The Bulgars and the Steppe Empire in the Early Middle Ages

introduction 11

in science and the Chinese—in art, the Arabs (in the language and in

the genealogies.—author’s note), and the Sassanians... in politics and

[administering of] an empire.^19

The most important aspect of this description of the early medieval
Turks is that the author compared them to the main ‘great powers’
of the early Middle Ages, Byzantium, Sassanian Iran, China, and the
Arabs. However, the evidence, particularly that relevant to the Uighurs,
the Bulgars, and the Khazars, unambiguously reveals that such clichés
were very old-fashioned. The ‘imperial’ people of the steppe had by
then switched to a sedentary mode of life, and established complex
societies, which contained a number of elements otherwise known
only from prestigious sedentary civilizations.^20
Another aspect of the steppe empires deserves special attention.
According to Arab sources, there were three special chairs in Khosro
I Anushirvan’s (531–579) palace in Ctesiphon. On the right side of the
shahinshah’s throne, one such chair was reserved for the Emperor of
China, another for the great khagan of the steppe, and a third for the
Byzantine Emperor, “in case that any of these rulers comes as a vassal
in the court of the shahin-shah, the King of Kings”.^21
Such considerations required an especially attentive reading of the
theoretical literature, as well as of specialized general works concern-
ing the region in question. Among those authors who were particularly
influential for the stance taken in this book, mention must be made
of Tzvetan Todorov,^22 Yurii Lotman (especially some of his studies on

(^19) Walker 1915, 684–685.
(^20) Meserve 1996, 49, passim.
(^21) See Braun [Brown] 1999, 173. This story is narrated in, Ibn al-Balkhi 1921, 97:
“... a seat of gold and [two] other seats of gold on the left and behind [his throne].
Of these three seats, one was reserved for the King of China, the other for the King
of Byzantium and the third for the King of the Khazars, so that should they come,
they would sit on these seats. They were kept all year long and no one else could sit
on them”. 22
Todorov 1992.