The Evolution of Bulgar Statehood, c. 350-900

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.