The first evidence that Jews lived in what is now Bulgaria dates back to at least 500 years before the first Bulgarian state was actually founded.
Interestingly, the inscription in question, found on a tombstone, was in Latin: "Ioses, archsynagogus, son of Maximin, erected this stone while he was still alive in memory of himself and his wife Kyria..." The actual tombstone, dating back to the 2nd century CE, was discovered during the excavation of the Roman town of Ulpia Oescus, in the vicinity of the present-day village of Gigen, near the River Danube.
Ioses had apparently been influenced by the Roman fashion of preparing tombstones for posterity during one's lifetime. His tombstone bore no images of ivy leaves or other pagan symbols of eternity, for the man was not only a Jew but an archsynagogus, a rabbi who was in charge of several synagogues. His presence on the Danubian shores indicates the existence of a Jewish diaspora, which had probably arrived a century earlier along with the Roman legions stationed there to guard the empire's northern borders. Further testimony to the Jewish diaspora is another Gigen find, a marble slab bearing an image of a menorah.
Yet the question of when exactly the first Jews came to Bulgaria is open to speculation. Some hypotheses contend that the earliest Jews in the Balkans moved here after the destruction of the First Temple. Other theories suggest that Jews arrived as a result of Alexander the Great's conquests, in the 4th century BCE, which turned the Mediterranean and the Middle East into a common area where migration was relatively easy and unimpeded.
The Roman conquest of the Balkans played a crucial role in settling Jews throughout the area. Many were exiled there by Emperor Vespasian after the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE and also after the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-136 CE, while others accompanied the legions as traders and artisans, a standard Roman practice.
One of these might have been Annanias, whose tombstone, carved in Roman letters, was discovered in the modern Bulgarian city of Vidin, once the Roman fortress Bononia.
The Jews who came to the Balkans in Antiquity were Romaniotes, the oldest Jewish settlers in these lands. Some of their descendants, arguably, are still living here today.
The Jews did not inhabit only the shores of the River Danube. A find in the village of Vrana Stena, near Kyustendil, indicates the presence of Jews in the hinterland as well. Excavations of a Late Antiquity fort dating back to the 3th-5th centuries CE unearthed an amulet clearly showing a six-pointed star and the inscription: "Solomon Stamp, Keep Me." What this find indicates is that in those times there was a significant demand for such amulets and so there would have been Jewish smiths to manufacture them.
Perhaps the most spectacular remains of this early Jewish presence in Bulgaria is the ancient synagogue in Philippopolis, modern-day Plovdiv. Philippopolis was a major city on the road connecting Constantinople with Central Europe. It emerged as a large cosmopolitan centre, a patchwork of nationalities and religions that outshone other large cities of the colourful Roman Empire.
The synagogue of the Philippopolis Jews had a splendid mosaic floor, with intricate geometrical motifs as well as lions, birds, panthers and menorahs. It was constructed in the 3rd century CE, but would be destroyed and rebuilt several times over the next several centuries.
The trials and tribulations of the Philippopolis synagogue illustrate how easily the fate of the Jews changed under the Romans. The Roman Empire was tolerant towards the various faiths and religions, but with an important ca- veat. Regardless of what gods they venerated, its subjects had to respect the imperial cult, which deified whoever emperor happened to be in power at any given time. Obviously, this created a problem for both Judaism and Christianity. On the other hand, unlike Christianity, Judaism had the status of Religio licita, a "tolerated religion." In the 4th century, when Christianity gained momentum as an official religion, the pressures being put on Jews intensified, yet official attitudes could change like the breeze. Emperor Theodosius I, who in the late 4th century made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire, officially ordered the governor of Moesia, in present-day northern Bulgaria, not to persecute Jews and not to demolish their synagogues.
The Philippopolis synagogue is proof of these changing attitudes. When Theodosius died, his sons Arcadius and Honorius ruled the eastern and the western parts of the empire respectively. Anti-Jewish sentiment was on the rise. During their reign, the Philippopolis synagogue was destroyed for the first time, either as a result of antisemitism, or when the Huns conquered and ravaged the city in 441-442.
The synagogue would be rebuilt and then destroyed yet again a century later. At that time, however, the whole political picture of Europe and the Balkans was beginning to change. The Middle Ages were coming, and new peoples arrived in the Balkans. After 681 the Jews found themselves living in a new state set up by Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians.
English
Български