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30-687: Numerous records about Esegels in sources and works of many languages across the span of the Eurasia left numerous variations of their name. M. Räsänen suggested Uralo-Altai etymology of this word: Es-kil , Es-gil "Old city", Gumilyov initially linked the Izgils to the Sijie (思结) of the Toquz Oghuz ; only to later re-identify Izgils with Xijie (奚結), another Tiele tribe. However, Zuev (2002) distinguished Izgil (> Ch. * a-siək-kiet 阿悉結 > Axijie ,

60-748: A Western Tujue tribe according to Chinese sources) from Igil (> Ch. * ɣiei-kiet 奚結 > Xijie , a Tiele tribe) though Zuev controversially links the Igils 奚結 to the Bulgarian clan Uokil and the Indo-European-speaking Augaloi in Transoxania. Róna-Tas proposes an Iranian origin: Western Old Turkic Askil , Äsägäl < äθägäl < haθyaka arya "the very aliens" (cf. Ossetian æcægælon < æcægæ + ælon ). However, Tatár (2012) disagrees that Ossetian æcægælon

90-562: A dithyramb to Joseph Stalin , which did not help to release Gumilev, although it possibly prevented her own imprisonment. The Soviet secret police had already prepared an order for her arrest, but Stalin decided not to sign it. Relations between Gumilev and his mother became strained, as he blamed her for not helping him enough. She described her feelings about her son's arrest and the period of political repressions in Requiem (published in 1963). After Stalin's death in 1953, Gumilev joined

120-399: A group of people living in a single place and with a specific way of life and historical experience could over generations form a konviksiya  [ ru ] ( Russian : конвиксия ) or a konsortsiya  [ ru ] ( Russian : консорция ). Such a group then (if it survives) may become a sub-ethnos, with the opportunity of forming successively an ethnos, a super-ethnos, and even

150-519: A meta-ethnos. Drawing inspiration from the works of Konstantin Leontyev (1831-1891) and Nikolay Danilevsky (1822-1885), Gumilev regarded Russians as a "super-ethnos" kindred to Turkic - Mongol peoples of the Eurasian steppe . The periods in which Russia has been said to conflict with the steppe peoples were reinterpreted by Gumilev as the periods of consolidation of Russian power with that of

180-404: A national mentality. These stereotypes are like animal reflexes that ensure the preservation of an ethnos. In time, an ethnos develops its own civilisation, which includes religion, manners and norms. Gumilev was never able to explain whether or not a civilisation is a biological phenomenon, but he claimed that people of different races could be part of the same civilisation. Gumilev theorized that

210-552: A specific way of thinking associated with the moral norms of Judaism . According to Gumilev, the medieval Jews also did not bear arms themselves but waged wars through proxies or mercenaries . In Kazan , the capital of Tatarstan (Russia), an inscription for a statue in honor of Gumilev quotes the following: "I, a Russian, have been defending the Tatars all my life". About Tatars he said (for example) that "Tatars are in our blood, our history, our language, our worldview. Whatever

240-801: The Second Turkic Khaganate . Tatár also remarks that if székely had developed from æcægæl (even in a Turkic source language and not Hungarian), "the Volga Bulgarian Äskils and the Székelys must be of different origin because æcægæl is not the source of Askil." Zuev proposes connections with the Āxījiē of the Nushibi half of the Ten Arrows tribal confederation of the Western Turkic Khaganate , and

270-593: The Ghaznavid monarch Mahmud of Ghazni ( r.  998–1030 ), and was an eyewitness to many of the events that occurred under the latter. In his Zayn al-akbar , Gardizi took a dispassionate view of history which was fairly remarkable for its time. It consisted of a history of the pre-Islamic kings of Iran, Muhammad and the Caliphs until the year 1032. Included is a history of the Arab conquest of Khorasan , which it

300-763: The Hermitage Museum , whose director, Mikhail Artamonov , he would accept as his mentor. Under Artamonov's guidance, he became interested in Khazar studies and in steppe peoples in general. In the 1950s and 1960s, he participated in several expeditions to the Volga Delta and to the North Caucasus . He proposed an archeological site for Samandar as well as the theory of the Caspian transgression in collaboration with geologist Alexander Aleksin as one of

330-579: The Perestroika years of 1985–1991. As an indication of his popularity, the Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the L. N. Gumilev Eurasian National University (Евразийский Национальный университет имени Л. Н. Гумилёва, founded in 1996) to be erected just opposite his own palace on the central square of the new Kazakh capital, Astana . Senior researcher in the Department of Ethnology at

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360-469: The University of Tartu , Aimar Ventsel, states the following: Gumilev’s central concept is that of the ethnos . He connected it to the biosphere concept promoted by Academician Vernadsky and came to the conclusion that the ethnos is like a human being: it has its own character, childhood, adulthood and waning period. As people are part of nature, peoples must also follow the laws of nature. Of these,

390-419: The Western Turkic Khaganate in 651 CE listed five west tribes collectively as Nushibi (弩失畢) and noted that Kül-Irkin (闕俟斤 Què-sìjīn), the leader of first tribe, Āxījiē (阿悉結), (whom Zuev identifies as Esegels) "was most prosperous and strong, the number of his soldiers reached several tens of thousands" . Arab ambassador Ibn Fadlan , who visited Itil ( Volga ) banks in the 921–922, mentioned in his journal

420-788: The Xionite personal name Askil/Askel , as mentioned in the Chronography of Theophanes the Confessor (760–818): "the same month (July 563) ambassadors of Askil/Askel, the king of Hermihions (Greek Ερμηχιονιονων; Lat. Ermechionorum), a tribe living among barbarians near the ocean, came to Constantinople" . Zuev (2004) summarized scholarly opinions on the link between Izgils and Turkic-speaking tribes mentioned by sources in Chinese: A Chinese annalistic account in New Book of Tang about

450-621: The "Magyar Türks" was Savartoiaskaloi , i.e. Savart (Suvar/Sabir) and Eskel . Zuev summarized that "It is held that Eskels (Esegels) merged with Hungarians (Magyars). Zuev proposes that the ethnographic group Székely (also known as Szekler) are Esegels' descendants." However, Róna-Tas rejected identification of Esegels with Székely, as well as the link between the names Esegels and Chigils, on historical and phonological grounds. Lev Gumilyov Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev (also Gumilyov ; Russian : Лев Никола́евич Гумилёв ; 1 October [ O.S. 18 September] 1912 – 15 June 1992)

480-619: The "Tatar yoke" as a military union of the Russians and Tatars . In particular, he asserted that the Radhanites had been instrumental in the exploitation of East Slavic people and had exerted undue influence on the sociopolitical and economic landscape of the early Middle Ages . Gumilev maintained that the Jewish culture was by nature mercantile and existed outside and in opposition to its environment. According to that view, Jews share

510-795: The Bulgarian tribe Askel , besides the Bulgars proper, the Suvars (Savan), the Bersula, and the Barandzhar. Persian ethnographer Ahmad ibn Rustah listed three branches of the Volga Bulghars : "the first branch was called Bersula , the second Esegel, and the third Oghuz". The ancient ruins of the city belonging to the Askel tribe are located in Aşlı Among other writers who mentioned Esegels,

540-809: The Mongols and other East Asians . Unsurprisingly, Gumilev's teachings have enjoyed immense popularity in Central Asian countries. In Kazan a monument to him was erected in August 2005. The historian Mark Bassin stated that Gumilev's theories are scientifically unproven and problematic but that they have a significant impact in a range of Soviet and post-Soviet contexts. Several researchers, such as Vadim Rossman , John Klier , Victor Yasmann , Victor Schnirelmann and Mikhail Tripolsky describe Gumilev's views as anti-Semitic . According to those authors, Gumilev did not extend this ethnological ecumenism to

570-473: The Persian “Geography“ of 982 named Ishkils as one of three Bulgarian tribes, who were constantly conflicting among themselves. Gardizi , the author of the composition Zain al-ahbar (mid-11th century), wrote: "Between possessions of Bulgars and possessions of Eskels, who also belong to Bulgars, is a Magyar area. These Magyars are also a Türkic tribe" . Constantine Porphyrogenitus wrote that endoethnonym of

600-723: The Western Turkic tribe's endonym, containing Turkic plural and generalizational suffix -GIl and Iranian tribal name As ; she proposes that the As had been originally part of Iranian-speaking Massagetae and joined the Alans in the 1st century CE, yet one group later split from the Iranian-speaking As community, became allies or subjects of the Turks and subsequently Turkicized as Äskils, only to later become enemies of

630-522: The invasion of the West". Gumilev himself expressed similar ideas. The "Eurasian vision" of president Vladimir Putin has allegedly been influenced by Gumilev's ideas. Gumilev identified himself as an Orthodox Christian. Gumilev married in 1967, the year after his mother died. Abu Sa%27id Gardezi Abū Saʿīd ʿAbd-al-Ḥayy ibn Żaḥḥāk ibn Maḥmūd Gardīzī ( Persian : ابوسعید عبدالحی بن ضحاک بن محمود گردیزی ), better known as Gardizi ( گردیزی ),

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660-576: The medieval Jews , whom he regarded as a parasitic, international urban class that had dominated the Khazars and subjected the early East Slavs to the "Khazar Yoke". The last phrase was adapted by him from the traditional term " Tatar Yoke " for the Mongol domination of medieval Russia, a term that Gumilev rejected since he did not regard the Mongol conquest as a necessarily-negative event. Instead, he saw

690-440: The most important is passionarity , or the vital energy of the ethnos. Passionarity is connected to geography—in other words, ethnic groups that developed in certain climatic and geographical conditions "adapt" to their environment, find their "ecological niche" and become part of the energy of their living environment. Each ethnos has its own "behavioural stereotype", which is passed down from parent to child, and could be considered

720-496: The real differences with the Russians, the Tatars are not a people outside us, but within us". He called Tatar a "proud name". Tatar historian Gali Yenikeev (among others) has continued with Gumilev's ideas since. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during a speech in November 2023: " Alexander Nevsky was given the yarlyk [permission] by Golden Horde khans to rule as prince, primarily so that he could effectively resist

750-536: The reasons for Khazar decline. In 1960, he started delivering lectures at Leningrad University . Two years later, he defended his doctoral thesis on ancient Turks . From the 1960s, he worked in the Geography Institute, where he would defend another doctoral thesis, this time in geography. Although the official Soviet authorities rejected his ideas and banned most of his monographs from being published, Gumilev came to attract much publicity, especially in

780-460: The steppe to oppose destructive influences from Catholic Europe , which posed a potential threat to the integrity of Russia. He also saw a distinct Eurasian civilization with there being a unification of the Eurasian peoples around Russia. In accordance with his pan-Asiatic theories, he supported the national movements of Tatars , Kazakhs and other Turkic peoples, in addition to those of

810-585: Was a Soviet and Russian historian , ethnologist , anthropologist and translator . He had a reputation for his highly unorthodox theories of ethnogenesis and historiosophy . He was an exponent of Eurasianism . Gumilev's parents, the prominent poets Nikolai Gumilev and Anna Akhmatova , divorced when he was 7 years old and his father was executed by the Cheka when he was just 9. Gumilev spent much of his adulthood, from 1938 until 1956, in Soviet labor camps . He

840-532: Was an 11th-century Persian historian and official, who is notable for having written the Zayn al-akhbar , one of the earliest history books written in New Persian . Little is known of Gardizi personally. He was probably from Gardiz in the region of Zamindawar , as his nisba implies. His father's name was Zahhak, a name that was seemingly popular in the region. Gardizi started his career as an official of

870-620: Was arrested by the NKVD in 1935 and released, but rearrested and sentenced to five years in 1938. Osip Mandelstam 's " Stalin Epigram " is said to have played a role in his arrest. After release, he joined the Red Army and took part in the Battle of Berlin of 1945. However, he was arrested again in 1949 and sentenced to ten years in prison camps. Aiming to secure his freedom, Akhmatova published

900-582: Was cognate with Äskäl , as the expected Hungarian cognate to Ossetian would have been ** Æčgæl ( Hg . ** Ecsgel ), not székely , the Székely people 's endonym which, in Tatár's opinion, might have developed from Äskil with these sound-changes: loss of first vowel before or after another vowel's appearance between /s/ & /k/, not in Hungarian but in a foreign source language. Tatár reconstructs * Äskil as

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