Към корените на тюркско-иранския синтез: сведенията на османския историк Шюкруллах за произхода на българите

Author(s): Delyan Rusev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The origin and ethnogenesis of the (Proto-)Bulgarian tribes in the Early Middle Ages is a complex topic that has captured the imagination of many historians, medieval and modern alike. The present paper analyzes one relevant account from Bahjat al-tavârikh, a universal history in Persian composed in 1458 by the Ottoman scholar and diplomat Shukrullâh. This highly idiosyncratic but hitherto neglected account presents the Balkan Bulgarians (burjān, bulgatān) as descendants of the Sasanian shah Hormozd IV (r. 579 – 590) who allegedly spent some time in Byzantium (Rûm) while he was a prince. As Hormozd himself is said to have been born from the marriage of Khosrow I Anushirvan (r. 531 – 79) with the daughter of the khagan of the Turks, this legendary evidence seems to imply the mixed Turco-Iranian origin of the Bulgarians – a view shared by some modern researchers. The genesis of the account remains obscure, but contextual and historical analysis has shown that it was not invented by Shukrullâh, who only reproduced it from an unknown source probably dateable to the 8th – 11th centuries.

В новите броеве на списанията на ,,Аз-буки“ четете

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The Museal Production of Hungary’s Inorganic Past and Poland’s Postponed Victory

Author(s): Rose Smith / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

More than thirty years after the fall of communism, both Hungary and Poland are still trying to reinvent their national identity by understanding their pasts. As flagship museums of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary Civic Alliance (Fidesz) in Hungary and Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice Party (PiS) in Poland, the House of Terror (Terror Háza) in Budapest and the Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) have been used as epistemological tools in advancing the governing party’s respective memory politics. Within their portrayal of the nation’s contemporary past, these museums also endorse a particular national identity that serves the political desires of both Fidesz and PiS. This article traces how the museums present and signify the nation and how they articulate the national identity espoused by the museum. The author borrows methodological approaches from museum studies and formulates her own research protocol, which identifies three layers of national identity articulation: the presentation of the nation, the representation of the nation, and the political production of national identity.

ENTRE BONS USAGES ET NOUVEAUX VOISINAGES. PATRIMOINE(S) ET FRONTIÈRE(S) DANS LA RÉGION DE STRANDZHA (BULGARIE)

Author(s): Olivier Givre / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2023

Focusing on the Bulgarian side, the article addresses the post-socialist heritage dynamics which value the border dimension of the Strandzha area, shared between Bulgaria and Turkey since 1913. Strandzha’s location at the south-eastern edges of Bulgaria, and on the delineation of the former iron curtain, has shaped the idea of an isolate, but also a natural and cultural “conservatory”, to be protected from external harms. The image of Strandzha oscillates between the two poles of a shelter-territory and a movement place, a space of autochthony and anchorage. The border symbolizes thus a spatial and cultural rip, calling for the reassertion of the “qualities” of a marginalized space. The article scrutinizes the building of a “sense of heritage” in this border area, laying on the ambivalent feelings of the loss of its geographical and cultural unity, and of its preserved authenticity against all odds. This heritage dimension resonates with the assessment of an uninterrupted decline, delayed by the state interventionism during the socialist period, but worsened by the post-socialist upheavals and posing sharp interrogations about its future.

The Popular Preachers and Storytellers (Quṣṣāṣ) – The Earliest Historians, Exegetes, and Legal Specialists in Islam

Author(s): Pavel Pavlovich / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2023

Popular preachers and storytellers (quṣṣāṣ; sg. qāṣṣ) appeared towards the middle of the first/seventh century and quickly became the earliest informal historians and exegetes in Islam. Before long, the Umayyad caliphs recognized the political impact of their sermons and institutionalized preaching and storytelling (qaṣaṣ) as a state office. Notwithstanding this fact, informal qaṣaṣ did not vanish altogether, sometimes giving voice to pious discontent with the ruling dynasty. In the present study, I demonstrate that during the Marwānid period qaṣaṣ was combined with judgeship and other official positions. A comparison with documentary sources suggests that during the same period the term qāḍī (judge) was not yet used, and it may have been retroactively grafted onto the Umayyad past by early ʿAbbāsid historical literature. Literary sources also imply the existence of regional hierarchies of quṣṣāṣ. During the second/eighth century, qaṣaṣ lost its significance to the professional collection and transmission of traditions (ḥadīth) for the needs of Islamic jurisprudence and exegesis. Ḥadīth transmitters and critics eventually came to dismiss the quṣṣāṣ with contempt and derision.

Оценка на символите на модернизацията в България на границата на XIX и XX век в описанията на руски пътешественици

Author(s): Nikita Gusev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

The article provides a discursive analysis of the descriptions of Bulgaria compiled by Russian travelers in the first years after the fall of S. Stambolov and the normalization of relations between the two countries, in semiotic and axiological aspects. Publications in newspapers and books of those years, materials of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art are compiled. On their basis, the features of Bulgarian public life that the authors paid the most attention to are highlighted: urban improvement, political development, attitude to religion and culture. Based on the analysis of the attitude to these symbols of modernity and Westernization, it is assumed that the descriptions of Bulgaria by Russian eyewitnesses contain elements of both oriental and occidental discourse, and the descriptions are based on a comparison of Bulgaria with an ideal modernization project.

Монография за цар Фердинанд и европеизацията на България

Author(s): Aleka Strezova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

Приносите в новата монография за българите в Турция

Author(s): Kalina Peeva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

Научна конференция на тема „Фактори на икономическия растеж в историческа перспектива“

Author(s): Ivan Roussev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

Правосъдие, власт и общество – исторически паралели

Author(s): Albena Simova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

The Liberation of Vidin by the Romanian Army

Author(s): Alexandru Madgearu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Romania entered in the war after the bombardments executed by the artillery from Vidin against Calafat. The same fortress was the target of the last part of the campaign of the Romanian army in Bulgaria. Vidin had a great importance in the history of the Bulgarian people during the Middle Ages, and later for the Ottoman Empire, who occupied it in 1396. Later on, the region of Vidin was involved in attempts of liberation of the country (the uprisings of 1841 and 1850). The massacres which followed in the Vidin region as well as in other part of Bulgaria after the rebellion of June 1876 were the pretext taken by Russia to start the war, in which Romania took part effectively from 16/28 July 1877. After the valuable participation at the siege of Plevna, the Romanian army received the mission to operate in the north-western Bulgaria. A Western Corps commanded by general Nicolae Haralambie was constituted for this purpose (Divisions 1, 4 and Reserve, and the 1st Brigade from 2nd Division). These forces arrived on 25 December 1877/January 1878 on the line Arcear – Belogradcik. Meanwhile, the Serbian army was too marching toward Vidin, but Prince Carol I rejected the proposed cooperation. A secondary action of the offensive against Vidin was the blockade of Belogradcik. The Romanian forces arrived near Vidin began the attacks against the redoubts on 29 December 1877/10 January 1878. The encirclement was completed on 11/23 January 1878, but the commander of the city Mehmet Izzet Pasha continued the resistance. In the second part of the operation, between 12/24 and 14/26 January 1878, the Romanian positions moved to a smaller distance toward the defences of the city. In the third part of the operation which began on 15/27 January 1878 The fortress was continuously bombarded by the batteries settled around it, and by those from Calafat, until the capitulation of 11/23 February, when a convention was signed with general Gheorghe Manu. Vidin entered under Romanian administration. The retreat of the Romanian troops from Vidin and Belogradcik was made in several stages until the first days of April 1878, they being replaced by the Russians. The liberation of Vidin was executed only by the Romanian forces. Romania had no intention to annex Vidin or the entire region of Timok, as some rumours pretended.

Участието на Османската империя на международното изложение във Филаделфия през 1876 година

Author(s): Simeon Tonchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

The article examines the presentation of the Ottoman Empire at the Philadelphia International Exposition in 1876, putting two main tasks in the study. On the one hand, it follows the coverage of the exhibition in the press of the Bulgarian Revival period, mostly by the American Protestant newspaper Zornitsa, which introduced to its readers the five main sections of the exposition, some inventions shown for the first time, and specific exhibiting countries. On the other, the Turkey’s preparations, participation in the fair and its results are studied in detail. For this purpose, a comparative and an idiographic approachеs are applied. In the end, new information on the subject regarding the preparation in places in the empire, as well as examples of Bulgarian participation, is presented. Turkey impresses visitors with high-quality carpets and an authentic Turkish café. Foods, goldsmith’s works, coming from the Bulgarian lands, and rose oil of two Kazanlak companies are exhibited.

Историята на Хераклея Синтика през призмата на aрхеологията

Author(s): Ivo Topalilov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

Балканските войни в полезрението на военните историци

Author(s): Boyan Zhekov,Kalin Ranchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

В новите броеве на списанията на ,,Аз-буки“ четете

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

A Comparative Overview between Zangs gling ma and Previous Texts on Padmasambhava

Author(s): Iulian Lucian Maidanuc / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

This paper compares the five texts regarding Padmasambhava written before Zangs gling ma (dBa’ bzhed and four manuscripts discovered in Dunhuang - Pelliot tibétain 44, IOL Tib J 321, IOL Tib J 644 and Pelliot tibétain 307) with the texts from Zangs gling ma, in an attempt to identify similarities and differences between them and to reach conclusions resulting from examining them together. The paper also addresses the question of historical credibility of Zangs gling ma, taking into consideration its connection with dBa’ bzhed, as well as the question on length of Padmasambhava’s stay in Tibet, by identifying texts in Zangs gling ma that refer to places in Tibet where the master stayed.

Wendy Doniger, An American Girl in India: Letters and Recollections, 1963-1964, New Delhi: Speaking Tiger Books, 2022, 254 pp., ISBN: 978-93-5447-285-5

Author(s): Cătălina-Ioana Pavel / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Review of: Wendy Doniger, An American Girl in India: Letters and Recollections, 1963-1964, New Delhi: Speaking Tiger Books, 2022

Mihaela Gligor and Elisabetta Marino (Eds.), Tagore beyond Borders: Essays on His Influence and Cultural Legacy. London, New York: Routledge, 2023, 150 pp., ISBN: 978-1-032-11208-4 (hbk), ISBN: 978-1-032-13334-8 (pbk).

Author(s): Diana-Viorela Burlacu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Review of: Mihaela Gligor and Elisabetta Marino (Eds.), Tagore beyond Borders: Essays on His Influence and Cultural Legacy. London, New York: Routledge, 2023.

Гръцката консулска мрежа в българските земи преди Освобождението

Author(s): Yura Konstantinova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2023

The aim of the proposed study is to trace the creation and the development of the Greek consular network in Bulgaria in the second half of the19th century. The topic has not been the subject of scientific research so far, but is important for understanding the unequal positions with which the Balkan states enter the period of their independent existence. The study of the Greek consular network on the Balkans also makes it possible to outline the priorities in Athens' foreign policy, as well as to trace the importance it assigns to its compatriots left outside the borders of the free Greek state. Last but not least, it is of interest to Greece to fight to preserve the privileged status it enjoys under the regime of capitulations. However, this effort creates serious problems in Greece's bilateral relations with the Ottoman Empire and with Bulgaria in post-liberation period.

В НОВИТЕ БРОЕВЕ НА СПИСАНИЯТА НА ,,АЗ-БУКИ“ ЧЕТЕТЕ

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2023