Kingdom of Balhara

For other uses, see Balhara.
Balhara according to Acad. Suren T. Eremian's reconstruction of the original map of Central Asia from the Armenian geographical atlas 'Ashharatsuyts'

Kingdom of Balhara is a fringe theory of some Bulgarian scientists (for example: Georgi Bakalov, Petar Dobrev, Ian Mladjov) to have been the earliest known state [1][2][3][4][5][6] of the ancient Bulgars, situated in the upper course of Oxus River (present Amu Darya), and the foothills and valleys of Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains (ancient Mount Imeon).[7] One historian - Dr Peter Dobrev (senior research fellow), places the date of the kingdom around the 12th century BC,[8] while others (from Ashharatsuyts) place the date 7/6th century BC.

Origins of the name

In Sanskrit, "Bal" means "strength" and "hara" means "the possessor", thus, "Balhara" means "the possessor of strength" (and so, in that regard also the name of Bulgar could mean "possessor of strength"); another theory is that "Balh" refers to the city of Balkh (Balhara's capital) and that "ar" means "man of", so Bal-hara could mean "man of Balh/Balkh"; consequently "Balh-ar/Bulg-ar" could then mean "man of stength". The name "Balkan" (mountains) could also come from this connection, instead of the Turkish word for mountain (this is an alternative theory).

History

According to Bulgarian historian Georgi Bakalov, Bulhi was probably the Armenian name of the ancient Bulgars. Historiographers in late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages such as Agathias of Myrina, Theophylact Simocatta, and Michael the Syrian also identify Mount Imeon as an early homeland of the ancient Bulgars.. A medieval Armenian source that testifies to this is the "Ashharatsuyts" by Anania Shirakatsi. It was apparently said that the Kingdom was very prosperous and wealthy, trading with other kingdoms and empires (China, Persia, Massegetes), but was conquered and destroyed by a number uncertain forces over the years - probably ancient China, Alexander the Great and various Iranian and Turkic tribes in the vicinity. After the conquest/destruction of the Kingdom of Balhara, the Bulgars (sometime in the 2nd/3rd century AD) migrated west and in the process somehow co-opted into the Hunnic confederacy.[1] Some of them migrated to Europe already BC.

Bakalov cites Byzantine historian Zacharias Rhetor as saying that the Burgars (presumably also identical to the Bulgars), had towns in the valleys of Northern Caucasus. They had also the territory along the north coast of Black Sea east of Axiacus River (Southern Bug) (Latin: Bulensii). He concludes that they had migrated to that region from Balhara. In Bakalov's view, the Bulgars established their first state there in 165 AD, a date he arrives at by summing the years of life or reign of all rulers listed in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans. The Nominalia claims that the first two rulers lived for 300 and 150 years respectively, which has led earlier historians to ignore these figures. Bakalov, however, is of the opinion that their legendary names should be interpreted as referring to entire dynasties, but the dates themselves are accurate. The Kingdom of Old Great Bulgaria is known to have been established in that area in 632 AD. Among the successors of the latter are the Old Great Bulgaria and Volga Bulgaria, and present Tatarstan, and Chuvashia.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mladjov/files/bulgarian_rulers.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3236.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=117006
  4. ↑ . http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/connections/Vedic-Bulgaria.php
  5. ↑ http://thearchaeologicalbox.com/en/news/dna-analysis-reveals-pamir-origin-bulgarians
  6. ↑ ". Brockhaus Conversations-Lexikon Bd. 7. Amsterdam 1809, S. 161-162.
  7. ↑ "". Pierer's Universal-Lexikon, Band 2. Altenburg 1857, S. 230.
  8. ↑ Peter Dobrev, Tangra TanNakRa All Bulgarian Foundation and the Centre For Research On The Bulgarians


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.