Saragurs

Rouran epoch Göktürk epoch Uyghur epoch Kirghiz epoch

Rouran First Göktürk Tang rule Second Göktürk Uyghur Kirghiz Huns Western Göktürk Türgesh Karluk Khazar

Rouran 400–554
First Göktürk 552–630
Tang rule 630–682
Second Göktürk 682–744
Uyghur 744–840
Kirghiz 840–924
Huns 370–469
Western Göktürk 552–659
Türgesh 699–766
Karluk 766–800
Khazar 650–969

The Saragurs were an Oguric people who appeared on the steppe north of the Black Sea about 463. Priscus tells that the Saragurs, the Urogi and the Onogurs sent envoys to Constantinople. The Sabirs had driven them from their lands. The Avars had driven out the Sabirs. The Avars in turn had been expelled by peoples living on the shore of the Ocean, fleeing from sea mists and a multitude of griffins. The Saragurs, looking for new homes, came to the Akatziri. They defeated them in many battles and asked the Romans for an alliance. The emperor received their envoys kindly and sent them home with gifts.^[1] The griffins are a mythical detail taken from Herodotus. The peoples are historical.^[2] Some scholars conjecture that the Saragurs, the Ogurs and the Onogurs were part of the western Tiele.^[2] Others look for the start of the whole movement north or north-east of the Altai, or perhaps no farther away than the Aral Sea.^[3]

In the Latin of the edition, the Saragurs then led an army against Persia together with the Akatziri and other peoples. They found a Persian garrison at the Caspian Gates and turned aside. They ravaged the land of the Iberians and raided the towns of the Armenians.^[4] Modern accounts read the name as Oguric, with sara meaning white. The Saragurs may have attacked Persian Transcaucasia at the prompting of Constantinople. Beyond these notices nothing is known of them, and they were probably absorbed into stronger tribal unions.^[5] The internal troubles that kept Attila’s son Ernak from war about 466 were presumably with the Saragurs.^[6]

Map of the chain of expulsions around 463: the Abares pressing the Sabirs, the Sabirs pressing the Saragurs, Ogurs and Onogurs west, the defeat of the Akatziri, the embassy of the Saragurs to Constantinople and their later raid through the Caucasus, with an inset of the Rouran — c. 463: The Abares drive out the Sabirs, and the Sabirs drive the Saragurs, Ogurs and Onogurs west. The Saragurs defeat the Akatziri and send an embassy to Constantinople. Later they raid through the Caucasus. Modern map. The arrows are a reconstruction.

References

^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 30, p. 104–105
^ a b Golden 1992, p. 92–93
^ Thompson 1948, p. 159–160
^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 37, p. 107
^ Golden 1992, p. 97
^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 166

Sources

Priscus

Literature

Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (1973)
E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)