Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Byzantium & the Bulgars: War & Peace
In AD 330 Roman emperor Constantine the Great founded Constantinople (modern Istan-
bul) at ancient Byzantium. Constantinople became the Eastern Roman Empire's capital,
with a co-emperor ruling in Rome. Bulgaria (and most Balkan territory) fell under the
eastern half. Up through the 6th-century rule of Emperor Justinian the Great, Bulgaria was
relatively stable, and great structures like Sofia's original Church of Sveta Sofia were
built. However, Slavs, Avars and Bulgars would increasingly threaten the Byzantine
Balkans.
Around 632 Turkic Bulgars migrated south-
west. These warlike Central Asian tribes were
archetypical steppe nomads - skilled horse-
men, archers and superstitious pagans. The
Bulgars roamed from the Caspian Sea to the
Black Sea steppes and, when united under
Khan Kubrat, soon were roaming Bulgaria too.
The Byzantines could not repel or assimilate this horde; the Turkic tribes gradually settled
down, subjugating the Slavs, Greeks and Thracian remnants.
Khan (Tsar) Asparuh (r 681-700) created the First Bulgarian Empire (681-1018), based
at Pliska near modern-day Shumen. The empire expanded south and west under Khan
Tervel (r 701-718), who helped the Byzantine army repel an Arab advance on Con-
stantinople.
Periods of bloody conflict and wary peace followed between Byzantium and the Bul-
gars, reaching a dramatic climax when Khan Krum 'The Dreadful' (r 803-814) besieged
Constantinople after the Byzantines destroyed Pliska. However, while preparing a new of-
fensive, Krum died unexpectedly; in Constantinople, the pagan ruler's untimely demise
was interpreted as divine providence.
The early Turkic Bulgars practised pagan traditions,
such as worshipping the spirits of their dead relat-
ives.
THE MYSTERIOUS BULGARS
The enigmatic Bulgars are a scholarly curiosity. In 2012 their lost culture and historical contributions were vividly
recounted by Panos Sophoulis in his monograph,
Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831
. So who were these people?
According to Sophoulis, a University of Athens history professor, who spoke to Lonely Planet for this topic, the
Bulgars were 'steppe-warriors, culturally and linguistically related to the Eurasian nomads - and therefore, quite
distinct from the Slavs'. They were distinguished by the 'political, social, military and religious traditions they
brought from the steppes'. Elements of these traditions, 'like their fighting methods and titulature', survived even
