An Interpretation of a Runiform Inscription from Roe 27

An Interpretation of a Runiform Inscription from Roe 27 Nedyalko Ovcharov London 2018 Liutprand, Bishop of Cremona1, writes following about sons of Bulgarian king Simeon: Qui duos filios habuit, unum nomine Baianum, alterum, qui nunc usque superest potenterque Bulgariis principatur, nomine Petrum. Baianum autem adeo ferunt magicam didicisse, ut ex homine subito fieri lupum quamvequmque cerneres feram.(LIBI, V.2, p. 323) (He had two sons, one called Bajan, the other Peter, this latter being still alive and now ruling over the Bulgarians. It is said that Bayan was such, an adept in the art of magic that he could suddenly turn himself before men’s eyes into a wolf or any other beast you pleased.) (Luidprand, 1930, pp. 123-124). According to Ancho Kaloyanov, Bayan was one of the last Bulgarian Great shamans, prototype of the mythical skald Boyan from "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"2(2) (Kaloyanov, A. 1995, p. 50). Actually, Kaloyanov is one of few (if not only) Bulgarian scholars that see shamanism as part of religious practices of Early Medieval Bulgaria. This article presents a Runiform inscription which supports the view that shamanistic practises were remembered long after the Baptism of Bulgarian kingdom. Figure 1, ligature Ro11, F184, Roe 27 (Granberg, A. 2005). Inscription Ro113 is a ligature written on the page 184 of Greek manuscript Roe 27, Bodleian library (Fig. 1). It is not clear when the ligature was written but its creation doesn’t precede end of 10th – beginning of 11th century4. Fortunately, all characters in the ligature are known and interpretation of the inscription is not an obstacle. The ligature can be divided into Liutprand (c. 920 – 972): Bishop of Cremona, diplomat and historian. In Old East Slavic: "Слово о плъку Игорєвѣ". 3 It was discovered and published first by A. Granberg (Granberg, A. 2005, p. 395, Ligature 1). 4 The manuscript is dated to late 10th – early 11th century. Granberg believes that at least one of the Cyrillic inscriptions is earlier than 12th – 13th century when manuscript was restored. In this case, Runiform ligatures can be dated between creation of the manuscript and 12th century. However, it is unusual for Runiform writing to be dated later than beginning of 11th century (Doncheva-Petkova, L. 1980, p. 25). 1 2 1 6 characters: . First is the graph, with a meaning “star” (Ovcharov, N. 2017, pp. 31-33). Second character is the roman letter 11 (Ovcharov, N. 2017, pp. 35-37). Next is the character which means “to honour” (Ovcharov, N. 2018a). Fourth character, , repre5 sents the word “sky, god” (Ovcharov, N. 2017, p. 27). Fifth and sixth are the graphs . They stay for the phrase “Great Master”. Thus, the inscription reads: “Eleven stars. Honour God/sky, the Great Master”. The language of the inscription must be Old Bulgarian as word order is VO6 but the actual words that author of the ligature used might never be known. Figure 2, Ins. Ro11, distribution of the characters. However, the key to understand the inscription is the drawing of a ladder above it. It resembles image of Ladder of Divine ascent. Nevertheless, the Ladder of Divine ascent have 30 rungs. The ladder drawn in the manuscript has only 7 rungs7 and has to be regarded as a symbol from shamanistic tradition. For example, shaman’s ritual of the Altai people involves climbing a birch three with 9 carved steps. Each step represents a layer of the sky. Stepping on each step, the shaman would tell his spectators about his journey at the particular layer of the sky. He narrates about difficulties of the travel and his dialogs with the spirits of this part of the Upper world (Levin, M. 1931, pp. 187- 190). However, Bulgarian shamans used a 7rung ladder. Kaloyanov reports of two artefacts that support such a view. First is a 4-metre stone column that have 7 steps carved on it. It is situated at locality Pirgovoto, near town of Troyan8. Second is a drawing incised on Oreshashkiya stone (Fig. 3) (Орешашкия камък9), found also near Troyan, on witch seven notches represent seven layers of the sky (Kaloyanov, A. 2000, pp. 111-112). Apparently, the composition on the stone represents a shaman ritual. A square divided on 4 by two crossing lines occupies stone’s lower surface. It represents the habitable land but also can be regarded as a drawing of an actual altar used for the ritual. Around it, human figures are gathered. The shaman must be the one that stays in front of a tall and slim object marked with 7 notches. It represents the connection with Upper world and 5 See Ovcharov, N. 2014, p. 43 and Ovcharov, N. 2017, p. 34. Runiform inscriptions from Bregalnica have same word order (Ovcharov, N. 2018c, p. 2) 7 Close look reveals that the ladder represented on the drawing seems to be made of rope and wooden rods. The extra rope after 7th rod have to be a hook for holding the ladder from above. 8 Town of Troyan, Lovech Province, Bulgaria. 9 Kept in Historical museum in Lovech. 6 2 in the same time the 7 skies. The figures above Earth level are spirits. The one that have graph written on its body must be a “izge” (Holly), a spirit of a deceased shaman10. Figure 3, Oreshashkiya kamak (Hristov, I. 2007, pp. 48-49) In addition, the phrase “eleven stars” is well known from the Bible story of Joseph (Genesis 37:1-11). Joseph have a dream in which the Sun, the Moon and 11 stars bow to him (Fig. 4). Perhaps, Josephs ability to see a prophesy in a dream was regarded by yesterday’s shamanists as a shamanic capability and this made the story popular in newly baptised Bulgaria. Shamans are known to fall in trance and even faint when their spirit travel to Upper world. Perhaps, the act of Joseph’s dream was seen as such a travel which was symbolically represented by drawing of a 7-rung ladder. Figure 4, Josephs dream, Owen Jones, from Wikipedia article. Spirits of deceased ancestors usually shamans are titled “izge” in inscriptions from Murfatlar (Ovcharov, N. 2018b) 10 3 In conclusion, inscription Ro11 illustrates how pagan religious views continued to preoccupy minds even of devoted Christians, perhaps monks. The same symbiosis was found at Churches of Murfatlar and perhaps this was the spirit of the epoch, spirit that continued to shape Bulgarian fate long after the Baptism. Bibliography: • • • • • • • • • • • • • Doncheva-Petkova, L. 1980- Дончева-Петкова Л. Знаци върху археологически паметници от средновековна България VII-X век, София, 1980; Granberg, A. 2005, Pictures and Bulgarian Cyrillic Inscriptions in a Greek 11th-century manuscript, Нѣстъ оученикъ надъ оучителемь своимь. Сборник в чест на Иван Добрев, член-кореспондент на БАН и учител, София, 2005; Hristov, I. 2007- Иван Христов, Светилища на траките в централен Хемус, 2007; Kaloyanov, A. 1995- Анчо Калоянов, Българското шаманство, София, 1995; Kaloyanov, A. 2000- Анчо Калоянов, Старобългарското езичество: Мит, религия и фолклор в картината за свят у българите, Велико Търново, 2000; Levin, M. 1931- М. Г. Левин, Алтайцы, in: Религиозные верования народов СССР, Москва- Ленинград, 1931, pp. 180- 201; LIBI, V.2- Латински извори за българската история, Том II, София, 1960; Luidprand, 1930- F. A. Wright, translator, The Works of Liudprand of Cremona, London and New York, 1930; Ovcharov, N. 2014 - Nedyalko Ovcharov, Murfatlar Script, London, 2014; Ovcharov, N. 2017- Nedyalko Ovcharov, Bulgarian Sacred Script, The Horn from Sofia, London, 2017; Ovcharov, N. 2018a- Nedyalko Ovcharov, Four Bulgar Inscriptions, London, 2018; Ovcharov, N. 2018b- Nedyalko Ovcharov, Cult to Ancestors in Medieval Bulgaria, London, 2018; Ovcharov, N. 2018c- Nedyalko Ovcharov, On Runiform Models of Several Glagolitic letters, London, 2018; 4