Цар Арев (Бележки върху българската Апокрифна летопис от XI век)
The Tsar Arev (Notes on the Bulgarian Apocryphal Chronicle of 11th Century)

Summary/Abstract: The "Bulgarian Apocryphal Chronicle of Eleventh Century" is burthen with influences of many traditions, with pagan rests and veterotestamentarian images. We find cited in the text so many strange and unknown names, which cannot be related to any identified historical persons. Usually the Chronicle is proclaimed an "original work", created entirely in Bulgaria, what is a reason to attract the special attention of the academic milieus. Unfortunately, this conclusion reflects in a research methodology to isolate the cited literary work from any influence of any foreign tradition and to interpret it in a patriotic and especially anti-Byzantine direction. The present article will try to avoid this methodology aiming a very concrete and simple result: to suggest some ideas about the identification of a name we find in the Apocryphal Chronicle: that of king Arev. The king Arev is very briefly presented in the Apocryphal Chronicle: "And after this another tsar went out of Constantinople; his name was Arev and he sat on the throne of tsar Constantine and reigned seven years and died". Usually the commentaries on this citation are restricted to the assertion that this person is not yet identified. We shall try to propose below some ideas that could direct our efforts in an interesting way. We strongly believe that the Apocryphal Chronicle should be studied in the context of the Near-Eastern literature. The influence of the veterotestamentarian prophetical writing is obvious but now we would like to underline the link with the Christian Arabic tradition. The name of "Arev" is quite close to the form "Aref ', which derives from the Arabic name "Hārith". It is well known in the Empire because it passed in Greek under the form "Arethas" – the name of several great personages from the classical Byzantine times. Thus, we strongly believe that we have all reasons to offer the identification of the name of the tsar Arev from the Apocryphal Chronicle with the Christian Arabic name of Aref/Arethas. This is concerning the identification of the name but who is this person and how has he entered in the Chronicle? We have no evidence for one more Arab king in the Balkans and we rest only with Nicephorus Genikos and his dynasty. This should not be disappointing because our research led us to some important conclusions concerning the Apocryphal Chronicle. The first of them put under question the "original Bulgarian character" of the work and together with it the thesis of its "patriotic trends" in the "severe times of the Byzantine yoke". The presence of the cited Arabic name links the text to the Near Eastern tradition and put it in another than "national" or "ethnic" context. The second is the strong relation to the Biblical and Semitic in general convention and under the obvious influence of the Hebrew prophetic literature.

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