Butaul (also spelled ''Buta-ul'', with possible meaning "the son of Buta") is a name mentioned in an inscription contained in a
treasure trove of gold artifacts found in 1799 in
Sânnicolau Mare, in northern
Banat (then under administration of
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
, today in
Timiș County in western
Romania). According to various interpretations of the inscription, Butaul was an ''
župan'', a sort of local
chieftain. It is possible that Butaul is linked to the
runiform on the chalice of Kiskőrös-Vágóhíd, which may be transliterated as /put'ə/ (Oghur Turkic for 'louse') or /Buta/
ghur Turkic for (camel's) foal
The inscription
Buta-ul and
Buyla
The Buyla inscription is a 9-word, 56-character inscription written in the Greek alphabet but in a non-Greek language. It is found on a golden buckled bowl (vessel), bowl or cup which is among the pieces of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós which ...
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'').
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.
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. According to other opinions, form ZOAΠAN could be read as "čaban", so BOYTAOYΛ.ZΩAΠAN would mean "son of Buta from the breed of čaban".

According to one interpretation,
Buyla
The Buyla inscription is a 9-word, 56-character inscription written in the Greek alphabet but in a non-Greek language. It is found on a golden buckled bowl (vessel), bowl or cup which is among the pieces of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós which ...
was the grand duke of two Getae lands of the
Tisa
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
, while Buta-ul was the duke of the Tagro and Etzi lands of the Tisa.
[Die Inschriften des Schatzes von Nagy-Szentmiklós, Robert Göbl, András Róna-Tas, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1995, page 19.](_blank)
/ref> According to other interpretation, Župan Buila (Buyla) was prince of Dügetoigi, while Grand Župan Butaul was prince of Tagrogi and Itschigi (Utschugi). Another interpretation states that Butaul was župan of Tagroges, Iazyges, the peoples of the Tisa. Another translation states that Bela (Buyla) was župan of the Tisa, while Butaul was župan of the Iazyges.Mélanges russes tirés du Bulletin de l'Académie impériale des sciences de St. Pétersbourg, Том 2, Imperatorskai︠a︡ akademīi︠a︡ nauk (Russia), Académie, 1855, page 277.
/ref> According to Serbian historian Milan Tutorov, grand župan Buta-ul was ruler of two Getae lands, Targorska and Eciska and across the Tisa. Tutorov claims that "Getae land" was designation for present-day Banat, while area "across the Tisa" is present-day Bačka.
According to Tutorov, Buta-ul was an Avar noble who had a traditional Slavic ruler's title – the " great župan" (rendering veliki župan). 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. It is assumed that Buta-ul buried his treasure in great hurry before the Frankish army arrived, since the treasure was buried only half metre deep in the ground.
See also
* Banat
*Buyla
The Buyla inscription is a 9-word, 56-character inscription written in the Greek alphabet but in a non-Greek language. It is found on a golden buckled bowl (vessel), bowl or cup which is among the pieces of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós which ...
*History of Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( Serbian: Војводина or ''Vojvodina''; hu, Vajdaság; sk, Vojvodina; ro, Voivodina; hr, Vojvodina; Rusyn: Войводина) is an autonomous province that comprises northern Serbia. It consists of the southern part of ...
*Rulers of Vojvodina
This is a list of local rulers of Vojvodina. The list also include local rulers of Banat, Bačka and Srem, including parts of mentioned regions, which are not part of present-day Vojvodina, as well as other rulers of larger political units that ...
* Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buta-Ul
8th-century rulers in Europe
Romania in the Early Middle Ages
History of Banat
Medieval history of Vojvodina
Pannonian Avars
8th century in Serbia