JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES

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January-March 2011 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume III., Issue 1. _____________________________________________________________________________________ This book is regarded as a breakthrough in Hungarian scientific literature from several points of view. First, the editors did not restrict the idea of belief system to present-day religion, rather –taking in account the contemporary Scythian-Hunnish traditions- they investigated every aspects of life that might have been connected to religion and hence runic script and music. Second, we find philological essays which also provide important cues –when performed with competence– on the Scythian/Hunnish ancestry of Hungarians. On the ground of scientific expertise, the authors demonstrate that the horse-riding nomadic Scythians and their descendants had a highly evolved moral belief system, of which antique authors spoke in high terms, even admitting that Scythians were superior to them concerning morality and jurisdiction. The edition is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, entitled ’The Scythian people and the Western Christianity’, two authors, László Marácz and István Pásztori-Kupán investigated the ancient Eastern, antique and Western Christian historical sources in order to gain insight on how those people saw their horse-riding nomadic pastoralist neighbours. Marácz highlighted how the adversely distorted information amounted to the perverted image of the barbarous, savage Eastern people in the Western Christian world, which has been influencing certain research groups, especially Hungarian historians, right up to the present. István Pásztori-Kupán in his analysis of Biblical literature came to the conclusion that Northern nations were simply the executors of heavenly power that is to say they did not assault their neighbours in their own accord. It prompts us to consider the divine mission of the Scythes. This Biblical concept reappears in relation with the Hunnish Attila since he is considered the whip of God, whose task is to punish the guilty. The second chapter deals with the moral-spiritual education of our Eurasian relatives. The authors –on the base of their autonomous research- review all spiritual schools present on the enormous steppe area under Scythian supremacy. Csaba Z. Tóth analysed the relation of the Scythians with Zoroastrianism meanwhile Katalin Csornai investigated the effects of Mani’s teachings. The Dutch Tjalling Halbertsma summarized the Inner Mongolian Nestorian remembrances. Another series of essays in the second chapter is dedicated to the relation of Scythians with Christianity. The different authors came to more or less similar conclusion, that is our Scythian ancestors adopted Christianity relatively early, when staying at the Black Sea coast. This might be astonishing for those who have the old Western European and Hungarian historical concepts in mind. There are two illustrious linguistic studies in the present edition. The Turkish Karatay Osman examined the origin of the name ’hungar’ and came to important conclusions concerning the Hungarian history. Osman admits that the Hungarians played a decisive political role in the Black Sea region around the 5 th and the 6 th centuries, where they were known as ’hungar’ or ’hungur’ people. He argues that the ’magyar’ or ’madzsar’ name appeared in a later period when Hungarians became independent in the region. Osman proposes new clues to the names of nations or tribal alliances. Katalin Czeglédi demonstrates the Scythian roots of the Hungarian languages through expressions related to the four seasons and the four directions. The third chapter deals with the moral-spiritual education of the inhabitants of the Carpathian basin. Lajos Csomor searched traces of the Hungarian cult of the Virgin Mary among the Caucasian Hunnish people and found some striking similarities. Enikő Ferenczi investigated the etymology of the word ‘Scythian’ which –in her opinion- means laudable, righteous. It is not surprising when we remember that _____________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright Mikes International 2001-2011 180
January-March 2011 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume III., Issue 1. _____________________________________________________________________________________ the Greeks considered the Scythians a virtuous, noble-minded people. Gábor Legenyei-Bodnár studied in turn the remains of the ancient Hungarian belief system in medieval depictions of Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary. An entire chapter is dedicated to the inhabitants of Transylvania (Székely people) for they preserved most of the ancient Scythian/Hunnish heritage. Székelys are rightly proud of the Hungarian runic script (rovás), which in the vast Eurasian territory could only remain alive in the valleys of the Carpathian Mountains. The ancient Scythian and Hunnish rovás script is also analysed in two essays in this outstanding edition. _____________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright Mikes International 2001-2011 181
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