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 Sânnicolau Mare (; hu, Nagyszentmiklós; german: Großsanktnikolaus; sr, Велики Семиклуш, Veliki Semikluš; Banat Bulgarian: ''Smikluš'') is a town in Timiș County, Romania, and the westernmost of the country. Located in the Ba ...

, in northern

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...

(then under administration of Habsburg monarchy, today in

Timiș County Timiș () is a county (''județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. Th ...

in western

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

). According to various interpretations of the inscription, Butaul was an ''

župan Župan is a noble and administrative title used in several states in Central and Southeastern Europe between the 7th century and the 21st century. It was (and in Croatia still is) the leader of the administrative unit župa (or zhupa, županij ...

'', a sort of local

chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

. It is possible that Butaul is linked to the

runiform Runiform may refer to scripts or inscriptions similar written with letters that are similar in form to the runic scripts that were historically used to write various Germanic languages in Northern Europe. It may refer to: *Coelbren y Beirdd * Old ...

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 are names preserved by an inscription on one of the vessels found in the hoard. The inscription is written in the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as ...

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 The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...

, 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 Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slavi ...

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". Buta ul

According to one interpretation, Buyla 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 b ...

, 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.
/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 Iazyges (), singular Ἰάζυξ. were an ancient Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In BC, they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Dacian steppe between ...

, 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

, while area "across the Tisa" is present-day

Bačka Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungar ...

. According to Tutorov, Buta-ul was an Avar noble who had a traditional

ruler's title – the "

great župan Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

" (rendering veliki župan). Tutorov also speculates that the

Treasure of Groß Sankt Nikolaus Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

was probably buried by Buta-ul in 796, when

Pippin Pippin or Pepin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Pippin'' (comics), a children's comic produced from 1966 to 1986 * ''Pippin'' (musical), a Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz loosely based on the life of Pepin the Hunchback * Pippin T ...

, the son of Frankish ruler

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...

, penetrated with his army into the centre of Avar

caganate Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

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.

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

The inscription

Interpretations

See also

References

External links