The Presian Inscription or Philippi Inscription is an epigraphic monument in medieval Greek created during the reign of the Bulgarian ruler Presian I (r. 836–852). The inscription, hewn into rectangular marble slabs, was found on the archaeological site of ancient Philippi in northern Greece and is only partially preserved, with only two out of six slabs surviving till present day.
Contents
Background
The inscription was first discovered and copied, somewhat incorrectly, by French Jesuit missionary Père Braconnier in 1707. After being covered again in soil, it was rediscovered during the excavation of the Christian basilica in Philippi between 1922 and 1933. Only the first and the last one of the six marble slabs are fully preserved, along with several small fragments which have proven impossible to place correctly due to their size. At a length of estimated 43 lines (27 of which are missing or are preserved only in the form of fragments), this is one of the longest surviving inscriptions from the time of the First Bulgarian Empire. The marble slabs are currently stored at the Archeology Museum in Philippi.
Historical context
In 837, soon after Presian's accession to the Bulgarian throne, the Slavs in the vicinity of Thessalonica rebelled against the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Theophilos sought Bulgarian support in putting down the rebellion, but simultaneously arranged for his fleet to sail through the Danube delta and undertake a clandestine evacuation of some of the Byzantine captives settled in Transdanubian Bulgaria by Bulgarian rulers Krum and Omurtag. In retaliation, Kavkhan Isbul campaigned along the Aegean coasts of Thrace and Macedonia and captured the city of Philippi, where he set up a surviving memorial inscription in a local church. Isbul's campaign resulted in the establishment of Bulgarian suzerainty over the local Slavic tribe of the Smolyani, as well as most likely over the entire region between the lower courses of the Mesta and the Struma — which was clearly in Bulgarian possession at the beginning of the reign of Boris I. There is also a possibility that Presian's campaign was but a continuation of Malamir's march in Thrace in 836, which was put on hold due to Malamir's death.