Butaul

Butaul (also spelled Buta-ul, with possible meaning "the son of Buta"[1]) is a name mentioned in an inscription contained in a treasure trove of gold artifacts found in 1799 in Groß Sankt Nikolaus (Romanian: Sânnicolau Mare) in northern Banat (then under administration of Habsburg Monarchy, today in Timiş County in western Romania). According to various interpretations of the inscription, Butaul was an župan,[2] a sort of local chieftain.

Contents

The inscription

Main article: Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Buta-ul and Buyla are names preserved by an inscription on one of the vessels found in the hoard. The inscription is written in the Greek alphabet and reads:

BOYHΛA.ZOAΠAN.TECH.ΔYΓΕTOIΓH.BOYTAOYΛ.ZΩAΠAN.TAΓPOΓH.HTZIΓH.TAICH
(Transliteration: bouēla zoapan tesē dygetoigé boutaoul zōapan tagrogē ētzigē taisē)[3].

The language of the inscription is unknown. While there is no consensus as to the meaning of the inscription, there is general agreement that Buta-ul and Buyla are personal names from a Turkic language, and that both are identified as holding the title of župan. Other very short inscriptions found on the artifacts there are in a runiform script and also likely to be in a Turkic language, but these are very brief and have not been deciphered.[4]

Interpretations

Various sources provided different interpretations of the inscription. According some opinions, inscription was written by a people whose local leaders had Turkic names and bore Slavic titles.[5] According to other opinions, form ZOAΠAN could be read as "čaban", so BOYTAOYΛ.ZΩAΠAN would mean "son of Buta from the breed of čaban".[6]

According to one interpretation, Buyla was the grand duke of two Getae lands of the Tisa, while Buta-ul was the duke of the Tagro and Etzi lands of the Tisa.[8] According to other interpretation, Župan Buila (Buyla) was prince of Dügetoigi, while Grand Župan Butaul was prince of Tagrogi and Itschigi (Utschugi).[9] Another interpretation states that Butaul was župan of Tagroges, Iazyges, the peoples of the Tisa.[10] Another translation states that Bela (Buyla) was župan of the Tisa, while Butaul was župan of the Iazyges.[11] According to Serbian historian Milan Tutorov, grand župan Buta-ul was ruler of two Getae lands, Targorska and Eciska and across the Tisa.[12] Tutorov claims that "Getae land" was designation for present-day Banat, while area "across the Tisa" is present-day Bačka.[13]

According to Tutorov, Buta-ul was an Avar noble who had a traditional Slavic ruler's title - the "great župan" (rendering veliki župan).[14] Tutorov also speculates that the Treasure of Groß Sankt Nikolaus was probably buried by Buta-ul in 796, when Pippin, the son of Frankish ruler Charlemagne, penetrated with his army into the centre of Avar caganate near the river Tisa.[15] It is assumed that Buta-ul buried his treasure in great hurry before the Frankish army arrived,[16] since the treasure was buried only half metre deep in the ground.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ Acta linguistica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Том 21, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1971, page 37.
  2. ^ From Daēnā to Dîn: Religion, Kultur und Sprache in der iranischen Welt ; Festschrift für Philip Kreyenbroek zum 60. Geburtstag, Christine Allison, Anke Joisten-Pruschke, Antje Wendtland, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009, page 5.
  3. ^ Francis Dvornik, "Deux inscriptions gréco-bulgares de Philippes", Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 1928 Vol. 52 no. 52, pp. 125-147 [1], accessed Oct. 10, 2011
  4. ^ András Róna-Tas, Hungarians and Europe in the early Middle Ages (Central European University Press, 1999; ISBN 9639116483), pp. 131-132
  5. ^ Hungarians and Europe in the early Middle Ages: an introduction to early Hungarian history, András Róna-Tas, Central European University Press, 1999, page 132.
  6. ^ Linguistica, Том 27, Raziskovalna skupnost Slovenije, 1987, page 121.
  7. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.
  8. ^ Die Inschriften des Schatzes von Nagy-Szentmiklós, Robert Göbl, András Róna-Tas, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1995, page 19.
  9. ^ Die Inschriften des Schatzes von Nagy-Szentmiklós, Robert Göbl, András Róna-Tas, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1995, page 19.
  10. ^ Geschichte des Osmanischen reiches, Joseph Hammer-Purgstall (Freiherr von), C. A. Hartleben, 1828, page 726.
  11. ^ Mélanges russes tirés du Bulletin de l'Académie impériale des sciences de St. Pétersbourg, Том 2, Imperatorskai︠a︡ akademīi︠a︡ nauk (Russia), Académie, 1855, page 277.
  12. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.
  13. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.
  14. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.
  15. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.
  16. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.
  17. ^ Milan Tutorov, Banatska rapsodija - istorika Zrenjanina i Banata, Aurora, Novi Sad, 2001, pages 164-165.

Further reading

External links

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