 The earliest clear reference to the Avar ethnonym comes from Priscus the Rhetor (died after 472 AD).Priscus recounts that, c. 463, the Šaragurs, Onogurs and Ogurs were attacked by the Sabirs, who had been attacked by the Avars.In turn, the Avars had been driven off by people fleeing "man-eating griffins" coming from "the ocean" ("Priscus Fr 40").