nomadic confederation · Central Asia and the Steppe

Utigurs

480 CE – 576 CE (approx.)

A Bulgar nomad people east of the Sea of Azov whom Justinian set against their kinsmen the Kutrigurs in the 6th century.

Origins

The Utigurs appear in Byzantine sources in the early 6th century as one of the two main Bulgar or Hunnic groups of the Pontic steppe, living east of the Don and around the Sea of Azov, with the related Kutrigurs to the west. Procopius traces both to two brothers, sons of a Hunnic king.

Rule and society

They were pastoral nomads led by chiefs, and Byzantium paid them subsidies to keep them as allies. In 551 and again after the Kutrigur raid on Constantinople in 559, Justinian persuaded their ruler Sandilch to attack the Kutrigurs, and the two peoples wore each other down in prolonged warfare.

Decline and legacy

The Avars and then the Western Turkic Khaganate subdued the Utigurs, who were under Turkic rule by 576. They later joined Kubrat's Old Great Bulgaria together with the Onogurs and Kutrigurs, before the Khazars absorbed the region.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

More states of Central Asia and the Steppe →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Utigurs. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/utigurs
MLA
“Utigurs.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/utigurs. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Utigurs.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/utigurs.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Utigurs’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/utigurs (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻