The Account about Proto-Bulgarians in Theophanes Confessor and Patriarch Nikephoros. Philological Notes

Afinogenov Dmitry E.

The detailed account on the history of the Proto-Bulgarian people, their wanderings from the Sea of Azov and Kuban basin over the North shore of Pontus Euxeinos and eventual settlement in Byzantine Thrace looks like an isolated piece of text everywhere it is found in the works of Byzantine historians. The aim of the article is to show that stylistic considerations make it hardly possible to associate this fragment with either of the two hypothetic lost sources which covered Byzantine history of 685–718 and 717–775. The manner in which the text is written betrays provenance from the imperial chancellery.

Keywords: Proto-Bulgarians, Theophanes Confessor, Patriarch Nikephoros.
References:
  1. Chichurov I.S. 1976: Jekskurs Feofana o protobolgarah // Drevnejshie gosudarstva na territorii SSSR. Materialy i issledovanija. M., 65–80.
  2. Chichurov I.S. 1980: Vizantijskie istoricheskie sochinenija: «Hronografija» Feofana, «Breviarij» Nikifora. Teksty, perevod, kommentarij. M.
  3. Afinogenov D. 2002: A Lost 8th Century Pamphlet against Leo III and Constantine V? // Eranos. 100, 1–17.
  4. Afinogenov D. 2005: The source of Theophanes' Chronography and Nikephoros' Breviarium for the years 685–717 // Христианский Восток. 4, 3–14.
  5. Afinogenov D. 2012: Conflated Accounts in Theophanes’ Exposition of the History of Byzantium in the Seventh Century // Doron rhodopoikilon. Festschrift J.O. Rosenqvist. Uppsala, 39–47.
  6. Georgii Monachi chronicon 1978: Georgii Monachi chronicon / C. de Boor (ed.). Editio stereotypa correctior, cur. P. Wirth. Stuttgart.
  7. Liddel H.G., Scott R., Jones H.S., McKenzie R. 1940: A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxf.
  8. Nikephoros… 1990: Nikephoros Patriarch of Constantinople. Short History. Text, translation and commentary by C. Mango. Washington.
  9. The Chronicle… 1997: The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Byzantine and Near East History AD 284–813 / C. Mango, R. Scott (eds.). Oxf.
  10. Theophanis Chronographia 1883: Theophanis Chronographia / C. de Boor (ed.). Lipsiae.