NHMB-Tombstone-cross-of-Anna-daughter-of-Knyaz-BorisI-10centuryAD-replica

Anna ( bg, Анна; 9th–10th century) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n princess and a daughter of Prince Boris I of Bulgaria (852–889). Wincenty Swoboda: Anna córka Borysa Michała. In Słownik Starożytności Słowiańskich. Vol. 1. 1961, p. 25. Anna was Boris's second daughter and the youngest of six children born to his second consort,

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, which also included the rulers Prince

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

(r. 889–893) and Tsar

Simeon the Great Tsar Simeon (also Symeon) I the Great ( cu, цѣсар҄ь Сѷмеѡ́нъ А҃ Вели́къ, cěsarĭ Sỳmeonŭ prĭvŭ Velikŭ bg, цар Симеон I Велики, Simeon I Veliki el, Συμεών Αʹ ὁ Μέγας, Sumeṓn prôto ...

(r. 893–927), the princes Gabriel and Jacob and the princess Eupraxia. Anna bears the name of Boris's sister.Голяма енциклопедия България. Т. I (А–Бъл). С.:БАН, 2012. с. 69. Anna married the ''tarkan'' Simeon, an influential figure in the Bulgarian state. Like her older sister Eupraxia, Anna became a nun at a monastery in the Bulgarian capital

Preslav The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav ( bg, Велики Преслав, ), former Preslav ( bg, link=no, Преслав; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new ...

later in her life. Her tombstone, unearthed in 1965 and written in

Old Bulgarian Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...

and

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Fall of Co ...

, reveals that she died as a nun on 9 October of an uncertain year. The reverse side of the stone features a portrait of the princess in a loose-fitting garment, pointing her arms sideways towards a cross-domed church on each side and holding a

sceptre A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia The '' Was'' and other ...

in her right hand. Based on this portrait, it is highly likely that Anna was a ''

ktetor ''Ktetor'' ( el, κτήτωρ) or ''ktitor'' (; ka, ქტიტორი ''kt’it’ori''; ro, ctitor), meaning "founder", is a title given in the Middle Ages to the provider of funds for construction or reconstruction of an Eastern Orthodox ch ...

'' of two churches. In the 1985 Bulgarian feature film '' Boris I'', the role of Princess Anna is played by the actress Adriana Petrova.

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