SOFIA, BULGARIA—A Byzantine-era seal belonging to the empress Irene Komnene has been unearthed in Perperikon, the site of an ancient city in southern Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains, according to a Greek Reporter article. Archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov said that Irene Komnene was married to John III Doukas Vatatzes, the emperor of Nicaea, which is located in northwestern Anatolia. In the early thirteenth century, John III Doukas Vatatzes wanted to recover control of Constantinople, while the Bulgarian tsar, Ivan Asen II, had become more powerful. The seal could reflect communication between Nicaea and Bulgaria, Ovcharov explained. Eventually, in 1235, Nicaea and Bulgaria formed an alliance that included a marriage between the tsar’s daughter and the emperor’s son. Other royal seals recovered at the site belonged to the Byzantine emperors Anastasius I, Constantine IX Monomachos, and Andronikos II Palaiologos, in addition to a gold seal that belonged to Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander, Ovcharov concluded. To read about the medieval Bulgarian Empire, go to "Letter from Bulgaria: Capitals of Khans and Tsars."
