by Marcell Jankovics

     According to the mediaeval chronicles, Magyar (Magor), the ancestor of the Hungarians, and his twin brother, Hunor, were born of a young deer. Eneh, the name of the legendary progenitor, means "deer" in Early Hungarian (the word is üno in Modern Hungarian). The story, which relates the birth of the nation and the establishment of a homeland, is embedded in an account of a deer hunt, an event featured in the heritage of the peoples of Europe and Asia, albeit in many different versions. In the oldest one, preserved by our Finno-Ugrian relations in the Urals, the protagonists are not even men. Instead, they are totemistic animals, one a bird of prey, and the other a wolverine. Together they pursue and catch a mythical deer racing across the sky, and then mate with her. Thus were born the two peoples that henceforth would live side by side in moieties (fraternal exogamy).

     The passage presented here is taken from the so-called Képes Krónika (Illustrated Chronicle), a beautifully illustrated book made in the 1370s on the orders of King Louis I of Hungary. Drawing on the texts of earlier chroniclers (though often disputing their opinions), its author (Márk Káldi), sets the story in a civilised period, starting in the fifth century A. D. This is a time when forebears of the Hungarians moved to the grassy steps north of the Black Sea. This area now forms part of southern Russia.

     Scholars think that it was from Hunor and Magor, the two brothers in the legend that the Hungarians acquired the names by which they are known. "Hunor" gave rise to the name of the Onogur-Bulgarian people and hence to "Hungarus", "hongrois" and "Hungarian". "Magor", on the other hand, produced "magyar", the name used by Hungarians to describe themselves.

     But together with this legend, rooted not only in mythology but also in historical fact, there is an analogous story, one written in the stars. Even today several versions of it survive among the Lapps and the peoples of Siberia, distant relatives of the Hungarians. A reference to this is the disputed name of the legendary forefather mentioned at the beginning of the text, namely that he was called Magog, not Nimrod. In the older Hungarian chronicles he appears as Ménrót, a corruption of the Biblical Nimrod, a name ultimately stemming from Ninurta, the Assyrian-Babylonian equivalent to the constellation of Orion. Orion also features as an ancestral father in Lapp myth, in which the Celestial twins - in another context the Sun and the Moon - chase their antlered mother across the Milky Way. The mother was seen in Cassiopeia, Perseus and Auriga, which taken together indeed conjure up the image of a stag or deer. It is worth mentioning that in the Hungarian folk tradition the nation's guiding star was Cassiopeia, the stag. And, for the sake of comparison, in the Christian stag legends the hunters always see an image of Christ between the antlers of the stag they are pursuing.

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     Hunor and Magor, the ancestors of the Hungarians, were not the sons of Nimrod. Nimrod was the son of Cush, who was the son of Ham, who was cursed by Noah. Therefore, the Hungarians could not have sprung from the sons of Japheth, as is said by St Jerome; the less so since Nimrod never dwelt in the region of the River Tanais, which is in the east but by the ocean sea. As the Sacred Scriptures and the fathers of the Church say, the Hungarians descend from Magog, the son of Japheth. Japheth, according to the chronicle on the eastern nations written by St Sigilbert, bishop of Antioch, entered the land of Evilat fifty-eight years after the Flood with his wife Eneh who bore Magor and Hunor, after whom the Magyars and Huns were named.

     Then it happened one day that they went out hunting, and a deer appeared before them in the wilderness. It fled from them into the marshes of Maeotis, with the hunters in pursuit. When she disappeared without trace, they sought her for a long time, but were quite unable to find her. As they roamed through the marshlands they found them suitable for grazing flocks and herds.

     They returned to their father, and, having received his permission, they entered the Maeotis marshlands with their animals, and there they stayed. The region of Maeotis borders upon Persia, and with the exception of a narrow ford, is surrounded by sea. It is abundant in rivers, vegetation, forests, game and birds. It is difficult to get into and difficult to get out. Having thus arrived in the marshes of Maeotis, they settled there at ease for five years.

     In the sixth year, however, they ventured out. In the wilderness they chanced upon the wives and children of Bereka's sons in their tents who were without their menfolk and were celebrating the feast of the horn. At that moment, as it happened, they were dancing to music. They abducted these women and children swiftly along with their animals, and carried them to the marshes of Maeotis. This was the first pillage after the Flood.

     Thus it happened that in the raid they carried off among the girls two daughters of Dul, prince of the Alans. These two they took as wives. Hunor one and Magor the other. From these women sprang all the Huns and Magyars. While they dwelt in their home among the marshes, they multiplied and began to grow into a mighty nation, so that the land could neither hold them nor sustain them.

     They therefore sent scouts from there into Scythia to spy on that region with great cunning. Then they travelled to that land, with all their children and property, in order to settle there. Upon entering that land, they found it inhabited by Alplozures, who are today called Ruthenes. This population they killed or drove out and, as we know, despite their neighbour's disposition, possess this realm to this day.

     Scythia is a region situated in Europe and stretches eastwards. On one side it is bounded by the Northern Sea and on the other by the Riphaeus Mountains; to the east is Asia and to the west is the River Etel, namely the Don. Its native peoples live a life of ease, and are given to vanities. Their sexual behaviour dishonours nature, and they favour plundering. By complexion, they are generally dark rather than white.

     Although Scythia is a country with one name, it is divided into three principalities: Baskiria, Dentia and Magoria. It has 108 provinces, distributed among clans sprung from the loins of the 108 sons of Hunor and Magor who went from the marshes of Maeotis to Scythia. In the east Scythia is bordered by the land of the Juranians, beyond is Tartary, and finally is Mongolia, where Europe ends. Beyond the southern horizon dwell the Chorasmians, and there Ethiopia is to be found, which is called India Minor. Further on, between the south and River Don stretches the impassable desert. The air of this region is intemperate. Different kinds of snake breed there, along with frogs as large as pigs, basilisks, many venomous animals, tigers and unicorns.

     The River Don is a great river and rises in the land of Scythia. It is called the Etel by the Hungarians. It flows through the snow-capped mountains bordering the land of the Scythians, then changes its name to the Don. Around it to the south live the clans of the Kytans and Alans. The river finally flows in three branches to the Round Sea.

     Another very great river, the Thogata, rises in the land of the Scythians. It flows through desolate woods, marshes and snow-topped mountains where the sun never shines before reaching Hircania and here it turns towards the Northern Sea. Scythia is said to be 360 miles in length and 190 in width.