This city in Bulgaria was larger than Constantinople and larger than Rome itself. Apparently, before the Mongols founded Beijing in China, it was the largest metropolis in the world. Pliska area inside the walls of the Outer City - 22 sq. Km. The city was founded by the Turkic dynasty of the nomads of the Bulgarians at an unknown time - in the 7-9 centuries. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the famous ruler of Russia, Princess Olga, led her family from Pliskov (Pliskov, Old Russian. Plskov, Middle-Greek. It is possible that it was Olga who gave the Russian city of Pskov (Pleskov) its name after the name of her former homeland.
Eastern gate of the Inner City of Pliska.
What the name "Pliska" means is still unknown. The name Pliska (Proto-Bulgar. PLSKA) is restored as Palasaka, Pelesek, and it is very likely that this name of the capital of the state of the Turkic-speaking Bulgars is related to the names of many cities in Asia - Balasagun (capital of the Karakhanid state), Balasakan (the largest city of Azerbaijan), Balgasun (the capital of the Uyghur Kaganate), etc. The Turkish name of Pliska - Aboba (until the 20th century) gives an understanding of the etymology of this word, apparently originally the name was the phrase - Plisk both. Where is the Turk. "Both" (camp, steppe village), then turned into Ab-oba "ancestral village". Apparently, Plisk both (Pliskoba, Pliskova) is a translation of the Proto-Bulgarian inscription “kanpos Plska” (camp / camp / field of Pliska).
General plan of Pliska. A rectangular outer city and an almost square citadel inside. On the right, a stone ceremonial road inside the city, it connected the Inner City (Citadel) with the main city temple - the Great Basilica.
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Comparison of the sizes of Pliska and Constantinople square.
For 120 years of archaeological research of the city, it was not possible to find out practically nothing about its history. It is possible to state certain facts about the ancient Pliska, but it is still impossible to create a complete picture of it. It is not known when and by whom Pleskova was founded, it is not known who lived there and why the size of the city is so impressive. Until recently, it was not even known whether it was a city or not. It is not clear how this object is identified with its name. In other words, it is not known whether this is Pliska at all. Since literally next to the ruins of the city there is another similar city - the so-called "camp" in Kabiyuk (8 km from Pliska). It is somewhat smaller in size, its approximate area is 4 sq. km. Maybe Pliscoba is exactly the "campos" at Mount Kabiyuk. Or they are both Pliska.
Location of Pliska and Kabiyuk fortifications. A natural question arises as to how two such huge fortified centers could appear side by side.
To the south of the fortifications of Pliska, 10 km away, there was the Madara sanctuary, the main Bulgarian cult center. This center was also endowed with a huge stone fortress and settlement. The entire Pliska plain (Pliskovskoe Pole) is a huge agglomeration, consisting of fortified urban centers, military camps, cult complexes and just individual settlements. Some researchers included the nearest city of Shumen in this agglomeration. In fact, there is no understanding where this metropolitan center ended. This region was protected by additional lines of earthen ramparts that survived near the town of Novi Pazar to the east of Pliska. Digging in and creating earthworks for nomadic Bulgarians is a characteristic feature. Even along the Bulgarian sea coast, ramparts (the Asparukh rampart in Varna) were created, which I wrote about earlier. This property of the Bulgarians (Burdjans) was noticed by the Arab chroniclers.
Pliska's defensive perimeter consisted of two parallel earthen ramparts and a ditch between them. It is possible that additional wooden walls were on top of the ramparts.
Eastern defensive ramparts. Even now, the inner shaft reaches a height of 6 meters, the outer one is much smaller. But do not forget that these fortifications are 1200 years old. The total length of the perimeter is 20 km.
More recently, it was believed that Pliska was the first capital of the Bulgarian Khanate. For in the Bulgarian Apocryphal Chronicle it was stated that Ispor-Tsar (Khan Asparuh) founded this city. But recently, the text of the chronicle has become more critical, since 120 years of archaeological excavations have not revealed any objects older than the end of the 8th century in the city. While Asparuh led his horde to the Balkans in the 7th century.
Pliska's stone citadel.
Tourists who come to Pliska are always limited to only two large objects in the city - the Citadel and the ruins of the Great Basilica. In Soviet times, these objects were seriously reconstructed, because initially they were all in ruins. I heard that in Bulgaria there are plans to rebuild the Great Basilica in general. It seems to me that it would be much more useful to remove agricultural fields from the territory of the city and clear the numerous ruins outside the Inner City. But this is a too large-scale project, because to cultivate 22 sq. km of Pliska square is beyond the power of the meager budget of small Bulgaria.
Surprisingly, no necropolises of pagan times have been found in or around the city. The nearest burials were found in the town of Novi Pazar (2 km east of Pliska). And a rich rider's burial was discovered south of the fortifications of Kabiyuk. Interestingly, this was generally the first aristocratic burial of a nomad of the Bulgarian time (7-9 centuries) found in Bulgaria. This happened in 2005. Until that time, Bulgarian archeology did not know anything of the kind. It is difficult to explain this.
All these fields are the territory of a giant city, surrounded by a line of earthen ramparts. The remains of hundreds of structures remain in the ground. They are not dug out, apparently due to the impossibility of control over such a vast territory. To the left, you can see the ruins of the Great Basilica - the main city church. The hill on the horizon to the right is also part of the ancient cultural space of Pliska - this is the famous Simeon Hill, mentioned by Anna Komnina. She called it the Scythian Buleuterium (seat of council).
Numerous Christian graves have been found on the territory of Pliska. As you know, Bulgaria was officially baptized under Khan Boris I (after 864). Therefore, the bulk of the city's population professed Christianity, which indicates a fairly late settlement of Pliska. At the moment, it is believed that the city flourished in the 9-10th centuries.
The first wooden fortifications of the city date back to the end of the 8th century. In 811 Pliska was burned by the troops of the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus. And after these dramatic events, active stone construction began in the city. Therefore, all the now known ruins of Pliska's structures are not older than the 9th century. At this time, a huge stone citadel (Inner City), palaces of rulers and many ritual structures were erected in the city.
Pliska's ceremonial stone road. Its length is almost 1.5 km. The road connected the Inner City and the main temple of the city - the Great Basilica.
Normal people drive along the road in cars. For just a walk from the Inner City to the Basilica and back is almost 3 km. I came to Pliska on my own two feet, so I had to walk. And I must say that I did not regret it at all. The road made a strong impression. It consists of huge, poorly processed blocks. The surface of which does not bear traces of any use. Karel Shkorpil, who discovered this road, wrote that the road construction technology was different from the Roman one, where additional layers of gravel were used. The stones of Pliska's ceremonial road simply lie on the ground. Apparently the road was used only for ritual purposes.
The road led to the main temple of Pliska, perhaps originally the temple was pagan, and turned into a Christian basilica only from the middle of the 9th century. But traces of the early temple have not yet been found. It is assumed that the basilica was erected over the burial place of the first Bulgarian martyr - Yenravota, the eldest son of Khan Omurtag. Perhaps the Great Basilica was the burial place of the Bulgarian khans who converted to Christianity. But so far, no evidence has been found for this either.
The ruins of the western facade of the main religious building of the city - the Great Basilica. Its length was 100 meters.
The cult buildings of the city also pose serious problems for researchers, since it is still not clear what the inhabitants of the largest medieval metropolis believed (in what gods). The pre-Christian faith of the Bulgarians is conventionally called paganism, but its essence is not clear. A certain god is constantly mentioned on the inscriptions of the Bulgarian khans, but his name is unknown. There is only one inscription on which you can read something similar to "Tengri", but there is no absolute certainty in such a reading. Numerous adherents of the Bulgarian folk history are convinced that the religion of the Proto-Bulgarians was Zoroastrianism, but no evidence of this version was ever presented.
Well on the territory of the Great Basilica complex. Next to it there was a monastery and an archbishop's palace.
In general, Pliska as a phenomenon is always not what it seems. You can put forward any theories about her, but over time, they all turn out to be wrong.
Back in the 19th century, the founders of Bulgarian archeology, the Shkorpil brothers, thought that the ruins near the Turkish city of Aboba were a Byzantine settlement. Then it turned out that this city was founded by nomadic Bulgarians, since numerous proto-Bulgarian inscriptions were found in Pliska. Then, for a long time it was believed that Pliska was originally a Slavic settlement, which grew to the scale of a huge city under the wise leadership of nomadic aliens. This idea was also discarded, since no traces of Slavic settlements were found on the territory of Pliska, there is no characteristic pottery, and there are no traces of the Slavs themselves (necropolises). The fact that the city was inhabited mainly by Slavs can only be guessed from general considerations.
Central nave of the Great Basilica.
Reconstruction of the Great Basilica in the Pliska Museum.
Surprisingly, no traces (objects, ceramics, burials) of the Turkic-speaking Bulgarians who came to this plain were found. The nearest pagan necropolises were at a decent distance from the city.
When it became clear that Pliska was a large center founded by the nomads of the Bulgarians, the idea was replicated that the settlement was a kind of wasteland where cattle breeders kept their herds. The settlement consisted of felt yurts and only the wooden palaces of the rulers stood out against this background. Perhaps something like this could be seen for a very short time. Because traces of yurts were not found at all, but since the beginning of the 9th century, many traces of wooden semi-dugouts were found. All the dwellings in the city were exclusively stationary. Not only wooden but also stone houses were found. Moreover, the ruins of 49 (!!) churches have been found on the territory of the Outer City, i.e. approximately one church per 500 sq. m. In the 80s of the last century, it was known about 25 churches on the territory of Pliska, now their number has doubled. And it is quite possiblethat further some more churches will be found in the city.
Typical three-aisled basilica in the Outer Town of Pliska.
Ruins of a church in the Outer City.
Most of these temples were built in the 9-10th centuries, i.e. somewhere in 100 years. Such a number of places of worship may indicate a significant population density of the city. A significant number of craft workshops have also been found. Those. a gigantic settlement appeared in the shortest possible time - even in the 8th century there was nothing and no one, and in the 9th century we already have a city with an area of 22 sq. km - the largest metropolis of the then world. And this was precisely the city - with a developed handicraft industry, residential quarters, numerous religious buildings (in addition to individual churches in Pliska, whole religious complexes - monasteries were also identified) and palaces of the nobility.
Reconstruction of a typical wooden dwelling house (semi-dugout). The main population of the city lived in such dwellings.
Below, the ruins of a large stone structure in the Outer City. What it is is unknown, it is claimed that this is a kind of "civil building". A building without windows and doors, made of large stone blocks, walls up to 2 meters thick. Of course, here you need to take into account the quality of the Bulgarian restoration (rather reconstruction) of this object. It is not always possible to find out how the ruins looked initially. But in general, such austere architecture was characteristic of all Bulgar objects.
Perhaps the first floor of the building was so massive, and above everything was somewhat lighter. But this is no longer possible to verify.
Below is a view of the Madara plateau from Pliska. The main Bulgarian pagan cult center was located in Madara. It can be assumed that the entire agglomeration on Pliskovskoe field was tied to this cult center. All together, this space may have been an analogue of the sacred land of the Turkic tradition - the legendary Otyuken, the Otyuken mob (land, taiga), the sacred territory of many Turkic and Mongolian peoples. It has long been noted that Pliska was located away from trade routes and large rivers, its economic potential is unknown. Perhaps the main purpose of the fortified agglomeration on the Pliskovskoye field is sacred, it was the sacred center of the huge Bulgarian empire in the north of the Balkans.