ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Th e outlines of this study were drawn in 2000 when I was lecturing
on the problems of power, identities, and religions in steppe Eurasia
in the Early Mediaeval period at the Department History and Th eory
of Culture, “St. Kliment Ohridski University” (Sofi a). Th e actual work
began in 2001 thanks to a scholarship granted by “Maison des Sciences
de l’Homme” (Paris) and “Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de la
Société” (Sofi a) to whom I do express my deep gratitude. Th e work
continued in the next few years despite interruptions caused by dif-
ferent factors.
Th anks are also due to my colleagues and friends whose questions
stimulated me to search for answers to a number of complicated problems
related to the perception of the Others in the Early Mediaeval period.
Special thanks are also owed to Vladimir Petrukhin, Florin Curta,
Antoaneta Granberg, Jonathan Shepard, Valeriy Flerov, Peter B. Golden,
Roman K. Kovalev, Timothy Ashplant and Adelina Angusheva-Tikha-
nov who have been very supportive providing me with books and arti-
cles concerning many issues subject of the present study, which were
not available in Bulgaria. And last but not least, I should also thank
Anton A. Marinov for his help in a crucial moment before publishing
the text in 2005.
Tsvetelin Stepanov,
September 2005P.S. Especially for this English edition, I must express appreciation to my col-
league Zornitsa Angelova who took good care of the technical details pre-
paring the electronic versions of both the illustrations and the maps. Also, I
should express my deep gratitude to Tatiana Stefanova who did her best to
translate from Bulgarian into English the ‘Introduction’ and the First chapter
of this book. Finally, I am deeply grateful to Peter Golden who made some
useful remarks and helpful comments on the English text and specifi c trans-
literation of one or another name of Persian or Arab origin. Needless to say,
what errors remain are mine.
Note on copyright
Th e author and Brill Academic Publishers have made several attempts to con-
tact copyright holders. If any have been overlooked, the appropriate arrange-
ments will be made at the fi rst opportunity.