He is mentioned in the account of Bishop Israel of Caucasian Albania, who travelled to Alp Ilutuer's court. During his stay in the land of Huns in 681—682, Israel condemned their pagan beliefs and practices and preached Christianity. His converts offered him to establish and lead a patriarchate there through a special request sent by Alp Iluetuer himself to Eliezer, the Catholicos of Caucasian Albania. However, the request was turned down due to Israel already having been assigned a congregation in Mets Kolmanķ.
Alp is an Old Turkic word meaning "hero", though it also sometimes was used as a personal name. Ilutuer or Elteber is believed to be a cognate of the ancient Turkic title for a vassal ruler (in this case, vassal to the Khazars). Therefore, it is unclear whether Alp Ilutuer is a proper name, a title, or a combination of the two.
In the 670s, he provoked raids against the Khazars and heroically died in war. Alp Iluetuer is still remembered in Bulgar and Chuvash legend.[citation needed]
His name is reconstructable in Old Turkic as *Alp (H)elitbär.
The Khazars were a nomadic Turkic people that, in the late 6th-century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, and Kazakhstan. They created what for its duration was the most powerful polity to emerge from the break-up of the Western Turkic Khaganate. Astride a major artery of commerce between Eastern Europe and Southwestern Asia, Khazaria became one of the foremost trading empires of the early medieval world, commanding the western marches of the Silk Road and playing a key commercial role as a crossroad between China, the Middle East and Kievan Rus'. For some three centuries the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus.
The Bulgars were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 5th-7th century. They became known as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region, but some researchers believe that their ethnic roots can be traced to Central Asia.
Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus, mostly in what is now Azerbaijan. The modern endonyms for the area are Aghwank and Aluank, among the Udi people, who regard themselves as descended from the inhabitants of Caucasian Albania. However, its original endonym is unknown.
The Sabirs (Savirs, Suars, Sawar, Sawirk among others; were a nomadic Turkic equestrian people who lived in the north of the Caucasus beginning in the late-5th -7th century, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, in the Kuban area, and possibly came from Western Siberia. They were skilled in warfare, used siege machinery, had a large army and were boat-builders. They were also referred to as Huns, a title applied to various Eurasian nomadic tribes in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe during late antiquity. Sabirs led incursions into Transcaucasia in the late-400s/early-500s, but quickly began serving as soldiers and mercenaries during the Byzantine-Sasanian Wars on both sides. Their alliance with the Byzantines laid the basis for the later Khazar-Byzantine alliance.
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state with large numbers of Bulgars, Finno-Ugrians, Varangians and East Slavs. Its strategic position allowed it to create a local trade monopoly with Norse, Cumans, and Pannonian Avars.
Tarkhan is an ancient Central Asian title used by various Turkic, Hungarian, Mongolic, and even Iranian peoples. Its use was common among the successors of the Mongol Empire and Turkic Khaganate.
The Khuni, Huni or Chuni were a people of the North Caucasus during late antiquity. They have sometimes been referred to as the North Caucasian Huns and are often assumed to be related to the Huns who later entered Eastern Europe. However, the ethnolinguistic and geographical origins of the Khuni are unclear.
An elteber was a client king of an autonomous but tributary tribe or polity in the hierarchy of the Turkic khaganates including Khazar Khaganate.
Israel was the bishop of Caucasian Albania in the latter part of the 7th century. In 682, he led an unsuccessful delegation to convert Alp Iluetuer, the ruler of the North Caucasian Huns, to Christianity. Israel wrote about the customs of the Huns, including the local cult of Tengri.
The history of Azerbaijan is understood as the history of the region now forming the Republic of Azerbaijan. Topographically, the land is contained by the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains in the north, the Caspian Sea in the east, and the Armenian Highlands in the west. In the south, its natural boundaries are less distinct, and here the country merges with the Iranian Plateau.
The Arab–Khazar wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Khazar Khaganate and successive Arab caliphates in the Caucasus region from c. 642 to 799 CE. Smaller native principalities were also involved in the conflict as vassals of the two empires. Historians usually distinguish two major periods of conflict, the First Arab–Khazar War and Second Arab–Khazar War ; the wars also involved sporadic raids and isolated clashes from the mid-seventh century to the end of the eighth century.
Caucasian Albania was a kingdom in the Caucasus, which was under the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire from 252 to 636.
Shad was a state office in the early Central Asian Turkic states, roughly equivalent to governor. "Shad" could only be an appointee over a vassal tribe, where he represented interests of the preeminent Kagan. The name of this tribe was included in his title. For example, Tardu-shad could only be a Shad over Tardu tribe. The title carried autonomy in different degrees, and its links with the central authority of kagan varied from economical and political subordination to superficial political deference. The title Shad is borrowed from an Iranian source.
The Church of Albania or the Albanian Apostolic Church was an ancient, briefly autocephalous church established in the 5th century. In 705, It fell under the religious jurisdiction of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the Catholicosate of Aghvank centered in Caucasian Albania, a region spanning present-day northern Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan.
Alp is a Turkish masculine name meaning "hero". It has been used as a title, a given name, and a surname.
The Roman Empire influenced parts of Caucasian Albania.
Old Great Bulgaria, also often known by the Latin names Magna Bulgaria and Patria Onoguria, was a 7th-century Turkic nomadic empire formed by the Onogur-Bulgars on the western Pontic–Caspian steppe. Great Bulgaria was originally centered between the Dniester and lower Volga.
In the history of Azerbaijan, the Early Middle Ages lasted from the 3rd to the 11th century. This period in the territories of today's Azerbaijan Republic began with the incorporation of these territories into the Sasanian Persian Empire in the 3rd century AD. Feudalism took shape in Azerbaijan in the Early Middle Ages. The territories of Caucasian Albania became an arena of wars between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire. After the Sassanid Empire was felled by the Arab Caliphate, Albania also weakened and was overthrown in 705 AD by the Abbasid Caliphate under the name of Arran. As the control of the Arab Caliphate over the Caucasus region weakened, independent states began to emerge in the territory of Azerbaijan.
The Lupenians or Lpins were a historical tribe that lived in modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan in antiquity. The Lupenians were mentioned in several sources in different languages. They are equated with Pliny's Lupenii, dwelling south of the tribe of Silvii (Chola), just next to the Diduri and near the frontier of Caucasian Albania. Agathangelos renders their name in Greek as Lifénnioi. The Ravenna Cosmography mentions their land as "Patria Lepon" situated next to Iberia and the Caspian Sea. The Tabula Peutingeriana also mentions the Lupenii. Vladimir Minorsky proposed later Arabic versions as well. They were probably related to the Caucasian Albanians.
Eghiazar was the Catholicos and head of Caucasian Albanian Church in the late 7th century.
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