Bulgars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgars

Victorious Bulgar soldiers standing before their East Roman (Byzantine) opponents, from the Menology of Basil II, 10th century.

The Bulgars (also Bolgars, Bulghars, Huno-Bulgars or Proto-Bulgarians) were originally high civilized people, probably of [[Persian]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balhara] descent, originating in Central Asia,. Now it is known that ethnonym Bulgars originates from Balh, Bulh, Balhara. A lot of arabian and indian sources describes the meaning ot Balhara in ancient times in different ways. In Sanskrit it means "The possessor of strenght". Ibn Khurdádba says that it signifies "King of Kings." According to Mas'údí it is a title borne by all the kings of the country, while Ibn Haukal states that it is a name derived from that of the country. Idrísí follows Ibn Khurdádba in giving to it the signification of "King of Kings," but, he adds, that the title was hereditary. Thus it seems clear that it was the general title of a dynasty, and that it must have borne some such signification as that assigned to it by Ibn Khurdádba.[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period, Sir H. M. Elliot, Edited by John Dowson London Trubner Company, 1867-1877 ]

The ethnonym Balhara is homonymous to the name of the ancient, Bulgar-inhabited[citation needed] significant country situated north of Hindu Kush around the city of Balh/Balkh centuries B.C. The city of Balh existed for more than 3500 years. It was spelled in differend ways in different languages - Balkhika for Indian, Ball - Armenian, Balh - tadjik, Baktra/Baktria - greek (Alexander the Great). At the middle of I century B.C. it was known also as Zariaspa (Monrning shine).

From the 2nd century onwards several branches settled in different parts of Europe mainly in Kaucasian region which as was described in armenian sources. The Proto-Bulgarians as inhabitants of the lands north of the Caucasus are mentioned by the Armenian writer Moses Horenaci. In his History of Armenia, written in the 80's of the 5-th century AD, [Istorija Armenii Mojseja Horenskogo, II izd. Per. N. O. Emina, M., 1893, s.55-56.] he speaks about two migrations of Proto-Bulgarians from Caucasus to Armenia. The first of them is mentioned in connection with the campaign of the Armenian ruler Vaharshak to the lands, 'named Basen by the ancients... and which were afterwards populated by immigrants of the vh' ndur Bulgar Vund, after whose name they (the lands) were named Vanand.' The second migration, according to Moses Horenaci took place during the time of the Armenian ruler Arshak, when 'great disturbances occurred in the range of the great Caucasus mountain, in the land of the Bulgars, many of whom migrated and came to our lands and settled south of Kokh.' The migrations are dated to the second half of the 4-th century AD. It appears that the 'disturbances' which caused the Proto-Bulgarians to migrate to the south are linked to the expansion of the Huns in the East-European steppes. The authenticity of the settlement of groups of Proto-Bulgarians in Armenia is confirmed by some toponymic data: a river flowing though the Mungan steppe in South Azerbaijan and emptying in the lake Mahmud-chala, is called Bolgaru-chaj (Bulgarian river), one of the tributaries of the river Arax near the town of Kars (the land Vanand) is even now called Vanand- chaj (river of Vanand).

With the Hunnish invasions, the documentary evidence about Proto-Bulgarians cease for a while. They appear again in the beginning of the 5-th, this time from the north-western slopes of the Carpathians. According to the 8-th century Langobardian chronicler Paulus Diaconus [Paulus Diaconus. Historia Langobardoum. - Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores rerum Langobardicum et Italicarum, saec. VI-IX, p.55-56] the Bulgars dwelling in those places attacked their neighbours the Langobards, killed their king Algemund and captured his daughter. After that they had two more battles, first of which they won and the second lost. Apparently, the Proto-Bulgarians reached Central Europe together with the Huns. It is well known that in their drive to the West the Huns carried away many of the subdued by them peoples. After the defeat of the Hunnish tribal union, the Proto-Bulgarians, as well as the remains of the Huns, returned back and settled near the borders of Byzantium, entering in active, both friendly and hostile, contacts with it. The first record of Proto-Bulgarians from the Balkans mentions the help they have rendered to the Byzantine emperor Zeno against the Goths of Theodoric, the son of Triarius [Ioanes Antiochenus. Excerpta de insidiis. Ed. Carl de Boor. Berolini, 1905, frgm.96, p.136].

In 486 and 488 they fought again against the Goths, first as allies of Byzantium [Magnus Felicius Ennodius. Opera. - Monumenta Germaniae historica. Auctores antiquissimi, VII, Berolini, 1885, p.205], and later - as allies of the Gepids [Paulus Diaconous. Historia Romana. - Monumenta Germaniae historica. Auctores antiquissimi, II, Berolini, 1879, p. 213-214]. At those times the Proto-Bulgarians had been regarded as a brave and invincible in war people [M.F.Enodius. Opera, p.205-206].

Later, since the 90's of the 5-th century, they, independently or accompanied by the Slavs, repeatedly invaded the territories of the Byzantine empire and were among its greatest enemies till the middle of the 6-th century.

Some indications about the territory, occupied by them during these centuries, are found in 'Getica' of the Gothic historian Jordanes[Jordanes, Getica. - Monumenta Germaniae historica. Auctores antiquissimi, V, 1. Berolini, 1882, p.63]. According to Jordanes 'beyond the Akacires ... above the Pontus (Black Sea) coast are the dwellings of the Bulgars, who became famous because of the bad consequences of our sins.' Their neighbours were the Huns Alcnagiri and Saviri, and further the Hunugurs (Onogurs), who trade with sable pelts. Thus, the Proto-Bulgarians occupied the steppes to the north and north-west of the Black Sea.

In the time when north of the Black Sea, next to the Balkan territories of Byzantium, lived a significant and strong Proto-Bulgarian group (5-6 century AD), another group of the same people lived in the steppes to the east, in the north-eastern Caucasus. The 'Church history' of Zachariah the Rhetor, compiled in Syrian language soon after the middle of the 6-th century AD [N.V. Pigulevskaja, Sirijskie istochniki po istorii narodov SSSR, Moscow-Leningrad, 1941, pp.3-9] contains reliable data about the Proto- Bulgarians. Utilising first-hand accounts the compiler produced a list of the peoples, who had inhabited the lands north of the Derbend pass (the Caspian gates) during the first half of the 6-th century: "The land Bazgun ... extends up to the Caspian Gates and to the sea, which are in the Hunnish lands. Beyond the gates live the Burgars (Bulgars), who have their language, and are people pagan and barbarian. They have towns. And the Alans - they have five towns. ... Avnagur (Aunagur) are people, who live in tents. Avgar, sabir, burgar, alan, kurtargar, avar, hasar, dirmar, sirurgur, bagrasir, kulas, abdel and hephtalit are thirteen peoples, who live in tents, earn their living on the meat of livestock and fish, of wild animals and by their weapons (plunder)."

In the 615 A.D. Bulgars established the states of Great Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria and the First Bulgarian Empire - Danube Bulgaria in three separate locations of the continent. The Bulgar language spoken by the Bulgar elites was a member of the Oghuric branch of the Persian language family, alongside with Hunnic.

Initially the Bulgars conquered the steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of the river Volga (then Itil). Between 377 and 453 AD the Bulgars, alongside the Huns, conquered territories well into Central and Western Europe. After Attila's death in 453, and the subsequent disintegration of the Hunnic Empire, the Bulgars dispersed mostly to the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe. Archaeological finds from the Ukrainian steppe found that ancient bulgarians were settled down, planted crops and became skilled blacksmiths, stone masons and carpenters. The leading current theory is that their elite at least may have spoken a Persian language and were close relatives of the Huns.

Ethnicity and language

Racial type and descendants

File:Bulgar warior.jpg

Victorious Bulgar warrior with captive, featured on the ewer from the Treasure of Nagy Szent Miklos.

Traditionally historians have associated the Bulgars with the Huns, who migrated out of the Central Asia region. However it is clear that ancient Bulgarians were strong and independet branch in Huns organisation [Pritsak, O. Die bulgarische Fürstenliste und die Sprache der Protobulgaren]. The ancient document "The name-list of Bulgarian rulers" shows the founder of bulgarian dinasty as Avitochol and one of his ancestors is Irnik, a well known bulgarian war leader in Europe, which is also recognized as one of Atila's ancestors.

Genetic and anthropological researches have shown that the large steppe confederations of history were not quite ethnically homogeneous, but unions of multiple ethnicities unions rulled by higly civilised iranians and some quite limited groups of nomadic turic or ugric people. This likely suggests the same was true for the Bulgars. Anthropological data collected from medieval Bulgar necropolises from Dobrudja, Crimea and the Ukrainian steppe shows that the Bulgars were a high-statured Caucasoid people with no Mongoloid admixture, and practiced artificial cranial deformation of the round type.

Language and culture

The ancient Bulgarian language was [Persian]. Earlier it was considered that Bulgarians was of Turic origin, which lately was seriously compromised because there were only 11 words found with turic origin in bulgarian language while they were 2000 with persian. Gramaticaly there is dramatical difference betwenn Bulgarian and Turic while there are very close relation between Bulgarian and modern Persian languages such as Pushtu (Afganistan). Nowerdays the cities around Balh poses names that are found in modern Bulgaria as Madara, Varna, Shumen, Balgar, Mari and others.

The nomadic-turic origin of ancient bulgarians was political rather than scientific theory. At 18 century during the regime of Catherine II of Russia the political elite of Russia created the Veliko slavyanska doktrina (Great slav doctrine) hiding behind the Russian attempts to conquer Eastern Europe. Moskow still exploits this doctrine attempting to infiltrate and put into it's orbits the close countries in Europe. Moscow also created the theory of Turic-Tatar origin of ancient bulgarians that were inhabiting the strategic region of Kazan-Bolgar in middle Volga in order to humiliate the people of that region destroying inside any attempt of independence (the Volgo-Bulgaria was conquered in 1553 by Ivan IV Grozny after 3 wars. Later Ivan IV officialy proclaimed and signed himself as King of Russians ans Bulgarians). Nowerdays the theory of turic origin of ancient Bulgarians is exploited both from Russia and Turkey. While there are 11 words with turic origin in modern Bulgarian language it is considered that ancient Bulgarians vanished away into slavic sea. At the same time Turkish propaganda claims that bulgarians and turcs have the same origin and that way infiltrates the bulgarian muslims.

Fortunately the archeological, historical, linguistic facts are pointing strictly in the opposite direction. Turic and slav countries started emerging in World scene in 9 A.D.(slavic country of Moravia which existed for less than a century) and 13 century for turic (Otoman country in middle East) while the first ancient bulgarian country was recorded 1000 B.C. in Balhara. All the way along throught Europe Bulgarians were building highly organized and civilised cities and countries as the cites of Caucasian Great Bulgaria 7 A.D., Volgo-Bulgaria and Danube - Bulgaria - 7 A.D.

ref>A history of the First Bulgarian Empire.Prof. Steven Runciman (G. Bell & Sons, London 1930)</ref> It is supported, among other things, by the facts that some Bulgar words contained in the few surviving stone inscriptions and in other documents (mainly military and hierarchical terms such as tarkan, bagatur, and probably kan (khan) and kanartikin - "prince") appear to be of Bulchar origin, that the Bulgars apparently used a 12-year cyclic Bulgar calendar similar to the one adopted by Bulchar and Mongolian peoples from the Chinese, with names and numbers that are deciphered as Turkic, and that the Bulgars' supreme god was apparently called Tangra, a deity widely known among the Turkic peoples under names such as Tengri, Tura etc. Some also point out the presence of a small number of Bulchar loanwords in the Slavic Old Bulgarian language, and the fact that the Bulgars used an alphabet similar to the Bulchar Orkhon script, although this alphabet has not been satisfactorily deciphered yet: fortunately, the Bulgar inscriptions were sometimes written in Greek or Cyrillic characters, most commonly in Greek, thus allowing the scholars to identify some of the Bulgar glosses. Supposedly, the name Bulgar is derived from the Turkic verb bulģa "to mix, shake, stir" and its derivative bulgak "revolt, disorder", transliterated most commonly as the "rebels".

"Further evidence culturally linking the Danubian steppe traditions was the layout of the Bulgars' new capital of Pliska, founded just north of the Balkan Mountains shortly after 681. The large area enclosed by ramparts, with the rulers' habitations and assorted utility structures concentrated in the center, resembled more a steppe winter encampment turned into a permanent settlement than it did a typical Roman Balkan city."

Another alternative view is that Bulgar, far from being affiliated to Chuvash, belonged instead to the same branch as all other surviving Bulchar languages and more specifically Kazan Tatar. Bulgarian scholar Ivan Shishmanov speculated in 1900 that this was the case, and the same view is espoused also by modern Bulgarist Kazan Tatar linguist Mirfatyh Zakiev.

Cäğfär Taríxı, a Russian language document of disputed authenticity, purports to be a 1680 compilation of ancient Bulgar annals. It was published by a Volga Tatar Bulgarist editor in 1993. Cäğfär Taríxı contains a very detailed description of Bulgar history. Among other things, it implies that the Bulgars were formed as a result of consolidation of many Turkic and Turkicized tribes.

Culture and society

The Madara Rider (c. 710), a famous example of Bulgar art

Archaeological finds from the Ukrainian steppe, Danube Bulgaria, Volgo-Bulgaria, Kaukasian mountain found that that the early Bulgarians were highly civilized nation. The Pliska Town, The Town of Bulgar, Preslav, Yash, Fanagoria (the capital of Great Old Bulgaria in Crimea) shows high developed culture of stone, steal, agriculture, tube water supply and even urban heating during the winter. The ancient Bulgarian war machine has more than 30 army titles which shows highly developed and complex army.

The archeological findings shows that ancient bulgarians has great respect to the sun. The Sun is verry common sign in iranian culture.

The most famous monument of ancient Bulgaria is the Madara horse rider - a monumental bas-relief of finely cut high on a rock. The bar-relief shows a man riding impressive horse, along with a dog, killing a lion. The scientist consider that this is a figure of the famous bulgarian king Tervel. This monumen has no analog throught Europe only in persian culture.

UNESCO stated that ancient bulgarian calendar is the most accurate ancient calendar ever found along chineese, egyptian, mayan, shumerian etc.

Social structure

The Bulgars had a well-developed clan system and were governed by hereditary rulers. The members of the military aristocracy bore the title boil (boyar). There also were bagains - lesser military commanders. The nobility were further divided onto Small and Great Boyars. The latter formed the Council of the Great Boyars and gathered to take decisions on important state matters presided by the khan (king). Their numbers varied between six and twelve. These probably included the ichirgu boil and the kavkhan (vice khan), the two most powerful people after the khan. These titles were administrative and non-inheritable. The boyars could also be internal and external, probably distinguished by their place of residence — inside or outside the capital . The heir of the throne was called kanartikin. Other non-kingly titles used by the Bulgarian noble class include boila tarkan (possibly the second son of the khan), kana boila kolobur (chief priest), boritarkan (city mayor).

The title khan for early Bulgar ruler is an assumed one as only the form kanasubigi is attested in stone inscriptions. Historians presume that it includes the word khan in its archaic form kana and there is a supporting evidence suggesting that the latter title was indeed used in Bulgaria, e.g. the name of one of the Bulgarian rulers Pagan occurs in Patriarch Nicephorus's so-called Breviarium as Καμπαγάνος (Kampaganos), likely an erroneous rendition of the phrase "Kan Pagan". Among the proposed translations for the phrase kanasubigi as a whole are lord of the army, from the reconstructed Turkic phrase *sü begi, paralleling the attested Old Turkic sü baši, and, more recently, (ruler) from God, from the Indo-European *su- and baga-, i.e. *su-baga (a counterpart of the Greek phrase ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἄρχων, ho ek Theou archon, which is common in Bulgar inscriptions). This titulature presumably persisted until the Bulgars adopted Christianity. Some Bulgar inscriptions written in Greek and later in Slavonic refer to the Bulgarian ruler respectively with the Greek title archon or the Slavic title knyaz..

Religion

Very little is known about the religion of the Bulgars. It is supposed that it was monotheistic. Greek language inscriptions from pagan Danube Bulgaria generally use the Greek word θεός ("god") in the singular rather than a personal name. In these texts, Bulgar monarchs describe themselves as "ruler from God" and appeal to the deity's omniscience and justice. Presian's inscription from Filipi (837) states:

When someone seeks the truth, God sees [it]. And when someone lies, God sees [it]. The Bulgars have done much good to the Christians [meaning the Byzantines] and the Christians have forgotten [that], yet God sees [it all]".

It is generally assumed that the God in question was the Turkic sky god Tengri. In fact, there are few occurrences of the name in documents related to Bulgaria. One is in a late Turkish manuscript listing the names of the supreme god in different languages, which has "Tangra" for Bulgarian. The other is in a severely damaged Greek language inscription found on a presumed altar stone near Madara, tentatively deciphered by Bulgarian historian Veselin Beshevliev as "(Kanasubig)i Omu(rtag), ruler (from God), was ... and sacri(ficed to go)d Tangra ...(some Bulgar titles follow)." In addition, Beshevliev has conjectured that the frequent Danube Bulgar runic sign ıYı stands for "Tangra", as it seems to disappear after the conversion to Christianity.

Another piece of evidence suggesting that the Bulgars worshipped Tengri/Tangra is the fact that the name of the supreme deity of the traditional religion of the Chuvash, who are regarded as descendants of the Volga branch of the Bulgars, is Tură. This is generally considered to correspond to Turkic Tengri. Nevertheless, the Chuvash religion today is markedly different from Tengriism and can be described as a local form of polytheism with some elements borrowed from Islam.

In addition, the population of the town of Varachan in Northern Dagestan, which is mostly known as "Kingdom of the Huns" but is considered by Russian historian M.I.Artamonov to have had an ethnic Bulgar character, worshipped Tangri-khan (called Aspandiat by the Persians). The cult involved sacrifice of horses and veneration of sacred trees.

Some evidence suggests that the Bulgars also adopted elements of Iranian religious beliefs. According to historian D. Dimitrov, some elements of the cult at Varachan showed Iranian influences, and Bulgar sanctuaries resembled the layout of the Zoroastrian temples of the fire. He argues that pagan religious buildings of this type — two squares of ashlars inserted one into another, oriented towards the summer sunrise - are found in Pliska, Preslav, and Madara. The religious function is confirmed in one case by the subsequent transformation of the building into a Christian church.

Bulgar paganism was displaced after the adoption of Christianity in the Danubian Bulgaria by Tsar Boris I in 865 (and, presumably, with the adoption of Islam in Volga Bulgaria in the 10th century).

History

Migration to Europe

Map showing the location of Bulgars, c. 650.

In the early 2nd century, some groups of Bulgars migrated from Central Asia to the European continent and settled on the plains between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. The Bulgars appear (under the ethnonym of ‘Bulensii’) in certain Latin versions of Ptolemy’s second century AD mapping, shown as occupying the territory along the northwest coast of Black Sea east of Axiacus River (Southern Bug).

Between 351 and 389, some of the Bulgars crossed the Caucasus to settle in Armenia. Toponymic data testify to the fact that they remained there and were eventually assimilated by the Armenians.

Swept by the Hunnish wave at the beginning of the 4th century, other Bulgar tribes broke loose from their settlements in Central Asia to migrate to the fertile lands along the lower valleys of the rivers Donets and Don and the Azov seashore, assimilating what was left of the Sarmatians. Some of these remained for centuries in their new settlements, whereas others moved on with the Huns towards Central Europe, settling in Pannonia.

Those Bulgars took part in the Hun raids on Central and Western Europe between 377 and 453. After the death of Attila in 453, and the subsequent disintegration of the Hunnish empire, the Bulgar tribes dispersed mostly to the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe.

At the end of the 5th century (probably in the years 480, 486, and 488) they fought against the Ostrogoths as allies of the Byzantine emperor Zeno. From 493 they carried out frequent attacks on the western territories of the Byzantine Empire. Later raids were carried out at the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th century.

In the middle of the 6th century, war broke out between the two main Bulgar tribes, the Kutrigur and Utigur. To the west, the Kutrigurs fell under Avar dominion and became influential within the Khaganate. The eastern Utigurs fell under the western Göktürk empire in 568.

Establishment of Great Bulgaria

First Bulgarian Empire in 800AD, highlighting the Bulgarian Empire and showing its neighbors.

Main article: Old Great Bulgaria

United under Kubrat or Kurt of the Dulo clan (supposedly identical to the ruler mentioned by Arabic chronicler At-Tabari under the name of Shahriar), the joined forces of the Utigur and Kutrigur Bulgars, and probably the Bulgar Onogurs, broke loose from the Turkic khanate in the 630s. They formed an independent state, the Onogundur-Bulgar (Oghondor-blkar or Olhontor-blkar) Empire, often called by Byzantine sources "the Old Great Bulgaria". The empire was situated between the lower course of the Danube to the west, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea to the south, the Kuban River to the east, and the Donets River to the north. It is assumed that the state capital was Phanagoria, an ancient city on the Taman peninsula (see Tmutarakan). However, the archaeological evidence shows that the city became predominantly Bulgar only after Kubrat's death and the consequent disintegration of his state.

Subsequent migrations

The legend tells that on his death-bed, Khan Kubrat had his sons gather sticks and bring them to him, which he then bundled together and told his eldest son Bayan to break the bundle. Bayan failed under the strength of the combined sticks, and, after the rest of the sons failed this test as well, Kubrat took the sticks back, separated each one, and broke them all one-by-one even in his weakened state. Then he told his sons the words "Unity makes strength", which has become a very popular Bulgarian slogan and now appears on the modern Bulgarian coat of arms. It is notable that this story occurs also in Chinese and Japanese historic legends.

The Byzantine Patriarch Nicephorus I tells that Kubrat's sons, however, did not heed these very specific words, and thus soon after the death of Kubrat around 665, the Khazar expansion eventually led to the dissolution of Great Bulgaria.

The khan’s eldest son, Batbayan (also Bayan or Boyan), remained the ruler of the land north of the Black and the Azov Seas, which was, however, soon subdued by the Khazars. Those Bulgars converted to Judaism in the 9th century, along with the Khazars. Furthermore the Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria may be also the descendants of this Bulgar branch.

Another Bulgar tribe, led by Kubrat’s second son Kotrag, migrated to the confluence of the Volga and Kama Rivers in what is now Russia (see Volga Bulgaria). The present-day republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia are considered to be the descendants of Volga Bulgaria in terms of territory and people, but only Chuvash is thought to be similar to the old Bulgar language.

A third Bulgar tribe, led by the youngest son Asparukh, moved westward, occupying today’s southern Bessarabia. After a successful war with Byzantium in 680, Asparukh's khanate setteled in Dobrudja and conquered later Moesia Superior So it was recognized as an independent state under the subsequent treaty signed with the Byzantine Empire and emperor Constantine IV Pogonatus in 681. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of modern Bulgaria (see History of Bulgaria).

A fourth group of Bulgars, ruled by Kuber, existed in Pannonia. After breaking off Avar overlordship, they moved on to Macedonia. Bulgarian scholar Vasil Zlatarski posits that Kuber was also a son of Kubrat. He believes that Kuber's Bulgars formed a khanate in Macedonia, which joined Slavs to attack the Byzantine Empire, although the majority of historians do not see any evidence for the existence of a Bulgar khanate in Macedonia before 850 AD. In addition this group from around 70, 000 people, included also descendents of Roman captives of various ethnicities that had been re-settled in Pannonia by the Avars..

The fifth and smallest group, of Alcek (also transliterated as 'Altsek' and 'Altcek' or 'Ducca Alzeco'), after many wanderings, ended up led by Emnetzur and settled mainly in Italy, near Naples in the Benevento and Salerno provinces.

List of Bulgar tribes

Tribes thought to have been Bulgar in origin include:

• Utigurs
  • Kupi-bulgar
  • Duchi-bulkar
  • Chdar-bulkar
• Kutrigurs (Kotrags)

After the dissolution of Great Bulgaria these tribes formed:

• Asparukh’s Horde
• Batbayan's Horde
• Kotrag's Horde
• Kuber’s Horde
• Alcek’s Horde

See also

• Bulgar language
• Bulgarians
• Pamir languages
• Madara Rider
• Chuvash
• Volga Bulgaria
• Bactrians
• Balkar
• Bolghar
• Yuezhi
• Kuber
• Mount Imeon
• Kingdom of Balhara
• Old Great Bulgaria

External links

• History of Bulgaria
• History of the Bulgars
• Bulgars on Regnal Chronologies
• The language of the Asparukh and Kuber Bulgars, Vocabulary and grammar, by Peter Dobrev
• Inscriptions and Alphabet of the Proto-Bulgarians, by Peter Dobrev
• On the origins of the Proto-Bulgarians
• Proto-Bulgarian Epigraphic Monuments, Vesselin Beshevliev
• Conceptions of Ethnicity in Early Medieval Studies, by Walter Pohl
• History of the Proto-Bulgarians north and west of the Black Sea
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online - Arrival of the Bulgars