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The debate of the identification and definition of the askeri cifliks lies at the center of the Ottoman economic history. Their existence arises important questions related to the balance in the Ottoman classical economic and social system based on the state land property, the legitimacy of the political power of the Ottoman ruling class and the revenue collection of the agrarian surplus. A typical case of land usurpation and private control over the appropriation of the agrarian surplus can be investigated in the detail thanks to a wealth of historical data consisting of tax registers (tapu-tahrir defters), inventories of vakf's revenues and complaints against the ciflik-owner dated from 16th to the beginning of 18th century. The foundation and practice of administrator (mutevelli) of the Sofu Mehmed Pasha's and Mustafa Aga's vakfs (charitable donations), in the beginning of the 18th century demonstrates the genesis of such farms by occupation of abandoned lands. In addition, the investigation of the genesis and character of Veli Efendi's ciflik shows different ways of violation of the land law by the ciflik-owner as a result of his attempts at accumulating land, power and riches. The information included in the documents concerning the case of the ciflik presents the importance of political and economic factors such as the impact of the military campaigns on the population and the possibility of usurpation of abandoned lands as a result of the flight of the villagers for creating big askeri cifliks. The administration and control over the vakf's revenues and properties as part of the ciflik-holder's official duties are also of great significance for making high profits through concealing the ciflik's population and workers, misappropriation of arable lands and tax evasion. In other words the investigation of the case of the Veli Efendi's ciflik sheds light on the basic debatable questions in the Ottoman historiography related to the genesis and development of the askeri cifliks in the Ottoman Empire and some violations of the law and taxation by their holder, especially during 17th-18th centuries.
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The paper presents part of a hoard containing items of armaments, horse trappings and everyday objects discovered accidentally on the land of the village of Markovo, Shumen region. While inspecting the site of the discovery on the surface the author came across an array of heavily decayed iron items from tools, cattle-breeding equipment, animal bones as well as some fragments of building ceramics and pots of engraved linear decoration and polished strips from the VIII-th - X-th c. The Old Bulgarian signs engraved on some of them refer to the same period and have numerous analogies from Pliska, Madara and Preslav. Then the author assumed that a medieval settlement probably existed in the site of the discovery or the objects fell there by obscure circumstances most probably from the nearby large but insufficiently studied Hambarluk fortress from late Antiquity and the Middle Ages which came into existence in the V-th - Vi-th centuries and continued existing until the XIV-th c. The published materials by analogies fall withing the chronological boundaries of the early Bulgarian Middle Ages and specifically in the mid-X-th - late XI-th centuries.
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The village of Gintsi is located in Western Bulgaria, at the foothills of the Western Balkan Range and at about 50 km of Sofia. Once a road connecting Moesia and the river Danube with Sardica and Macedonia used to pass through the village. There were also fortifications around it, as evidenced by the toponym "Kaleto", relevant to two elevations at both sides of the route to Petrohan pass. According to a record dated from 1490, the village had an entirely Christian population, as did the entire area in the vicinity of Sofia. A Turkish register shows that the church in the village, that can be dated from the Middle Ages, continued to exist. According to its plan, the St. Nicholas of Myra belongs to the most widespread type of churches in Bulgarian lands in the Middle Ages and the National Revival, the single-naved basilica. The church has a semi-circular central apse inside and out, a naos and a narthex (added later). The entrance is one from the west, through the narthex into the naos. It has a barrel vault and has a gable roof with wooden casing and tiles, completely in the style of West Bulgarian single-naved churches in the period from the end of the 12-th to the 19-th century. The building technique is traditional for West Bulgarian lands. The material used was hewn and river stone, joint with white mortar. The church was decorated with murals. There were three distinctive period of decoration, with almost nothing remaining from the first murals. The murals are in three artistic layers.
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The prelatic sceptre is a symbol of strength and spiritual power. It imposes the obligation and responsibility to care for the integrity and preservation of the spiritual flock. The sceptre provides the bishop the power to judge and make decisions. The find from Trapezitsa is discovered in the big duplex building, in the civil complex near church № 3, in the Southeastern sector of the stronghold. The find has a biconical shape, with an almost flat upper surface. It’s quite possible that the workmanship is linked to a metropolitan studio. The entire surface features a “bird eye” ornament, applied circumferentially and also radially. Eight relief sheets are placed on the side surface. They are crafted in tall relief. From below the item ends with a bush for the attachment of the wooden stick. It remains an open question as to what kind of a representative of the metropolitan aristocracy was the complex in question meant for – a high-ranking layman or a clerical individual? The bone end of the prelatic sceptre is an important find, which links the new-found civil complex of Trapezitsa with a high-ranking representative of the metropolitan ecclesiastical hierarchy.
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The Great Flood is a legendary story known from many ancient civilizations. The general idea is that the gods or god decide to destroy sinful humanity, but in the end they spare it by leaving a representative to repopulate the earth. Hardly anyone has not heard of the biblical Noah, God’s chosen one who survived the flood, but few know that long before history was recorded in the Bible, there was Ziusudra – the chosen one of the Sumerian gods who decided to destroy humanity as they unleash the waters and flood the earth. This paper presents a historical, geographical and substantive description of the cuneiform tablet revealing the history of the flood. Examples of other Sumerian cultural artifacts related to the myth are presented, as well as analogies with civilizations far and close to the Sumer, which in turn brings information about international relations in antiquity and the significance of a history present in human global civilization over the millennia.
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