EurasianStudies_0110..

January-March 2010 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume II., Issue 1.
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Establishment of the state
Sworn brotherhood – the act through which two or more men, who are not relatives, become brothers
by mixing their own blood – was the main important act for establishing a state in steppe society. It is
impossible to follow entirely the historical process of this custom, because we have no written sources of
that time. It is likely that this kind of form was used in the period of tribe-organisations, in order to
strengthen the friendship between two or more leaders. When the tribes developed and entered into a
higher stage, the leaders of the tribe-alliance concluded an alliance among them and thus created the
state, which was regulated in the beginning by spoken oath (oral constitution). They chose a king or
princess from a highly respected clan, who had outstanding ancestors as Maodun, Attila or later, Chingis
Khan. It was obligatory for both parties to keep the oath. According to the remained texts these alliances
served multiple purposes: military alliance, union of clans or tribes, or as I mentioned above, create the
state. Because the bow stretching people or steppe people concluded their agreements orally, – when this
custom was recorded later, firstly by foreign chroniclers, then by Hunnic people or their descendants
themselves – the recorded customs exhibit various forms. The steppe people of the Eurasian steppe belt
used the words ant or and for sworn brotherhood ship. The etymological dictionaries defined these
words as oath. It is possible to have another meaning, as friend, as the Hungarian dialect shows it. 20 The
first mention of the word ant in written sources can be traced back to the Turkic period; 21 in one Avarian
tomb in Zamárdi, Hungary, archaeologist unearthed a belt with inscription, where the word ant was
imprinted into a belt-hook with runic script. Other evidence for early appearance of this word can be
found in Turkic texts in Siberia. They refuted Wang Kuo-wei’s earlier theory, that words ant, and
originated from the Khitan language. 22
Among ancient historians Herodotus was the first, who recorded the custom of sworn brotherhood
among Scythians. He summarised the elements of the alliance in the following way: they pricked
themselves, or cut a wound in their body (mainly arm), their blood was poured into a vessel and mixed
with wine. They dipped their sword, bow, bard or lance into the mix, and then the parties proclaimed
the purpose of their alliance, and finally drank the mixture of blood and wine. 23 Besides the external
sources there is also an inner one about the existence of sworn brotherhood among Scythians;
archaeological findings from Russia contain Scythian artefacts on which Scythian craftsmen portrayed
that scene. Among the later ancient writers, Pomponius Mela and Solinus recorded the Scythian sworn
brotherhood. Sima Qian and later other Chinese sources dealt with the customs of the Huns, where that
kind of alliance can be found, too. Huns offered sacrifices to the Heaven (Tengri) at that occasion and
sacrificed white horse on that occasion. If we investigate the friendship alliance among the
bow-stretching or steppe people, we can find it at each of them. 24 We do not know exactly how many
alliances were established within the steppe state. The Hungarian scholar Hóman Bálint mentioned, that
20 Wang Kuo-wei thought that word and, ant meant friend.
21 Clauson, 1972. Doerfer, 1965, II., 128.
22 Liao-si. 1949, 111.
23 Herodotus: IV. 70.
24 Detailed information about that: Obrusánszky, 2005.
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