This book examines the development of statehood and symbolic representations of power amongst the Bulgar people from approximately 350 through 900 CE. This volume fills a gap in English-language medieval studies and historiography, considering Bulgar society in a modern anthropological way. This book argues that the Bulgar(ian) statehood before the mid-ninth century cannot be considered a ‘barbarian’ one; instead, the process of Christianization led Bulgaria to be a fully developed ‘barbarian’ state via a synthesis of Northern Iranian and Turkic steppe and Roman traditions by 900.

Tsvetelin Stepanov is Professor in the Department of History and Theory of Culture at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski," Bulgaria.