, Mongols, etc.) were not ethnically homogeneous, but rather unions of multiple ethnicities.
Whatever the origin of the initial group of nomadic warriors, the Avars rapidly intermixed with the Slavic population on the lower Danube basin and Pannonian Plain Slavic was likely used as a lingua franca within the khaganate amongst the disparate peoples. Anthropological research has revealed few skeletons with Mongoloid-type features, although there was continuing cultural influence from the Eurasian nomadic steppe.
The Avars arrived in the northern region of Caucasia in 557. They sent an embassy to Constantinople, marking their first contact with the Byzantine Empire. In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly gentes" on behalf of the Byzantines. They defeated and incorporated the various nomadic tribes - Kutrigur Bulgars, Onogur/Utigur Bulgars, Sabir Bulgars, and Antes, and by 562 controlled the vast steppes of Ukraine and the lower Danube basin. By their arrival into the Balkans, the Avars were a heterogeneous group of c. 20,000 horsemen. Having been bought off by the Eastern Emperor Justinian I, they pushed north into Germany (as Attila the Hun had done a century before), eventually reaching as far north as the Baltic. However, further expansion into Germania was halted by Frankish opposition and the harsh conditions of western Europe.
Seeking rich pastoral lands, they initially demanded land south of the Danube River (in present-day Bulgaria), but this was denied them by the Byzantines, who used their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. They thus turned their attention to the Carpathian plain and the natural defenses it afforded. However, the Carpathian basin was then occupied by the Gepids. In 567, the Avars signed an alliance with the Lombards, who were the enemies of the Gepids, and together they destroyed much of the Gepid Kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass movement in the Migration Period.
Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines convinced the Avars to attack the Sclavenes in Scythia Minor - for their land was rich and had never been conquered before. After devastating much of the Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia, but not before many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine Emperor. By 600, the Avars had established a nomadic empire stretching from modern-day Austria in the west to the Pontic steppes in the east, ruling over a multitude of peoples.
Like Attila before him, by about 580 the Avar Khagan, Bayan, established supremacy over practically all Slavic, Hunno-Bulgar, and Germanic tribes. When the Eastern Roman Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided Rome's Balkan communities. According to Menander, to sack Dalmatia in 568, Bayan commanded 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgar, effectively cutting Byzantium's land link with North Italy and the West. By 582, the Avars had captured Sirmium, an important fort in the former Roman province of Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount requested by Bayans's son and successor Bayan II (from 584), the Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum and Viminacium. However, during Maurice’s Balkan campaigns in the 590s, the Avars experienced setbacks. Being defeated in their homeland, some Avars defected to the Byzantines in 602, but Emperor Maurice decided against returning home as was customary. He maintained his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter, which caused the army to revolt (602). This gave the Avars a desperately needed respite. The ensuing civil war prompted a Persian invasion and after 615 gave the Avars a free hand in the undefended Balkans. They attempted an invasion of northern Italy in 610. Payments in gold and goods reached the record sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626.
In 626, the joint Avar and Persian siege of Constantinople failed. Following this defeat, the Avars' prestige and power declined. The Byzantines document a battle between the Avars and their Slav clients in 629. Seven Croat tribes were hired as mercenaries to help in war against the Avars. Shortly after this, the Croats and Serbs took over rule in Dalmatia/Illyria. In the 630s, Samo increased his authority over lands to the north and west of the khanate, at the expense of the Avars, becoming King of the Wends. Around 630, the Great Khan Kubrat (Kurt), of the Dulo clan of the Utigur and Onogur Bulgars, led a successful uprising from Patria Onoguria ("the homeland of Onogurs"), to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing what the Byzantines used to call Old Great Bulgaria. In 631-32, there was a civil war, possibly a succession struggle, between the joint Avar/Kutrigur Bulgar parties and Kubrat's Utigur Bulgar forces. The Kutrigur Bulgar party lost, and chroniclers recorded that 9,000 Kutrigur Bulgars sought asylum and fled to Bavaria, only to be slaughtered by King Dagobert. However a significant number of Cozrigurs must have remained in Pannonia (Transylvania in particular), as they were noted in the time of Menumorut.
The Great Khan Kubrat, the ruler of Great Old Bulgaria, died in 665 and was succeeded, in what is present-day Ukraine, by his eldest son Batbayan (Bayan). By 670, the Khazars had shattered the unity of the Onogur Bulgar confederation, causing the Utigur Bulgars to leave Ukraine and migrate west. By 677, the "Hungar"/(Onogur) ethnicon established itself decisively in Pannonia. This new ethnic element (marked by hair clips for pigtails; curved, single-edged sabres; broad, symmetrical bows) marked the middle Avar-Bulgar period (670-720). One group of Onogur Bulgars, led by Khan Kuber, after defeating the Avars in Srem, moved south and settled in the present-day region of Macedonia. Another group of Onogur/Utigur Bulgars, led by Khan Asparuh (the father of Khan Tervel), had already settled permanently in the Balkans (c. 679-681). Although the Avars’ empire had diminished to half its original size, they consolidated rule over the central "Hungar"/(Onogur) lands, mid-Danubian basin, and extended their sphere of influence west to the Viennese Basin. With the death of Samo, some Slavic tribes again fell under Avar rule. New regional centers appeared, such as those near Ozora and Igaz (county Fehér/Hungary). This strengthened the Avars' power base, although most of the Balkans now lay in the hands of Slavic tribes, since neither the Avars nor Byzantines were able to reassert control.
The gradual decline of Avar power was brought to a rapid crash within the space of a decade. A series of Frankish campaigns in the 790s led by Charlemagne ended with their conquest of the Avar realm, taking most of Pannonia up to the Tisza River. The song "De Pippine regis Victoria Avarica" celebrating the defeat of the Avars at the hands of Pepin of Italy in 796 survives. The Franks baptized many Avars and integrated them into the Frankish Empire. In 804, the Bulgarian Empire (Khanate) conquered the southeastern Avar lands- Transylvania and south-eastern Pannonia to the Middle Danube River. Many Avars became subjects of the Bulgar Khanate. The Franks turned the Avar lands under their control into a military march. The eastern half of this March was then granted to the Slavic Prince Pribina, who established the Balaton principality in 840. The western part of Awarenmark continued to exist until 871, when it was integrated into the Carantanian and Eastern marches.
After the fall of the Avar Empire, the name Avar, and the self-identified constructed ethnicity it carried, disappeared within a single generation. An Avar presence in Pannonia was still extant in 871 but thereafter the name was no longer used by chroniclers. The Avars had already been fusing with the more numerous Slavs for generations. In turn, they came under the rule of external polities – that of the Franks, the Bulgar Khanate and Great Moravia. Isolated pockets of Avars in Transylvania and eastern Pannonia escaped assimilation, and might have been the “Huns” encountered by the invading Magyars in the 10th century. The Avars of Tiszántúl and Crisana were still bilingual when the Hungarians arrived in 895. Their hypothetical descendants, the Székely (who apparently preserved the Avar Dragon Totem well into the 15th century), were relocated to Transylvania in the 12th century. In contrast to Transylvania, the descendants of those who had considered themselves "Avars" in the 700s (i.e., part of the Avar polity, even if actually of Slavic or Germanic background) in the central Pannonian Plain were absorbed by the invading Magyars to form the new nation of Hungary.
Avars. Ibero-Caucasian people inhabiting the mountainous part of Dagestan and the northern part of Azerbaijan.
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 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. 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.They are also found in north India as ahirs.
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. Such a case has been seen repeatedly for many nomadic confederacies.
The ethnic Avars formed in central Asia in the classical age through a fusion of several tribal elements. 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.
Early in the sixth century, the confederacy was conquered by the Göktürk empire (the Göktürks were previously yet another vassal tribal element under Rouran supremacy). The Göktürks enslaved the Oghur tribe, which was one of the most powerful, and was accomplished in the art of war. One body of people, perhaps wishing to evade Göktürk rule, escaped and migrated to the northern Caucasus region c. 555 C.C. Their new neighbors believed them to be the true Avars. They established diplomatic contact with the Byzantines, and the other nomadic tribes of the steppes lavished them with gifts. However, the Göktürks later persuaded the Byzantines that these nomads were not the real Avars, but were instead a group of "fugitive Scythians" who had fled from the Göktürks and stolen the prestigious name of Avar. Hence they have subsequently been called pseudo-Avars.
If the Avars were ever a distinct ethnic group, that distinction does not seem to have survived their centuries in Europe. Being an "Avar" seems to have meant being part of the Avar state (in a similar way that being "Roman" ceased to have any ethnic meaning). What is certain, by the time they arrived in Europe, the Avars were a heterogeneous, polyethnic people. Modern research shows that each of the large confederations of steppe warriors (such as the Scythians, Xiongnu, Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Khazars, Cumans, Mongols, etc.) were not ethnically homogeneous, but rather unions of multiple ethnicities.
Whatever the origin of the initial group of nomadic warriors, the Avars rapidly intermixed with the Slavic population on the lower Danube basin and Pannonian Plain Slavic was likely used as a lingua franca within the khaganate amongst the disparate peoples. Anthropological research has revealed few skeletons with Mongoloid-type features, although there was continuing cultural influence from the Eurasian nomadic steppe.
The Avars arrived in the northern region of Caucasia in 557. They sent an embassy to Constantinople, marking their first contact with the Byzantine Empire. In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly gentes" on behalf of the Byzantines. They defeated and incorporated the various nomadic tribes - Kutrigur Bulgars, Onogur/Utigur Bulgars, Sabir Bulgars, and Antes, and by 562 controlled the vast steppes of Ukraine and the lower Danube basin. By their arrival into the Balkans, the Avars were a heterogeneous group of c. 20,000 horsemen. Having been bought off by the Eastern Emperor Justinian I, they pushed north into Germany (as Attila the Hun had done a century before), eventually reaching as far north as the Baltic. However, further expansion into Germania was halted by Frankish opposition and the harsh conditions of western Europe.
Seeking rich pastoral lands, they initially demanded land south of the Danube River (in present-day Bulgaria), but this was denied them by the Byzantines, who used their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. They thus turned their attention to the Carpathian plain and the natural defenses it afforded. However, the Carpathian basin was then occupied by the Gepids. In 567, the Avars signed an alliance with the Lombards, who were the enemies of the Gepids, and together they destroyed much of the Gepid Kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass movement in the Migration Period.
Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines convinced the Avars to attack the Sclavenes in Scythia Minor - for their land was rich and had never been conquered before. After devastating much of the Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia, but not before many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine Emperor. By 600, the Avars had established a nomadic empire stretching from modern-day Austria in the west to the Pontic steppes in the east, ruling over a multitude of peoples.
Like Attila before him, by about 580 the Avar Khagan, Bayan, established supremacy over practically all Slavic, Hunno-Bulgar, and Germanic tribes. When the Eastern Roman Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided Rome's Balkan communities. According to Menander, to sack Dalmatia in 568, Bayan commanded 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgar, effectively cutting Byzantium's land link with North Italy and the West. By 582, the Avars had captured Sirmium, an important fort in the former Roman province of Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount requested by Bayans's son and successor Bayan II (from 584), the Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum and Viminacium. However, during Maurice’s Balkan campaigns in the 590s, the Avars experienced setbacks. Being defeated in their homeland, some Avars defected to the Byzantines in 602, but Emperor Maurice decided against returning home as was customary. He maintained his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter, which caused the army to revolt (602). This gave the Avars a desperately needed respite. The ensuing civil war prompted a Persian invasion and after 615 gave the Avars a free hand in the undefended Balkans. They attempted an invasion of northern Italy in 610. Payments in gold and goods reached the record sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626.
In 626, the joint Avar and Persian siege of Constantinople failed. Following this defeat, the Avars' prestige and power declined. The Byzantines document a battle between the Avars and their Slav clients in 629. Seven Croat tribes were hired as mercenaries to help in war against the Avars. Shortly after this, the Croats and Serbs took over rule in Dalmatia/Illyria. In the 630s, Samo increased his authority over lands to the north and west of the khanate, at the expense of the Avars, becoming King of the Wends. Around 630, the Great Khan Kubrat (Kurt), of the Dulo clan of the Utigur and Onogur Bulgars, led a successful uprising from Patria Onoguria ("the homeland of Onogurs"), to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing what the Byzantines used to call Old Great Bulgaria. In 631-32, there was a civil war, possibly a succession struggle, between the joint Avar/Kutrigur Bulgar parties and Kubrat's Utigur Bulgar forces. The Kutrigur Bulgar party lost, and chroniclers recorded that 9,000 Kutrigur Bulgars sought asylum and fled to Bavaria, only to be slaughtered by King Dagobert. However a significant number of Cozrigurs must have remained in Pannonia (Transylvania in particular), as they were noted in the time of Menumorut.
The Great Khan Kubrat, the ruler of Great Old Bulgaria, died in 665 and was succeeded, in what is present-day Ukraine, by his eldest son Batbayan (Bayan). By 670, the Khazars had shattered the unity of the Onogur Bulgar confederation, causing the Utigur Bulgars to leave Ukraine and migrate west. By 677, the "Hungar"/(Onogur) ethnicon established itself decisively in Pannonia. This new ethnic element (marked by hair clips for pigtails; curved, single-edged sabres; broad, symmetrical bows) marked the middle Avar-Bulgar period (670-720). One group of Onogur Bulgars, led by Khan Kuber, after defeating the Avars in Srem, moved south and settled in the present-day region of Macedonia. Another group of Onogur/Utigur Bulgars, led by Khan Asparuh (the father of Khan Tervel), had already settled permanently in the Balkans (c. 679-681). Although the Avars’ empire had diminished to half its original size, they consolidated rule over the central "Hungar"/(Onogur) lands, mid-Danubian basin, and extended their sphere of influence west to the Viennese Basin. With the death of Samo, some Slavic tribes again fell under Avar rule. New regional centers appeared, such as those near Ozora and Igaz (county Fehér/Hungary). This strengthened the Avars' power base, although most of the Balkans now lay in the hands of Slavic tribes, since neither the Avars nor Byzantines were able to reassert control.
The gradual decline of Avar power was brought to a rapid crash within the space of a decade. A series of Frankish campaigns in the 790s led by Charlemagne ended with their conquest of the Avar realm, taking most of Pannonia up to the Tisza River. The song "De Pippine regis Victoria Avarica" celebrating the defeat of the Avars at the hands of Pepin of Italy in 796 survives. The Franks baptized many Avars and integrated them into the Frankish Empire. In 804, the Bulgarian Empire (Khanate) conquered the southeastern Avar lands- Transylvania and south-eastern Pannonia to the Middle Danube River. Many Avars became subjects of the Bulgar Khanate. The Franks turned the Avar lands under their control into a military march. The eastern half of this March was then granted to the Slavic Prince Pribina, who established the Balaton principality in 840. The western part of Awarenmark continued to exist until 871, when it was integrated into the Carantanian and Eastern marches.
After the fall of the Avar Empire, the name Avar, and the self-identified constructed ethnicity it carried, disappeared within a single generation. An Avar presence in Pannonia was still extant in 871 but thereafter the name was no longer used by chroniclers. The Avars had already been fusing with the more numerous Slavs for generations. In turn, they came under the rule of external polities – that of the Franks, the Bulgar Khanate and Great Moravia. Isolated pockets of Avars in Transylvania and eastern Pannonia escaped assimilation, and might have been the “Huns” encountered by the invading Magyars in the 10th century. The Avars of Tiszántúl and Crisana were still bilingual when the Hungarians arrived in 895. Their hypothetical descendants, the Székely (who apparently preserved the Avar Dragon Totem well into the 15th century), were relocated to Transylvania in the 12th century. In contrast to Transylvania, the descendants of those who had considered themselves "Avars" in the 700s (i.e., part of the Avar polity, even if actually of Slavic or Germanic background) in the central Pannonian Plain were absorbed by the invading Magyars to form the new nation of Hungary.
Avempace
Avempace (in Arabic, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Bajja) (Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh) (Ibn Bajjah) (c.1095-1138). Spanish-born Muslim philosopher and the first known exponent in Spain of the Neo-platonic tradition of intellectual mysticism. Avempace conceived of the divine as an “Active Intellect,” to which the human soul can be joined. This union is achieved through stages of intellectual ascent. It begins with basic sense impressions of form and matter and ascends, through a hierarchy of increasingly less material forms, ultimately reaching the pure Active Intellect, or God. Avempace propounded these ideas in his book On the Union of the Intellect. Avempace also wrote several commentaries on Aristotle.
Ibn Khaldun ranked Avempace with Averroes (Ibn Rushd) in the West and Alfarabius and Avicenna (Ibn Sina) in the East, as one of the greatest philosophers of Islam. Avempace was also a poet, musician, and composer of popular songs. He also studied mathematics, astronomy, and botany.
Avempace became a vizier under the Almoravids of Saragossa, Spain. His works survive in their original Arabic in a few manuscripts and in Hebrew translations. His most celebrated work, Rule of the Solitary, is of a Neo-platonic character.
Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: an astronomer, logician, musician, philosopher, physician, physicist, psychologist, poet and scientist. He was known in the West by his Latinized name, Avempace. He was born in Zaragoza in what is today Spain and died in Fes, Morocco in 1138. Avempace worked as vizir for Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim Ibn Tîfilwît, the Almoravid governor of Saragossa. Avempace also wrote poems (panegyrics and 'muwasshahat') for him, and they both enjoyed music and wine. Avempace joined in poetic competitions with the poet al-Tutili. He later worked, for some twenty years, as the vizir of Yahyà ibn Yûsuf Ibn Tashufin, another brother of the Almoravid Sultan Yusuf Ibn Tashufin (died 1143) in Morocco.
The philosophic ideas of Avempace (Ibn Bajjah) had a clear effect on Ibn Rushd and Albertus Magnus. Most of his writings and books were not completed (or well organized) because of his relatively early death. Nevertheless, he had a vast knowledge of medicine, mathematics and astronomy. His main contribution to Islamic philosophy is his idea on Soul Phenomenology.
Though many of Ibn Bajjah's works have not survived, his theories on astronomy and physics were preserved by Maimonides and Averroes respectively, which had a subsequent influence on later astronomers and physicists in Islamic civilization and Renaissance Europe, including Galileo Galilei.
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Bajja see Avempace
Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh see Avempace
Ibn Bajjah see Avempace
Avempace (in Arabic, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Bajja) (Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh) (Ibn Bajjah) (c.1095-1138). Spanish-born Muslim philosopher and the first known exponent in Spain of the Neo-platonic tradition of intellectual mysticism. Avempace conceived of the divine as an “Active Intellect,” to which the human soul can be joined. This union is achieved through stages of intellectual ascent. It begins with basic sense impressions of form and matter and ascends, through a hierarchy of increasingly less material forms, ultimately reaching the pure Active Intellect, or God. Avempace propounded these ideas in his book On the Union of the Intellect. Avempace also wrote several commentaries on Aristotle.
Ibn Khaldun ranked Avempace with Averroes (Ibn Rushd) in the West and Alfarabius and Avicenna (Ibn Sina) in the East, as one of the greatest philosophers of Islam. Avempace was also a poet, musician, and composer of popular songs. He also studied mathematics, astronomy, and botany.
Avempace became a vizier under the Almoravids of Saragossa, Spain. His works survive in their original Arabic in a few manuscripts and in Hebrew translations. His most celebrated work, Rule of the Solitary, is of a Neo-platonic character.
Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: an astronomer, logician, musician, philosopher, physician, physicist, psychologist, poet and scientist. He was known in the West by his Latinized name, Avempace. He was born in Zaragoza in what is today Spain and died in Fes, Morocco in 1138. Avempace worked as vizir for Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim Ibn Tîfilwît, the Almoravid governor of Saragossa. Avempace also wrote poems (panegyrics and 'muwasshahat') for him, and they both enjoyed music and wine. Avempace joined in poetic competitions with the poet al-Tutili. He later worked, for some twenty years, as the vizir of Yahyà ibn Yûsuf Ibn Tashufin, another brother of the Almoravid Sultan Yusuf Ibn Tashufin (died 1143) in Morocco.
The philosophic ideas of Avempace (Ibn Bajjah) had a clear effect on Ibn Rushd and Albertus Magnus. Most of his writings and books were not completed (or well organized) because of his relatively early death. Nevertheless, he had a vast knowledge of medicine, mathematics and astronomy. His main contribution to Islamic philosophy is his idea on Soul Phenomenology.
Though many of Ibn Bajjah's works have not survived, his theories on astronomy and physics were preserved by Maimonides and Averroes respectively, which had a subsequent influence on later astronomers and physicists in Islamic civilization and Renaissance Europe, including Galileo Galilei.
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Bajja see Avempace
Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh see Avempace
Ibn Bajjah see Avempace
Avennasar
Avennasar. See Abu Nasr al-Farabi.
Avennasar. See Abu Nasr al-Farabi.
Avennathan
Avennathan. See Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham.
Avennathan. See Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham.
Averroes
Averroes (Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd). See Ibn Rushd.
Ibn Rushd see Averroes
Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd see Averroes
Averroes (Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd). See Ibn Rushd.
Ibn Rushd see Averroes
Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd see Averroes
Avicenna
Avicenna. See Ibn Sina.
Avicenna. See Ibn Sina.
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