the ‘outside’ other 83
dates in the Turkic text of the same monument (Kül-tegin’s death,
the funerary ritual, and the inauguration of the inscription and the
funerary temple), which, if calculated according to the so-called ‘ani-
mal’ cyclic calendar, give “the year of the monkey”.^261 Th e Uighurs also
used the 12-years-long cyclic calendar^262 and some of the inscriptions
on their stelae (the Sevrey and Karabalghasun ones) contain Sogdian
and Chinese type of dates. Th erefore, the message was aimed both
‘inwards’, e.g. towards their own subjects who were able to read Turkic
and Uighur runes, and ‘outwards’, e.g. towards the Chinese mainly.
Th e Bulgars diff er a lot in this respect. Th e “propaganda” inscrip-
tions were always written in Greek, using Greek letters although there
is a couple of inscriptions, N N 43 and 57, whose date requires special
attention. Both of them are dated to Omurtag’s reign; N 43 contains
a date in Byzantine style, while N 57 contains a date in accordance
both with the indiction and with the Bulgar cyclic calendar.^263 So aft er
the beginning of the ninth century, at the khan’s court at least, the
Bulgars got used to Greek (and Christian) dates but the distinction
was still present—the own, traditional date was emphasized by some
very well educated people even half a century aft er the conversion to
Christianity.
In fact we can make the conclusion that there is a special fl uidity
within the religious sphere, manifested by frequent changes of the state
religion in this type of societies (especially typical for the Turks and
the Uighurs).^264 It explains to a certain extent, why the nomadic cul-
tures in steppe Eurasia, during the Middle Ages, especially the ones to
the north of the Black and the Caspian Seas, became less homogenous
than they were in the Roman period and in the early medieval period
(to a certain extent). Th e religious diversity in the steppe resulted in a
diversity of writing systems (alphabets and characters) and literacy in
(^261) Kormushin 1981, 140. But cf. Kliashtornyi and Livshits 1971, 110.
(^262) For instance see the inscriptions from Terkhin (Tariat) and Tes in, Klyashtorny
1982, 341–343 (old-Turkic), 343–346 (translated into English); Tekin 1982, 46–48
(old-Turkic), 48–52 (translated into English), Klyashtorny 1985, 152–153 (old- Turkic),
153–154 (translated into English).
(^263) Beshevliev 1992, 177 f. (N 43), 215 f. (N 57): “[It] was built, according to the
Bulgar [calendar], in sigor elem, and according to the Greeks—in 15th indiction” (pp.
84–85). Similar dating in Bulgaria following the model seen in inscription N 57, but
this time from the period aft er 865 A.D., one can fi nd in Chernorizets Tudor Doksov’s
marginal text where, s.a. 907 A.D., it is written the Bulgar “eth bekhti” along with the
date typical for the Christian’s calendar.
(^264) Khazanov 1994, 15.