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The Bulgar title KANAΣYBIΓI: reconstructing the notions of divine kingship in Bulgaria, AD 822–836
Author(s) -
Stepanov Tsvetelin
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0254.00077
Subject(s) - monarchy , sovereignty , kana , politics , ideology , history , power (physics) , ruler , ninth , byzantine architecture , ancient history , classics , empire , literature , philosophy , law , linguistics , art , political science , kanji , acoustics , chinese characters , physics , quantum mechanics
This paper deals with the notions of divine kingship, formulated in the Bulgar title KANAΣYBIΓI. The author considers that ΣYBIΓI is the second part of the title and that it can be translated as ‘(ruler) from God’, from the Indo‐European *su‐ and baga‐ , i.e. *su‐baga , connected with notions such as ‘shining’, ‘glimmering’ etc., which were signs of the supreme celestial god. The Bulgars used the Byzantine formula ‘ho ek Theou archon’ as a translation of their original title KANAΣYBIΓI, thus emphasizing the idea of God's approval of the sovereign. This was a typical strategy for the kings in early medieval Europe, both Christians and pagans. Probably the use of KANAΣYBIΓI (AD 822–36) has to be connected with the processes of centralization of power in Bulgaria during the first three decades of the ninth century and with the influence of the two mightiest states of that time in Europe, Byzantium and the Frankish Empire, and most of all with the Bulgar aims to equal and oppose the Rhomaioi (Byzantines) and their political ideology.