Acknowledgements
The inception of this book emanated from my discussions with Florin Curta in 2013 during his inspiring lectures at the Ohrid Summer School in Byzantine Studies. Therefore, the foremost gratitude belongs to Florin Curta for the invitation to contribute to this series and for his continuous and invaluable support. I owe special thanks to John Krigbaum, who, together with Florin Curta, generously invited me to give lectures at the University of Florida in 2015. These events co-sponsored by the American Institute of Archaeology, Gainesville chapter, Center for Greek Studies, Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere (Yavitz Fund), College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of History, Florida Museum of Natural History, International Center and Smathers Library, provided me with the privilege to present the work on the book and to benefit from insightful comments and discussions.
This book would not be a complete without the unstinting support from my colleague and friend Georgi N. Nikolov, who provided me with all the latest publications from Bulgaria and made available his personal photos. I am also grateful to Elizabeta Dimitrova, Angel Nikolov, Mihajlo Popović, Hrvoje Gračanin, Sašo Cvetkovski, Ivan Zarov, Teon Dzingo and to many friends and colleagues whom I consulted during the writing of this book.
I would like to thank Marina Gjоrgjijovska for her thorough work in translating the manuscript in English and to Tatjana Panova-Ignjatović for her translation of the footnotes. I am indebted to Andrew Roach and Allison Raper for their generous work and considerable time spent for checking and improving the English translation. Also, I owe special gratitude to Julian Deahl, Marcella Mulder, Elisa Perotti and Ester Lels at Brill for their professionalism, support and guidance at all stages of the publication process. I also want to thank Dušan Zupka, as well as to an anonymous reader for Brill who offered thoughtful comments and suggestions.
I am grateful to George Nikolaou and the National Historical Museum, Athens – The Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece for generously providing images from the Museum’s collection. I also owe thanks to the National Museum of Military History, Sofia and the National Museum of Medieval Art, Korca for their kind permission to use the images from their collections.
I would especially like to thank my late father Branko Panov, who has introduced me to the fascinating Byzantine World, taught me how to be independent in life and advised me that the acquired knowledge is the only thing that cannot be taken away. I am also grateful to my mother Zoja who was always supportive and caring. This book would not be completed without the continuous support, understanding and encouragement of my family during the difficult times that accompanied the writing. I therefore dedicate this book to my wife Maja and my son Branko who always will be my inspiration in life.
Skopje, June 2018