A unique imperial personal seal, associated with a Byzantine empress and key events from the time of Tsar Ivan Asen II, was discovered during archaeological excavations at Perperikon. The find may provide new information about relations between Bulgaria and Byzantium in the 13th century. This was announced by archaeologist Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov on the air of “Hello, Bulgaria“ on Nova TV.
The seal belonged to Irina Doukina Komnina Laskarina – one of the most influential Byzantine empresses of the period. She was the granddaughter, daughter, wife and mother of emperors, and is particularly significant for Bulgaria because of her connection with Tsar Ivan Asen II.
„On the one hand, we have a very rare iconography of Christ as the redeemer of human sins. This was the patron saint of this lady – Irina Dukina Komnina Laskarina“, explained Prof. Ovcharov.
According to him, her life is connected with key political events of the era. After the victory of Ivan Asen II at Klokotnitsa in 1230, negotiations began for the recognition of the Bulgarian Patriarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarch German II.
It was precisely in the period 1230-1235 that active correspondence was conducted between the Bulgarian and Byzantine courts. Another possible reason for sending the letter, the seal of which was discovered on Perperikon, is the negotiation of the marriage between the daughter of Ivan Asen II - Elena, and Theodore, son of the Nicaean emperor John Vatatsi. “We suspect that it is precisely several of these letters. They show how important Perperikon was, which was located on the border between the Bulgarian Kingdom and the Nicaean Empire“, the archaeologist pointed out.
The find is extremely rare. According to Prof. Ovcharov, this is only the fifth such seal discovered in the world. The others are kept in collections in Washington.
The seal is also the fourth imperial seal discovered on Perperikon. The previous ones belonged to emperors from different eras, including Anastasius I, Constantine Monomakh and Andronicus II Palaeologus. A golden seal of Tsar Ivan Alexander was also discovered at Perperikon, which was subsequently stolen from the funds of the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum.
Archaeologists continue work on other structures in the ancient city. A representative building from the 5th century was discovered in the southern quarter of Perperikon. The team is currently examining the collapsed roof of the building, hoping that parts of the original structure and valuable archaeological finds are preserved under it.
According to Prof. Ovcharov, the building can provide important information about the lives of people in the 4th-5th centuries, since no traces of later habitation have been found so far that would have changed the archaeological layers.