A new historical novel deals with Asparuh, the founder of the Bulgarian state in the lower reaches of the River Danube in 681, and its first sovereign for the 20 years that followed. His father was Kubrat, the founder of Old Great Bulgaria, in the lands to the North of the Caucasus and the Black Sea. The book’s title is Saga of Young Asparuh. Prince of Dawn. The author of the novel is Bulgarian mathematician Zahari Zlatev, who lives in Denmark. He has graduated Sofia University and went to develop a doctoral thesis in St. Petersburg. In 1974 he moved to Copenhagen and has a Danish wife. His job included mathematical programming of environmental pollution and climate change. He has specialized in the United States. Mr. Zlatev is retired, but still works on projects of Denmark's National Environmental Research Institute. He has published six monographs, more than 250 articles and has edited fifteen volumes with scientific studies. Zahari Zlatev has kept in touch with his colleagues in Bulgaria and has been awarded with the Marin Drinov medal by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. History has for many years been his hobby.
“Now that I have more time, I have become very keen on Bulgaria’s early medieval history, mostly 7-8 c. I started reading about that time and suddenly found out that in 7 c. there was a blank period. It is well known that in 680 the Bulgarians won a brilliant victory over the Byzantine army that made possible the founding of the Bulgarian state. We know that Greek chroniclers wrote about the Old Great Bulgaria with enormous respect. However there is little evidence about the 650-680 period. What we know is that Bulgarians were attacked by the Khazars, and that the Bulgarian royal family became the scene of bitter rows. This has made me think that it was in fact a most intriguing period to explore. Well, I am not a professional historian, so I’ve decided to write a novel about that time – the youth of Khan Asparuh.”
Historical sources do not indulge into Asparuh’s private life. Everything about this part of him narrated in the book, is the product of the author’s imagination, and Zahari Zlatev readily admits that fact. However, all key events in the novel are firmly based on historical truth.
“It is a fact that Asparuh stopped the Khazars, and he went on to make Bulgarians much more powerful. Back at the time, the foremost regional powers included the Arabic Califate, the Khazar Khaganate, the Byzantine Empire and Asparuh’s Bulgaria. Beating both Byzantium and the Arabs the Bulgarians rose to a major regional factor to consider.”
Why has Zahari Zlatev called Asparuh Prince of Dawn? “Asparuh succeeded in including into the Bulgarian state territories from the Balkan Peninsula”, the author remarks. “This linked the Bulgarian ethnicity to Europe’s best developed state at that time – Byzantium, and in this way – to the European civilization.” Zlatev started writing the book after he retired, and it took him three years to write. Now he has focused on a book about another remarkable Bulgarian sovereign, Khan Tervel.
“Tervel has an amusing persona. There are lots of facts recorded about him, including his private life. He was made Caesar, one of the highest titles in the Byzantine Empire. Besides, he succeeded in defeating the Arabs helping Byzantium in easing their pressure on the empire. Europe’s history could have come out a lot differently, had the Arabs managed to conquer Byzantium. Tervel’s support was tantamount to a major feat, and Europe appreciated that. A Bulgarian historian has found out that there are 21 plays about Tervel’s life staged until the late Middle Ages in many European cities.”
According to Zahari Zlatev Tervel was among the Bulgarian sovereigns who ruled with remarkable wisdom. Whenever he could, he avoided wars. He is believed to have been a Christian, just like his grandfather Kubrat.
English version Daniela Konstantinova
