The gravestone inscription of the Bulgarian tsar Samuil , made on the grave of his relatives, is the oldest of the Cyrillic monuments with exact dates. The inscription has a date - 993. The plate was found by F. I. Uspensky in the 1890s in Macedonia . Now it is located in the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria . The inscription consists of 11 lines. It has great paleographic significance. On the basis of the outline of individual letters, one can judge the comparative antiquity of undated monuments.
Inscription Text
in the possession of the иtitsa and ed / / Immediately [theirs] // work of the blessing [and ripsyms] // ѣ davd by writing [...] // in this case from the end [of the world] // // ⁖ ҃ ⁖ f · injection [kta [·]
Translation
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I, Samuel, the servant of God, honor the memory of the father, mother, and brother on this cross. The names of those resting here are Nicola the servant of God, Hripsimia, and David. Posted in year 6501 from the Creation of the World (991/993 year).
A photograph of a tombstone with Samuel’s inscription from the book “The News of the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constantinople”.
A copy of the plate, located in s.Samuilova-Fortress, Blagoevgrad region, Bulgaria.
Literature
- Krivchik, V. F. Staroslavian language / V. F. Krivchik, N. S. Mozheiko. - Ed. 2nd, add. - Mn. : Higher School, 1974. - 304 p.
- Uspensky, F.I. Inscription of Tsar Samuil // News of the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constantinople. - Sofiya: Dzhrzhavna a printer, 1899. - Vol. 4, no. 1. - p. 1.