Bulgaria (theme)

The theme of Bulgaria did not encompass the old Bulgarian lands between the Haimos Mountains and the river Danube, that included the former capitals Pliska and Preslav.

This territory was administered independently and was considered as autonomous military unit, designated as Paristrion or Paradunavon, meaning the "lands beside the Danube".

[6] The emotive force which the name has today is quite distinct from that which inspired the emperors John I and Basil II to celebrate their victories with elaborate ceremony.

[7] Other researcher maintain that the development of Old Church Slavonic literacy during the 10th century had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the Eastern South Slavs into the Byzantine culture, which promoted then the formation of a distinct Bulgarian identity which was strong enough to preserve the concept of Bulgaria and the Bulgarians as a distinct entities.

For this reason, Basil II the Bulgar Slayer after the conquest did not decide on any changes in order to bloodlessly establish the new status quo.

[citation needed] At the end of the 12th century, formally Byzantium was the sovereign, but in many Balkan areas the Byzantine power was nominal.

The chaos in the imperial domains encouraged the Bulgarians to restore their state with the rebellion of the brothers Peter and Asen, and Bulgaria sought again to dominate the Balkans.