Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
after the 864 conversion to Christianity. However, the professor notes, the Bulgar period lasted less than 200
years: 'And is insufficiently documented - a major obstacle for modern historians.' Nevertheless, he adds, 'Ar-
chaeology and epigraphy are constantly enriching our understanding of this period.'
The accepted view of the Bulgars having Turkic origins has irritated some Bulgarian scholars since the Nation-
al Revival period; they could not accept being related, however distantly, to their former Ottoman oppressors.
'Some scholars refuse to accept that Asparukh and his warriors spoke a Turkic language,' says Souphoulis. In-
stead, the rival theory forwarded by these nay-sayers argues that the Bulgars were influenced by Iranian culture.
However, despite being 'quite popular' in some circles, 'there is admittedly little solid evidence to support it,'
notes Sophoulis.
What is certain, however, is that the mysterious Bulgars were transformed by their neighbours. 'From early on,
Bulgars and their Slavic subjects interacted and intermarried. As a result, by the late 9th century, the Bulgars had
been absorbed by the numerically superior Slavs,' says Sophoulis. Thus was born a new, Slavic-speaking culture
- the descendents of today's Bulgarians.
A New Identity & New Heights
After Krum's death, several 9th century khans annexed further territory: Khan Omurtag (r
814-831) captured Hungary in 829, and Khan Presian's reign (r 837-852) ended with
Bulgarian control over southeastern Europe, including modern-day Romania, Moldova,
Macedonia and parts of Greece. Presian's territorial gains brought many Macedonian and
other Slavs into his empire; along with Christianity's imminent arrival, this would dramat-
ically change the Bulgars' ethnicity and culture.
Presian's son, Knyaz (Prince) Boris I (r
852-889) cleverly exploited the Con-
stantinople-Rome rivalry; both sought spiritual
control over Bulgaria, and Boris played both
sides. In 863 he, his family and his court were
baptised by Byzantine prelates, but only in 870
did Bulgaria officially go Orthodox, not Ro-
man Catholic. Bulgaria's ruling class was soon
immersed in Byzantine court practices, spirituality and culture. (Today, the Church con-
siders Boris a saint).
Boris displayed further political acumen in sheltering the persecuted disciples of two
Byzantine missionary monks, Kiril and Metodii (Cyril and Methodius), who in 885 were
expelled from Moravia (in today's Slovakia) due to Papal machinations. Kiril and Metodii
had in 855 gone to convert Moravia's Slavs to Orthodoxy, devising an understandable
liturgical language (Old Church Slavonic). Under Boris' and later tsars' sponsorship,
theological schools in Macedonia and Bulgaria would develop the Cyrillic alphabet. Bul-
The 9th-century Bulgar ruler Khan Krum 'the
Dreadful' earned his sobriquet from his ferocity in
battle and his collection of enemy skulls - such as
that of Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus - which he
used as drinking vessels.
