Sabir people

For places in Azerbaijan, see Sabir, Azerbaijan.

Sabir is also another name for the Mediterranean pidgin language Lingua Franca.

The Sabir people inhabited the Caspian Depression prior to the arrival of the Avars. They appear to have been a Turkic people, possibly of Hunnic origin. "The name Sabir has been linked by some scholars with the name Siberia (where it may have been an alternative name for the Ugrian-speaking Mansi/Vogul) and even with the far Eastern Hsien-pi".^[1]

Near East in 500 AD, showing the Sabirs and neighboring peoples.

The Sabir lived predominantly in the Pontic steppe region bounded on the east by the Caspian Sea, on the west by the Black Sea and on the south by the Caucasus Mountains. Priscus mentions that the Sabir attacked the Saragur, Urog and Unogur tribes in 461 AD, forcing them across the Volga, as a result of having themselves been attacked by the "Avars". In 515 "they advertised their power in a huge raid south of the Caucasus, in which they attacked Iranian and Byzantine lands with scrupulous impartiality".^[2] They eventually came into allegiance with Persia.

In 552 the Sabirs, previously allied with Sassanid Persia, switched their allegiance to the Romans and invaded the Caucasus. Soon afterwards, they were conquered first by the Avars and later by the Göktürks. By the 700s they largely vanish from the historical record; probably being assimilated into the Khazars and Bulgars.

The Byzantine document, De Administrando Imperio mentions that the Tourkoi (the Byzantine name for Magyars) were formerly known as Sabartoi asphaloi. This name is generally considered to mean "firm, reliable Sabir". However it should be noted that Byzantine documents normally refer to Sabirs as Sabiroi.

Some modern historians speculate that a Sabir tribe or faction, called Suars, may have resettled in the Middle Volga region, where they later merged with Volga Bulgarians. Indeed, one of the foremost cities of Volga Bulgaria was called Suar or Suwar. Today, some Chuvash historians postulate that their nation is partially descended from Sabirs.^[3]

See also

Severians

References

1. ^ Christian, David. A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. Blackwell Publishing, 1998. Page 279.
2. ^ Ibidem. Pages 279-280.
3. ^ (Tatar)"Suarlar/Суарлар". Tatar Encyclopedia. Kazan: Tatarstan Republic Academy of Sciences Institution of the Tatar Encyclopaedia. 2002.