Grave political events

The altered regime of the financial institution as settled by the brand new statutes was inaugurated oh September 1st, 1885, however in consequence of grave political occasions of the interval, the union between Northern and Southern Bulgaria and the Servo Bulgarian struggle, the financial institution didn’t correctly start all of the transactions which the brand new statutes had sanctioned till February 1886. The political state of affairs, thankfully, improved in a short time, and, the nation having resumed its regular existence, commerce and business entered on a interval of growth and progress. The industrial relations of the nation with different states acquired a particular significance, and this circumstance significantly elevated the demand for credit score.

 Modest means allowed

The financial institution did all that its modest means allowed to second the efforts of the industrial and industrial a part of the neighborhood. Quickly, nevertheless, the capital of the financial institution grew to become manifestly inadequate. So as to not fail within the process which it had undertaken, the financial institution procured overseas capital, which was the extra readily superior because the curiosity which the financial institution provided to pay was comparatively a excessive one (7 p.c. on deposits for a interval of ^at the very least 5 years). Then again, the arrogance with which the financial institution, as a State establishment, impressed the inhabitants enabled it to increase the problem of banknotes. On account of the regulation of 1886, the financial institution contracted with the Deutsche Financial institution of Berlin a mortgage which was assured by the emission of mortgage choice shares to the nominal sum of 10,000,000 francs. An additional difficulty of comparable choice shares for the nominal worth of 10,000,000 francs adopted in 1893.

Supplied with an elevated capital, the financial institution rapidly developed its discounting transactions, and rendered nice help to the departments and communes, in addition to to personal individuals, by advancing them loans on mortgage. Thanks to those mortgage loans, a large number of our cities have been reorganised and their hygienic situations improved.

In proportion as its operations developed, the progress of the financial institution grew steadier. It positioned its capital on the disposal of the industrial and industrial sections of the inhabitants, and thus rendered them inestimable companies. Owing to its highly effective safety, lots of the industrial, industrial and banking institutions have been began which, of their flip, contributed a lot to the economical growth of the Principality.

The next tables comprise a abstract of the operations of the Bulgarian Nationwide Financial institution since its reorganisation in 1885 till 1904.

Capital

Reserve fund Financial institution notes in circulation Time period deposits Mortgage choice inventory Money at financial institution

Portfolio

“departments Loans communes agricultural banks Mortgage loans Particular present accounts Web earnings Complete of transactions ..

1885      I89O

IN           1895

THOUSANDS     1900 OF FRANCS.            1904

6,073     9,120     9,120     9,120     9,120

—           1,086     three,zero23     three,731     four,393

213         1,957     1,680     21,826   40,217

644         13,575   39,790   60,715   59,725

—           three,757     19,423   18,192   16,904

three,658     four,597     6,400     13,259   19,722

four,249     7,05i      17,850   23,060   24,313

three,775     9,637     19,307   16,455   19,485

53           12,156   24,516   32,787   29,377

158         2,805     9,563     16,761   12,963

65a         1,000     1,491     1,418     2,528

164,281                540,364                1,225,312            1,506,181             1,928,371

 

BULGARIA ART EXHIBITIONS

The gradual and painful progress of creative life in Bulgaria, and the gradual spreading of creative style among the many Bulgarian public, can be finest seen from a quick survey of the historical past of artwork exhibitions in Bulgaria.

The primary artwork exhibition was organised in 1887 by Ivan Angeloff, trainer within the Gymnasium of Sofia and a graduate of the Munich Academy of Positive Arts. This exhibition, which contained three footage painted in Bulgaria and various sketches and research courting from the artist’s pupil days in Munich, in addition to drawings by college students of the Gymnasium, was held in one of many drawingrooms of the Gymnasium in honour of the Prince, who had lately been elected to the Bulgarian throne. In addition to the royal go to, the exhibition solely attracted the eye of some private associates of the artist.

Some 5 years later, on the event of the primary Bulgarian Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition, held in Plovdiv in 1892, the primary collective artwork exhibition was organised, the productions of the varied Bulgarian artists, practically all of whom have been lecturers within the gymnasium, being exhibited. The part of the exhibition during which, apart from the above artists, Bulgarian college students of portray and sculpture within the international artwork academies additionally participated, attracted so little consideration that no printed catalogue of the work exhibited was ever issued. The one Bulgarian newspaper which seen it was Bal kanska Zora, the place an extended article appeared beneath the preliminary Bbulgaria vacation M., behind which in all probability was hidden some Bulgarian artist who was himself participating within the exhibition. Even the organ of the administration of the exhibition, the thing of which throughout its two years’ publication was to tell the general public in regards to the progress of the exhibition and to acquaint it with the objects collected, makes no point out of the part the place for the primary time the works of the Bulgarian artists had been introduced collectively. All that it accommodates on the topic is a quick discover coping with the image of Holarek, ” the Return of the Bulgarian Prisoners blinded by Basil I., 1014.”

This primary exhibition of Bulgarian artwork, which didn’t solely deserve the neglect with which it was handled, was adopted in 1894 by one other—the primary unbiased artwork exhibition consisting of productions by members and nonmembers of the Affiliation for Encouraging the Positive Arts in Bulgaria. This exhibition, as additionally these which adopted in 1897, 1898, and 1899, was organised with the cooperation and the pecuniary help of the Authorities.

The primary collective artwork exhibition with none ethical or materials help from the Authorities was that organised by the Society of Modem Artwork, and held in 1904. This society, which was shaped in 1903, has proven from the very first, and continues to indicate, an incredible, virtually feverish exercise. It has already organised, at its personal danger and with its non-public assets, three exhibitions of the productions of all its members, and 7 exhibitions of images by particular person members. In addition to, the Society of Modem Artwork, as additionally the Society of Bulgarian Artists, took half within the first Southern Slav Artwork Exhibition, which was held in Belgrade in 1904, whereas throughout the months of August and September, 1906, it organised the second Southern Slav Artwork Exhibition in Sofia. On this final event the Society of Modem Artwork was helped by the State, each morally and materially.

Inventive curiosity and style in Bulgaria

With the awakening and growth of creative curiosity and style in Bulgaria, the ethical success of Bulgarian artwork was assured, and materials encouragement and prosperity weren’t gradual to comply with. This final was to some extent true even of the earliest exhibition, that organised by Ivan Angeloff, solely the customer then was not a Bulgarian, however a foreigner, a Slav, who had been captivated by the real Bulgarian topics of images like that of the “ Ruins of St. Sophia ” and the views of the village of Slivnitza, and of Sofia because it appeared in its Turkish character, earlier than the brand new planning of the city had been carried into impact.

 

The present version

Gount Villiers de l`Isle Adam, bom in Brittany in 1838, led an odd life. “Born with out common will-power,” says Huneker, “besides the desire to think about stunning and unusual issues, all his years he fought the contending impulses of his twin nature.”

He was the very mannequin of a bohemian. His unusual tales, the most effective of that are collected underneath the title Merciless Tales, are improbable prose poems within the method of Poe. The Torture of Hope, based on Huneker, remembers Poe at his finest.

The current model, anonymously translated, is reprinted from an American assortment of tales, not dated. It’s from the amount of Merciless Tales.

The Torture of Hope

A few years in the past, as night was closing in, the venerable Pedro Arbuez d`Espila, sixth prior of the Dominicans of Segovia, and third Grand Inquisitor of Spain, adopted by a fra redemptor, and pre¬ceded by two familiars of the Holy Workplace, the latter carrying lanterns, made their solution to a subterranean dungeon.

The bolt of a large door creaked, and so they entered a mephitic in tempo, the place the dim gentle re¬vealed between rings fixed to the wall a bloodstained rack, a brazier and a jug. On a pile of straw, loaded with fetters and his neck encircled by an iron carcan, sat a haggard man, of unsure age, clothed in rags.

This prisoner was no apart from Rabbi Aser Abarbanel, a Jew of Aragon, who—accused of usury and pitiless scorn for the poor—had been every day subjected to torture for greater than a 12 months. But “his blind¬ness was as dense as his disguise,” and he had refused to abjure his religion.

Pleased with a filiation courting again 1000’s of years, happy with his an¬cestors—for all Jews worthy of the title are useless of their blood—he descended Talmudically fromOthoniel and consequently fromlpsiboa, the spouse of the final choose of Israel, a circumstance which had sustained his braveness amid incessant torture. With tears in his eyes on the considered this resolute soul rejecting salvation, the venerable Pedro Arbuez d`Espila, approaching the shuddering rabbi, addressed him as follows:

“My son, rejoice: your trials right here beneath are about to finish. If within the presence of such obstinacy I used to be compelled to allow, with deep remorse, using nice severity, my activity of fraternal correction has its limits. You’re the fig tree which, having failed so many occasions to bear fruit, eventually withered, however God alone can choose your soul.

Magadha loved an advantageous geographical place

Mauryas is just like the march, of the Iranian empire throughout the identical interval. The formation of die largest state in India throughout this era was the work of a number of enterprising and impressive rulers such’ as Bimbisara, Ajatasatru and Mahapadma Nanda. They employed all means, honest and foul, at their disposal to enlarge then kingdoms and to strengthen their states.’ However this was not the one ^motive for the enlargement of Magadha.

Thera have been another essential elements. Magadha loved an advantageous geographical place within the age of iron,, as a result of the richest iron deposits have been located not distant from Rajgir, the earliest capita) of Magadha The prepared availability of the^ wealthy iron ores within the neighbourhood enabled thi Magadhan princes to equip themselves with etlective weapons, which weren’t simply out there to their rivals. Iron mines are additionally present in japanese Madhya Pradesh, and weren’t removed from the’ kingdom of the Avantis with their capital at Ujjain. Round 500 B.C. iron was sure^ cast, and smelted in Ujjain, and possibly the smiths manufactured weapons of fine high quality. On account of this ‘Avanti proved to Be probably the most severe competitor of Magadha for the supremacy of north India, and Magadha took a couple of hundred years to subjugate Ujjain.

Magadha loved sure different benefits the 2 capitals

Magadha loved sure different benefits the 2 capitals of Magadha, the primary at Rajgir and the second at Pataliputra, have been located at very strategic factors. Ranger was surrounded by a gaggle of 5 hills, and so it was rendered impregnable in these days when there have been no simple technique of storming citadels ^uch as cannons which got here to be invented a lot later. Within the fifth century the Magadhan princes shifted their capital from Rajgir to Pataliputra, which occu-pied a-pivotal place commanding communications on all sides.

Pataliputra was located i on the confluence of the Ganga, the Gandak and the Son, and a fourth river referred to as the Sarayu joined the Ganga not removed from Pataliputra. in pre-industriai days, when communications have been tough the military may transfer north, west, south and east by observe mg the programs of the rivets 1 urther, the place of Patna itself was rendeiecf invulnerable due to its being sunounded by rivers on virtually all sides. Whereas the Son and the Ganga surrounded it on the north and west, the Poonpun surrounded it on the south and east. Pataliputra due to this fact was a trtie water-fort (jaladurga), and it was not simple to seize this city in these days.

 

 

SOCIETIES, SCHOOLS OF PAINTING, ARTISTS

THE artists of Bulgaria, foreign settlers included, are grouped into two societies : the Society of Bulgarian Artists, and the Society of Modem Art. These two societies live in perpetual strife with one another, each denying the right of existence to its rival, and extolling its own merits at the expense of its opponent. The truth, however, is that both of them have rendered appreciable services to art in Bulgaria.

The Society of Bulgarian Artists, which was originally known as the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Art in Bulgaria, comprised, before the foundation of the Society of Modem Art, not only all the artists in Bulgaria, but also a considerable proportion of the drawingmasters. With the pecuniary and moral support of the Government, it organised between 1894 and 1899 four exhibitions of the productions of the Bulgarian artists.

Then followed seven years of inactivity, broken in 1906 by another exhibition to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the School of Painting in Sofia. The merits of this society consist not only in organising these exhibitions, interceding with the Government, and obtaining orders for pictures or icons destined for various churches or other State institutions, but also, and mainly, in the initiative taken by it, on the suggestion of the Bulgarian Prince, which led to the founding of the first State School of Painting.

Conversation with the artist Ivan Angeloff

In 1887 the Prince, in a conversation with the artist Ivan Angeloff, who had organised in the Prince’s honour an exhibition of his works, expressed readiness to take under his patronage a School of Arts, provided the idea of opening such a school found acceptance with the Government and the nation. Angeloff communicated this to the wellknown Bulgarian writer, politician and artist, Constantin Velitchkoff, who at that time was living in Rome as a political exile. In 1894 Velitchkoff returned to Bulgaria, and shortly afterwards became Minister of Public Instruction and honorary president of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Art in Sofia private tour Bulgaria. The president of the Society, Dr. Schishmanoff, together with two of its members, Ivan Markvitchka and Anton Mitoff, had meanwhile been studying the practical side of the question of opening a school of painting, and solicited the cooperation of the new minister. In 1895 the National Assembly passed a law creating a State school of painting in Sofia, which was opened in October 1896.

The object of the school was to prepare (a) students of plastic and fine arts; (b) teachers of paintiDg, drawing, caligraphy, and manual work in the gymnastic and special schools; (c) artists for the various art industries (iconpainting, woodcarving, decorative art, ceramics, weaving, goldsmith’s work, etc.). In accordance with this object, the following subjects were taught during the year 19056 : drawing from plaster models (class of Klissouroff), drawing from nature (class of Ivan Angeloff), painting (class of Ivan Markvitchka), sculpture (class of Yetcho Spiridonoff), decorative arts (class of Boris Mihailoff), woodcarving (class of Ivan Travnitzki), weaving and lacemaking (class of Tereza Holekova), ceramics (class of Stephan Dimitroff), lithography (class of Joseph Silaba), history of art, perspective, anatomy, architecture, etc. During that same year the State School of Painting had 126 students, of whom 100 were men and 26 women.

 

Turko-Servian War

The Bulgars took little or no part in the Turko-Servian War in 1875 ; but when the war ended in the virtual emancipation of the Serbs, the time had manifestly come when it was incumbent upon their neighbours to take action which might force the hand of the Czar, and thus necessitate Muscovite intervention. The whole story of the abortive Bulgarian rising in 1S76 is singularly obscure. What its intrinsic importance was, who were its leaders and instigators, and what, if any, was the programme of the insurgents, are all matters on which it is difficult to express any definite opinion.

The one thing certain is that the rising was suppressed by the Turks with relentless severity. That it must have been so suppressed is evident priori to any one acquainted with the Eastern system of administration. So long as the Giaour pays his taxes and respects the authority of Islam, he is allowed to do pretty much what he likes in other respects; but, if he rises in rebellion against his rulers, the hand of his lord and master comes down with overwhelming force. Not to strike without necessity, but when you have to strike, to strike a knock-down blow, such is the principle of Oriental statesmanship. Less than a score of years ago, a village near Keneh, where English tourists now make halt daily during the Nile season, rose in insurrection against the authority of the then Khedive, partly in resentment of excessive taxation, partly in deference to religious fanaticism.

Local Mahdi

A local Mahdi had taken it into his head to preach the duty of returning to the true faith of Islam, had denounced Ismail Pasha as one who consorted with infidels, and had exhorted the faithful to refuse obedience to the officials of the Government The appeal met with some response, and next time the tax collectors appeared at the village they were driven away with violence. On learning this, the Khedive sent down a body of troops under orders to surround the village with a cordon, and to kill every man, woman, child, and living thing within the precincts. The order was carried out literally, and no more was ever heard of the Keneh Mahdi or of the Keneh insurrection.

And, what is more, I could never discover that this wholesale massacre offended in any way such public opinion as exists in Egypt It was only the regular way in which insurrections had always been dealt with; and, after all, it achieved its purpose. If the Turks act in this fashion towards men of their own faith, it is only natural they should have, if possible, still less scruple in inflicting condign punishment on rebellious subjects belonging to an alien race and a hostile creed. I have not, therefore, the slightest doubt in my own mind that the insurrection in Bulgaria was put down by the Turks in a fashion utterly inconsistent with our ideas of law and justice, not to mention humanity.

But whether there were fifteen thousand, or fifteen hundred, or one hundred and fifty Bulgarians killed, or which of the various atrocities alleged to have been perpetrated had any foundation in fact, I have no idea myself, nor have I met with anyone who could give me reliable information on the point I have seen enough of Eastern countries to entertain the utmost distrust of any specific statement of fact with regard to occurrences which are alleged to have taken place there, no matter on what authority the statement may be based.

We at home are too well acquainted with Mr. Gladstone’s utter incapacity to see more than one side of any question, to repose implicit confidence upon the evidence on which he founded his famous indictment of the Bulgarian atrocities. Still Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet served its purpose; and undoubtedly the Anti-Turkish demonstration, led by Mr. Gladstone, encouraged the Russians in the mistaken belief that England would acquiesce in any fresh aggression against Turkey, and thereby contributed directly to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War.

 

Days Janissaries

It was at the corner of a street, its gate wide opened, and there was only one big old tree in the garden. The others must have died of old age, and the owner must have been too poor to replace them.

The road we followed was dusty and almost deserted, with deep furrows left by chariots, carts and carriages since the beginning of time. In winter the rain and the snow turned the soft, pinkish Anatolian soil into a greasy mud. And every winter, ever since the days of the Janissaries, chariots, carts and carriages had passed on these roads, furrowing always deeper. One felt as if the clock of time had stopped here years ago. An acute sense of the living past permeated everything.

On our way my wife asked me to tell her something of my aunt’s family. Our surroundings reminded me of old stories, and I told her the story as told to us by my grandmother when we were tiny little boys. I used to love it as it opened before my mind vast visions of heroic ages. “Centuries ago,” I told my wife, “There lived a young man, almost a boy, in the faraway mountains of Anatolia, bordering the snow-covered peaks of the Caucasus.

Almighty heard

He was tall and handsome but did not marry because he had to support his old father and mother who were so old and so poor that they could only sit on their divans all day and pray the Almighty to call them back to him so that their boy might be left free of worries and responsibilities. But they were good parents and the boy was a good son. Therefore, the Almighty heard their prayer and freed their son of all worries, but not in the way the old people had prayed for. It so happened that the “Frank” kings of Hungary, Servia and Bulgaria declared war on our powerful Sultan and invaded his domains. To repulse the invaders our Sultan called all his brave subjects under arms.

They flocked from all over to the standard of their emperor. The young boy from the Anatolian mountains near the Caucasus heard his sovereign’s call and answered it immediately. But he was so far away that when he came to Adrianople, which was at that time the capital of the Sultan, he found that the armies had left many days before to meet the detested foes. He galloped post haste through the Balkans, days and nights without rest until he finally reached the plains of Kosovo.

Deductive reasoning

Both his technical procedure and the pattern of his subsequent deductive reasoning will be governed by a constant and unvarying code of rules, applicable only to this form of excavation. Equally it can be maintained that many of these rules are inapplicable elsewhere, and, what is more important, that technical precepts which have rightly come to be indispensable in other forms of excavating, may prove totally unsuitable to this very specialized form of practice.

If one may be more explicit: to suppose that a graduate in archaeology, because he has experience of excavating an Iron Age farm on Salisbury Plain or a Roman villa in Tuscany, is thereby equipped to tackle a Mesopotamian mound, is to court disaster of the sort which even the most verbose archaeological report can never quite adequately disguise.

Now, in expressing this opinion, one is immediately conscious of venturing upon controversial ground; for, in the slightly parochial world of

British archaeological technicians, there is a school of thought which maintains the exact opposite. At present, this includes some who are both great scholars and great excavators; giants of the archaeological profession, whose opinions can never safely be ignored. But in almost every case, their early training has been in the field of Roman Britain.

Their central loyalty has always been to the code of ethics and procedure created at the end of the last century by General Pitt Rivers; and the theme of their teaching was the rigid discipline in archaeological practice, which they themselves have done so much to perfect. Their influence on the training of potential field workers in this country has been prodigiously effective, and there is little in their teaching, which one does not admire.

Whole ritual of method

In my own mind the only doubt, which arises, is when they maintain that the whole ritual of method or as one might call it, the “procedural liturgy” which they have advocated, can be applied wholesale to any excavation in any part of the world.

However, already it will have become evident that the primary purpose of the chapters, which follow, will be to make this point clear, by summarizing the conclusions to be drawn from thirty years practical experience of mound excavation. Their intention in fact is to prove that this is a specialized form of archaeology, which requires specialized training.

First, therefore, it will be necessary to present what seem to be the most relevant facts regarding the anatomical character of mounds in general. After that, it should be possible to illustrate some of the peculiarities, which emerge, and the problems, which they present, by practical instances from actual excavations. In addition, in attempting this, it may be logical and even desirable to restrict myself for the most part to excavations, which I myself have directed or with which I have been in close contact.

 

Kara George would have been completely successful

Immediately connected with this, was the second resolution ; which involved a complete reformation of the Senate. Its judicial and administrative functions were separated. For the former, a Supreme Court of Justice was instituted, to be composed of the less important Sowietniks ; the latter, on the contrary, were to be entrusted to the most influential men, in the form of a Ministry.

They were to be designated Administrators   Popet  schiteli: the first, of “War; the second, of Justice; the third, of Foreign Affairs ; and so on for Ecclesiastical Affairs, the Home Department, and Finance. The intention was that, besides Mladen, Knes Sima Markowitsch, and Dosithei Obradowitsch, who were all declared adherents of Kara George, Jacob Xena  dowitsch, Milenko, and Peter Dobrinjaz, should also be employed in these Ministerial duties.

By thq first resolution, the greater part of the power which the Gospodars had hitherto held was taken from them : they were disengaged, as it were, from their respec tive districts. By the second, an office was found for them beyond the influence of their former relations : an office which, in fact, left them little independent power; as the chief appointment  the Ministry of War was placed in the hands of Mladen. Ilad they assented to this, Kara George would have been completely successful. Precau tionary measures, however, had been taken, in the event of their non compliance: a la^v had been passed in the Diet, that resistance to these resolutions should be punished by exile.

All this having been concluded, the Commander  in chief made the Woiwodes swear that they would obey him; and only him. At his command they then separated, and each at once repaired to his own district.

Such was the state of affairs, when Milenko and Peter, accompanied by the Russian regiment, at length arrived at Belgrade. Unquestionably they were still in a position to offer resistance. Could they but continue united, their combined authority would yet be of great weight. On their side was the Ileyduc Weliko, to whom all rule was irksome; and who, since the preceding year, had held himself in a position of obstinate isolation. So many complaints, of acts of violence and manifold crimes committed by him, had been brought before the Diet of that year, that it was intended to imprison him in some fortress. He assembled his Momkes, and said: “ When I came here, 1 thought I should bo asked how many wounds I had received ? how many brave companions I had lost ? how many horses had been killed under me?

But they ask   how many girls I have kissed! Come ! let us depart.” lie now appeared by the side of the other Gospodars at Belgrade, with seventy resolute com panions  Bekjares, so far as they were paid by him ; Momkes, so far as they were bound to him by personal obligations   who were ready for any enterprise. The Gospodars had also a strong faction in the town; and were altogether in a position to undertake something serious. But already was their unity destroyed and their power lessened by several losses.

Milan, on whom they could reckon unconditionally, had fallen ill at Bucharest, not long after Lasar Woinowitsch had returned to him, and he died on the last day of the year 1810. It was asserted by some that he had been removed by poison. But what to them was of greater importance, Jacob Nenadowitscli had now other views : he determined to fill his place in the Senate. Having married his son Efrem to the daughter of Mladen, and joined himself entirely to the party of Kara George ; instead of coming with a numerous troop, he appeared at Belgrade in his sledge, accompanied only by two Momkes. Thus Peter and Milenko alone remained with Weliko.

This legend reminds us the Prophet Abraham

A strange legend; Hermes travels around alone on a nice spring day. He encounters noisy crowd on his way. He comes closer to the crowd and witnesses that a god is about to sacri­fice his own daughter to the gods. Disguised as a mortal Hermes learns about what’s going on there and flies to the sky and then af­ter a while returns back with a rum in his hands. He tells the king that he brought this rum as a sacrifice instead of his daughter for I lie honor of gods to bring an end to the drought lasting for a long time. Seeing Hermes and the rum brought the king feels so happy and kills the rum as a sacrifice instead of his own daughter.

This legend reminds us the Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) sacrificing his son Ismail (Ishmael). Because of this incident, the name of Hermes is “Hermes carrying rum”.

These similarities between the legend we came across in Greek mythology and the events firstly seen in Sumerian Gilgamesh originally, developed later on and illustrated in Christianity and Muslim are a indicator of a continuity.

1. Ares: God of war. Son of Zeus and Hera. He envies the love by his father Zeus for the goddess of war, Athena. He is closer to his mother. Just like his mother, he is mostly irritable. He en­joys breaking out trouble and violence, antagonizing. Not having a great domain Ares was not welcomed in Anatolia.

He is always in conflict with Heracles (Hercules) the local god of Anatolia. He is humiliated in every case by Heracles. He has liaison with Aphrodite. From this liaison Phobos (Defeat) and Deimos (Fear) come into the world. He falls from grace sub­stantially owing to his liaison. Anyway, he is not loved so much. Known as fair, noble, witty Athena is the first one who comes to mind when someone utters the word “war”, so there is no need to another god of war in a sense. Also, the love affair between him and Aphrodite make him fall into contempt completely. Thus, Ares is generally portrayed as being nude. War helmet has been taken from his head and attached to his

Women in Bulgaria

Women in Bulgaria refers to women who live in and are from Bulgaria. Women’s position in Bulgarian society has been influenced by a variety of cultures and ideologies, including the Byzantine and Ottoman cultures, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, communist ideology, and contemporary globalized Western values.

Emancipation

Bulgarian women live in a society that is customarily patriarchal. While Bulgaria is often described as a patriarchal society, women may have substantial authority in household budgeting or agricultural decision making. Both men and women have the right to vote and own property. Despite decades of socialist ideology of gender equality, women are often employed in lower paying jobs, remain responsible for most household chores, and represent more than half the registered unemployed. They also occupy leadership positions less frequently than men. In 1996, fewer than 14 percent of postsocialist parliamentary representatives have been women, and only one in five municipal councilors were women in that year. By 2014, women represented 20.4% of the Parliament.

Voting and government

Limited women’s suffrage was first granted in 1937, and women obtained full voting rights in 1944.[7] During the communist era nevertheless, civil rights and freedoms for both women and men were equal, no matter how limited they were due to the authoritarian nature of the government. In 1945 the first women were elected in parliament. Between 1960-1990 the number of women in parliament varied between 16% and 21% and in 1990 it dropped down to 8.5%. As of 2017, there were 25.8% women in parliament.

Employment

Many women entered paid employment during the socialist era, when an ideology of gender equality was promoted, and they made up nearly half the workforce in the late twentieth century. Women are frequently employed as teachers, nurses, pharmacists, sales clerks, and laborers, and less often involved in management, administration, and technical sciences. Women are also largely responsible for household tasks child care, cooking, cleaning, and shopping. Agricultural labor is divided according to gender, with men working with animals and machinery and women doing more hand labor in crop production, although flexibility exists in response to specific situations.

Despite this, the gender segregation in the workforce is somewhat less pronounced in Bulgaria than in other European countries.

Compared to the European average, Bulgarian women have a higher involvement in traditionally male fields such as science, maths, computing and engineering; and a lower involvement in the service field.

Also, the gender pay gap (in 2013) is 13.0% in Bulgaria, which is lower than the European Union average of 16.2%.[9] As of 2014, the employment rate (age 15-64) for women was 58.2% while for men it was 63.9%.

The employment rate for both sexes has been relatively low during the past two decades, due to hardships experienced by the national economy after the fall of the communism. Nevertheless, the exact involvement in the labour force is quite difficult to determine, due to the presence of the unregulated informal sector. According to World Bank, women in 2014 made up 46.6% of the total labour force, pretty much the same as in 1990 (47.9%).

Bulgarian women’s strong involvement in the economy can be seen in the fact that almost all employed women work full-time – the highest percentage among employed women in the EU. Before the communist era, Bulgaria (like other Eastern European countries) was a largely rural agricultural society, with women being integrated in the rural agricultural work. As such, they occupied a relatively high status in society (although not equal to men). Under the communist regime, the country was industrialized and “modernized”, and people came from rural areas to urban areas. The communist new ideology and economy integrated women in paid employment – in the late 1970s, Bulgaria had the highest percentage of working women in the world.

The importance of the Bulgarian alphabet

Another significant quality of the Old Bulgarian language and the literature of the early medieval period is their closeness to the language spoken by the people. There is no similar closeness between the spoken and the written languages in Byzantium. The situation in Central and Western Europe, where Latin stayed in the church, science and state offices but where, in all other domains, it was replaced by the evolving national languages, was comparable. Thus the artificial literary languages remained without any chance of new, live additions, which was characteristic of the official language spoken by the Bulgarians.

Sometimes the question is posed, and not without reason as to whether the design of the Old Bulgarian script did not distance the country from Latin-writing Europe. The danger that the use of one universal script will hamper the development of the unique national cultures is not valid. The Western Slavs, the peoples of the Germanic and the Romance groups did not lose their cultural individuality until the use of the national languages was established in Europe. The initial universal period left the common core and the closeness of culture which clearly separates the Catholic-Protestant Latin-writing community from the Slavonic-Byzantine community in the East. Yet, the union of Bulgarian culture with the sphere of Byzantine Greek-writing culture was inevitable. At the time of the cultural and state stabilisation of the Bulgarians on the Danube, Byzantium was the leading factor. Bulgaria borrowed from the cultural treasury of Byzantium but also preserved the borrowings in its language using its own code, thus preventing the otherwise unavoidable Greek assimilation, which would have had a greater impact than the moderate Latin assimilation in the West.

The changes in the language of the Bulgarians can be seen during the whole medieval period of the state. It is the natural development bulgaria trips of a living literary language, which develops in synchrony with the phonetic and the morphological changes of its spoken form.

According to written sources, Slavonic peoples from Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe understood each other until the 11th century irrespective of the foreseeable specificity of the tongues. The lack of Bulgarian state organs with normative functions and of written correspondence in the 15th- 19th centuries caused chaotic change stimulated by the Bulgarians’ inner linguistic feeling, which distanced the Modern Bulgarian language from the other Slavonic languages in the following ways:

– Bulgarian is the only language in the Slavonic group which has a post-positioned definite article with nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns and participles;

– Bulgarian is the only language in the Slavonic group which has remained analytical – it has no inflections and cases, only nominative, vocative and, rarely, accusative;

– Bulgarian is the only language in the Slavonic group which forms the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives, of some nouns and verbs with the particles “po” [more] and “nai” [most];

– Bulgarian is the only language in the Slavonic group which has the so-called dual personal pronoun;

– Bulgarian is the only language in the Slavonic group which lacks the non-finite mood (infinitive).

The importance of the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet is marked not only by its place in the spiritual space of medieval Europe, together with the Greek and Latin scripts, but also by its introduction into the system of the European Union (with Bulgaria’s imminent accession).

 

Where to stay in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is not a big country, so there aren’t a whole range of cities to pick from.

The first city you should visit is Sofia, the capital. Sofia isn’t the prettiest city nor is it a particularly pleasant city to be in. In many ways, Sofia reminds of a 2nd or 3rd tier city in Russia or Ukraine. It’s nowhere near the level of sophistication or grandeur of Kiev or Moscow. It’s also nowhere near the prettiness of Baltic capitals such as Riga or Vilnius.

Nevertheless, Sofia is the very best that Bulgaria has to offer, so you have to visit it and see it for yourself.

lovdiv was another city I visited. I spent about a week there, just hanging out, getting some work done, and approaching women. It’s cheaper and slower than Sofia, and maybe even a bit friendlier.

Till, this being Bulgaria it’s not a city that I can see myself living in.

The third and final city where I spent a lot of time in was Burgas on the Black Sea coast. Burgas is a small city with a nice beach, but it’s nowhere near the grandeur of Odessa, Ukraine’s main beach destination.

After about a month of living there, I was pretty done and finished and was ready to move on.

Where you stay will really depend on whether you’re a big city guy, a small city guy or prefer somewhere along the beach. The right approach is to visit all three cities and decide for yourself.

When to visit Bulgaria

Like the rest of Europe, Bulgaria has very hot summers and cold winters. Unlike Ukraine or Russia, Bulgaria is more south so it enjoys much longer summers and relatively mild winters (there’s still plenty of snow).

I had the fortune of experiencing Bulgaria in both winter (Sofia) and summer (Burgas).

During the winter, I experienced heavy snow with the temperatures hovering around -5 – -10 C degrees. During the summer, it was around 30 C, so I spent many days inside air-conditioned malls.

One of the benefits of visiting in winter is that there are much fewer tourists, especially by the coast. But I still don’t know if it’s the right trade-off with the freezing temperatures.

Come to think of it, the summer wasn’t bad at all.

What’s Bulgarian food like?

I don’t usually write this, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with Bulgarian cuisine. Maybe I went to all the wrong restaurants, but my only recollection about Bulgarian food was really bitter cheese, lots of fried food and that’s about it.

As an Eastern European guy, I know that Bulgarian cuisine is great, it’s just I didn’t really experience that.Maybe on my next trip, I will do my research as to where to go in order to have the very best culinary experience in that country.

Final thoughts

Bulgaria was only my second exposure to the Balkans (Serbia was the first).  I definitely need more time on the ground to learn more about this interesting region and its beautiful women.  That should all change this summer when I return there for a longer and more deeper exploration.

The Southeast Of Konya

Our fellow citizens who lived in Anatolia about 10.000 years ago had a “matriarchal” belief system. The most significant settling area of Anatolia at that time was un­doubtedly Catalhoyuk. Catalhoyuk, which is on the borders of Cumra district lying 50 km southeast of Konya, is, in our opinion, the first capital of Anatolia. Together with Catalhoyuk, Hacilar Mound in Burdur is a significant settling area as well. However, Catalhoyuk can be regarded as the most important culture centre in Anatolia of that period and around the world. As for the belief system of glorious Catalhoyuk civilization, it comprises the idea of “Goddess”.

It is necessary to familiarize with Catalhoyuk before dealing with the belief system of Catalhoyuk and man of that time.

Catalhoyuk emerges on the scene of history with the Neolithic period. Anatolian citizens settled at Catalhoyuk amid years of 6.500-5.600 BC. 6.000 people living in about 145.000 square meters territory enlivened this place with their tamed ani­mals. Man of Catalhoyuk first tamed cattle, sheep and goat. He created master of wood, weaving and crockery out of his own bo­som. The houses of these first Anatolians who led a collective and sharing life all together by building up a village had a structure of adjacent order without windows and doors. Entrance and exits of houses were available through the door on the roof thanks to a stepladder.

All in all, people of Catalhoyuk symbolize first models of a re­productive society. They could put cereal and certain wild animals in service of humanity. People of Catalhoyuk, having such a great success, worshipped “Earth Mother”, that is, “Mother Goddess”.

The statuettes we first encounter at Catalhoyuk and Hacilar had big belly, wide hips and busty form. This fertile and bulky Mother Goddess was always protected by the wild animals situ­ated on her right and left side. In fact, there are always leopards near Mother Goddess shown on the throne.

When man of Catalhoyuk dating back 10.000 years ago begins to familiarize himself with the soil he lives on, he learns to cultivate it in the course of time. And he starts to get harvest from the soil. The soil takes a new meaning ever after for man of Catalhoyuk. He begins to show a different respect for this soil. He takes a thousand in return for one. The soil becomes fertile, nutritious and signifies nearly eternal continuity in the eyes of a man of Catalhoyuk. He likens the soil with these characteristics to a fertile woman and starts calling it with the name of “Earth Mother”; that is, “Mother Goddess”.

Catalhoyuk first emerges with the belief of Mother Goddess in Anatolia and all over the world. However, after centuries, ex­pression of “God” will depart from matriarchy and turn into a patriarchal denotation through sky-religions.

Namely, 10.000 years earlier, a man from Catalhoyuk is not aware of his own role in the pregnancy of a woman. In the course of time, a discrepancy emerges between man and woman who hunt, battle together equally in the beginning. The man starts to feel inferior in front of woman. Because woman whose stomach is slowly getting swollen and breasts are growing is thought to breed on her own and provide continuity of generations.