Avar Khaganate

Abstract

Abstract The Avar khaganate dominated parts of central and eastern Europe from 568 to 796 ce . Its center lay in the Carpathian basin along the middle Danube. Its rulers bore the title “khagan,” well known from the Eurasian steppes. We have no written sources from the Avars themselves (apart from a few brief inscriptions in runes or Greek characters on excavated objects), but can reconstruct some of their history on the basis of Greek and Latin chronicles and texts. Furthermore, tens of thousands of graves from the Avar period, many of them with substantial grave goods, have been excavated.