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102-582: The area took its name from the city square or dēmos (δῆμος) of the Kerameis (Κεραμεῖς, potters), which in turn derived its name from the word κέραμος ( kéramos , "pottery clay", from which the English word " ceramic " is derived). The "Inner Kerameikos" was the former "potters' quarter" within the city and "Outer Kerameikos" covers the cemetery and also the Dēmósion Sēma (δημόσιον σῆμα, public graveyard) just outside

204-433: A Para-Mongolic language (Serbi-Avar), which is a sister lineage to contemporary Mongolic languages . In 2003, Walter Pohl summarized the formation of nomadic empires : 1. Many steppe empires were founded by groups who had been defeated in previous power struggles but had fled from the dominion of the stronger group. The Avars were likely a losing faction previously subordinate to the (legitimate) Ashina clan in

306-399: A deme or demos ( Ancient Greek : δῆμος , plural: demoi , δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. In those reforms, enrollment in the citizen-lists of a deme became

408-406: A pelike , and numerous lekythoi . All of these pieces are common in quality and use. The excavator, Baziatopoulou, further remarks that the offerings are surprisingly few considering the number of dead buried within the pit. She then notes that this is especially true when taking into account the probable loss of one or more upper levels from prior intrusions into the burial, which would have brought

510-563: A single linear fashion due to their great and constant mobility", with no ethnogenetic "point zero", theoretical "proto-people" or proto-language. Moreover, Avar identity was strongly linked to Avar political institutions. Groups who rebelled or fled from the Avar realm could never be called "Avars", but were rather termed " Bulgars ". Similarly, with the final demise of Avar power in the early 9th century, Avar identity disappeared almost instantaneously. Savelyev and Jeong (2020) in " Early nomads of

612-861: A link between the Avars of European history with the Rouran Khaganate of Inner Asia based on a coincidence between Tardan Khan's letter to Constantinople and events recorded in Chinese sources, notably the Wei Shu and Bei Shi . Chinese sources state that Bumin Qaghan , founder of the First Turkic Khaganate , defeated the Rouran, some of whom fled and joined the Western Wei . Later, Bumin's successor Muqan Qaghan defeated

714-492: A new group of steppe riders was often taken from a repertoire of prestigious names which did not necessarily denote any direct affiliation to or descent from groups of the same name; in the Early Middle Ages , Huns , Avars, Bulgars , and Ogurs, or names connected with -(o)gur ( Kutrigurs , Utigurs , Onogurs , etc.), were most important. In the process of name-giving, both perceptions by outsiders and self-designation played

816-637: A noted "Asian" tactic, which may depict the Avars. According to mid-20th century physical anthropologists such as Pál Lipták , human remains from the early Avar (7th century) period had mostly " Europoid " features, while grave goods indicated cultural links to the Eurasian Steppe . Cemeteries dated to the late Avar period (8th century) included many human remains with physical features typical of East Asian people or Eurasians (i.e., people with both East Asian and European ancestry). Remains with East Asian or Eurasian features were found in about one third of

918-571: A role. These names were also connected with prestigious traditions that directly expressed political pretensions and programmes, and had to be endorsed by success. In the world of the steppe, where agglomerations of groups were rather fluid, it was vital to know how to deal with a newly-emergent power. The symbolical hierarchy of prestige expressed through names provided some orientation for friend and foe alike. Such views are mirrored by Csanád Bálint  [ hu ] . "The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in

1020-536: A single general reapportionment of quotas within each of the first three periods, while there are evident small quota-variations between the first and the second periods. More precisely in: As regards the last two periods, the material illustrates the complete collapse of the quota-system from 201/200 BC. Some deme lists suggest extensions to the list of 139+3 Demes by adding 43 additional names, some of which have been considered by scholars as Attic demes. The criticism performed by John S. Traill shows that 24 are

1122-460: Is by a misnomer that the barbarians on the Ister have assumed the appellation of Avars; the origin of their race will shortly be revealed. So, when the Avars had been defeated (for we are returning to the account) some of them made their escape to those who inhabit Taugast . Taugast is a famous city, which is a total of one thousand five hundred miles distant from those who are called Turks, ... Others of

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1224-513: Is more correct to refer to them thus) are divided in their ancestry, some bearing the time-honoured name of Var while others are called Chunni. According to the interpretation of Dobrovits and Nechaeva, the Turks insisted that the Avars were only "pseudo-Avars", so as to boast that they were the only formidable power in the Eurasian steppe. The Göktürks claimed that the "real Avars" remained loyal subjects of

1326-596: Is unknown but stated that it is likely that the Avars were originally mainly composed of Turkic (Oghuric) tribes. Increasing evidence supports a relationship between the elite of the Pannonian Avars and the Inner Asian Rouran Khaganate ; however it remains unclear to what extent the European Avars descent from the Rouran population. It is argued that the initial elite core of the Pannonian Avars spoke

1428-553: The American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2018 examined 62 individuals buried in the 8th and 9th centuries at an Avar-Slavic burial in Cífer‐Pác, Slovakia . Of the 46 samples of mtDNA extracted, 93% belonged to west Eurasian lineages, while 6% belonged to east Eurasian lineages. The amount of east Eurasian lineages was higher than among modern European populations, but lower than what has been found in other genetic studies on

1530-557: The Miracles of Saint Demetrius , a certain Avar Chagan seized his opportunity to coalesce in the regions further north in response to the secession of the Diocese of Sirmium in the 670s by a " Kuber " Chagan. About this time, Mark of Kalt records that in 677, the principality of Ungvar (Ung fortress) was established in the regions further north where Kotrag 's group also fled following

1632-510: The Abdali (I mean indeed, of the Hephthalites , as they are called), conquered him, and assumed the rule of the nation. Then he […] enslaved the Avar nation. But let no one think that we are distorting the history of these times because he supposes that the Avars are those barbarians neighbouring on Europe and Pannonia , and that their arrival was prior to the times of the emperor Maurice . For it

1734-889: The Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) paternal and maternal origin for the Avar elite, with N1a-F4205 being their predominant and characteristic paternal lineage, alongside incorporated Q1a2a1 and R1a-Z94 Hunnic-Iranian remnants, and the rest belonging to local haplogroups found among surrounding populations. Autosomally, the Elite Avar samples " preserved very ancient Mongolian pre-Bronze Age genomes, with ca 90% [Ancient North-East Asian] ancestry ", shared deep ancestry with European Huns, but although since Early Avar period started mixing with local and immigrant Hunnic-Iranian related populations, " people with different genetic ancestries were seemingly distinguished, as samples with Hun-related genomes were buried in separate cemeteries ". The majority of

1836-620: The Avar–Byzantine wars from 568 to 626 and influence on the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe . Recent archaeogenetic studies indicate that the Pannonian Avars were of primarily Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry similar to those of modern-day people from Mongolia and the Amur River region in Manchuria , pointing to an initial rapid migration of nomadic tribes into the centre of Europe from

1938-537: The First Bulgarian Empire , stabilized by the victory at the battle of Ongal south of the eastern Carpathians. The Bulgarians turned on Byzantium who had established an alliance with Ziebel's Khazars. Although the Avar empire had diminished to half its original size, the Avar-Slav alliance consolidated their rule west from the central parts of the mid-Danubian basin and extended their sphere of influence west to

2040-794: The Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai ( Greek : Βαρχονῖται , romanized :  Varchonitai ), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine sources, and the Apar ( Old Turkic : 𐰯𐰺 ) to the Göktürks . They established the Avar Khaganate , which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late 6th to the early 9th century. The name Pannonian Avars (after

2142-513: The Plague of Athens , which was prevalent from 430 to 428 BC, followed by a recurrence from 427 to 426 BC. Pottery found within the grave was used to date the burial to between 430 and 426 BC based on the styles common during that time. The burial is considered to be related to the Athenian plague not only because of the dating of the burial, but also because of the nature of the burial. The chaos caused by

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2244-596: The Sassanid force in the failed siege of 626 . Following this defeat, the political and military power of the Avars declined. Byzantine and Frankish sources documented a war between the Avars and their western Slav clients, the Wends . Each year, the Huns [Avars] came to the Slavs, to spend the winter with them; then they took the wives and daughters of the Slavs and slept with them, and among

2346-570: The Vienna Basin . The new ethnic element marked by hair clips for pigtails; curved, single-edged sabres; and broad, symmetrical bows marks the middle Avar-Bulgar period (670–720). New regional centers, such as those near Ozora and Igar appeared. This strengthened the Avars' power base, although most of the Balkans lay in the hands of Slavic tribes since neither the Avars nor Byzantines were able to reassert control. There are very few sources that cover

2448-542: The Western Turkic Khaganate , and they fled west of the Dnieper . 2. These groups usually were of mixed origin, and each of its components was part of a previous group. 3. Crucial in the process was the elevation of a khagan, which signified a claim to independent power and an expansionist strategy. This group also needed a new name that would give all of its initial followers a sense of identity. 4. The name for

2550-709: The "Tungid type" (common among Tungusic speaking peoples). A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in September 2016 examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 31 people buried in the Carpathian Basin between the 7th and 9th centuries. They were found to be mostly carrying European haplogroups such as H , K , T and U , while about 15% carried Asian haplogroups such as C , M6 , D4c1 and F1a . Their mtDNA were found to be primarily characteristic of Eastern and Southern Europe. A genetic study published in

2652-474: The Avar Khaganate general population consisted of local European peoples (EU_core) but did not display Northeast Asian admixture, supporting a model of elite dominance of arriving horse nomads over a large sedentary population, with at least some subsequent admixture events. Genetic data on later Avar elite samples showed continuity with earlier Avars and the long-term presence of Northeast Asian ancestry among

2754-882: The Avar elite were largely patrilineal and endogamous for a period of around one century, and entered the Pannonian Basin through migrations from East Asia involving both men and women. Another 2020 study, but of Xiongnu remains in East Asia, found that the Xiongnu shared certain paternal (N1a, Q1a, R1a-Z94 and R1a-Z2124) and maternal haplotypes with the Huns and Avars, and suggested on this basis that they were descended from Xiongnu, who they in turn suggested were descended from Scytho-Siberians . A genetic study published in scientific journal Cell in April 2022 analyzed 48 Pannonian Avar samples from

2856-477: The Avar elite, suggesting a possible endogamous social system. There was however an increase of Northeast Asian and Saka associated ancestry among the total population, suggesting either further migration from the Eurasian Steppe and admixture between local and Avar groups, or substructure among the overall population not observed before. In 557, the Avars sent an embassy to Constantinople , presumably from

2958-498: The Avar graves from the 8th century. According to Lipták, 79% of the population of the Danube-Tisza region during the Avar period showed Europoid characteristics. However, Lipták used racial terms later deprecated or regarded as obsolete, such as " Mongoloid " for northeast Asian and " Turanid " for individuals of mixed ancestry. Several theories suggest that the ruling class of the Avars were of Northern East Asian origin resembling

3060-402: The Avars "Varchonites" and "escaped slaves of the Turks", who numbered "about 20 thousand" ( Menander Fr 43 ). Many more, but somewhat confusing, details come from Theophylact Simocatta , who in c. 629, describes the final two decades of the 6th century. In particular, he claims to quote a triumph letter from Turxanthos: For this very Chagan had in fact outfought the leader of the nation of

3162-519: The Avars are of Turkic origin, likely from the Oghur branch. Another theory suggests that some of the Avars were of Tungusic origin. A study by Emil Heršak and Ana Silić (2002) suggests that the Avars were of heterogeneous origin, including mostly Turkic (Oghuric) and Mongolic groups. Later in Europe some Germanic and Slavic groups were assimilated into the Avars. Heršak and Silić concluded that their exact origin

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3264-577: The Avars controlled the lower Danube basin and the steppes north of the Black Sea. By the time they arrived in the Balkans , the Avars formed a heterogeneous group of about 20,000 horsemen. After the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I bought them off, they pushed northwestwards into Germania . However, Frankish opposition halted the Avars' expansion in that direction. Seeking rich pastoral lands,

3366-614: The Avars during a time of strained political relations between the Byzantines and Avars (coinciding with Emperor Maurice's northern Balkan campaigns). Paul the Deacon in his History of the Lombards insisted that Avars were known previously as Huns and he conflated the two groups. According to some scholars, the Pannonian Avars originated from a confederation formed in the Aral Sea region, by

3468-419: The Avars enjoyed a free hand in the undefended Balkans. While negotiating with Emperor Heraclius beneath the walls of Constantinople in 617, the Avars launched a surprise attack. While they were unable to capture the city centre, they pillaged the suburbs and took 270,000 captives. Payments in gold and goods to the Avars reached a sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626. In 626, the Avars cooperated with

3570-455: The Avars had been driven off by people fleeing "man-eating griffins " coming from "the ocean" ( Priscus Fr 40 ). Whilst Priscus' accounts provide some information about the ethno-political situation in the Don - Kuban - Volga region after the demise of the Huns , no unequivocal conclusions can be reached. Denis Sinor has argued that whoever the "Avars" referred to by Priscus were, they differed from

3672-600: The Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube in present-day Bulgaria , but the Byzantines refused, using their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. The Avars turned their attention to the Carpathian Basin and to the natural defenses it afforded. The Carpathian Basin was occupied by the Gepids . In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the Lombards —enemies of

3774-532: The Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum (Belgrade) and Viminacium . They suffered setbacks, however, during Maurice's Balkan campaigns in the 590s. By 600 the Avars had established a nomadic empire ruling over a multitude of peoples and stretching from modern Austria in the west to the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the east. After being defeated at the Battles of Viminacium in their homeland, some Avars defected to

3876-419: The Avars who appear a century later, during the time of Justinian (r. 527–565). The next author to discuss the Avars, Menander Protector , appeared during the 6th century and wrote of Göktürk embassies to Constantinople in 565 and 568. The Turks appeared angry at the Byzantines for having made an alliance with the Avars, whom the Turks saw as their subjects and slaves. Turxanthos , a Turk prince, calls

3978-502: The Avars, who declined to humbler fortune because of their defeat, came to those who are called Moukri ( Goguryeo ); this nation is the closest neighbour to the men of Taugast; Then the Chagan embarked on yet another enterprise, and subdued all the Ogur, which is one of the strongest tribes on account of its large population and its armed training for war. These make their habitations in the east, by

4080-542: The Avars. The mtDNA of the examined individuals was found to be quite similar to medieval and modern Slavs , and it was suggested that the mixed population examined had emerged through intermarriage between Avar males and Slavic females. A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in November 2019 examined the remains of fourteen Avar males. Eleven of them were dated to the early Avar period, and three were dated to

4182-565: The Byzantine terrestrial link with northern Italy and western Europe. In the 580s and 590s, many of the imperial armies were busy fighting the Persians, and the remaining troops in the Balkans were no match for the Avars. By 582, the Avars had captured Sirmium , an important fort in Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount as requested by Bayan's son and successor Bayan II ,

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4284-469: The Byzantines in 602, but Emperor Maurice decided not to return home as was customary. He maintained his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter, but the hardship caused the army to revolt, giving the Avars a desperately needed respite and they attempted an invasion of northern Italy in 610. The Byzantine civil war prompted a Persian invasion in the Byzantine–Sasanian War , and after 615

4386-516: The Carpathian Basin became more stable in the Late Avar period. The most popular Late Avar motifs— griffins and tendrils decorating belts, mounts and a number of other artifacts connected to warriors—may either represent nostalgia for the lost nomadic past or evidence a new wave of nomads arriving from the Pontic steppes at the end of the 7th century. According to historians who accept the latter theory,

4488-640: The Caucasus, the Southern Russian steppes and the local Central European cultures can be traced alongside each other". Subsequent analyses from 2022 on Avar remains however confirmed their Ancient Northeast Asian origin, and support a possible ethnogenesis of the Avar Elite from the former Rouran Khaganate . In the Stuttgart Psalter there is an image of mounted archers riding backwards on their horses,

4590-556: The Dipylon courtyard; excavators have found heaps of bones in front of the city wall. The Pompeion and many other buildings in the vicinity of the Sacred Gate were razed to the ground by the marauding army of the Roman dictator Sulla , during his sacking of Athens in 86 BC ; an episode that Plutarch described as a bloodbath. During the 2nd century AD, a storehouse was constructed on the site of

4692-575: The Eastern Eurasian Steppe. The Pannonian Avars' core may have been descended from the remnants of the Rouran Khaganate , which were accompanied by other Steppe groups. The earliest clear reference to the Avar ethnonym comes from Priscus the Rhetor (420s–after 472), who recounts that in c. 463 the Šaragurs and Onogurs were attacked by the Sabirs , who had been attacked by the Avars. In turn,

4794-604: The Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West " concluded that the initial Pannonian Avars formed in Central Asia from various ethno-linguistic groups, including Iranian peoples , Ugrians , Oghur-Turks , and Rouran tribes. They further note that "the broadly East Asian component in the archaeological record of the European Avars is limited even in the earlier period of their history; elements originating from West Asia,

4896-442: 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 persuaded the Avars to attack the Sclavenes in Scythia Minor , a land rich with goods. After devastating much of

4998-407: The Hephthalites as well as the Turkic Tiele . Superficially these victories over the Tiele, Rouran and Hephthalites echo a narrative in the Theophylact , boasting of Tardan's victories over the Hephthalites, Avars and Oghurs. However, the two series of events are not synonymous: the events of the latter took place during Tardan's rule, c. 580–599, whilst Chinese sources referring to the Turk defeat of

5100-421: The Panathenaic Way towards the Acropolis. The bulk of the area lies about 7–10 meters below modern street level, having in the past been inundated by centuries' worth of sediment accumulation from the floods of the Eridanos. As of spring 2007, Kerameikos is the name given to the metro station which belongs to Line 3 of the Athens Metro, adjacent to the Technopolis of Gazi . Deme In Ancient Greece ,

5202-452: The Plague of Athens, as described by Thucydides , matches with the disordered nature of the pit. The pit is further thought to be a state burial, conducted for victims whose families could not afford proper burials. Bodies were found in five successive layers within the pit, with more care shown on the bottom levels and increasingly little care shown as the burial continued upwards. Bodies were thrown in haphazardly, their positions dictated by

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5304-411: The Pompeion, but it was destroyed during the invasion of the Heruli in 267 AD. The ruins became the site of potters' workshops until about 500 AD, when two parallel colonnades were built behind the city gates, overrunning the old city walls. A new Festival Gate was constructed to the east with three entrances leading into the city. This was in turn destroyed in raids by the invading Avars and Slavs at

5406-434: The Rouran and other Central Asian peoples occurred 50 years earlier, at the founding of the First Turkic Khaganate. It is for this reason that the linguist János Harmatta rejected the identification of the Avars with the Rouran on this basis. According to Edwin G. Pulleyblank , the name Avar is the same as the prestigious name Wuhuan in the Chinese sources. Several historians, including Peter Benjamin Golden, suggest that

5508-543: The Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia after many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine emperor. By about 580, the Avar Khagan Bayan I had established supremacy over most of the Slavic , Germanic and Bulgar tribes living in Pannonia and the Carpathian Basin. When the Byzantine Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided their Balkan territories. According to Menander, Bayan I commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked Dalmatia in 568, effectively cutting

5610-400: The Turks, farther east. A political name * (A)Par 𐰯𐰻 was indeed mentioned in inscriptions honoring Kul Tigin and Bilge Qaghan , yet in Armenian sources ( Egishe Vardapet , Ghazar Parpetsi , and Sebeos ) Apar seemingly indicated "a geographical area ( Khorasan ), which might also intimate a political formation once there"; additionally, "'Apar-shar', that is, the country of the Apar "

5712-496: The Uar (also known as the Ouar , Warr or Var ) and the Xionites . The Xionites had likely been speakers of Iranian and/or Turkic languages. The Hephthalites, affiliated previously to the Uar and Xionites, had remained in Central and northern South Asia . The Pannonian Avars were also known by names including Uarkhon or Varchonites  – which may have been a portmanteau combining Var and Chunni . The 18th-century historian Joseph de Guignes postulates

5814-441: The Wends. At about the time of Samo's realm, Bulgar leader Kubrat of the Dulo clan led a successful uprising to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing Old Great Bulgaria , or Patria Onoguria, "the homeland of Onogurs". The civil war, possibly a succession struggle in Onoguria between the Kutrigurs under Alciocus on one side and Utigur forces on the other, raged from 631 to 632. After Alciocus fled to Bavaria,

5916-435: The appellation of Chagan. Let us declare, without departing in the least from the truth, how the means of changing their name came to them. […] When the Barsils , Onogurs , Sabirs , and other Hun nations in addition to these, saw that a section of those who were still Var and Chunni had fled to their regions, they plunged into extreme panic, since they suspected that the settlers were Avars. For this reason they honoured

6018-470: The area in which they settled) is used to distinguish them from the Avars of the Caucasus , a separate people with whom the Pannonian Avars may or may not have had links. Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-5th century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th century, on the Pontic–Caspian steppe as a people who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks. They are probably best known for their invasions and destruction in

6120-422: The chaos, and a third group of Onogur-Bulgarians led by Batayan was subdued by Ziebel 's emerging Khazar Empire according to Nikephoros I of Constantinople . Under Mauros , a fourth group of folk eventually settled in the present-day region of North Macedonia . The fifth group from Onogur, Bulgaria , led by Khan Asparukh —the father of Khan Tervel —settled permanently along the Danube (c. 679–681), establishing

6222-409: The city wall and two large city gates facing north-west were erected in the Kerameikos. The Sacred Way ran through the Sacred Gate , on the southern side, to Eleusis. On the northern side a wide road, the Dromos, ran through the double-arched Dipylon Gate (also known as the Thriasian Gate) and on to the Platonic Academy a few miles away. State graves were built on either side of the Dipylon Gate, for

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6324-432: The city walls, where Pericles delivered his funeral oration in 431 BC. The cemetery was also where the Ηiera Hodos (the Sacred Way , i.e. the road to Eleusis ) began, along which the procession moved for the Eleusinian Mysteries . The quarter was located there because of the abundance of clay mud carried over by the Eridanos River. The area has undergone a number of archaeological excavations in recent years, though

6426-466: The course of the Til, which Turks are accustomed to call Melas. The earliest leaders of this nation were named Var and Chunni ; from them some parts of those nations were also accorded their nomenclature, being called Var and Chunni. Then, while the emperor Justinian was in possession of the royal power, a small section of these Var and Chunni fled from that ancestral tribe and settled in Europe. These named themselves Avars and glorified their leader with

6528-421: The death of Samo in 658 and Kubrat in 665, some Slavic tribes again came under Avar rule. Despite their father's advice, Kubrat's sons failed to maintain cohesion in Old Great Bulgaria which began to disintegrate. A few years later in the time of Batbayan , Old Great Bulgaria dissolved into five branches. From western Onoguria the first group of folk moved to Ravenna under Alzeco in the 650s. According to Book II of

6630-418: The early, middle and late period, and found nearly all of them to have a high level of Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) ancestry. The paternal lineage N1a1a1a1a3a-F4205 was most common (today highest percent of haplogroup N-F4205 was found in Dukha people of Mongolia with 52.2% ), with Q1a, Q1b, R1a, R1b and E1b subclades present in smaller numbers. The samples had a strong affinity with modern peoples inhabiting

6732-411: The end of the 6th century, and the Kerameikos fell into obscurity. It was not rediscovered until a Greek worker dug up a stele in April 1863. Archaeological excavations in the Kerameikos began in 1870 under the auspices of the Greek Archaeological Society . They have continued from 1913 to the present day under the German Archaeological Institute at Athens . Latest findings in the Kerameikos include

6834-413: The end of the 7th century in the region between the Middle Danube and the Carpathians. These vessels were similar to the hand-made pottery of the previous period, but wheel-made items were also found in Devínska Nová Ves sites. Large inhumation cemeteries found at Holiare , Nové Zámky and other places in Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia from the period beginning around 690 show that the settlement network of

6936-405: The excavated area covers only a small portion of the ancient dēmos . It was originally an area of marshland along the banks of the Eridanos river which was used as a cemetery as long ago as the 3rd millennium BC. It became the site of an organised cemetery from about 1200 BC; numerous cist graves and burial offerings from the period have been discovered by archaeologists. Houses were constructed on

7038-400: The excavation of a 2.1 m tall Kouros , unearthed by the German Archaeological Institute at Athens under the direction of Professor Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier. This Kouros is the larger twin of the one now kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York , and both were made by the same anonymous sculptor called the Dipylon Master . During the construction of Kerameikos metro station for

7140-479: The expanded Athens Metro , a plague pit and approximately 1,000 tombs from the 4th and 5th centuries BC were discovered. In 1992, Greek archaeologist Efi Baziatopoulou-Valavani excavated these sites. The plague pit is located in the northwestern corner of the cemetery and is 6.5 meters long and 1.6 meters deep, containing 89 individuals' remains. The remains found belonged to adult males and females, as well as eight children. Many consider this pit to contain victims from

7242-549: The fabric of modern-day Athens. Expropriation of these areas has been delayed until funding is secured. The area is enclosed and visitable through an entrance on the last block of Ermou Street, close to the intersection with Peiraios Street. The Kerameikos Museum is housed there, in a small neoclassical building that houses the most extensive collection of burial-related artifacts in Greece, varying from large-scale marble sculpture to funerary urns, stelae , jewelry, toys etc. The original burial monument sculptures are displayed within

7344-555: The fugitives with splendid gifts and supposed that they received from them security in exchange. Then, after the Var and Chunni saw the well-omened beginning to their flight, they appropriated the ambassadors' error and named themselves Avars: for among the Scythian nations that of the Avars is said to be the most adept tribe. In point of fact even up to our present times the Pseudo-Avars (for it

7446-521: The fundamental units of the state weakened the gene , or aristocratic family groups, that had dominated the phratries. A deme functioned to some degree as a polis in miniature, and indeed some demes, such as Eleusis and Acharnae , were in fact significant towns. Each deme had a demarchos who supervised its affairs; various other civil, religious, and military functionaries existed in various demes. Demes held their own religious festivals and collected and spent revenue. Demes were combined within

7548-630: The higher drier ground to the south. During the Archaic period increasingly large and complex grave mounds and monuments were built along the south bank of the Eridanos, lining the Sacred Way. The building of the new city wall in 478 BC, following the Persian sack of Athens in 480 BC, fundamentally changed the appearance of the area. At the suggestion of Themistocles , all of the funerary sculptures were built into

7650-506: The interment of prominent personages such as notable warriors and statesmen, including Pericles and Cleisthenes . After the construction of the city wall, the Sacred Way and a forking street known as the Street of the Tombs again became lined with imposing sepulchral monuments belonging to the families of rich Athenians, dating to before the late 4th century BC. The construction of such lavish mausolea

7752-484: The last century of Avar history. They only talk about the relations between the Avars and Lombards but little about the internals of the khaganate, so information about the Carpathian Basin is mostly from archaeology. Even here, elites are almost invisible, and there is little evidence of nomadic behavior. This transformation is little understood, but may have something to do with population growth. A new type of ceramics—the so-called " Devínska Nová Ves " pottery—emerged at

7854-592: The majority of them were found to be primarily of East Asian origin. A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in January 2020 examined the remains of 26 individuals buried at various elite Avar cemeteries in the Pannonian Basin dated to the 7th century. The mtDNA of these Avars belonged mostly to East Asian haplogroups, while the Y-DNA was exclusively of East Asian origin and "strikingly homogenous", belonging to haplogroups N-M231 and Q-M242 . The evidence suggests that

7956-540: The middle and late Avar period. The eleven early Avar males were found to be carrying the paternal haplogroups N1a1a1a1a3 (four samples), N1a1a (two samples), R1a1a1b2a (two samples), C2 , G2a , and I1 . The three males dated to the middle and late Avar period carried the paternal haplogroups C2, N1a1a1a1a3 and E1b1b1a1b1a . In short, most carried "East Eurasian Y haplogroups typical for modern north-eastern Siberian and Buryat populations". The Avars studied were all determined to have had dark eyes and dark hair, and

8058-656: The museum, having been replaced by plaster replicas in situ . The museum incorporates inner and outer courtyards, where the larger sculptures are kept. Down the hill from the museum, visitors can wander among the Outer Kerameikos ruins, the Demosion Sema, the banks of the Eridanos where some water still flows, the remains of the Pompeion and the Dipylon Gate, and walk the first blocks of the Sacred Way towards Eleusis and of

8160-590: The northern Caucasus . This marked their first contact with the Byzantine Empire . In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly gentes " on behalf of the Byzantines: subsequently they conquered and incorporated various nomadic tribes— Kutrigurs and Sabirs —and defeated the Antes . Pohl 1998 , p. 18: [...] the first thing the Avars did when they came near the Caucasus on their flight from Central Asia

8262-472: The only ceramics found in the pit that are outside of the lower levels, and this caused Biazatopoulou to comment that the children “seem to have been treated with special care.” Notably, one of the children’s faces was reconstructed by professor Manolis Papagrigorakis and the child is now known as Myrtis . The skeletal remains found within the pit were submitted to Greek orthodontics professor Manolis Papagrigorakis for examination. Upon analyzing dental pulp from

8364-465: The other mistreatments [already mentioned] the Slavs were also forced to pay levies to the Huns. But the sons of the Huns, who were [then] raised with the wives and daughters of these Wends could not finally endure this oppression anymore and refused obedience to the Huns and began, as already mentioned, a rebellion. When now the Wendish army went against the Huns, the [aforementioned] merchant Samo accompanied

8466-617: The power of the Avars' Kutrigur forces was shattered, and Kubrat established peace between the Avars and Byzantium in 632. According to Constantine VII 's 10th century work De Administrando Imperio , a group of Croats who had separated from the White Croats in White Croatia had also fought against the Avars, after which they organized the Duchy of Croatia . The Unknown Archon 's people from Samo's realm were also resettled at this time. With

8568-528: The procession ( pompē , πομπή) in honour of Athena during the Panathenaic Festival . It consisted of a large courtyard surrounded by columns and banquet rooms, where the nobility of Athens would eat the sacrificial meat for the festival. According to ancient Greek sources, a hecatomb (a sacrifice of 100 cows) was carried out for the festival and the people received the meat in the Kerameikos, possibly in

8670-569: The region from Mongolia to the Amur , with a historical Rouran Khaganate sample, and with samples from Xiongnu-Xianbei periods in the eastern Asian steppe. The Avar individuals showed their highest genetic affinity with present-day Mongolic and Tungusic peoples, as well as Nivkhs . A genetic study published in scientific journal Current Biology in May 2022 examined 143 Avar samples from various periods, including Avar elites and local commoners. It confirmed

8772-520: The remains, he concluded that three subjects contained the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar typhi, which results in typhoid fever . The pathogen responsible for the Athenian plague is much disputed, and this DNA evidence has caused scholars to view typhoid fever as a likely culprit. These are the only remains in connection with the Athenian plague to be analyzed. Large areas adjacent to those already excavated remain in to be explored, as they lie under

8874-479: The requirement for citizenship; prior to that time, citizenship had been based on membership in a phratry , or family group. At this same time, demes were established in the main city of Athens itself, where they had not previously existed; in all, at the end of Cleisthenes' reforms, Athens was divided into 139 demes. Three other demes were created subsequently: Berenikidai (224/223 BC), Apollonieis (201/200 BC), and Antinoeis (AD 126/127). The establishment of demes as

8976-415: The result of error, ancient or modern, or of misinterpretation and 19 are well known chiefly from inscriptions of the second and third centuries AD, i.e. in the fifth period, and thus for political purposes they were originally dependent on legitimate Cleisthenic demes. There were six pairs of homonymous demes: There were six divided demes, one composed of three parts: When the city was settled under

9078-456: The same area to make trittyes , larger population groups, which in turn were combined to form the ten tribes, or phylai of Athens. Each tribe contained one trittys from each of three regions: the city, the coast, and the inland area. Cleisthenes divided the landscape in three zones—urban ( asty ), coastal ( paralia ) and inland ( mesogeia )—and the 139 demes were organized into 30 groups called trittyes ("thirds"), ten for each of

9180-675: The same. And so Samo's bravery proved itself in wonderful ways and a huge mass of Huns fell to the sword of the Wends. In the 630s, Samo , the ruler of the first Slavic polity known as Samo's Tribal Union or Samo's realm , increased his authority over lands to the north and west of the Khaganate at the expense of the Avars, ruling until his death in 658. The Chronicle of Fredegar records that during Samo's rebellion in 631, 9,000 Bulgars led by Alciocus left Pannonia to modern-day Bavaria where Dagobert I massacred most of them. The remaining 700 joined

9282-399: The shape of the pit. There was soil placed between the bodies only on the lower levels, and most of the offerings were also found on the lower levels of the burial. The eight children’s bodies were found on the upper-most level, and were covered with large shards of pottery. Offerings for the dead consisted of roughly 30 small vases. Examples of the ceramics found within the pit include choes,

9384-481: The support of Pericles and the command of Lampon and Xenocritus the population was organized in ten tribes, following the Athenian organization: there were tribes for the population of 1. Arcadia , 2. Achaea , 3. Elis , 4. Boeotia , 5. Delphi , 6. Dorians , 7. Ionians , 8. population of Euboea , 9. the islands and 10. Athenians. The term "deme" ( dēmos ) survived into the Hellenistic and Roman eras. By

9486-547: The system was reorganized with the creation of two Macedonian Phylai (XI. Antigonis and XII. Demetrias ), named after Demetrius I of Macedon and Antigonus I Monophthalmus , and an increase in the membership of the Boule to 600. Each of the ten tribes, except Aiantis, provided three demes (not necessarily one for trittyes); the missing contribution of Aiantis was covered by two demes of Leontis and one from Aigeis. The Egyptian Phyle XIII. Ptolemais , named after Ptolemy III Euergetes

9588-635: The time of the Byzantine Empire , the term was used to refer to one of the four chariot racing factions, the Reds, the Blues, the Greens and the Whites. In modern Greece, the term dēmos is used to denote one of the municipalities . Pannonian Avars The Pannonian Avars ( / ˈ æ v ɑːr z / AV -arz ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as

9690-465: The total persons buried up to approximately 150. The offerings found were scattered on the lower levels of the pit, suggesting diminishing care as the burial continued upwards. The eight children found buried within the pit are an exception to the pattern of diminishing care as the burial progressed. Found on the upper levels, these children were not thrown in the pit haphazardly but were instead placed with care and covered with shards of pottery. These are

9792-473: The zones and into ten tribes, or phylai , each composed of three trittyes , one from the coast, one from the city, and one from the inland area. Cleisthenes also reorganized the Boule , created with 400 members under Solon , so that it had 500 members, 50 from each tribe, each deme having a fixed quota. The ten tribes were named after legendary heroes and came to have an official order: In 307/306 – 224/223 BC

9894-513: Was banned by decree in 317 BC, following which only small columns or inscribed square marble blocks were permitted as grave stones. The Roman occupation of Athens led to a resurgence of monument-building, although little is left of them today. During the Classical period an important public building, the Pompeion , stood inside the walls in the area between the two gates. This served a key function in

9996-473: Was created following the same scheme used for the creation of the Egyptian Phyle: each tribe contributed a deme and a new deme, Apollonieis, was created in honour of Apollonis, wife of Attalus I of Pergamum. As a consequence there were again 12 tribes and 600 members of the Boule. From this period onward, quotas were no longer assigned to the demes for the 50 Boule members from each tribe The last modification

10098-480: Was created in 224/223 BC and the Boule was again increased to 650 members, the twelve tribes giving each a demos. A new village was created and named Berenikidai after Ptolemy's wife Berenice II of Egypt . In 201/200 BC the Macedonian Phylae were dissolved and the villages (except the two given to Ptolemais) went back to their original tribes. In the spring of 200 BC Tribe XIV. Attalis , named after Attalus I ,

10200-574: Was named after possibly Hephthalites , who were known as 滑 MC * ɦˠuɛt̚ > Ch. Huá in Chinese sources. Even so, * Apar could not be linked to the European Avars, notwithstanding any link, if there were, between the Hephthalites and Rourans . Furthermore, Dobrovits has questioned the authenticity of Theophylact's account. As such, he has argued that Theophylact borrowed information from Menander's accounts of Byzantine–Turk negotiations to meet political needs of his time – i.e. to castigate and deride

10302-472: Was the creation in 126/127 of XV. Hadrianis , named after the Emperor Hadrian , following the same scheme: each tribe contributed a deme and a new deme, Antinoeis , was created in honour of Hadrian's favourite, Antinous . Each tribe contributed 40 members to the Boule. In the first three periods there it a more detailed system of fixed quotas which essentially remained unchanged. There is no evidence for

10404-503: Was to send an embassy to the aging emperor Justinian. That took place sometime in winter 558/59, and they struck the usual deal: the Avars were to fight for the Empire against unruly gentes and in turn would receive annual payments and other benefits. Indeed, for 20 years to come the Avars, under their Khagan Baian, fought Utigurs and Antes, Gepids and Slavs, whereas their policy towards the Empire relied more on negotiation than on war." By 562

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