Hunor and Magor chasing the Mystical Stag

Artwork: Kate Seredy

Nimrod was a mighty warrior king who also expanded his empire to include much of the northern and eastern territories and he and his people moved there, to the land of Evilath, following the confusion of languages. (Simon Kezai, Gesta Hungarorum, ca 1282) (according to Berrosus the Babilonian historian, Belas [Bel Nimrud] ruled for 56 years 130 years following the flood, and built the tower of Babel in the land of Sinear to the height of a mountain.) This land was lattNimrod was a mighty warrior king who also expanded his empire to include much of the northern and eastern territories and he and his people moved there, to the land of Evilath, following the confusion of languages. (Simon Kezai, Gesta Hungarorum, ca 1282) (according to Berrosus the Babilonian historian, Belas [Bel Nimrud] ruled for 56 years 130 years following the flood, and built the tower of Babel in the land of Sinear to the height of a mountain.) This land was latter called east Persia, and lay next to Northern India. Here he married his first wife Eneth and she later bore him two twin sons called Hunor and Magor. He later had other wives and from them were born other sons and daughters who became the ancestors of the Parthians/?/Persians. (In the medieval version it was the Persians, the inheritors of the land of Iran, that are mentioned instead of the aboriginal Scythic Parthians. In other medieval references though it is the Parthians which are mentioned as being related.) The language of these people was similar to the Hungarians but not quite the same. His first born sons were his pride and they spent much time with their father, growing up in the palace and later they accompanied him on his many hunts. Nimrod was a famous and great hunter who loved the sport.@foot(Bible, "like Nimrod, mighty hunter before the lord") During one of his hunting expeditions he took his sons with him. During the hunt he spotted some game and separated from his sons to pursue it. The two young men continued their own search and came across a wonderous beast, a great horned doe, which shone in multicolor lights and it's antlers glittering from light. (Mahmud Terdjuman, Tarihi Ungurus "The history of the Hungarians", 1456 translated by Joseph Blaskovich, Prage, 1982) Enchanted by the heavenly beast they gave chase to it. The animal lead them across glades and medows onward toward the west. At dusk the beast vanished so the two princes and their men camped for the night. At dawn the hind reappeared and the chase continued afresh. It lead them through foreign lands and across the mountains of Adjem (western Iran), through wild and dangerous swamps of Meotis (The Sea of Azov, an inlet of the Black Sea, was associated with Meotis because of the common ancient name of this sea and because the Magyars and Huns lived there before their settling in Hungary. It is unlikely however that this was the original sea of the ancient legend) until they entered a beautiful bountiful country. Here the hind lead them to a lake and jumped into it and disappeared. This swampy land, called Meotis, is surounded by the sea on all sides except one where a shallow swampy land connects it to the mainland making it difficult to enter. It is rich in birds, fish and game and is situated on the borders of Persia. The two young men were filled with sadness and remorse because of the loss of the hind. They returned to their father and asked him to build for them a temple at the sight where they could retreat and contemplate and prepare themselves. They then lived in the temple for 5 years, and on the 6th year they were longing to return to the world when a great teacher came to them and thought them the ways of being a great king. (Terdjuman Mahmud, Tarihi Ungurus, 1456) They and their men then left the temple and scouted the nearby territories. In the evening they camped and in the morning they awoke to the sound of music. They followed the source of the music to a clearing in the forrest where they spied the dancing and singing of young maidens who were celebrating the festival of the horn. The name of a hind is "horned" in Hungarian and this celebration was of the hind. The maidens in the clearing were the daughters of the Bulars and amongst them were the two beautiful daughters of the king, Dula. (Simon Kezai, Gesta Hungarorum, ca1282) (The persian version only has one prince, who similarly marries the queen of the women, who calles her self a doe with the name "sar-istani" Sraw=horned in Avesta.) The two young men were so enchanted by the two princesses that they resolved to marry them, so they and their men kidnapped all the women and married them according to their custom. They settled on a great island in the lake, which was well protected. Their descendants multiplied and populated the nearby lands, founding the 108 clans of the Scythian nation. (108 was a "holy number" related to the astronomical rate of precession of the equinoxes. Its also a holy number among Buddhists and the Buddha himself was of the Scythian Sakia tribe.) The descendants of Hunor and one of the princesses became the nation of the Huns, while the descendants of Magor and the other princess became the nation of the Magyars. The land of the Scythians stretched from north of the Black Sea to Central Asia as far as the city of Samarkand. Their country bordered the country of their father on the north and east. However a long time after the death of their father the kingdom of Nimrod fell to a foreign ruler from the west. This nation in later ages became Persia. (around 500BC) (See the Iranian legends of the struggles between Iran and Turan) This is but the tip of the iceberg, because there is a lot more corroborating information about this legend from ancient Messopotamia. also from Assyrian and Babilonian records. The legend amongst our language relatives including FinnUgor, Huns, and others varies but is generally a star myth where the "great hunter" hunts the heavenly stagg (Ursa Major) and kills it around Christmas time. The sun which is held in its horns now escapes and becomes stronger, ushering in spring. However the calve of the stagg repeats the event every year. In Hun art all the way from Mongolia and DungHuan caves of western China show the magical hunt of the stagg by two twins. Even our "western?" constellations Nimrod(Orion), Twins (Gemini) and the horned animal (Taurus) show the hunt. The myth is Asian and Scythian but even Babilonians and others had the twin hunters part of their star lore. The remnants of the Hun Legend of The Stag According to the Byzantine historian, Procopius: The nation of the Utigurs and Kutigur Huns originate from the twin sons of a Hun king. The twins separated from their father during the hunting of the Stag. These Huns also had two princes called Mauger and Gorda (Magyar and Hunugur?) who ruled after the death of their father. It is quite possible that these were also related to the Magyars and ruled over them, since the Mauger name of the "Hun" prince could have been derived from the people/nation which he ruled, the Magyars.   Remnant of a Hun painting from Mongolia Stone carving from a column representing the heavenly stag. Another descendant of the Huns are the Uygur (Yugor, Ugor) of eastern China which even in their name appears to be related to the Hungarians. In their legend a once great emperor had two sons called Tartar (Hunor) and Mungli (Maugor) who became the ancestor of the Tartars and the Mongols. [Abul Ghazi Bahadur, a 17 century historian of Khiva] This recalls the close association that the Caucasian Ujgurs had with the Mongol royal family and is tied to a later historical event, rather than to the original ancient legend of origin. Information on this page courtesy of Ottawa Hungarian Folkdance Chamber Group.