the ‘outside’ other 45
made many years later, in 837 A.D., and contains the evaluation of the
Bulgar khan Persian (836–852) on the Byzantines:
Th e one who is seeking the truth, Lord sees, and the one who is lying,
Lord sees. To the Christians [= the Byzantines] the Bulgars did good
services and the Christians forgot about them; but Lord sees.^99Probably as a double insurance and to make the Byzantines respect
the treaties, the Bulgars, and khan Omurtag especially, performed the
Christian rituals when the 30-years-long peace treaty between Bul-
garia and Byzantium was signed in 815 A.D., and, at the same time,
he wanted the Byzantine emperor Leo V (Th e Armenian) to perform,
in return, the Bulgar pagan rituals related to taking an oath over a dog
cut in pieces and the emperor did it “bringing shame on all Byzan-
tines”, as stated by a Byzantine annalist.^100
Another Bulgar khan, Krum (803–814), wanted the treachery of
the Byzantines to be stated explicitly in the so-called Hambarlii stone
inscription (the present-day village of Malamirovo, Elkhovo region,
Bulgaria) by the following words:
... the old man, the Emperor himself, the bold headed man, and he has
conquered everything and has forgotten about the oaths he has given,
and Krum the arсhont, stepped against him....^101
Th e reproaches are again within the sphere of morality and are con-
sidered as casus belli suffi ciently serious. Due to the same reason,
the breaking of the treaties, in 830s khan Malamir’s army headed by
kaukhan Isboul marched southwards and conquered the fortresses of
Provatos (near the present-day Edirne in Turkey) and Burdizos; aft er
that they probably conquered Philippopolis (present-day Plovdiv, Bul-
garia) as well, where Malamir and the kaukhan had a meeting with
the citizens. In this case again, the military activity of the Bulgars was
presented as a consequence of Byzantine aggression.^102
Th e Orkhon Turkic inscriptions dated between 716 and 734/735 A.D.
are also very indicative in this respect. Th ese inscriptions describe the
Chinese (under the name of “Tabgach”) as fl atterers, sly and perfi dious,
(^99) Beshevliev 1992, 141–142, N 14.
(^100) Rashev 2001, 111. Also see, Sinor 1997 (N XVII: “Taking an oath over a dog
cut in two”). Especially for the ritual practices performed by the Byzantine basileus
while concluding the treaty see, Th eophanes Continuatus 1961, 113, and also, Ignatius
1961, 36–37. 101
Beshevliev 1992, N 2.
(^102) Beshevliev 1992, 140 and N 13.