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95-420: Pliska was the first capital of Bulgaria. According to legend, it was founded by Asparuh of Bulgaria in the late 7th century; this legend is archaeologically unsubstantiated. The site was originally an encampment, with the first tent-shaped buildings at Pliska of uncertain date. No evidence exists of a settlement before the 9th century, and claims that the site dates from Late Antiquity have been contested. By

190-423: A council at Hieria , which was attended entirely by iconoclast bishops. The council agreed with Constantine's religious policy on images, declaring them anathema , and it secured the election of a new iconoclast patriarch. However, it refused to endorse all of Constantine's policies, which were influenced by the more extremist iconoclasts and were possibly critical of the veneration of Mary, mother of Jesus , and of

285-565: A 'purple birth' predated the construction of the chamber, but it gained a literal aspect from the chamber's existence. The porphyry was reputed to have come from Rome and represented a direct link to the ancient origins of Byzantine imperial authority. Constantine also rebuilt the prominent church of Hagia Eirene in Constantinople, which had been badly damaged by the earthquake that hit Constantinople in 740 . The building preserves rare examples of iconoclastic church decoration. With

380-488: A chronic medical condition, possibly epilepsy or leprosy ; early in his reign this may have been employed by those rebelling against him to question his fitness to be emperor. Immediately after Constantine's accession in 741, his brother-in-law Artabasdos , husband of his older sister, Anna , rebelled. Artabasdos was the stratēgos (military governor) of the Opsikion theme (province) and had effective control of

475-630: A church that appeared to be subservient to the political establishment. In concentrating on the security of the empire's core territories he tacitly abandoned some peripheral regions, notably in Italy, which were lost. However, the hostile reaction of the Roman Church and the Italian people to iconoclasm had probably doomed imperial influence in central Italy, regardless of any possible military intervention. Due to his espousal of iconoclasm Constantine

570-790: A consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able military leader, Constantine took advantage of civil war in the Muslim world to make limited offensives on the Arab frontier . With this eastern frontier secure, he undertook repeated campaigns against the Bulgars in the Balkans . His military activity, and policy of settling Christian populations from the Arab frontier in Thrace , made Byzantium's hold on its Balkan territories more secure. He

665-545: A divine punishment. In the 9th century, following the ultimate triumph of the iconodules, Constantine's remains were removed from the imperial sepulchre in the Church of the Holy Apostles . Assiduous in courting popularity, Constantine consciously employed the hippodrome , scene of the ever-popular chariot races , to influence the populace of Constantinople. In this he made use of the 'circus factions', which controlled

760-410: A greater extent from secular, fiscal and manpower, considerations than from a reaction to their theology. Constantine carried forward the administrative and fiscal reforms initiated by his father Leo III. The military governors ( στρατηγοί , stratēgoi ) were powerful figures, whose access to the resources of their extensive provinces often provided the means of rebellion. The Opsikion theme had been

855-491: A large area. A few areas appear to have been inhabited by people who provided services or took part in craft production for the palace centre, and agriculture clearly took place within the earthen rampart around the Outer Town. There was clearly a fair amount of open ground inside the earthen rampart. Henning concludes that the settlement was initially built for military and strategic reasons, and could not really be considered

950-640: A large brick cistern that moved water from the Kriva river to the Inner Town via ceramic pipes. This cistern had attached rooms containing private baths. Only certain parts of the archaeological site of the city have been properly investigated. One of the most thoroughly researched is the Asar-dere area just to the west of the stone fortification surrounding the Inner Town. Four clay-made furnaces have been discovered in this area, suggesting that Pliska possessed

1045-506: A monastery, his son Vladimir succeeded him and attempted to reestablish paganism. During this period (889–93) the large stone basilica at Pliska built under Boris was heavily damaged. Boris left his monastery to overthrow his son, and after succeeding, relocated the capital to the nearby town of Preslav which seems to have been a centre of Christianity in the state. Following this Pliska's relevance in Bulgar governance steadily declined until

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1140-722: A new silver coin, the miliaresion ; worth one-twelfth of a gold nomisma , it soon became an integral part of the Byzantine economy. In 726, Constantine's father issued the Ecloga ; a revised legal code , it was attributed to both father and son jointly. Constantine married Tzitzak , daughter of the Khazar khagan Bihar , an important Byzantine ally. His new bride was baptized Irene ( Eirēnē , "peace") in 732. On his father's death, Constantine succeeded as sole emperor on 18 June 741. Historical accounts of Constantine make reference to

1235-514: A number of unsuccessful embassies to the Lombards, Franks and the papacy to demand the restoration of Ravenna, but never attempted a military reconquest or intervention. The successes in the east made it possible to then pursue an aggressive policy in the Balkans. Constantine aimed to enhance the prosperity and defence of Thrace by the resettlement there of Christian populations transplanted from

1330-482: A pause in Byzantine military operations. Constantine retired to Bithynia to avoid the disease and, after it had run its course, resettled people from mainland Greece and the Aegean islands in Constantinople to replace those who had perished. In 751 he led an invasion into the new Abbasid Caliphate under As-Saffah . Constantine captured Theodosiopolis and Melitene , which he demolished, and again resettled some of

1425-428: A result of this defeat, the empire was forced to sign a treaty recognizing the Bulgar state in 681. Despite the area having been for some time under the de facto control of various Slavic tribes, the emperors of Byzantium had kept up the fiction that the area was still imperial, as up to 681 no true state had replaced imperial rule. This was the first time that the Byzantine empire officially acknowledged another state in

1520-527: A royal church and as a national patriarchal cathedral , can be seen in the reserve. Under Ottoman rule, the village known as Pliska since 1947 was instead called Aboba (Ağa Baba in Ottoman times), a name which it kept until 1925, when the name was changed to Pliskov, a variant of the current name. The settlement has a population of 1,124 and is located 146 m above sea level in Shumen Province at

1615-479: A specialized pottery making capabilities and an urban economy at some point during its development. Initially, such finds were interpreted to show that early on the settlement relied upon pastoral and agricultural activities, and later developed sophisticated craft techniques. This interpretation was further supported by the relatively late dating of the first occurrences of glazed ceramic ware found in Pliska. At

1710-406: A typical city (with all of the associated trade, production, and population) until the period after Bulgaria converted to Christianity in 864/5. Most of the stone architecture in Pliska was built between this conversion and eventual Byzantine conquest of the city in 971. The buildings from this era show a clear Byzantine influence in their design and function. For example, a 4 kilometre-long canal fed

1805-709: The Armeniac theme . The event is sometimes dated to 742, but this has been shown to be wrong. Artabasdos struck against Constantine when their respective troops combined for an intended campaign against the Umayyad Caliphate ; a trusted member of Constantine's retinue, called Beser, was killed in the attack. Constantine escaped and sought refuge in Amorion , where he was welcomed by the local soldiers, who had been commanded by Leo III before he became emperor. Meanwhile, Artabasdos advanced on Constantinople and, with

1900-473: The Balkans . Pliska was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire between 681 and 893 AD. According to a Bulgarian chronicle, it was founded by Khan Asparuh . At its greatest extent, it had an area of 21.8 km (8.4 sq mi) and was surrounded by earthen ramparts. A smaller stone fortification was built inside these ramparts and this contained a palace and buildings belonging to

1995-673: The Black Sea . When Asparukh and his warriors entered the region south of the Danube, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV was upset and led an army to prevent the Bulgars from remaining there. The Byzantine expedition against the Bulgars ended disastrously and after defeating the imperial forces, Asparukh forced the nearby Slavic tribes to pay tribute to him, while leaving their tribal organization intact. As

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2090-687: The Byzantine capital Constantinople was besieged by Muawiyah I , Caliph of the Arabs (674–678), he and his people settled in the Danube delta , probably on the now-disappeared Peuce Island . After the Arab siege of Constantinople ended, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV marched against the Bulgars and their Slav allies in 680 and forced his opponents to seek shelter in a fortified encampment. Compelled to abandon

2185-587: The Dnieper in Ukraine. The town of Isperikh , several villages and Asparuh Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands , Antarctica are named after Asparuh of Bulgaria. Constantine V Constantine V ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Κωνσταντῖνος , translit.   Kōnstantīnos ; July 718 – 14 September 775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw

2280-607: The Golden Gate of Constantinople by the circus factions. Telets was assassinated in the aftermath of his defeat. In 765 the Byzantines again successfully invaded Bulgaria, during this campaign both Constantine's candidate for the Bulgarian throne, Toktu , and his opponent, Pagan , were killed. Pagan was killed by his own slaves when he sought to evade his Bulgarian enemies by fleeing to Varna , where he wished to defect to

2375-434: The saints . The council confirmed the status of Mary as Theotokos ( Θεοτόκος ), or 'Mother of God', upheld the use of the terms "saint" and "holy" as legitimate, and condemned the desecration, burning, or looting of churches in the quest to suppress icon veneration. The Council of Hieria was followed by a campaign to remove images from the walls of churches and to purge the court and bureaucracy of iconodules, however,

2470-623: The Arabs, freeing his army for offensive campaigning in the Balkans. With Constantine militarily occupied elsewhere, and the continuance of imperial influence in the West being given a low priority, the Lombard king Aistulf captured Ravenna in 755, ending over two centuries of Byzantine rule in central Italy. The lack of interest Constantine showed in Italian affairs had profound and lasting consequences. Pope Stephen II , seeking protection from

2565-400: The Asar-dere area of the archaeological site, it was believed that the craft activities attested by Milčev showed that site did not become a true large town until the later ninth or early tenth century, however Henning shows that this may have occurred in reverse order. Ceramic fragments on the floors of many of the pit-houses suggested (based on their depth in the soil) at first that the pottery

2660-420: The Balkans. Constantine V was a highly capable ruler, continuing the reforms – fiscal, administrative and military – of his father. He was also a successful general, not only consolidating the empire's borders, but actively campaigning beyond those borders, both east and west. At the end of his reign the empire had strong finances, a capable army that was proud of its successes and

2755-454: The Bulgarian khans states that Asparuh belonged to the Dulo clan and reigned for 61 years. This long period cannot be accepted as accurate due to chronological constraints, and may indicate the length of Asparuh's life. According to the chronology developed by Moskov, Asparuh would have reigned 668–695. Other chronologies frequently end his reign in 700 or 701 but cannot be reconciled with

2850-494: The Bulgarian state in the first century or two after its establishment is readily apparent, Bulgarian historians have stressed the establishment of a capital and of a state tradition that could be viewed retrospectively as national. According to a late tradition, Asparuh died fighting the Khazars on the Danube. According to one theory, advanced by the Bulgarian historian Vaklinov, his grave is located near Voznesenka ("Ascension") on

2945-495: The Bulgarian state was destroyed by the Byzantine general turned emperor (when he murdered the previous emperor Nikephoros Phokas ) John Tzimiskes . He defeated the Kyivan Rus' forces that had occupied Bulgaria and annexed the Bulgarian lands all the way to the Danube, ending the rule of the first Bulgarian state in these territories. During this Rus' and Byzantine war over Bulgaria, Pliska was destroyed between 969 and 972 and

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3040-759: The Bulgarians in the next year, scoring a victory over Kormisosh's successor Vinekh at Marcellae . In 759, Constantine was defeated in the Battle of the Rishki Pass , but the Bulgarians were not able to exploit their success. Constantine campaigned against the Slav tribes of Thrace and Macedonia in 762, deporting some tribes to the Opsician theme in Anatolia, though some voluntarily requested relocation away from

3135-425: The Bulgars had been nomadic prior to building their capital at Pliska, and when they began to cooperate with the local Slavs (which formed a strong majority of the new state's population) a mixed pastoral and agricultural economy developed. The Inner Town, which was likely built later in the settlement's existence, consisted of a palace, basilica and aristocratic buildings inside a stone fortification. The Inner Town

3230-490: The Byzantine Empire paid the Bulgars an annual tribute. These events are seen in retrospect as the establishment of the Bulgarian state and its recognition by the Byzantine Empire. In later tradition Asparuh is credited with building the major centers of Pliska and Drăstăr , as well as at least one of the Bulgarian limes walls from the Danube to the Black Sea . While the multi-tribal and hegemonic character of

3325-489: The Constantinopolitan mob, though he was subsequently allowed to stay in office. Artabasdos, having fled the capital, was apprehended at the fortress of Pouzanes in Anatolia, probably located to the south of Nicomedia . Artabasdos and his sons were then publicly blinded and secured in the monastery of Chora on the outskirts of Constantinople. Like his father Leo III, Constantine supported iconoclasm , which

3420-574: The Danubian delta down to the Balkan range. Asparuh's victory led to the Bulgarian conquest of Moesia and the establishment of some sort of alliance between the Bulgars and the local Slavic groups (described as the Severi and Seven Slavic tribes ). As Asparuh commenced to raid across the mountains into Byzantine Thrace in 681, Constantine IV decided to cut his losses and conclude a treaty, whereby

3515-585: The Emperor. The cumulative effect of Constantine's repeated offensive campaigns and numerous victories caused considerable instability in Bulgaria, where six monarchs lost their crowns due to their failures in war against Byzantium. In 775, the Bulgarian ruler Telerig contacted Constantine to ask for sanctuary, saying that he feared that he would have to flee Bulgaria. Telerig enquired as to whom he could trust within Bulgaria, and Constantine foolishly revealed

3610-516: The Empire was extended and food became cheaper; between 718 and c. 800 the corn (wheat) production of Thrace trebled. Constantine's court was opulent, with splendid buildings, and he consciously promoted the patronage of secular art to replace the religious art that he removed. Constantine constructed a number of notable buildings in the Great Palace of Constantinople , including the Church of

3705-630: The Equestrian " ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Καβαλλίνος , translit.   Kaballinos ), referencing the excrement of horses. Constantine was born in Constantinople , the son and successor of Emperor Leo III and his wife Maria . In the Easter of 720, at two years of age, he was associated with his father on the throne, and crowned co-emperor by Patriarch Germanus I . In Byzantine political theory more than one emperor could share

3800-551: The First Bulgarian Empire. In 680 CE, Bulgars crossed the Danube and invaded lands now part of modern-day Bulgaria, which was at that time largely inhabited by Slavic farmers. The Bulgar army was led by Asparuh , who according to Byzantine chroniclers was one of the five sons of Kubrat , the Onogur chief who revolted against his Avar rulers and succeeded in uniting the various Bulgar groups living north of

3895-578: The Virgin of the Pharos and the porphyra . The porphyra was a chamber lined with porphyry , a stone of imperial purple colour. In it expectant empresses underwent the final stages of labour and it was the birthplace of the children of reigning emperors. Constantine's son Leo was the first child born here, and thereby obtained the title porphyrogénnētos ( born in the purple ) the ultimate accolade of legitimacy for an imperial prince or princess. The concept of

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3990-543: The Younger , was beaten to death by a mob at the behest of the authorities. However even his c.  808–809 hagiography , the Life of St. Stephen the Younger , connects his execution more to treason against the Emperor, and indeed his punishments reflect those typically associated with an enemy of the state. Stephen was said to have trampled on a coin depicting the Emperor in order to provoke imperial retaliation and reveal

4085-413: The accounts of these events were written much later than they actually occurred, and by often vehemently anti-iconoclast sources, therefore their reliability is questionable. Since monasteries tended to be strongholds of iconophile sentiment and contributed little or nothing towards the secular needs of the state, Constantine specifically targeted these communities. He also expropriated monastic property for

4180-622: The aggression of the Lombards, appealed in person to the Frankish king Pepin the Short . Pepin cowed Aistulf and restored Stephen to Rome at the head of an army. This began the Frankish involvement in Italy that eventually established Pepin's son Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor , and also instigated papal temporal rule in Italy with the creation of the Papal States . Constantine sent

4275-479: The architecture of his new ashlar palace, which descended from Late Antique prototypes like Diocletian's Palace at Split, Croatia . When Boris I ( r.  852–889 ) converted to Christianity in 864, the religious buildings of Pliska were adapted for Christian use and it was after this point that the Great Basilica was constructed, together with a monastery which was attached to it. The monastery

4370-437: The aristocracy. While Pliska experienced nearly a century of growth following its selection as the capital of the new Bulgarian state, this was not a peaceful era. The Bulgars and Byzantine Empire were in an almost constant state of war during the eighth century and into the early ninth. Emperor Constantine V oversaw nine campaigns against the Bulgars between 741 and 775, and Emperor Nikephoros I 's campaign in 811 resulted in

4465-463: The benefit of the state or the army. These acts of repression against the monks were largely led by the Emperor's general Michael Lachanodrakon , who threatened resistant monks with blinding and exile. Constantine organised numerous pairs of monks and nuns to be paraded in the hippodrome, publicly ridiculing their vows of chastity. According to Theophanes the Confessor , the iconodule abbot Stephen

4560-408: The bureaucracy of the capital. Iconoclasm was not purely an imperial religious conviction, it also had considerable popular support: some of Constantine's actions against the iconodules may have been motivated by a desire to retain the approval of the people and the army. The monasteries were exempt from taxation and monks from service in the army; the Emperor's antipathy towards them may have derived to

4655-407: The burning of the royal residence in Pliska. In this last instance the emperor led a massive army to Pliska in retaliation for the Bulgarian capture of Sardika and massacre of its garrison that occurred in an earlier set of hostilities. The Bulgarian leader Krum was not prepared to face the emperor's army and thus abandoned Pliska and the Byzantines plundered the palace and town there and burned it to

4750-409: The competing teams of charioteers and their supporters, had widespread social influence, and could mobilise large numbers of the citizenry. The hippodrome became the setting of rituals of humiliation for war captives and political enemies, in which the mob took delight. Constantine's sources of support were the people and the army, and he used them against his iconodule opponents in the monasteries and in

4845-478: The culture of pictorial religious representation appears to have survived the iconoclast period largely intact. The extent and severity of iconoclastic destruction of images and relics was exaggerated in later iconodule writings. Scholars generally take the anathemas in the Council of Hieria condemning the one who "does not ask for [the prayers of Mary and the saints] as having the freedom to intercede on behalf of

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4940-450: The decades immediately after 681. When the earthen rampart was built, Pliska had a very low population. Dimitrov's map based on the 1989 to 1991 dredging works in the Outer Town suggests that there were no more than six to twelve hamlet sized settlements there, while there might have been thirty or so by the tenth century. There is however still no plausible explanation for why the earthen rampart and ditch built around Pliska encircled such

5035-412: The deliberate depopulation of the region beyond the eastern borders created a no-man's land where the concentration and provisioning of Arab armies was made more difficult. This in turn increased the security of Byzantine Anatolia. His military reputation was such that, in 757, the mere rumour of his presence caused an Arab army to retreat. In the same year he agreed a truce and an exchange of prisoners with

5130-498: The early 9th century, Pliska was surrounded by a defensive wall and 2,300 hectares (5,700 acres) of land was further enclosed by an outer earthwork with stone revetment 21 kilometres (13 miles) long. After the Byzantine army sacked and burned Pliska in 811, led by the emperor Nikephoros I ( r.  802–811 ), Pliska was rebuilt by Omurtag ( r.  814–831 ), who used spolia from nearby Roman buildings and employing late Roman-inspired rectilinear and basilica plans in

5225-481: The east. This influx of settlers, allied to an active re-fortification of the border, caused concern to the Empire's northern neighbour, Bulgaria , leading the two states to clash in 755. Kormisosh of Bulgaria raided as far as the Anastasian Wall (the outermost defence of the approaches to Constantinople) but was defeated in battle by Constantine, who inaugurated a series of nine successful campaigns against

5320-440: The extent of coherent official campaigns to forcibly destroy or cover up religious images or the existence of widespread government-sanctioned destruction of relics has been questioned by more recent scholarship. There is no evidence, for example, that Constantine formally banned the cult of saints. Pre-iconoclastic religious images did survive, and various existing accounts record that icons were preserved by being hidden. In general,

5415-505: The extent of his repression of iconodules unreliable. In particular, a manuscript written in north-eastern Anatolia concerning miracles attributed to St. Theodore is one of few probably written during or just after the reign of Constantine to survive in its original form; it contains little of the extreme invective common to later iconodule writings. In contrast, the author indicates that iconodules had to make accommodations with imperial iconoclastic policies, and even bestows on Constantine V

5510-522: The ground as it was largely at this time made of wood. Soon after, the invaders were driven out by Khan Krum (see Battle of Pliska ). Later in the ninth century, during the reign of Boris I , the pagan temples in Pliska likely began to be converted to Christian churches. In 886, Boris founded the Pliska Literary School which was moved to Preslav when Boris later relocated the capital. When Boris fell seriously ill and retired to

5605-503: The hippodrome, then variously executed, blinded or exiled. Patriarch Constantine II of Constantinople was implicated and deposed from office, and the following year he was tortured and beheaded. According to later iconodule sources, for example Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople 's Second Antirrheticus and treatise Against Constantinus Caballinus , Constantine's iconoclasm had gone as far as to brand prayers to Mary and saints as heretical, or at least highly questionable. However,

5700-496: The iconoclast hypocrisy of denying the force of sacred portraits but not of imperial portraits on coins. As a result of persecution, many monks fled to southern Italy and Sicily . The implacable resistance of iconodule monks and their supporters led to their propaganda reaching those close to the Emperor. On becoming aware of an iconodule-influenced conspiracy directed at himself, Constantine reacted uncompromisingly; in 765, eighteen high dignitaries charged with treason were paraded in

5795-423: The identities of his agents in the country. The named Byzantine agents were then promptly eliminated. In response, Constantine set out on a new campaign against the Bulgarians, during which he developed carbuncles on his legs. He died during his return journey to Constantinople, on 14 September 775. Though Constantine was unable to destroy the Bulgar state, or impose a lasting peace, he restored imperial prestige in

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5890-477: The impetus of having fathered numerous offspring, Constantine codified the court titles given to members of the imperial family. He associated only his eldest son, Leo , with the throne as co-emperor (in 751), but gave his younger sons the titles of caesar for the more senior in age and nobelissimos for the more junior. In 746, profiting by the unstable conditions in the Umayyad Caliphate, which

5985-473: The leadership of his army in order to seek medical treatment for his ailments in Anchialo (today's Pomorie ), Constantine IV inadvertently demoralized his troops, who gave in to rumours that their emperor had fled. With segments of the Byzantine army starting to desert, the Bulgars and their allies broke through the blockade and routed their enemy at the Battle of Ongala in 680. Asparuh then swiftly moved from

6080-399: The moderate iconoclast party won at Hieria, which still affirmed the intercession of the saints, the radical iconoclasts who denied it briefly triumphed afterwards, with Constantine publicly interfering with religious practice by removing intercessory prayers to saints from church hymns and hagiographies, as described by the iconodule primary sources. Iconodules considered Constantine's death

6175-564: The pit-houses, meaning it may not have been built in AD 864 as long supposed, but instead as late as the later tenth century. The ruins of the city of Pliska lie 3 km north of the modern village of Pliska. The site of the city is currently a National Archaeological Reserve. Ruins of the Great and the Small Palace, the strong stone fortifications and the Great Basilica (c. 875), used both as

6270-550: The population in the Balkans . The eastern campaigns failed to secure concrete territorial gains, as there was no serious attempt to retain control of the captured cities, except Camachum (modern Kemah ), which was garrisoned. However, under Constantine the Empire had gone on the offensive against the Arabs after over a century of largely defensive warfare. Constantine's major goal in his eastern campaigns seems to have been to forcibly gather up local Christian populations from beyond his borders in order to resettle Thrace. Additionally,

6365-640: The power-base that enabled the rebellion of Artabasdos, and was also the theme situated nearest to the capital within Asia Minor . Constantine reduced the size of this theme, dividing from it the Bucellarian and, perhaps, the Optimaton themes. In those provinces closest to the seat of government this measure increased the number of stratēgoi and diminished the resources available to any single one, making rebellion less easy to accomplish. Constantine

6460-413: The provincial themata units, whose troops were part-time soldier-farmers. Before their expansion, the vestigial Scholae and the other guards units presumably contained few useful soldiers, therefore Constantine must have incorporated former thematic soldiers into his new formation. Being largely based at or near the capital, the tagmata were under the immediate control of the Emperor and were free of

6555-414: The regional loyalties that had been behind so many military rebellions. The fiscal administration of Constantine was highly competent. This drew from his enemies accusations of being a merciless and rapacious extractor of taxes and an oppressor of the rural population. However, the empire was prosperous and Constantine left a very well-stocked treasury for his successor. The area of cultivated land within

6650-468: The rumour that as an infant he had defiled his own baptism by defaecating in the font, or on the imperial purple cloth with which he was swaddled. Constantine questioned the legitimacy of any representation of God or Christ. The Church Father John of Damascus made use of the term 'uncircumscribable' in relation to the depiction of God. Constantine, relying on the linguistic connection between 'uncircumscribed' and 'incapable of being depicted', argued that

6745-413: The settlement's history. Other finds from this first phase of occupation (from the eighth until the beginning of the ninth century) include those connected with iron processing, such as slag, charcoal, ash, and pig iron. Fragments and solid droplets of glass suggest glassmaking are also found from this same period. These types of finds are not extant in this area in the tenth and eleventh centuries, when it

6840-496: The south end of the Ludogorie plateau. It is approximately 400 km northeast of Sofia , at 43°22′N 27°7′E  /  43.367°N 27.117°E  / 43.367; 27.117 . Asparuh of Bulgaria Asparuh (also Ispor or (rarely) Isperih ) was а Bulgar khan in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. The Nominalia of

6935-550: The support of Theophanes Monutes (Constantine's regent ) and Patriarch Anastasius , was acclaimed and crowned emperor. Constantine received the support of the Anatolic and Thracesian themes; Artabasdos secured the support of the theme of Thrace in addition to his own Opsikion and Armeniac soldiers. The rival emperors bided their time making military preparations. Artabasdos marched against Constantine at Sardis in May 743 but

7030-475: The testimony of the Namelist . According to the Byzantine sources, Asparuh was a younger son of Kubrat , who had established a spacious state (" Great Bulgaria ") in the steppes of modern Ukraine . Asparuh may have gained experience in politics and statesmanship during the long reign of his father, who probably died in 665 (apud Moskov). According to Djagfar Tarikhy (a work of disputed authenticity) Asparuh

7125-422: The throne; however, although all were accorded the same ceremonial status, only one emperor wielded ultimate power. As the position of emperor was in theory, and sometimes in practise, elective rather than strictly hereditary, a ruling emperor would often associate a son or other chosen successor with himself as a co-emperor to ensure the eventual succession. To celebrate the coronation of his son, Leo III introduced

7220-417: The troubled Bulgarian border region. A contemporary Byzantine source reported that 208,000 Slavs emigrated from Bulgarian controlled areas into Byzantine territory and were settled in Anatolia. A year later he sailed to Anchialus with 800 ships carrying 9,600 cavalry and some infantry, gaining a victory over Khan Telets . Many Bulgar nobles were captured in the battle, and were later slaughtered outside

7315-483: The uncircumscribable cannot be legitimately depicted in an image. As Christian theology holds that Christ is God , he also cannot be represented in an image. The Emperor was personally active in the theological debate; evidence exists for him composing thirteen treatises, two of which survive in fragmentary form. He also presented his religious views at meetings organised throughout the empire, sending representatives to argue his case. In February 754, Constantine convened

7410-405: The very earliest these came from the late ninth century, though some certainly dated from the tenth and eleventh centuries as well. However, more recent investigation of the Asar-dere area has shown that the area contained a large waste disposal site alongside multiple hearths and kilns all dating from the earliest occupation phase. The content of the waste shows that ceramics were produced early in

7505-420: The wealth of evidence, not only from Patriarch Nikephoros but from Theophanes and Patriarch Methodios I of Constantinople ( c.  788 –847), who in his Life of Theophanes defends the intercession of saints, perpetuating a centuries-long controversy regarding the doctrine of ' soul-sleep ', which if true would mean dead saints are incapable of intercession. They allege that it is conceivable that, although

7600-406: The world according to the tradition of the church", as proof that Constantine never rejected the intercession of Mary and the saints, since they consider it inconceivable for an emperor to contradict the decisions of a council he convened. Moreover, the positive evidence that he rejected intercession is regarded as unreliable due to the iconodule motivation of its authors. Dissenting scholars point to

7695-496: Was "the victorious and prophetic Emperor". Following a disastrous defeat of the Byzantines by the Bulgarian Khan Krum in 811 at the Battle of Pliska , troops of the tagmata broke into Constantine's tomb and implored the dead emperor to lead them once more. The life and actions of Constantine, if freed from the distortion caused by the adulation of his soldiers and the demonisation of iconodule writers, show that he

7790-523: Was a theological movement that rejected the veneration of religious images and sought to destroy those in existence. Iconoclasm was later definitively classed as heretical . Constantine's avowed enemies in what was a bitter and long-lived religious dispute were the iconodules , who defended the veneration of images. Iconodule writers applied to Constantine the derogatory epithet Kopronymos ("dung-named", from kopros , meaning " faeces " or "animal dung", and onoma , "name"). Using this obscene name, they spread

7885-642: Was also responsible for important military and administrative innovations and reforms. Religious strife and controversy was a prominent feature of his reign. His fervent support of iconoclasm and opposition to monasticism led to his vilification by some contemporary commentators and the majority of later Byzantine writers, who denigrated him with the nicknames " Dung-Named " ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Κοπρώνυμος , translit.   Koprónymos ), because he allegedly defaecated during his baptism, similarly " Anointed with Urine " ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Οὐραλύφιος , translit.   Ouralýphios ), and "

7980-486: Was an effective administrator and gifted general, but he was also autocratic, uncompromising and sometimes needlessly harsh. All surviving contemporary and later Byzantine histories covering the reign of Constantine were written by iconodules. As a result of this, they are open to suspicion of bias and inaccuracy, particularly when attributing motives to the Emperor, his supporters and opponents. This makes any claims of absolute certainty regarding Constantine's policies and

8075-408: Was damned in the eyes of contemporary iconodule writers and subsequent generations of Orthodox historians. Typical of this demonisation are the descriptions of Constantine in the writings of Theophanes the Confessor : "a monster athirst for blood", "a ferocious beast", "unclean and bloodstained magician taking pleasure in evoking demons", "a precursor of Antichrist ". However, to his army and people he

8170-408: Was defeated. Three months later Constantine defeated Artabasdos' son Niketas and his Armeniac troops at Modrina and headed for Constantinople. In early November Constantine entered the capital, following a siege and a further battle. He immediately targeted his opponents, having many blinded or executed. Patriarch Anastasius was paraded on the back of an ass around the hippodrome to the jeers of

8265-442: Was falling apart under Marwan II , Constantine invaded Syria, captured Germanikeia (his father's birthplace) and recaptured the island of Cyprus . He organised the resettlement of part of the local Christian population to imperial territory in Thrace , strengthening the empire's control of this region. In 747 his fleet destroyed the Arab fleet off Cyprus. The same year saw a serious outbreak of plague in Constantinople, which caused

8360-487: Was home to the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius . After the tsar Simeon I founded his new capital at Preslav , Pliska was slowly abandoned. Pliska ( Medieval Greek : Πλίσκοβα , romanized :  Plískova ) was captured at the turn of the 2nd millennium by Theodorokanos and Nikephoros Xiphias , during the campaigns of the emperor Basil the Bulgar-Slayer ( r.  960–1025 ), which ended

8455-441: Was instead occupied by numerous small and primitive grubenhaus dwellings. According to Henning; “It was not the case that a predominantly agricultural style of living opened the way to a stepwise growth in craft activities, but rather a situation of fully developed and highly specialized artisan production was followed later by a process of broad ruralization”. Some scholars, such as Georgiev and Kirilov, have proposed that Pliska

8550-408: Was made and those houses were occupied in the later occupation period of the settlement. Excavation of the pit-house designated "grubenhaus No. 8" however precipitated a sharp conceptual turn amongst many researchers towards the belief that the pit-houses may largely have been built much earlier, and this suggests that the famous Great Basilica may have been built after rather than before the majority of

8645-406: Was made the leader of the Onogur tribe by his father. After his father's death, Asparuh would have acknowledged the rule of his older brother Bat Bayan, but the state disintegrated under Khazar attack in 668, and he and his brothers parted ways, leading their people to seek a more secure home in other lands. Asparuh was followed by 30,000 to 50,000 Bulgars . He reached the Danube and while

8740-457: Was not in fact the capital of Bulgaria during this period at all. Georgiev suggests that Pliska was only a seasonal residence with small timber buildings at least until the middle of the eighth century. Kirilov offers the explanation that like the Ottonian kings , the Bulgar rulers were itinerant, and travelled between multiple different residences. Additionally, prior to some more recent finds in

8835-439: Was not rebuilt. The construction of an earthen rampart was started shortly after the Bulgars settled in the Pliska plain (it has been suggested that these embankments may not have been built all at once), and the territory inside of this is known as the Outer Town, which consisted of multiple groupings of modest cottages with space in between for flocks of livestock and horses. This seemingly unusual layout may have been chosen as

8930-461: Was responsible for the creation of a small central army of fully professional soldiers, the imperial tagmata (literally: 'the regiments'). He achieved this by training for serious warfare a corps of largely ceremonial guards units that were attached to the imperial palace, and expanding their numbers. This force was designed to form the core of field armies and was composed of better-drilled, better-paid, and better-equipped soldiers than were found in

9025-498: Was surrounded by the Outer Town which was in turn surrounded by the earthen rampart. Overall, far less is known about the layout and contents of Pliska prior to the conversion to Christianity than afterwards. No stone buildings have been dated with certainty from before the Bulgars converted to Christianity in 864/5, and many wooden buildings (which were initially presumed to have come from the pagan era) also appear to have been built later on. It's not clear which buildings were built in

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