The Proto-Bulgarian Ethnos
The Proto-Bulgarians to the east, in Central Asia (the Altai
Mountains and the Minusinsk valley). The Proto-Bulgarians inhabited the regions to the
north of the Caucasus in close neighbourhood with Georgians and Armenians during the
fourth century. They belonged to the Turkic ethno-linguistic group and were kindred in
tongue to the Huns, Khazars and Avars. In the course of time they mingled with tribes of
Indo-European origin such as the Alans and Sarmatians. Later, in the sixth century they
interacted with the Slavs either in invading Byzantium or by serving as its mercenaries.
The state alliance based around the Don and known as 'Great old Bulgaria' (from the end of
the 6thcentury to 660) after the death of its ruler Khan Kubrat
disintegrated under the pressure of the Khazars. A major proportion of these Bulgarians,
led by Kubrat's sons, Asparouh and Kouber, set out for the Danubian basin. Another group,
led by Alzek, travelled west, reaching what is today Northern Italy. In 680 the
Proto-Bulgarian group of Khan Asparouh (some 250-300 thousand people) settled in the
Danube delta area. They constituted the basic nucleus of the new state called Bulgaria,
which later gradually came to include the Slavs of the Bulgarian group. Asparouh's brother
Kouber, who initially settled with his people in Panonia, left there around 685 due to a
disagreement with the Avar khan, moved east and settled in the Bitola country, for which
reason Byzantine chroniclers called his settlement 'Bulgaria' too. These two kindred
ethnic groups maintained close and active relations. An inscription uncovered near the
village of Madara, Razgrad region, and a number of Byzantine chronicles testify to this.
Thus, by the end of the 'great migration of the peoples' a new political and national unit
had emerged - the Bulgarian Khanate, later on a kingdom. This took place at a time when
Rome was latinizing its barbaric conquerors and turning them to civilization, while
Byzantium was rent by internal religious dissent and involved in wars with its Asian
neighbours. While the Thracians were assimilated by the Slavs prior to the formation of
the new state, the Proto - Bulgarians and the Slavs followed a relatively independent
course of development within the boundaries of the same state until the end of the ninth
century. The Proto-Bulgarians inhabited mainly North-Eastern Bulgaria, although traces of
them have been discovered in Western Bulgaria, the Rhodope mountains and Macedonia (in the
area to the north of Salonika, where Kouber's group settled.
The Proto-Bulgarians had a well developed literary tradition. In the new state, however,
their script was not put to use, for the Greek script was in currency as a more effective
means of communication between the various ethnic groups. A great number of stone-carved
Bulgarian inscriptions in Greek or Proto-Bulgarian symbols chronological, victorious and
memorial - testify to the existence of an advanced 'historical memory'. The Turnovo
inscription of Khan Omourtag (816 - 831) is indicative of this: 'Man, even if he lives
well, dies and another is born. Let the man born last, when he looks at this, recall the
man who has made it.' Chronological inscriptions disclose that the Old Bulgarian calendar
was one of the most accurate and perfected calendars of the time. Old Bulgarian chronology
was based on a twelve-year cycle, each individual year being designated by the name of an
animal.
Stone sculptures and reliefs were an intrinsic part of the art of the Proto-Bulgarians.
The fortress gates of Pliska, the first Bulgarian capital, were ornamented with stone
figures of lions - the symbol of state power. Particularly noteworthy is the relief near
the village of Madara - the Madara Horseman, which dates from the mid-eighth century. It
has not so far been established what this relief signifies, whether it is a real picture
of a Bulgarian khan, a symbol of the khan's power, a depiction of a mythological character
or a personification of Tangra, the Proto-Bulgarians' supreme God. There are stone
engravings, drawings and graffiti in the early Proto-Bulgarian centres all depicting
horsemen, some of which are totally identical to the one at Madara. The totemistic
religion of the Proto-Bulgarians held the horse a sacred animal. The banner of the
Proto-Bulgarian troops consisted of a horse's tail attached to a spearhead. During the
pagan years of the Bulgarian state the standard of the Bulgarian rulers remained the same.
The Slavs made up the bulk of the population of the newly-formed state, and it was they
who shaped the infant nation. In the first half of the 9th century the process of ethnical
assimilation and consolidation spread to all areas in which Slavs of the Bulgarian group
predominated. Towards the middle of the ninth century the Slavs prevailed, bilingualism
came to an end, and the Slavonic language became official. Initially the language of
Kouber's Proto-Bulgarians and later on that of Asparouh's Proto-Bulgarians disappeared.
Thus they lent their name only to the new state. There are various assumptions as to the
origin of the name 'Bulgarian'. According to some, 'Bulgarian' designates a man who tans
or deals in hides; according to another hypothesis, the name derives from 'Bulga' - the
name of an animal that lived in the steppes of Central Asia and was renowned for its fine
fur, and which in all likelihood was a Proto-Bulgarian totem centuries before our times.
The name of the new state, no doubt, derives from the one-time Great Bulgaria (Kubrat's Bulgaria) and is a recognition of the major role the
Proto-Bulgarians played in the war against Byzantium as well as in the construction of the
entire military and administrative apparatus, and in the building and strengthening of the
new state organization. The lands populated by Slavs of the Bulgarian group were soon
retrieved from Byzantium. One stone inscription in Greek from the time of Khan Pressian
(836-852) calls the khan a 'God-appointed ruler of the many Bulgarians'. In 842 Macedonia
from the Western Rhodopes to the cities of Ohrid and Prespa, Moesia and Thrace were
stable, integral parts of Bulgaria. By that time the name 'Bulgarians' had come to signify
people, primarily Slav in origin, who had prevailed over the Proto-Bulgarian element in
the consolidation of the nationality as a lasting historical category.
The rise of the Bulgarian state was reflected in many a Western European chronicle. In
addition to the above-mentioned chronicle of Monk Siegebert (1030-1112), important events
relating to the new political formation on the Balkan Peninsula were mentioned in the
so-called Kavena Chronicles of the 11th century, Andrei Dandalo's chronicle and the
so-called Istoria Palatina of the 14th century. Bulgaria played an important part in the
early stage of the European Middle Ages, when more progressive feudal relationships were
taking hold and states were formed on the basis of nationality. Bulgarian troops, posted
by Khan Tervel, helped rescue Constantinople from the Arab expansion of 717-718. In later
years (805th, the Franks and the Bulgarian Khan Krum jointly destroyed the Avar Khanate in
Panonia. Thus this aggressive and warlike alliance, which for many centuries had hindered
the formation of independent national states in Central Europe was eliminated.
Particularly important during the Middle Ages were Bulgaria's relation with Byzantium.
For further information, please contact Mr. Neytcho
Iltchev, to whom you can send your remarks and recommendations. Telephone: +359 2 9842
7579 ; Fax: +359 2 981 1719. E-mail: neylegrand@ifrance.com;
nbulgaria@yahoo.com.
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