We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The main focus of this article is the primary publication of several sphragistic finds discovered in 2014 as a result of archaeological excavations in the town of Pomorie (the ancient and medieval Anchialos). The finds are as follows: 1. Molybdobul of Pakurianos Arshakides, protokuropalates (1080s – beginning of 12th c.), fig. 1 – 2. The specimen was imprinted with the same boulloterion as the example published by W. Seibt (Seibt, W. ‘Arsakídis ..., JÖB, 44, N. 6b).2. Lead seal with metrical inscription, which belonged to a clergyman (second half of 11th c.), with image of St Basil the Great on the obverse, fig. 3 – 4. There are no known parallels to this seal. It probably belonged to certain Bishop or Metropolitan, who wrote to the spiritual leader of Anchialos. 3. Early Byzantine lead seal or trade stamp with a block monogram (6th – 7th c.), fig. 5, there are no known parallels.4. Early Byzantine lead seal or trade stamp with a block monogram (6th – 7th c.), fig. 6, there are no known parallels. The last two artifacts were initially two completely separate items, which later interconnect and formed an ingot with a very irregular round shape, weight of 20,83 g., size of 25 mm in its widest point. The thickness of the ingot in its different parts varies between 4 and 8 mm. On both sides, some pieces had been broken off and in those places it is visibleto the naked eye that the resulting overall lead body actually consists of two welded together individual layers. The block-monogram of the second stamp is much larger than the first one (the overall size of the monogram, as well as the size of its components) and it was rotated, in comparison with the first one to 40 – 45° counter clockwise. This also proves the conclusion that the found ingot is not a fragment of a lead seal or trade stamp, but actually represents two originally completely separate lead imprints. 5. Byzantine lead seal with a metrical legend, probably of a private person (12th c.), fig. 7 – 8, there are no known parallels. The published finds not only enrich the amount of sphragistic artifacts connected to Pomorie, but also contributeto the understanding of the life of medieval Anchialos.
More...
As a whole, besides the Kutrigurs, who had adopted the Avar dynasty, Bulgarian tribes and the affiliated Utigurs-Unogondurs in North Caucasus, the regions of Kuban and along the sea of Azov came under Turkic dominance. At the same time they had a certain level of autonomy which became explicit from the chronicles of the Utigurleader Anagay. There is another historic event which supports the former one from 619 AD represented by the Byzantine chronicler Nicephorus, which refers to Organa’s personality.
More...
It is doubtless that attempts to present the relations and struggles between the First Bulgarian state and principalities of Serbs since the second quarter of the 9th century on wards are a challenging task. Of course the vast majority of research initiatives are highly dependent on the nature and quantity of the preserved written evidences. The peculiarities of the source base on the history of Early Medieval Bulgaria and even to a larger extent quite modest volume of notices about the earliest history of Serbs from their settlement on the Balkans until the beginning of the 11th century reduce the aspects that can be traced. However, the problem of prisoners of war and abducted population provides an opportunity for inflicting some additional touches.
More...
Some biographical facts about the life of Nikola pop Lazarov are clarified in the following article. In mart-april 1811 he writes a copy of the Gheravna transcription of the History of Paisiy of Hilendar in the town of Ruse after which he returns to his home town of Elena. There, in 1820 – 1821 he comes across another transcription of the History of Paisiy (by Hilendar from 1820) containing additional new records about the life of Saint Dimitar of Besarbovo. Perhaps due this in 1824 he visits the Ruse region again – his name can be found on the church in Krasen village and in the rock monastery near the village of Besarbovo.
More...
The author pointed his attention again on the interesting findings of 1943 in Sfântu Gheorghe, Covasna County in Rumania: a destroyed grave and the discovered inside it sword. According to the hypothesis of A. Kiss and R.R. Heitel, the grave was connected with the early penetration of Hungarians in Transylvania. The author launched a new opinion on this case, using several available data connected with this topic. First of all, most authors who investigated the region of Central Southern Carpathians agree that there are no early Magyarian necropolises (of first half of 10th century) found there. Secondary, the ritual characteristic of the 1943 grave in Sfântu Gheorghe is not typical only for the Magyars in the 9th – 10th centuries, but it is typical also a for other ethnic groups and people who lived in the region before them, among them – Avars and Proto-Bulgarians. It is interesting that until now there was no attempt to connect the 1943 Sfântu Gheorghe grave with the well documented evidence: both by historical sources and finds of material culture of Bulgarian presence in that region as well as cemeteries. They are mentioned by a numbers of authors with the term Bulgarian expansion in Transylvania the 9thand 10th centuries. The author totally agreed with the thesis that the sword in the above mentioned grave of 1943 in Sfântu Gheorgheis of Byzantine origin but this is another find which evidenced the Bulgarian invasion in this region during that period.
More...
The paper try to give answer on the questions about arms and armour used from Byzantine warriors in the final years of life of independent Greek States and in the remaining year still the end of 15thc when Ottoman rule will put an end on the military tradition brought by different social layers. The author’s opinion is that tracing post Byzantine society we can reveal weapons and tactics used by Romaioi before capture of Constantinople by the turks. Pivotal pointsare Italian sources from 1470s that mention a new type of military formation. Mentioned by Marino Sanudo, Philip de Comin and Molines like “stradiotto, stradioti”, they will become very popular in European war theatre. Besides written sources are used representations in works of art. They represent warriors with no typical for Western Europe outfit.
More...
The present paper discusses the problems of medieval authority and ideology through the prism of therelation “power – name” while dealing with the medieval elite’s anthroponym system and one of its popular andronymic constituents in particular – the name “John”. The purpose of the paper is to reveal the political and the socio-cultural connotations and charisma behind the andronym under question. A diachronic research, based on an interdisciplinary approach, is carried out in order to study the distribution of the name “John” among the hierarchs and monarchs of themedieval Christian world. The results of the research show relatively high frequency of the anthroponym among the representatives of both political and church elites in Byzantium and the Orthodox common wealth as well as among the Roman popes. The paper stresses on the special use and popularity of the andronym among the rulers of the Second Bulgarian Tsardom. The name “John” acquired a specific political and ideological power within the late medieval Bulgaria,and transformed into a kind of anthroponymic symbol that charged the mystic aura of the tsars and demonstrated their dynastic legitimism, ergo their sovereignty. Two main reasons can explain this phenomenon: 1) The cult of St. John ofRila, the saint patron of medieval Bulgaria; 2) The charisma of Tsar John Asen II and its very successful reign (1218 –1241) which marked the culmination phase of the Second Bulgarian Tsardom. This ideological model, laid upon the name tradition, was later inherited by the voivodes of the medieval principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia who borrowed thepower code of the andronym “John” thus absorbing the political ideology of the Bulgarian tsars and historically legitimizing their own authority.
More...
During the last decades of the 10th and the beginnings of the 11th the Byzantine idea about elimination of the Bulgarian kingdom has been realized after fifty years war later called Bulgarian epopee. The events are described with details in the chronicles of contemporaries like Leo the Deacon, John Skylitzes, George Kedrenos. After nearly half a millennium, Byzantium was again involved in a long continued fighting with another wave ofinvading barbarians across the Danube – Pechenegs, Uzi and later Cumans. The territories south of the river, mainly former provinces of Misia and Scythia, merged into the new theme Paristrion, again were subjected to devastation, looting and destruction of the population. The permanent settlement of the Pechenegs between the Danube and Hemus contributed to the inevitable change of the ethnic setting. In the second half of the 11th c. the Empire lost actual controlof these lands for nearly half of century. These crucial events for Byzantium are mentioned in writings of authors like John Skylitzes, Kekaumenos, Michael Psellos, Michael Attaleiates and Anna Komnene. Besides from the written sources wehave data from various treatises, letters, official documents – imperial novels and charters, taktikons, and a numbers of hagiographuc writings and documents of church administration and vitae. We receive information from the works of some Eastern and Western writers, contemporaries of the events and later compilers. Unfortunately the native sources about the seevents are only few – Bulgarian apocryphal chronicle and some inscriptions. For these events from the end of the 11th until the beginning of the 13th c. we have numerous and quite full and detailed written sources of contemporaries and later compilers –Byzantine authors Anna Komnene, Nikephoros Bryennios, John Kinnamos, John Zonaras, Michael Glycas, Nicetas Choniates, George Akropolites, Theodore Skutarios and George Pachymeres. We find in the text of the geographer Al-Idrisi many important data on trade, economy, roads, shipping and general situation in the Empire during the 12th c.
More...
The current article presents an accidental monetary find from the medieval town of Prossek (the FormerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia). An attempt is made for a precise dating of the coin, using some of the features of this numismatic piece. Based on its dating, it could be linked to the events occurring around the restoration of the independent Bulgarian state by Theodore-Peter (IV) and John I Assen, as well as with the struggles in the lands of Macedonia related to the medieval history of both Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire in which the leading role was played by Dobromir Chrysos.
More...
The article explores the hypothesis of Turkic or Indo-European origin of the early Bulgarians and the state. The analysis of names and titles shows that they are not part of the Turkish, but rather belong to the Sarmatian or Indo-Iranian inheritance.
More...
Аfter occupying power in 1917, the Council of People’s Commissars has set the task to build a strong army to consolidate the achievements of the October Revolution and overcome their opponents. The article examines the initial phase of compilation of the Red Army and the actions taken to organizing and centralizing. The original image of the Guard is an undisciplined army with poor morale and low military value. The principle of voluntariness in the formation of red lines have a negative effect. The choosing of L. Trotsky for military commissioner changes the situation. By voluntarily composed of red squads, the army of the new government for a year and a half turns into a wellorganized, trained, regulated and politicized huge military machine.
More...
The communist state monopolized and directed the cultural sphere but, in opposition to traditional accounts, I maintain that it was not a domination based on destruction. As I show, communist censorship did not emerge in a vacuum but drew on local traditions, institutional continuities and historical particularities, as much as on ideological improvisation and practical expediency. Whereas the censorial system was certainly effective in defending the state’s cultural monopoly, it is an overstatement to cast the socialist culture as the offspring of the censor’s pencil. The institutional censorship seems often trapped between its ambition to engage actively in cultural production and the supervisory powers granted by its charter.
More...
In the ancient world, recommendation was an important expression of patronage, effecting introduction, mediation, problem‑solving. Christianity took over and adapted Roman models to suit new realities of Christian travel and hospitality, pastoral care, recruitment, career advancement (clerical as well as ascetic), the articulation of communion and orthodoxy, among others. This paper explores the functions of late antique Christian recommendation practices, its complex and often ambiguous typology, with particular emphasis on the correspondence – or discrepancy – between evidence collected from extant papyri, canonical prescriptions, and examples from epistolary corpora of known authors.
More...