Ceramics from the Capital of the Blatna Principality – the Traces of the Mission of the Brothers Cyril and Methodius in Blatnograd (late 866 – midlle of 867)

In the paper the author pays attention to the one section of the highly and richly illustrated book “The Carolingian Age in the Carpathian Basin”, by Béla Miklós Szőke, who explored and analyzed the Zalavár fortified settlement and its finds for many years where Blatnograd – the capital of the Blatna Principality is located. The simple storage- and kitchen vessels discovered in Zalavar can be traced back mostly to the ceramic of the Late Avar Age, but part of them have parallels on both sides of the Lower Danube, i.e. in Bulgarian Khanate and in Byzantium. These are: chafing dishes; embers` covers; mugs-pail. The tableware from Zalavar was linked also by many more details with the Mediterranean world, namely with Byzantium. On the paper author,s opinion the pottery finds under consideration had a direct connection with the mission of the brothers St. Cyril and Methodius during their short stay in Blatnograd under the hospitality of Prince Chezil. They stopped there on their way from Great Moravia to the Pope in Rome (the end of autumn of 866 – the end of 867). For example: in Zalavar there were discoveries of the polished ceramic bottles with engraved letters, probably of rounded Glagolitic script which are dating of the same period. It can be assumed that most of the brothers' followers of the Moravian Mission and in particular during their stay in Blatnograd were the Byzantines. But some of them may have been the Bulgarians from the Bulgarian Kingdom which was located across the Danube.