III. The legacy of Pliska

    14. Coins and seals
 

No seals sealing the correspondence of the pagan rulers have been found so far in Pliska. The only known up to now lead seal of khan Tervel hails from Istanbul, and the two golden medallion of khan Omurtag – from the neighbourhoods of Pliska and Veliko Turnovo. These medallions are the only authentic Bulgarian depictions of the pagan rulers, containing also the title of the ruler, KANASUBIGI. [36]

The coins found in Pliska [37] are without an exception all Byzantine. Earliest amongst them are two folles (heavy copper coins) of the emperor Nicephorus I Genicus (802-811 AD). Byzantine coins dating from the time of the emperor Leo VI (886-912 AD) onwards are already regularly found, although in small numbers (32 in total). Amongst them there are several made of gold, hidden as a treasure in one of the estates in the Inner town (object No 40). Most common are the coins dating from the period of Byzantine rule. The latest among them date from the end of the XI – the beginning of the XII c. A collection of lead seals of low- and middle-ranking Byzantine military commanders and private persons dates from the last quarter of the X c. and the first half of the XI c. There is a seal of the emperor Basil II (976-1025 AD) as well. [38]
 

36. YORDANOV I. Ednostranni zlatni moneti-medal’oni s imeto na han Omurtag. – Numizmatika 1976, 4, p. 18-34.

37. YORDANOV I. Monetnaya cirkulyaciya srednevekovoy Pliski. – IV Mezhdunarodniy kongress slavyanskoy arheologii. Tezisy dokladov bolgarskoy delegacii. S., 1980, s. 33-34.

38. YORDANOV I. Vizantiyski olovni pechati ot Pliska. – Pliska-Preslav 5, 1992, s. 281-301.