|
Kanasubigi Omurtag, who succeeded his father Krum to the throne in 814, ruled till 831. Omurtag waged successful wars against the Frankish Empire and the Khazars, and the new borders of the Bulgarian state were established further northwest near Belgrade and Branichevo. To the east the state expanded all the way to the Dnieper. Those wars were started by Bulgaria's enemies and, according to historical sources, Khan Omurtag's ships sailed up to the middle reaches of the Danube. Only the wars with Byzantium were a failure, and the results marked a turning point in Bulgarian diplomacy. A peace treaty was signed for a period of thirty years, alleviating tension at the Bulgarian-Byzantine border. Byzantine prisoners were exchanged for Slavs from the imperial territories. When concluding the peace treaty, the two rulers expressed their respect for each other, each taking oath by the other's ritual the Byzantine Emperor performed the Bulgarian pagan rite and Khan Omurtag's envoys went through the Christian ceremony. Here's a famous exchange Khan Omurtag had with Cinamon of Byzantium. ?If you praise the Sun and the Moon {as gods} - says Cinamon to Omurtag - and make me wonder at their magnificence, and I do wonder, I still find them creations and servants not only to God but also to us, the human beings.? To which Khan Omurtag answers: ?Do not abase our gods! Their power is great and you can judge about it from the fact that we, who pay homage to them, conquered the whole land of the Romans.? Moreover, the Bulgarian army helped suppress a peasant revolt against the basileus in Constantinople, led by Thomas the Slav. With diplomatic skill and military power Omurtag managed to handle the Hungarians too, thus maintaining peace for his subjects. He took firm control of internal affairs, completing the process of Bulgaria's consolidation as a unified and powerful state. He married a Slav and then gave his firstborn son a Slavic name: Enravotha, but then he also gave a Slavic name to his second son: Zvinitsa. Now that carried powerful symbolism. Here was the Khan of Bulgaria, giving Slavic names to his children! It is clear that the Bulgars, who were the ruling elite, were hell bent on making one nation out of the peoples of Bulgaria. And because they were the ruling elite, they were going to push the Slavic agenda. The Bulgars pushed for Slavic names, Slavic culture and especially the Slavic language, because the Bulgars were the ruling class. That is why modern Bulgarian is so lexically dominated by the language of the Slavs. Omurtag's rule was firm, whoever dared to encroach on Bulgaria's territory or to impair the power of the state was punished severely. From the beginning, religious freedom reigned in Bulgaria, everyone was free to worship whom ever and how ever they wanted. Everyone except the Christians that is. Bulgarians saw Christians, Christian priests especially, as agents of Byzantine. And they were right. Byzantine was the Holy Christian Roman empire, it went out of it's way to convert everybody, and used religion as a political tool. Khan Omurtag persecuted the preachers of Christianity who came to Bulgaria from neighboring Byzantium. Even his firstborn son Enravotha who had dared to adopt Christianity fell victim to this persecution and was denied succession to the throne. The years of peace allowed the Khan to engage in active construction. The large constructions of the Bulgarians in Pliska, Madara and Preslav are from this period.
Of all the things Khan Omurtag had built, the Madara rider is probably the most famous one. There is still a lot of controversy over who it depicts. Is it Khan Krum and his triumph over the Roman Emperor, or is it Khan Tervel and his triumph over the Roman Emperor? The lion being killed represents the Roman Emperor. The dog following relates to the religions beliefs of the Bulgars. The inscriptions surrounding the figures, talk about the "Uncles in Macedonia...", a reference to Dragon and Kuber. The whole thing was constructed where an important Thracian site of worship used to be. Clearly this was Omurtag's attempt to merge the Thracian hero-horseman worship with the Bulgars. Yet another example of the lengths to which he went to unify and merge the peoples of Bulgaria. The capital, which had been burned by the Byzantines, was restored. A new palace, a ceremonial hall and an internal fortified wall were erected. The new palace-fortress on the river Ticha was adorned with two lions standing on four pillars - a symbol of Bulgarian power. An inscription on a stone pillar found near the construction site reads: "May God let the ruler he put into power trample upon the emperor as long as the Ticha flows, as long as.. .he reigns over the multitude of Bulgarians and overcomes his enemies." The Khan erected another fortified palace on the Danube. The memorials of his
time provide a precious account of the way of life of medieval Bulgarians, of
their culture and of Khan Omurtag's hope that the new state would endure.
Inscriptions on pillars and stones have immortalized the deeds of the Khan and
his men. Conscious of the transience of human life and the imperishability of
what has been made by human hands, he ordered the following inscription to be
made on a pillar in 831: "A good life though he may have led, a man shall die and another shall be born. May the later-born who see this remember its creator".
| ||
