APersonIndependent states
Kubrat
Founder of Old Great Bulgaria (7th century): the khan who freed the Bulgars from Avar and Göktürk rule and whose sons' lines founded the Danube and Volga Bulgar states.
Kubrat was of the Dulo clan and spent part of his youth in Constantinople. In the 630s he united the Bulgar tribes of the Black Sea and Azov steppes into Old Great Bulgaria, became an ally of Emperor Heraclius and received from him the title of patrikios.
According to the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes, Kubrat on his deathbed told his sons to stay together, but after the Khazar attack they parted: Batbayan stayed, Kotrag went north to the Volga, and Asparukh went west to the Danube. The rich gold treasure found at Malaya Pereshchepina in Ukraine is thought to be Kubrat's burial.
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Updated: November 12, 2026