Dulo

of the Dulo clan. The Dulo clan was a ruling dynasty of the Bulgars, who were of Turkic origin. It is generally considered that their elite was related to the Huns and the Western Turkic Khaganate. Particularly, it is said that the Dulo descended from the rulers of Old Great Bulgaria. This state was a centralized monarchy from its inception, unlike previous Hunno-Turkic political entities, which were tribal confederations. The royal family and rulers of Old Great Bulgaria (632–668) and the first half of the First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018), in their prince lists (Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans) claimed through descent from Attila through Irnik, possibly Attila's attested son Ernak. During the pagan period, the succession of clan leadership was based on traditions brought over to the Balkans from the Eurasian Steppe, which include the rulers' divine ancestry. At the head of the clan was the Khan, who reigned as the head of state, military leader, and probably high priest of the Bulgar god, Tangra.

of the Dulo clan.]] The Dulo clan was a ruling dynasty of the Bulgars, who were of Turkic origin. It is generally considered that their elite was related to the Huns and the Western Turkic Khaganate. Particularly, it is said that the Dulo descended from the rulers of Old Great Bulgaria. This state was a centralized monarchy from its inception, unlike previous Hunno-Turkic political entities, which were tribal confederations. The royal family and rulers of Old Great Bulgaria (632–668) and the first half of the First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018), in their prince lists (Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans) claimed through descent from Attila through Irnik, possibly Attila's attested son Ernak. During the pagan period, the succession of clan leadership was based on traditions brought over to the Balkans from the Eurasian Steppe, which include the rulers' divine ancestry. At the head of the clan was the Khan, who reigned as the head of state, military leader, and probably high priest of the Bulgar god, Tangra. ===Origin=== The exact origin is obscure. Some researchers consider that the origin of the clan most probably was Turkic. This proposition was suggested by Mikhail Artamonov, and was prompted by Lev Gumilev (1967), implying there may be made an association of the Dulo clan with the five Duolu (or To-lu) tribes of the Western Turks. The First Turkic Khaganate (552–581) dissolved during the Göktürk civil war (581–593) and divided into Western and Eastern Khaganates. The Western was led by Onoq (ten arrows), the five Duolu and five Nushibi tribes. Many modern historians consider that the first historical Bulgar ruler Kubrat belonged to the Dulo clan of the Western Turks - the so-called alliance of Onogurs and Bulgars. B. Zhivkov emphasized that Duolu and Nushibi were tribal confederations, and not ruling dynasties. Some historians have even identified the Western qaghan Moheduo (Külüg Sibir) with Organa, the maternal uncle of Kubrat. Accurately or not, it still points to the rivalry between the Bulgars, led by Kubrat from the Dulo clan, and the Khazars, led by the Ashina clan. Omeljan Pritsak further considered the connection of the name of Dulo clan with the name of the old Xiongnu ruling house 屠各 Tuge (in Old Chinese d'o-klâk). This association could further prove the link between Xiongnu and Huns (as well Huns and Bulgars). Peter B. Golden surmises that the Xiongnu tribal surname 獨孤 Dugu (< d'uk-kuo) or 屠各 Tuge (< d'o-klâk) possibly reflects underlying Turkic *Tuğqu or *Tuğlağ "tribe of the tuğ?" yet still considers the Turkic association as speculative. Mercia MacDermott claimed that the Dulo clan had the dog as its sacred animal. MacDermott considered that the Bulgarian expression preserved to this day "he kills the dog", in the meaning "he gives the orders", is a relic of the time when the Dulo Khan sacrificed a dog to the deity Tangra in the name of the whole community. Some modern Bulgarian scholars, the most prominent of them, namely Peter Dobrev, argued that the Turkic names of the animals in the Bulgar calendar (also found in the Nominalia) show that the Turkic peoples had borrowed these words from the Iranian language (Bulgars). However, according to Raymond Detrez, this theory is rooted in the periods of anti-Turkish sentiment in Bulgaria, and is ideologically motivated. As such the proto-Bulgar language (of the group which established the state of Bulgaria), was claimed to be of Iranian language although it is generally accepted it was Turkic of Oghuric branch and related to modern Chuvash. Aleksandar Burmov noted that the medieval writers under various names mentioned Huns and Bulgars, and some authors mentioned them as separate ethnic categories. The cases of mixing information for Bulgars and Huns in some authors, as well as possible rapprochement of the names Avitohol – Attila and Irnik – Ernak, do not give reason to draw a line of equality between the two ethnic groups. According to Burmov there is no historical evidence that the Bulgars and Huns lived in the same territory. Burmov, Peter B. Golden, Gyula Németh and Panos Sophoulis concluded that claiming of Attilid descent shows the intermingling of European Huns elements with newly arrived Oğuric Turkic groups, as the number of evidence of linguistic, ethnographic and socio-political nature show that Bulgars belonged to the group of Turkic peoples. ===Etymology=== B. Simeonov derived Dulu from Turkic dul/tul (big, powerful, giant; war horse), and saw Dulo as partly Slavicized form. Simeonov derived *Dullu from Old Hunnic dul + lu (mounted, horseman), yet according to Peter B. Golden, no such Hunnic word is attested. According to G. Clauson, Old Turkic tul denotes "widow, widower". Golden, citing Lajos Ligeti (1986), wondered if Dulo resulted from Slavicism of Turkic title Yula. Even so, all hypotheses P. B. Golden considers for now as speculative. ==Legacy== Dulo Hill on Livingston Island, near Antarctica, is named after the Bulgarian ruling dynasty Dulo.

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