IMAGINING GOG AND MAGOG – THE VINICA TABLETS AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE BYZANTINE APOCALYPTIC TRADITION
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2025, N 1, DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXI1.06
Todor CHOBANOV 
Institute of Balkans Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Bulgaria
Abstract: The current study proposes a new hypothesis about the now famous “Bolgar tablet” (relief) from the Vinica fortress in present day North Macedonia. Studying the works of various Macedonian scholars and utilizing the existing evidence, the author concludes that the object, belonging to a room decoration system of the baptistery entrance (next to the large basilica), was most likely installed in mid-6th c. by artisans that came from Southern Spain. It probably reflected on the then realities on the Balkans – intensive invasions by the Bulgar tribes, that were so devastating so they reminded the artisans about the Biblical prophecies about Gog and Magog – the nations of the North to invade the Christendom. The tablet should be considered an early artistic expression of Byzantine apocalyptic thinking, pre-dating the written works from the 7th c. but reflecting the very popular prophecies and the associations of Gog and Magog with various Steppe peoples.
Keywords: Protobulgarians, Bulgars, Migration period, identities, North Macedonia, clay icons, Byzantine art, Gog and Magog