The ancient Bulgarians came to the Balkan peninsula from the south russian and and Kazakh grass lands, were they lived next to skyths. The Partians, i.e. the native persian people, came from the same area and from their brought to Iran the expertise of horse breeding and riding.
But the Black Sea basin, located between the Balkan peninsula, caucasus mountains, norther Anatolia and the Crimean peninsula, was perhaps the earliest site of neolithic settlements. Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, eminent geneticist, anthropologist and linguist located the site of the original proto-indoeuropean language there. An intriguing theory by Pitman and Ryan, based on geologic and archaeologic research even claims that the great deluge (Noahs flood in the old testament, but described much earlier in the epic of Gilgamesh) happened there at around 5600 B.C., leading to a migrational wave of the early agricultural settlements into various directions.
It is thus not difficult to understand that in Bulgaria some historical artefacts, that sometimes are still reproduced in common craftswork, resemble to a large degree the persian-sassanid style.
But the Black Sea basin, located between the Balkan peninsula, caucasus mountains, norther Anatolia and the Crimean peninsula, was perhaps the earliest site of neolithic settlements. Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, eminent geneticist, anthropologist and linguist located the site of the original proto-indoeuropean language there. An intriguing theory by Pitman and Ryan, based on geologic and archaeologic research even claims that the great deluge (Noahs flood in the old testament, but described much earlier in the epic of Gilgamesh) happened there at around 5600 B.C., leading to a migrational wave of the early agricultural settlements into various directions.
It is thus not difficult to understand that in Bulgaria some historical artefacts, that sometimes are still reproduced in common craftswork, resemble to a large degree the persian-sassanid style.
From the 9th century the official religion in the Bulgarian Empire is the orthodox Christianity. Before that the religion of the Bulgarians was monotheistic and very similar to the Zoroastrianism. As a matter of fact, the prophet Zoroaster was born and died in the capital city of Bactria: Balh. D-r Dorian Alexandrov believes the so-called Eagle of Asparukh, which depicts a stuggle between an eagle and a snake is also connected with the proto-Bulgarian dualistic view of the world. The eagle is part of the Voznesenka Golden Treasure. Academic Jordan Ivanov finds similarities between the pre-islamic persian religion, and Bogomilism. The medieval Bulgarian writer Prezviter Kozma, in his “lecture against the Bogomils”, describes in details their dualistic practites, and their blend with the new Christian religion. The historian Plamen Pavlov accepts the riot of a leader called Traval (1084-1086), chief of the Bulgarian Paulician community was a result of the pre-Christian Bulgar believes. The name of the God in the Bulgarian religion is called Tangra, according to Veselin Beshevliev. In his view Tangra means “sky”, and he connects the word with the term Tien(sky). In central Asia there is mountain peak with the similar name: Khan Tengri, in the mountain TianShan. Peter Dobrev derives the word from the Pamirian “Tandra” which is the god of thunder in certain Pamiri tribes.
Bulgarians are of Persian descent and are not coming from Siberia. Our ancestors were beautiful well-built Caucasians and not the type of bow-legged people with eyes, announced yesterday the history professor Georgi Bakalov after his trip following the migration of Proto-Bulgarians. His expedition organized by the Bulgarian Academy of Science and Sofia University explored remains in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The team of professor Bakalov determined that our ancestors had religious customs long before adopting Christianity. The scholar opines that Bulgarians are not Attila’s descendants. “The Bulgarians participated in the marches of the Huns but by no means should be considered as part of their tribes”, explained prof. Bakalov. According to the leader of the expedition, anthropology associate professor Alexandar Iliev the ancestors of the Bulgarians come from Iran. A lot of words in the contemporary Bulgarian language are of Persian origin, scientists remind. The scholars will make a documentary about their discoveries and expect next year to launch one more expedition in “the new motherland of the Bulgarians”. The team is considering basic changes in history textbooks as now pupils get erroneous ideas about the Proto-Bulgarians.