A húnok és magyarok eredetéről és ősi lakaikról.
BOOK ONE
THE HISTORIES OF THE HUNS FROM THEIR BEGINNINGS TO THE DEATH OF ATTILA AND THE BREAK-UP OF THEIR EMPIRE.
CHAPTER I.
On the Origins of the Huns and Magyars and their Ancient Homelands.
Kézai first argues against the common western conception that the Magyars and Huns were descendants of demons, and goes on to link the father of the eponymous ancestors of the Magyars and Huns in the Hungarian oral traditions, Menroth or Nemrot, with the Biblical Nimrod.
2 §. A Bábel tornyáról.
Minthogy az özönviz csapása által Noén és három fián kivűl minden test elpusztúlt, végre Semtől, Kámtól és Jáfettől az özönviz után hetvenkét nemzetség származott: Semtől huszonkettő, Kámtól harminczhárom, Jáfettől pedig tizenhét. S midőn azon nemzetségek, mint Josephus mondja, zsidó nyelven beszéltek, az özönviz után a kétszázegyedik esztendőben a Jáfet magvából eredt Menróth óriás, Thana fia, minden atyafiaival a mult veszedelemre gondolva tornyot kezde építeni, hogy ha az özönviz ismét találna jönni, a toronyba menekűlve a bosszúló itéletet elkerűlhessék.
(…)
2 § Concerning the Tower of Babel.
As every living thing, excepting Noah and his three sons, had perished by means of the blows of the Flood; finally from Shem, Ham and Japheth seventy-two families descended: from Shem, twenty-two, from Ham, thirty-three and from Japheth seventeen. And those families, as Josephus says, spoke the Jewish tongue. In the two-hundred and first year after the Flood came Menroth the giant, son of Thana, who with all his brethren, considering the past danger began to build a tower, so that if the Flood were to perhaps come again, they might, by fleeing into the tower, avoid the angry judgement. (Of God..translator). (…)
3. §. Nemrót Persiába költözik Fiai Hunor és Mogor a húnok ésmagyarok ős atyjai.
Mellőzve tehát az eseményeket, mellyek kezdett tárgyunknak színtadnak, viszsza kell térnünk Menróth óriásra, ki a nyelvek megkezdődött összezavarodása után Eviláth földére méne, mellyet ez időben Persia tartományának neveznek, és ott nejétől Eneth-től két fiat nemze, Hunort tudniillik és Mogort, kiktől a húnok vagy magyarok származtak. (…) S minthogy Hunor és Mogor első szülöttek valának,atyjoktól megválva kölön sátrakba szállnak vala. Történt pedig, hogy a mint egyszer vadászni kimentek, a pusztán egy szarvas ünőre bukkanának, mellyet, a mint előttök futott, a Meotis ingoványaiba kergetének. S midőn az ott szemök elől tökéletesen eltűnt, sokáig keresék, de semmi módon nem találhatták. Végre is az említett ingoványokat bejárván, azon földet baromtartásra alkalmasnak szemlélték.
3. §. Nemrot moves to Persia. His sons, Hunor and Mogor are the ancient ancestors (fathers) of the Huns and Magyars.
Avoiding therefore the events, which gave colour to the beginning of our subject, we must return to Menroth the giant, who after the beginning of the Confusion of Tongues went to the land of Evilath, which in these days is called the territory of Persia, and there, from his wife Eneth he begat two sons, as it should be known, Hunor and Mogor, from whom the Huns or Magyars are descended. (…) And as Hunor and Mogor were firstborn sons, they, separating from their father, went to live in separate tents. It happened, as they went hunting on one occasion, they came suddenly upon a deer-hind, which, as it ran before them, they chased into the marshes of the Meotis. And as it disappeared quite completely before their eyes in that place, they sought it long, but by no means were they able to find it. Finally, they traversed the mentioned marshes, they viewed that land to be useful for animal husbandry.
Drawing based on the metal belt-endpiece found in the grave of an Avar horseman at Klárafalva. Circa 8th Century A.D.
Copyright Bálint Csikós
4. §. Hunor és Mogor a meotisi ingoványok közzé költöznek.
Visszatérvén onnan atyjokhoz s búcsút vévén tőle, minden vagyonostól a meotisi ingoványok közzé szállának lakozni. Meotis tartománya pedig Persia hazával hataros (…) S miután azon ingoványok közt hosszasabban időztek, lőn, hogy igen erős nemzetté kezdtek növekedni és a tartomány őket béfogadni és táplálni nem birta.
4. §. Hunor and Mogor move amongst the marshes of the Meotis.
Returning to their father and taking their leave of him, they took all their possessions and went to live among the marshes of the Meotis.The territory of Meotis, meanwhile, shares a border with the homeland of Persia (…) And after they had stayed amongst those marshes for a longer time, it happened that they began to grow into a very great nation and the place was no longer able to hold them or feed them.
5. §. Hunor és Mogor Scythiába költöznek.
Scythia leirása. Kémeket küldvén tehát onnan Scythiába, miután Scythia országát kikémlelték, gyermekeikkel és barmaikkal azon hazába vonulának, hogy ott lakozzanak
5 . §. Hunor and Mogor move to Scythia. Description of Scythia
Therefore from there having sent spies to Scythia, and after having scouted out the country of Scythia, they proceeding to that homeland marched, with their children and animals, that they might live there.
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(Some pronunciation and translation notes, in order to avoid confusion: The names Nemróth, Hunor and Mogor are pronounced roughly as follows Nemróth: "Nem-wrought" to ryhme with "wrought-iron". Hunor: Hoon-or as indeed the Hungarian name "hún" is pronounced closer to "hoon" and not to ryhme with "Nun". Mogor-Magor. Is pronounced rather like "Moh-gor or Mah-gor" and to ryhme rather with "Far" than with "May" or "say." The names with "th" are an old-fashioned spelling of the simple "t" sound. Hungarian has no sounds corresponding to the English "th" as in "thought" or "this.")
General Notes:
It is clear that in the Kézai Chronicle, the ancestors of the Magyars are shown as being semi- or fully nomadic, as is clear in his reference to "tents", as well as to the relatively easy movement of Hunor and Magor from their father's home to the one in the Meotis, and from there, the relatively easy movement to Scythia. Kézai knew very well that he was contradicting the western chroniclers of his time and those who had gone before, some of whom he named. He was clearly proud of his eastern heritage, which he appears to have been in touch with.
Some clear pointers exist, besides the fact of his understanding of the "transhumance-nomadism" of the Steppe peoples, much of which he could see first-hand in the life of the Kun, or Kuman people, who had gone to live in Hungary. He also appears to have had contact with oral traditions of the Magyars and other steppe peoples, and further, to have access to Muslim learning, as his reference to "Menroth the giant" show. Nowhere in Western Christendom, least of all in the Bible, is there any reference to such a person, only to "Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord." The idea that Nimrod was a giant is more to be found in Muslim traditions and writings. There were Muslims in Hungary at various times in the Middle Ages, both Kwarezmians and Volga Bulgars.
In Medieval Hungary these groups of Muslims practiced their religion freely (for example, the Kwarezmian royal bodyguards) and the people whose name in Hungarian is ‘Böszörmeny’, or Volga Bulgars. Their descendants still live in Tatarstan, on the Volga and Kama Rivers. Presumably Kézai got some of his information from these people, many of whom were scholars, well-known as astronomers and astrologers.
It was also understood by the illustrators of the chronicles that Hunor and Magor were using composite bows, as these were always accurately depicted, whether in the hands of Magyars, Székely, Kumans or Mongols.
The above is a very brief version of the legend, which has more flowery versions in Hungarian oral tradition, as well as having numerous versions in Asia Minor, Iran and even in Finland, the Urals regions, and numerous mentions in western chronicles (Widukind) and Byzantine ones (Procopius). There are also written versions in the east like the chronicle of Mehmet Terdzsüman, the Tarih-I-Üngürüs, or History of the Hungarians. It should be noted that most of these dwell more on the wonderful, miraculous or even divine nature of the stag or hind. The Hungarian word "szarvas" means "That which has horns" and therefore can be either a horned stag, or a horned hind. The general gist of the story is that of two brothers chasing a wondrous, magical hind or stag, with large antlers, shiny feet, possibly shiny coat, or even a blue coat in one version (referring to its origins in the sky) and being led to a new homeland by the magical animal, which, once its mission is accomplished, disappears.
Finally, the ancient Magyars believed themselves to be descended from the Scythians as well as the Huns. This is found in all the early chronicles, and even in Renaissance and 18th century sources, Hungarians proudly call themselves names like "pure-blooded Scythians". The Hungarian language has its own word for these people, "szittya" and many legends exist surrounding this aspect. The important point to note is it was precisely the Scythian and Hun art that was characterised by the widespread use of antlered animals, both stags and hinds. Of course, from c.600 BC to c. 1500 AD, the composite bow was to be the weapon of choice of these steppe people.