Let us now praise great Bulgars!

[muckefuck]

God, I will never, ever get bored with this wide wonderful world. Today, I'm much indebted to foodpoisoningsf, without whom I might have gone another moment without ever learning of Bulgarian Romani drag queen performer Azis. Quelle tragédie! (Shame on you, aadroma, for shirking your responsibilities! What the hell do I have a Eurovision fag on my flist for if not for shit like this?)

The bit in Wikipedia about him being the second highest ranked living person on the list of "100 Greatest Bulgarians of All Time" naturally prompted me to track down the complete list. bunj will be relieved to find that our pop singer didn't beat out his beloved Khan Krum, but he may be disappointed to find the New Sennacherib ranked just below Tsar Kaloyan (#16) and well down from Khan Asparukh (#1). Semiologists will be appalled to find Tzvetan Todorov isn't listed at all, but he's more French than Bulgarian these days in any case. And what will the Greeks make of seeing Sts. Cyril and Methodius sharing the #5 spot? Or mathematicians of seeing the Bulgars claim Atanasoff as their own?

Here, for shits and grins, the Top 25 (anglicised for your convenience):

1. Khan Asparukh
2. King Boris I
3. Vasil Levski (revolutionary)
4. Ivan Vazov (literary author)
5. Sts. Cyril and Methodius
6. St. Paisius of Hilendar
7. Petar Danov (mystic)
8. Tsar Simeon the Great
9. Stefan Stambolov (revolutionary)
10. Christo Botev (footballer)
11. John Atanasoff (American-born mathematician)
12. Christo Stoichkov (footballer)
13. Baba Vanga (mystic)
14. Todor Zhivkov (Communist dictator)
15. Georgi Asparukhov (footballer)
16. Tsar Kaloyan
17. Khan Krum
18. Tsar Ivan Asen II
19. Vladimir Dimitrov-Maistora (painter)
20. St. John of Rila
21. Azis
22. Ivan Kostov (politician)
23. Aleko Konstantinov (literary author--with a Chicago connexion!)
24. Volen Siderov (politician)
25. Georgi Benkovski (revolutionary)

Comments

[wwidsith.livejournal.com]

The most prominent one for me when I was in Bulgaria was number 3, Levski. Every street and square seems to be named after him. I always thought they named the currency after him too, but having just looked it up apparently "lev" is archaic Bulgarian for "lion"...