Perémi Ágota (szerk.): Hadak útján. Népvándorlás Kor Fiatal Kutatóinak XXIII. konferenciakötete (Veszprém, 2016)
Szalontai Csaba: Inteperszonális kapcsolatok a bizánciak és az avarok között
Csaba Szalontai INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE BYZANTINES AND THE PANNONIAN AVARS (A RUN-DOWN) In this thesis we examinethat according to the historical events described in Greek written sources, what kind of interpersonal relationships did exist between the Pannonian Avars and the Byzantine population. The relations of these people are well-known from written sources; their interactions probably went well beyond military and diplomacy to commerce and down to personal level. Items of Byzantine origin among Avar archaeological finds and the abundance of gold in the early Avar Age are hard evidence for these relations. Another evidence for this relationship was the appearance of leprosy among the Avar population. The development and spread of leprosy is typically linked to urban civilizations.The Avars encountered such environment already during the early stages of their appearance in Europe; in the colonial cities of Pontus or even in the cities of the Empire itself. In this thesis we try to take a closer look how the pathogen could reach the Avars. Naturally, we are aware that it's impossible to determine the exact moment of the passing of the pathogen after one- and-a half milennium. Our goal to examine those everyday moments in the lives of both nations that may be important, but we haven't come to know them in detail yet. The events described in the sources are linked to war and peace times, mainly. The vast majority of the stories recorded are the various tactical actions of warfare. Considering that nearly 100 thousand people could participate or could be affected by such events, we can assume that there were a great deal of instances when the pathogen could reach the Avar population. It's enough to recall the movement of armies, the battles, the occupation of cities, the destruction of the land, or the deportation of the captives. Besides the military events, the contact by envoys of the two nations played an equally important role. No less than 35 Avar legations were sent to the Byzantine emperor, and we know about 23 that were sent to the Avars. The envoys and their escort were active participant of the interpersonal relationships. As a result of our examination, we can establish the sources recorded many such events that were suited for the pathogen of leprosy reaching the Avar population from the Byzantines. 55
