THEOPHANES ON THE BULGARS AND EARLY BULGAR HISTORY

Born in Constantinople ca. 760, Theophanes was the son of high-ranking and wealthy parents. He became a courtier of Emperor Leo IV (775-780) and married Megalo, the daughter of a patrikios (high-ranking court official) who was a friend of the emperor. The marriage was most likely formal and quite short, as both Theophanes and Megalo decided to take monastic vows and to live apart from each other. Theophanes founded a monastery near Sigriane, on the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara, where he remained until 815 or 816. At that time, iconoclasm revived under Emperor Leo V (813-820) and he, like all other monks, was asked to sanction the destruction of images. Theophanes refused and for that he was imprisoned in Constantinople and then exiled to the island of Samothrace, where he died in 818. His Chronography covers the years 285-813 and was written as a continuation of the work of George Synkellos, a fellow monk who had written the history from the Creation to AD 284. In his Chronography, Theophanes presents his account as objective truth, but thinks of himself as no more than a humble narrator. The source that Theophanes used for his account of early Bulgar history is not known, but it may have been a now lost chronicle known as the Great Chronographer. If so, then the ultimate source of that information may have been envoys coming to Constantinople from Bulgaria in the Balkans. At any rate, the geographical description at the beginning of the Bulgar account shows Theophanes' use of earlier sources based on ancient geographical concepts about Eastern Europe more than genuine Bulgar notions of the “homeland.” Translation by Cyril Mango, from The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813 (Oxford, 1997), pp. 497-499.

It is now necessary to relate the ancient history of the Onogundur Bulgars and the Kotragoi. On the northern, that is the far side of the Euxine [Black] Sea, is the so-called Maeotid Lake [Sea of Azov] into which flows a huge river called Atel, which comes down from the Ocean through the land of the Sarmatians. The Atel is joined by the river Tanais [Don], which also rises from the Iberian Gates that are in the mountains of Caucasus. From the confluence of the Tanais and Atel (it is above the aforementioned Maeotid Lake that the Atel splits off) flows the river called Kouphis River, which discharges into the far end of the Pontic [Black] Sea near Nekropela, by the promontory called Ram's Head. From the aforesaid lake is a stretch of sea like a river which joins the Euxine through the land of the Cimmerian Bosporus, in which river are caught the so-called mourzoulin and similar fish. Now on the eastern side of the lake that lies above, in the direction of  Phanagoria and the Jews that live there, march a great many tribes; whereas, starting from the same lake in the direction of the river called Kouphis (where the Bulgarian fish called xyston is caught) is the old Great Bulgaria and the so-called Kotragoi, who are of the same stock as the Bulgars.

In the days of Constantine [Emperor Constans II], who dwelt in the West, Krobatos [Kuvrat], the chieftain of the aforesaid Bulgaria and of the Kotragoi, died leaving five sons, on whom he enjoined not to depart under any circumstances from their common life that they might prevail in every way and not be enslaved by another tribe. A short time after his demise, however, his five sons fell out and parted company, each with the host that was subject to him. The eldest son, called Batbaian, observed his father's command and has remained until this day in his ancestral land. His younger brother, called Kotragos, crossed the river Tanais and dwelt opposite his eldest brother. The fourth and fifth went over the river Istros, that is the Danube: the former became subject of the Chagan of the Avars in Avar Pannonia and remained there with his army, whereas the latter reached the Pentapolis, which is  near Ravenna, and accepted allegiance to the Christian Empire. Coming after them, the third brother, called Asparouch [Asparukh], crossed the Danapris and Danastris [the Dnieper and the Dniester rivers](rivers that are farther north than the Danube) and, on reeaching the Oglos, settled between the former and the latter, since he judged that place to be secure and impregnable on both sides: on the near side it is marshy, while on the far side it is encircled by the rivers. It thus provided ample security from enemies to this tribe that had been weakened by its division.

 When they have thus divided into five parts and been reduced to a paltry estate, the great nation of the Khazars issued forth from the inner depths of Berzilia, that is from the First Sarmatia, and conquered all the country beyond the sea as far as the Sea of Pontos; and they subjugated the eldest brother Batbaian, chieftain of the First Bulgaria, from whom they exact tribute to this day. Now, when the emperor Constantine [IV] had been informed that a foul, unclean tribe had settled beyond the Danube at the Oglos and was overrunning and laying waste the environs of the Danube, that is the country that is now in their possession, but was then in Christian hands, he was greatly distressed and ordered all themata [provincial armies] to cross over to Thrace. He fitted out a fleet and moved against them by land and sea in an attempt to drive them away by force of arms; and he drew up his infantry on the land that faces the so-called Oglos and the Danube, while he anchored his ships by the adjoining shore. When the Bulgars had seen the sudden arrival of this enormous armament, they despaired of their safety and took refuge in the aforementioned fastness, where they made themselves secure. For three or four days they did not dare come out of their fastness, nor did the Romans join battle on account of the marshes that lay before them. Perceiving, therefore, the sluggishness of the Romans, the foul tribe was revived and became bolder. Now the emperor developed an acute case of gout and was constrained to return to Mesembria [now Nesebur, in Bulgaria] together with five dromones [warships] and his retinue so as to have the use of a bath. He left behind the commanders and the army, whom he ordered to make simulated attacks so as to draw the Bulgars out of their fastness and so engage them in battle if they happened to come out; and if not, to besiege them and keep watch over the defences. But the cavalrymen spread the rumour that the emperor was fleeing and, being seized by fear, they, too, fled, although no one was pursuing them. When the Bulgars saw this, they gave pursuit and put most of them to the sword and wounded many others. They chased them as far as the Danube, which they crossed and came to Varna, as it is called, near Odyssos and the inland territory that is there. They perceived that this place was very secure, being guarded at the rear by the river Danube, in front and on the sides by the Pontic Sea. Having, furthermore, subjugated the so-called Seven Tribes of the neighboring Sclavinian nations, they settled the Severeis from the forward mountain pass of Beregaba in the direction of the east, and the remaining six tribes, which were tributary to them, in the southern and western regions, as far as the land of the Avars. Having thus extended their domains, they grew arrogant and began to attack and capture the forts and villages that belonged to the Roman state. Being under constraint, the emperor made peace with them and agreed to pay them yearly tribute. Thus the Romans were put to shame for their many sins.