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The Avars: A Steppe Empire in Central Europe, 567–822

The Avars: A Steppe Empire in Central Europe, 567–822

by Walter Pohl (Author), William Sayers (Translator)

  • New

    Hardcover 2018

    $75.33
Synopsis

The Avars arrived in Europe from the Central Asian steppes in the mid-sixth century CE and dominated much of Central and Eastern Europe for almost 250 years. Fierce warriors and canny power brokers, the Avars were more influential and durable than Attila's Huns, yet have remained hidden in history. Walter Pohl's epic narrative, translated into English for the first time, restores them to their rightful place in the story of early medieval Europe.

The Avars offers a comprehensive overview of their history, tracing the Avars from the construction of their steppe empire in the center of Europe; their wars and alliances with the Byzantines, Slavs, Lombards, and others; and their apex as the first so-called barbarian power to besiege Constantinople (in 626); to their fall under the Frankish armies of Charlemagne and subsequent disappearance as a distinct cultural group. Pohl uncovers the secrets of their society, synthesizing the rich archaeological record recovered from more than 60,000 graves of the period, as well as accounts of the Avars by Byzantine and other chroniclers.

In recovering the story of the fascinating encounter between Eurasian nomads who established an empire in the heart of Europe and the post-Roman Christian cultures of Europe, this book provides a new perspective on the origins of medieval Europe itself.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 624
 Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 15 Dec 2018
ISBN 10: 0801442109
ISBN 13: 9780801442100

Media Reviews

Walter Pohl has succeeded in stripping much of this veil of mystery from the Avars... a heterogeneous group from central Asia who dominated the Byzantine Danube frontier in a complicated relationship that saw raids, wars, trade, and the payment of large annual sums of tribute. In tracing the history of the Avars and the peoples they dominated or fought and traded with, this is an illuminating history of southeast Europe in the early Middle Ages.

* Speculum *

This volume contain a wealth of information and informed discussion; it will repay careful study by anyone involved in the late Roman and early medieval period, and will remain the standard guide into the foreseeable future.

* English Historical Review *

Walter Pohl picks his way judiciously though the minefield of primary sources - fragmentary and contradictory - and secondary interpretations of varied value. His solid medievalist training coupled with common sense often balk at the most fanciful interpretations.... The documentation assembled by Pohl is impressive; the use he made of it commands respect.... Future research on all questions concerning the Avars, henceforth cannot bypass this very important book.

* Journal of Asian History *
Author Bio
Walter Pohl is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Vienna, and Director of the Institute of Medieval Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is the editor of Visions of Community and Strategies of Identitifcation, and author of numerous works in German. William Sayers is the translator of Daniel Dubuisson's Western Construction of Religion: Myths, Knowledge, and Ideology and of books by Adam Rayski and Gerhart Riegner. He is Adjunct Full Professor in the Departmentof Comparative Literature, Cornell University.