Early Slavs - Wikipedia

10/15/22, 2:31 AM Early Slavs - Wikipedia
Early Slavs
The early Slavs were a diverse group of tribal
societies who lived during the Migration Period
and the Early Middle Ages (approximately the
5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central and
Eastern Europe and established the foundations
for the Slavic nations through the Slavic states
of the High Middle Ages.[1] The Slavs' original
homeland is still a matter of debate due to a
lack of historical records; however, scholars
believe that it was in Eastern Europe,[2] with
Polesia being the most commonly accepted
Battle between the Slavs and the Scythians — painting by
location.[3]
Viktor Vasnetsov (1881).
The first written use of the name "Slavs" dates
to the 6th century, when the Slavic tribes
inhabited a large portion of Central and Eastern Europe. By then, the nomadic Iranian-speaking
ethnic groups living on the Eurasian Steppe (the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans etc.) had been
absorbed by the region's Slavic-speaking population.[4][5][6][7] Over the next two centuries, the Slavs
expanded west to the Elbe river and south towards the Alps and the Balkans, absorbing the Illyrian
peoples in the process,[8] and also moved east in the direction of the Volga River.[9]
Beginning in the 7th century, the Slavs were gradually Christianized (both Byzantine Orthodoxy and
Roman Catholicism). By the 12th century, they were the core population of a number of medieval
Christian states: East Slavs in the Kievan Rus', South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality
of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia and the Banate of Bosnia, and West Slavs in the Principality of Nitra,
Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland. The oldest known Slavic
principality in history was Carantania, established in the 7th century by the Eastern Alpine Slavs, the
ancestors of present-day Slovenes. Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps comprised modern-day
Slovenia, Eastern Friul and large parts of modern-day Austria.
Contents
Beginnings
Homeland
Linguistics
Historiography
Archaeology
Ethnogenesis
Appearance
Society
Tribal and territorial organisation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Slavs 1/32
Settlements
Food and Agriculture
Medicine
Craftsmanship
Clothing
Musical Instruments and Burial Practices
Marriage
Law
Warfare
Writing
Symbols
Religion
Later history
Christianization
Medieval states
Slavic studies
See also
Footnotes
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
Beginnings
The early Slavs were known to the Roman writers of
the 1st and 2nd centuries AD under the name of
Veneti.[10] Authors such as Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and
Ptolemy described the Veneti as inhabiting the lands
east of the Vistula river and along the Venedic Bay
(Gdańsk Bay). Later, having split into three groups
during the migration period, the early Slavs were
known to the Byzantine writers as Veneti, Antes and
Sclaveni. The 6th century historian Jordanes referred
to the Slavs (Sclaveni) in his 551 work Getica, noting
that "although they derive from one nation, now they
are known under three names, the Veneti, Antes and
Sclaveni" (ab una stirpe exorti, tria nomina ediderunt, Distribution of Venedi (Slavic), Sarmatian (Iranian)
id est Veneti, Antes, Sclaveni).[11] and Germanic tribes on the frontier of the Roman
empire in 125 AD. Byzantine sources describe the
Procopius wrote that "the Sclaveni and the Ante Veneti as the ancestors of the Sclaveni (Slavs).
actually had a single name in the remote past; for they
were both called Sporoi in olden times".[12] Possibly
the oldest mention of Slavs in historical writing Slověne is attested in Ptolemy's Geography (2nd
century) as Σταυανοί (Stavanoi) and Σουοβηνοί (Souobenoi/Sovobenoi, Suobeni, Suoweni), likely
referring to early Slavic tribes in a close alliance with the nomadic Alanians, who may have migrated
east of the Volga River.[13][14] In the 8th century during the Early Middle Ages, early Slavs living on
the borders of the Carolingian Empire were referred to as Wends (Vender), with the term being a
corruption of the earlier Roman-era name.[15][16]
The earliest, archaeological findings connected to the early Slavs are associated with the Zarubintsy,
Przeworsk and Chernyakhov cultures from around the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD.
However, in many areas, archaeologists face difficulties in distinguishing between Slavic and non-
Slavic findings, as in the case of Przeworsk and Chernyakhov, since the cultures were also attributed
to Germanic peoples and were not exclusively connected with a single ancient ethnic or linguistic
group.[17] Later, beginning in the 6th century, Slavic material cultures included the Prague-Korchak,
Penkovka, Ipotești–Cândești, and the Sukow-Dziedzice group cultures. With evidence ranging from
fortified settlements (gords), ceramic pots, weapons, jewellery and open abodes.
Homeland
The Proto-Slavic homeland is the area of Slavic
settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the
first millennium AD, with its precise location debated
by archaeologists, ethnographers and historians.[18]
Most scholars consider Polesia the homeland of the
Slavs.[3]
Theories attempting to place Slavic origin in
the Near East have been discarded.[18] None of the
proposed homelands reaches the Volga River in the
east, over the Dinaric Alps in the southwest or the
Balkan Mountains in the south, or past Bohemia in the
west.[19][20] One of the earliest mention of the Slavs'
original homeland is in the Bavarian Geographer circa
900, which associates the homeland of the Slavs with
Map of the Slavic homeland. Early Slavic artifacts
the Zeriuani, which some equate to the Cherven
are most often linked to the Przeworsk and
lands.[21]
Zarubintsy cultures.
Frederik Kortlandt has suggested that the number of
candidates for Slavic homeland may rise from a
tendency among historians to date "proto-languages farther back in time than is warranted by the
linguistic evidence". Although all spoken languages change gradually over time, the absence of written
records allows change to be identified by historians only after a population has expanded and
separated long enough to develop daughter languages.[22] The existence of an "original home" is
sometimes rejected as arbitrary[23] because the earliest origin sources "always speak of origins and
beginnings in a manner which presupposes earlier origins and beginnings".[24]
According to historical records, the Slavic homeland would have been somewhere in Central Europe,
possibly along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. The Prague-Penkova-Kolochin complex of
cultures of the 6th and the 7th centuries AD is generally accepted to reflect the expansion of Slavic-
speakers at the time.[25] Core candidates are cultures within the territories of modern Belarus, Poland
and Ukraine. According to the Polish historian Gerard Labuda, the ethnogenesis of Slavic people is
the Trzciniec culture[26] from about 1700 to 1200 BC. The Milograd culture hypothesis posits that the
pre-Proto-Slavs (or Balto-Slavs) originated in the 7th century BC–1st century AD culture of
northwestern Ukraine and southern Belarus. According to the Chernoles culture theory, the pre-
Proto-Slavs originated in the 1025–700 BC culture of northwestern Ukraine and the 3rd century BC–
1st century AD Zarubintsy culture. According to the Lusatian culture hypothesis, they were present in
northeastern Central Europe in the 1300–500 BC culture and the 2nd century BC–4th century AD
Przeworsk culture. The Danube basin hypothesis, postulated by Oleg Trubachyov[27] and supported
by Florin Curta and Nestor's Chronicle, theorises that the Slavs originated in central and southeastern
Europe.
The latest attempt of locating the place of Slavic origin used population genetics and studied the
paternal and maternal lineages as well as autosomal DNA of all existing modern Slavic populations.
Besides confirming their common origin and medieval expansion, the variance and frequency of the
Y-DNA haplogroups R1a and I2 subclades R-M558, R-M458, and I-CTS10228 are in correlation with
the spreading of Slavic languages during the medieval ages from Eastern Europe, most probably from
the territory of present-day Ukraine (within the area of the middle Dnieper basin) and Southeastern
Poland.[28][29][30][31][32][33]
Linguistics
Proto-Slavic began to evolve from Proto-Indo-European,[35] the
reconstructed language from which originated a number of
languages spoken in Eurasia.[36][37] The Slavic languages share a
number of features with the Baltic languages (including the use of
genitive case for the objects of negative sentences, Proto-Indo-
European kʷ and other labialized velars), which may indicate a
common Proto-Balto-Slavic phase in the development of those
two linguistic branches of Indo-European.[36][37] Frederik
Kortlandt places the territory of the common language near the
Proto-Indo-European homeland: "The Indo-Europeans who
Slavic language distribution, with the remained after the migrations became speakers of Balto-
Prague-Penkov-Kolochin complex in Slavic".[38] According to the prevailing Kurgan hypothesis, the
pink, and the area of Slavic river
original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have been in
names in red.[34]
the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Europe.[39] However,
"geographical contiguity, parallel development and interaction"
may explain the existence of the characteristics of both language
groups.[37]
Proto-Slavic developed into a separate language during the first half of the 2nd millennium BC.[35]
The Proto-Slavic vocabulary, which was inherited by its daughter languages, described its speakers'
physical and social environment, feelings and needs.[40][41] Proto-Slavic had words for family
connections, including svekry ("husband's mother"), and zъly ("sister-in-law").[42] The inherited
Common Slavic vocabulary lacks detailed terminology for physical surface features that are peculiar
to mountains or the steppe, the sea, coastal features, littoral flora or fauna or saltwater fish.[43]
Proto-Slavic hydronyms have been preserved between the source of the Vistula and the middle basin
of the Dnieper.[44] Its northern regions adjoin territory in which river names of Baltic origin
(Daugava, Neman and others) abound.[45][46] On the south and east, it borders the area of Iranian
river names (including the Dniester, the Dnieper and the Don).[47] A connection between Proto-Slavic
and Iranian languages is also demonstrated by the earliest layer of loanwords in the former;[40] the
Proto-Slavic words for god (*bogъ), demon (*divъ), house (*xata), axe (*toporъ) and dog (*sobaka)
are of Scythian origin.[48] The Iranian dialects of the Scythians and the Sarmatians influenced Slavic
vocabulary during the millennium of contact between them and early Proto-Slavic.[49]
A longer, more intensive connection between Proto-Slavic and the Germanic languages can be
assumed from the number of Germanic loanwords, such as *kupiti ("to buy"),[50] *xǫdogъ
("beautiful,"),[51] *šelmъ ("helmet")[52] and *xlěvъ ("barn").[53] The Common Slavic words for beech,
larch and yew were also borrowed from Germanic, which led Polish botanist Józef Rostafiński to place
the Slavic homeland in the Pripet Marshes, which lacks those plants.[54] Germanic languages were a
mediator between Common Slavic and other languages; the Proto-Slavic word for emperor (*cĕsar'ь)
was transmitted from Latin through a Germanic language, and the Common Slavic word for church
(*crъky) came from Greek.[55]
Common Slavic dialects before the 4th century AD cannot be detected since all of the daughter
languages emerged from later variants.[56] Tonal word stress (a 9th-century AD change) is present in
all Slavic languages, and Proto-Slavic reflects the language that was probably spoken at the end of the
1st millennium AD.[56]
Historiography
Jordanes, Procopius and other Late Roman authors provide the
probable earliest references to the southern Slavs in the second
half of the 6th century AD.[57] Jordanes completed his Gothic
History, an abridgement of Cassiodorus's longer work, in
Constantinople in 550 or 551.[58][59] He also used additional
sources: books, maps or oral tradition.[60]
Jordanes wrote that the Venethi, Sclavenes and Antes were

ethnonyms that referred to the same group.[61] His claim was
accepted more than a millennium later by Wawrzyniec The origin and migration of Slavs in
Europe in the 5th to the 10th
Surowiecki, Pavel Jozef Šafárik and other historians,[62] who
centuries AD:
searched the Slavic Urheimat in the lands that the Venethi (a
Original Slavic homeland
people named in Tacitus's Germania)[63] lived during the last
(modern-day southeastern Poland,
decades of the 1st century AD.[64] Pliny the Elder wrote that the
northwestern Ukraine and southern
territory extending from the Vistula to Aeningia (probably
Belarus)
Feningia, or Finland), was inhabited by the Sarmati, Wends, Sciri
Expansion of the Slavic
and Hirri.[65]
migration in Europe
Procopius completed his three works on Emperor Justinian I's
reign (Buildings, History of the Wars, and Secret History) during
the 550s.[66][67] Each book contains detailed information on raids by Sclavenes and Antes on the
Eastern Roman Empire,[68] and the History of the Wars has a comprehensive description of their
beliefs, customs and dwellings.[69][70] Although not an eyewitness, Procopius had contacts among the
Sclavene mercenaries who were fighting on the Roman side in Italy.[69]
Agreeing with Jordanes's report, Procopius wrote that the Sclavenes and Antes spoke the same
languages but traced their common origin not to the Venethi but to a people he called "Sporoi".[71]
Sporoi ("seeds" in Greek; compare "spores") is equivalent to the Latin semnones and germani
("germs" or "seedlings"), and the German linguist Jacob Grimm believed that Suebi meant "Slav".[72]
Jordanes and Procopius called the Suebi "Suavi". The end of the Bavarian Geographer's list of Slavic
tribes contains a note: "Suevi are not born, they are sown (seminati)".[73] The language spoken by
Tacitus's Suevi is unknown. In his description of the emigration (c. 512) of the Heruli to Scandinavia,
Procopius places the Slavs in Central Europe.
A similar description of the Sclavenes and Antes is found in the

Strategikon of Maurice, a military handbook written between 592
and 602 and attributed to Emperor Maurice.[74] Its author, an
experienced officer, participated in the Eastern Roman campaigns
against the Sclavenes on the lower Danube at the end of the
century.[75] A military staff member was also the source of
Theophylact Simocatta's narrative of the same campaigns.[76]
Although Martin of Braga was the first western author to refer to a

people known as "Sclavus" before 580, Jonas of Bobbio included
the earliest lengthy record of the nearby Slavs in his Life of Saint
Southeastern Europe in 520,
Columbanus (written between 639 and 643).[77] Jonas referred to
showing the Byzantine Empire
the Slavs as "Veneti" and noted that they were also known as under Justin I and the Ostrogothic
"Sclavi".[78] Kingdom with Migration Period
peoples along their borders.
Western authors, including Fredegar and Boniface, preserved the
term "Venethi".[79] The Franks (in the Life of Saint Martinus, the
Chronicle of Fredegar and Gregory of Tours), Lombards (Paul the Deacon) and Anglo-Saxons
(Widsith) referred to Slavs in the Elbe-Saale region and Pomerania as "Wenden" or "Winden" (see
Wends). The Franks and the Bavarians of Styria and Carinthia called their Slavic neighbours
"Windische".
The unknown author of the Chronicle of Fredegar used the word "Venedi" (and variants) to refer to a
group of Slavs who were subjugated by the Avars.[78] In the chronicle, "Venedi" formed a state that
emerged from a revolt[78] led by the Frankish merchant Samo against the Avars around 623.[80] A
change in terminology, the replacement of Slavic tribal names for the collective "Sclavenes" and
"Antes", occurred at the end of the century;[81] the first tribal names were recorded in the second book
of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius, around 690.[82] The unknown "Bavarian Geographer" listed
Slavic tribes in the Frankish Empire around 840,[68] and a detailed description of 10th-century tribes
in the Balkan Peninsula was compiled under the auspices of Emperor Constantine VII
Porphyrogenitus in Constantinople around 950.[83]
Archaeology
In the archaeological literature, attempts have been made to assign an early Slavic character to several
cultures in a number of time periods and regions.[84] The Prague-Korchak cultural horizon
encompasses postulated early Slavic cultures from the Elbe to the Dniester, in contrast with the
Dniester-to-Dnieper Prague-Penkovka.[85] "Prague culture" in a narrow sense,[85] refers to western
Slavic material grouped around Bohemia, Moravia and western Slovakia, distinct from the Mogilla
(southern Poland) and Korchak (central Ukraine and southern Belarus) groups further east. The
Prague and Mogilla groups are seen as the archaeological reflection of the 6th-century Western
Slavs.[86]
The 2nd-to-5th-century Chernyakhov culture encompassed modern Ukraine, Moldova and Wallachia.
Chernyakov finds include polished black-pottery vessels, fine metal ornaments and iron tools.[87]
Soviet scholars, such as Boris Rybakov, saw it as the archaeological reflection of the proto-Slavs.[88]
The Chernyakov zone is now seen as representing the cultural interaction of several peoples, one of
which was rooted in Scytho-Sarmatian traditions, which were modified by Germanic elements that
were introduced by the Goths.[87][89] The semi-subterranean dwelling with a corner hearth later
became typical of early Slavic sites,[90] with Volodymir Baran calling it a Slavic "ethnic badge".[90] In
the Carpathian foothills of Podolia, at the northwestern fringes of

the Chernyakov zone, the Slavs gradually became a culturally-
unified people; the multiethnic environment of the Chernyakhov
zone presented a "need for self-identification in order to manifest
their differentiation from other groups".[91]
The Przeworsk culture, northwest of the Chernyakov zone,

extended from the Dniester to the Tisza valley and north to the
Vistula and Oder.[92] It was an amalgam of local cultures, most
with roots in earlier traditions modified by influences from the
(Celtic) La Tène culture, (Germanic) Jastorf culture beyond the
Oder and the Bell-Grave culture of the Polish plain. The Venethi
may have played a part; other groups included the Vandals, 7th-century Slavic cultures (the
Burgundians and Sarmatians.[92] East of the Przeworsk zone was Prague-Penkov-Kolochin complex).
the Zarubinets culture, which is sometimes considered part of the The Prague and the Mogilla cultures
Przeworsk complex.[93] Early Slavic hydronyms are found in the reflect the separation of the early
area occupied by the Zarubinets culture,[93] and Irena Rusinova Western Slavs (the Sukow-
proposed that the most prototypical examples of Prague-type Dziedzice group in the northwest
pottery later originated there.[90] The Zarubinets culture is may be the earliest Slavic
expansion to the Baltic Sea); the
identified as proto-Slavic[94] or an ethnically mixed community
Kolochin culture represents the
that became Slavicized.[85]
early East Slavs; the Penkovka
culture and its southwestward
With increasing age, the confidence with which archaeological
extension, the Ipoteşti-Cândeşti
connections can be made to known historic groups lessens.[95] The
culture, demonstrate early Slavic
Chernoles culture has been seen as a stage in the evolution of the
expansion into the Balkans, which
Slavs,[93] and Marija Gimbutas identified it as the proto-Slavic would later result in the separation
homeland.[96] According to many pre-historians, ethnic labels are of the South Slavs, associated with
inappropriate for European Iron Age peoples.[97] the Antes people of Byzantine
historiography. In the Carpathian
The Globular Amphora culture stretched from the middle Dnieper basin, the Eurasian Avars began to
to the Elbe during the late 4th and early 3rd millennia BC. It has be Slavicized during the Slavic
been suggested as the locus of a Germano-Balto-Slavic continuum settlement of the Eastern Alps.
(the Germanic substrate hypothesis), but the identification of its
bearers as Indo-Europeans is uncertain. The area of the culture
contains a number of tumuli, which are typical of Indo-Europeans.
The 8th-to-3rd-century BC Chernoles culture, sometimes associated with Herodotus' "Scythian

farmers", is "sometimes portrayed as either a state in the development of the Slavic languages or at
least some form of late Indo-European ancestral to the evolution of the Slavic stock".[98] The
Milograd culture (700 BC–100 AD), centred roughly in today's Belarus and north of the Chernoles
culture, has also been proposed as ancestral for the Slavs or the Balts. The ethnic composition of the
Przeworsk culture (2nd century BC to 4th century AD), associated with the Lugii) of central and
southern Poland, northern Slovakia and Ukraine, including the Zarubintsy culture (2nd century BC to
2nd century AD and connected with the Bastarnae tribe) and the Oksywie culture are other
candidates.
Southern Ukraine is known to have been inhabited by Scythian and Sarmatian tribes before the
Goths. Early Slavic stone stelae that are found in the middle Dniester region are markedly different
from the Scythian and Sarmatian stelae of the Crimea.
The Wielbark culture displaced the eastern Oksywie culture during the 1st century AD. Although the
2nd-to-5th-century Chernyakhov culture triggered the decline of the late Sarmatian culture from the
2nd to the 4th centuries, the western part of the Przeworsk culture remained intact until the 4th
century and the Kiev culture flourished from the 2nd to the 5th centuries and is recognised as the
predecessor of the 6th- and 7th-century Prague-Korchak and Pen'kovo cultures, the first
archaeological cultures that are identified as Slavic. Although Proto-Slavic probably reached its final
stage in the Kiev area, the scientific community disagrees on the Kiev culture's predecessors. Some
scholars trace them from the Ruthenian Milograd culture, others from the Ukrainian Chernoles and
Zarubintsy cultures and still others from the Polish Przeworsk culture.
Ethnogenesis
According to the mainstream and culture-historical viewpoint which emphasizes the primordial
model of ethnogenesis, the Slavic homeland in the forests enabled them to preserve their ethnic
identity, language except for phonetic and some lexical constituents, and their patrilineal, agricultural
customs.[99] However, it was a "complex process that involved Scythian, Zarubintsy, and
Cherniakhovo influences on at least two groups of Indo-European population living in the middle
Dnieper; southeast Poland; and the area in-between, along the Pripiat' and the Bug".[85] After a
millennium, when the Hunnic Empire collapsed and the Avars arrived shortly afterwards, an eastern-
Slavic culture re-emerged and spread rapidly in south and central-eastern Europe bringing their
customs and language.[85]
Russian archaeologist Valentin Sedov, using the Herderian concept of nationhood,[100] proposed that
the Venethi were the proto-Slavic bearers of the Przeworsk culture. Their expansion began during the
second century AD, and they occupied a large area of eastern Europe between the Vistula and the
middle Dnieper. The Venethi slowly expanded south and east by the fourth century, assimilating the
neighbouring Zarubinec culture (which Sedov considered partly Baltic) and continuing southeast to
become part of the Chernyakhov culture. The Antes separated themselves from the Venethi by 300
(followed by the Sclaveni by 500) in the areas of the Prague-Penkovka and Prague-Korchak cultures,
respectively.[101]
Paul Barford suggested that Slavic groups might have existed in a wide area of central-eastern Europe
(in the Chernyakov and Zarubintsy-Przeworsk cultural zones) before the documented Slavic
migrations from the sixth to the ninth centuries. Serving as auxiliaries in the Sarmatian, Goth and
Hun armies, small numbers of Slavic speakers might have reached the Balkans before the sixth
century.[102]
According to Marija Gimbutas, "[n]either Bulgars nor Avars colonized the Balkan Peninsula; after
storming Thrace, Illyria and Greece they went back to their territory north of the Danube. It was the
Slavs who did the colonizing ... entire families or even whole tribes infiltrated lands. As an agricultural
people, they constantly sought an outlet for the population surplus. Suppressed for over a millennium
by foreign rule of Scythians, Sarmatians and Goths, they had been restricted to a small territory; now
the barriers were down and they poured out".[103]
In addition to their demographic growth, the depopulation of central-eastern Europe due, in part, to
Germanic emigration, the lack of Roman imperial defenses on the frontiers which were decimated
after centuries of conflicts and especially the Plague of Justinian, and the Late Antique Little Ice Age
(536-660 CE) encouraged Slavic expansion and settlement to the west and the south of the
Carpathian Mountains.[85][104][105] The migrationist model remains the most acceptable and logical
explanation of the spread of Slavs and Slavic culture (including language).[106][107][108][109][110][111]
According to the processual viewpoint which emphasizes the culture-social model of ethnogenesis,
there is "no need to explain culture change exclusively in terms of migration and population
replacement".[112] It argues that the Slavic expansion was primarily "a linguistic spread".[113]
One of the theories used to explain language replacement is that a dominant Slavic elite diaspora
managed to spread, conquer and slavicize various communities.[114][115][116][117] A more extreme
hypothesis is argued by Florin Curta who considers that the Slavs as an "ethno-political category"
were invented by an external source - the Byzantines - through political instrumentation and
interaction on the Roman frontiers where a barbarian elite culture flourished.[118][119]
Horace Lunt attributes the spread of Slavic to the "success and mobility of the Slavic 'special border
guards' of the Avar khanate",[120] who used it as a lingua franca in the Avar Khaganate. According to
Lunt, only as a lingua franca could Slavic supplant other languages and dialects whilst remaining
relatively uniform. Although it could explain the formation of regional Slavic groups in the Balkans,
the Eastern Alps and the Morava-Danube basin, Lunt's theory does not account for the spread of
Slavic to the Baltic region and the territory of the Eastern Slavs, which are areas with no historical
links to the Pannonian Avars.[121]
A concept related to elite dominance is the notion of system collapse, in which a power vacuum
created by the fall of the Hun and Roman Empires allowed a minority group to impose their customs
and language.[114] However, Michel Kazanski concludes that although both "the movement of the
populations of the Slavic cultural model and the diffusion of this model amid non-Slavic populations
[occurred] (...) a pure diffusion of the Slavic model would hardly be possible, in any case in which a
long period of time when the populations of different cultural traditions lived close to one another is
assumed. Moreover, archaeologists researching Slavic antiquities do not accept the ideas produced by
the "diffusionists," because most of the champions of the diffusion model know the specific
archaeological materials poorly, so their works leave room for a number of arbitrary
interpretations".[111]
Appearance
In the Chronica Slavorum, Helmold writes on the Wends "These men
have blue eyes, ruddy faces, and long hair."[122] Ibrahim Ibn Ya’qub
mentioned the Slavs were bearded.[123] Procopius wrote that the Slavs
"are all tall and especially strong, their skin is not very white, and their
hair is neither blond nor black, but all have reddish hair."[124] Jordanes
wrote "...all of them are tall and very strong... their skin and hair are
neither very dark nor light, but are ruddy of face".[125] Ibrahim Ibn
Ya’qub wrote: "They wear ample robes, although the ends of their sleeves
are narrow."[123] Procopious wrote that the men also wear a kind of
breeches pulled up to the waist.[126]
Depiction of an early Slav
as a personification of Theophylact Simocatta, wrote about the Slavs that "The Emperor was
"Sclavinia", from Otto's with great curiosity listening to stories about this tribe, he has welcomed
Gospel Book, 990 AD these newcomers from the land of barbarians, and after being amazed by
their height and mighty stature, he sent these men to Heraclea." Hisham
ibn al-Kalbi, described the slavs as "...a numerous nation, fair-haired and
of ruddy complexion.", and Al-Baladuri, made reference to the Slavs, writing "If the Prince so willed,
outside of his doors would be black Sudanians or ruddy Slavs.[127]
Society
Early Slavic society was a typical decentralised tribal society of Iron Age Europe and was organised
into local chiefdoms. A slow consolidation occurred between the 7th and the 9th, when the previously
uniform Slavic cultural area evolved into discrete zones. Slavic groups were influenced by
neighbouring cultures like Byzantium, the Khazars, the Vikings and the Carolingians and influenced
their neighbours in return.[128]
"these nations, the Sclaveni and the Antes, are not ruled by one man, but they have lived
from of old under a democracy, and consequently everything which involves their welfare,
whether for good or ill, is referred to the people. -Procopius[129]
Differences in status gradually developed in the chiefdoms, which led to the development of
centralized socio-political organisations. The first centralized organisations may have been temporary
pantribal warrior associations, the greatest evidence being in the Danubian area, where barbarian
groups organised around military chiefs to raid Byzantine territory and to defend themselves against
the Pannonian Avars.[130] Social stratification gradually developed in the form of fortified, hereditary
chiefdoms, which were first seen in the West Slavs areas. The chief was supported by a retinue of
warriors, who owed their position to him. As chiefdoms became powerful and expanded, centres of
subsidiary power ruled by lesser chiefs were created, and the line between powerful chiefdoms and
centralised medieval states is blurred. By the mid-9th century, the Slavic elite had become
sophisticated; it wore luxurious clothing, rode horses, hunted with falcons and travelled with retinues
of soldiers.[131] These chiefs were often at war with one another.[132]
Tribal and territorial organisation
There is no indication of Slavic chiefs in any of the Slavic raids before AD

560, when Pseudo-Caesarius's writings mentioned their chiefs but
described the Slavs as living by their own law and without the rule of
anyone.[133]
The Sclaveni and the Antes were reported to have lived under a
democracy for a long time.[134]
The 6th-century historian Procopius, who
was in contact with Slavic mercenaries,[135] reported, "For these nations,
the Sclaveni and the Antes, are not governed by one man, but from
ancient times have lived in democracy, and consequently everything
which involves their welfare, whether for good or for ill, is referred to the
people".[136]
The 6th-century Strategikon of Maurice is considered an
Reconstruction of a Slavic
eyewitness of the Slavs and recommended the Roman generals to use any
gatehouse in Thunau am
possible means to prevent the Sclaveni from uniting "under one ruler"
Kamp, Austria. The site
and added that "the Sclaveni and Antes were both independent,
excavated in the 1980s
absolutely refused to be enslaved or governed, least of all in their own
dates back to the era of the
land".[137] Great Moravian Empire in
the 9th and 10th centuries.
Settlements were not uniformly distributed but were in clusters separated
by areas of lower settlement density.[138] The clusters resulted from the
expansion of single settlements, and the "settlement cells" were linked by familial or clan
relationships. Settlement cells were the basis of the simplest form of territorial organization, known as
a župa in South Slavic and opole in Polish. According to the Primary Chronicle, "The men of the
Polanie lived each with his own clan in his own place". Several župas, encompassing individual clan
territories, formed the known tribes: "The complex processes initiated by the Slav expansion and
subsequent demographic and ethnic consolidation culminated in the formation of tribal groups,
which later coalesced to create state which form the framework of the ethnic make-up of modern
eastern Europe".[139]
The root of many tribal names denotes the territory in which they inhabited, such as the Milczanie
(who lived in areas with měl – loess), Moravians (along the Morava), Diokletians (near the former
Roman city of Doclea) and Severiani (northerners). Other names have more general meanings, such
as the Polanes (pola; field) and Drevlyans (drevo; tree). Others appear to have a non-Slavic (possibly
Iranian) root, such as the Antes and Croats. Some geographically distant tribes appear to share
names. The Dregoviti appear north of the Pripyat River and in the Vardar valley, the Croats in Galicia
and northern Dalmatia and the Obodrites near Lübeck and their further south in Pannonia. The root
Slav was retained in the modern names of the Slovenes, Slovaks and Slavonians. There is little
evidence of migratory links between tribes sharing the same name. The common names may reflect
names given the tribes by historians or a common tongue as a distinction between Slavs (slovo; word,
letter) and others, Nemci (mutes) being a Slavic name for "Germans".
Settlements
Early Slavic settlements were no bigger than 0.5 to 2 hectares (1.2

to 4.9 acres). Settlements were often temporary, perhaps reflected
their itinerant form of agriculture,[140] and were often along
rivers. They were characterised by sunken buildings, known as
Grubenhäuser in German or poluzemlianki in Russian. Built over
a rectangular pit, they varied from 4 to 20 m2 (43 to 215 sq ft) in
area and could accommodate a typical nuclear family. Each house
had a stone or clay oven in a corner (a defining feature of Eastern Reconstruction of a Slavic hilltop
European dwellings), and a settlement had a population of fifty to Grod in Birów, Poland
seventy.[141] Settlements had a central, open area in which
communal activities and ceremonies were conducted, and they
were divided into production and settlement zones.[142]
The Slavs also built underground shelters roofed with wood to

keep out the cold during winter.[143]
Log cabin saunas were also used as recorded by Ibrahim Ibn

Ya’qub:
“They have no baths but they use log cabins in which gaps
are stuffed with something that appears on their trees and looks
like seaweed – they call it mech (original mh = moss)… In one
corner they put up a stone stove and above it they open up a hole Reconstruction of a Slavic
to let the smoke from the stove escape. When the stove is good settlement in Torgelow, Germany
and hot, they close up the opening and close the door of the hut.
Inside are vessels with water and they pour out of them water onto
the hot stove and steam comes from it. Each of them has in his hand a tuft of grass with which they
make air circulate and draw it to themselves. Then their pores open up and the unneeded substances
from their bodies come out…”[123]
Fortified strongholds (grods) appeared in significant numbers during the 9th century, especially the
Western Slavic territories, and were often found in the centre of a group of settlements. The South
Slavs did not form enclosed strongholds but lived in open, rural settlements that were adopted from
the social models of the indigenous populations they encountered.
The Slavs preferred to live in hard to reach places to avoid attack, as recorded in Maurice's
Strategikon:
“They live among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes, and have made
the exits from their settlements branch outing many directions because of the dangers they might
face."[132]
Food and Agriculture
The Slavs practiced hunting, farming, herding and beekeeping. They

often settled in valley bottoms with rich soil, along rivers to provide water
for livestock.[144] The early Slavs also had knowledge of crop rotation and
developed a new sort of plow known as the moldboard plow, this plough
was very efficient in breaking up the clay full soil of northern Europe, and
it helped drastically increase the Slavic population.[145] Other tools,
common throughout the rest of Europe were also used, such as iron hoes,
sickles, wooden spades and others. Some were made from wood.
Selective breeding was also done.
When crops were ripe they were cut with sickles and threshing was then
done with a wooden flail. The grain was then milled by stone querns,
which were very valuable and difficult to come by. Cereal crops, wheat,
millet and barley were common as they could thrive in even poor soil. Slavic ceramic pottery
Vegetables were grown in gardens, onions, carrots, radishes, turnip, vessel, c. 8th century AD
parsnip, cucumber, pumpkins, cabbage, pea and beans were all grown.
Herbs were mostly garlic and parsnip, hops were also grown for making
beer. Fruit trees were cultivated in orchards, including cherry, apple, pear, plums and peaches.
Walnuts were also loved.
Animal were tended, not only for meat, leather or milk but also to fertilize the soil. Several breeds of
cattle were bred and kept in large herds, as draught animals and for meat, female cattle provided
milk. Pigs were prized for their meat. Goats and sheep were more rare but still bred. Horses were very
rarely eaten, mostly used as draught or riding animals. Fowl were also kept, especially ducks and
geese.
Animals in the forest were hunted, prey included boar, deer, hare, elk and occasionally bear. Beavers
and marten were trapped for their fur.[144]
“They sow during two seasons of the year, in summer and in spring, and harvest two crops. Their
principal crop is millet... They refrain from eating chicken, asserting that it exacerbates erysipelas, but
they eat beef and goose, both of which agree with them...Their drinks and wine are made out of
honey.”[123]
-Ibrahim Ibn Ya’qub
"They have a sort of wooden box, provided with holes, in which bees live and make their honey; in
their language they are called the ulishaj. They collect around ten jars of honey from each box. They
herd pigs as if they were sheep...They drink mead”[143]
-Ibn Rusta
Medicine
The ancient Slavs knew human anatomy well, which is evident from the existence of numerous old
names for body parts. Due to the lack of sources, we do not know for sure what they suffered from, but
it is assumed that they were plague, malaria and dysentery. [146]The medicines they used were mostly
of animal and plant origin. Less commonly, minerals, sulfur and salt were used for medicinal
purposes. [146] The Slavs cleansed themselves in log cabin saunas[123] and bathed in rivers.[147] The
early medieval Muslim traveller Ibrahim ibn Yaqub wrote: "The cold even when it is intense, is
healthful to them, but the heat destroys them. They are unable to travel to the country of the
Lombards because of the heat."[123]
Craftsmanship
Wood, leather, metal and ceramic work were all skillfully practiced by the
Early Slavs. Pottery was made by craftsmen, or women, possibly in
domestic workshops. Clay was mixed with course material, such as sand,
crushed rock, to improve the qualities. Clay was worked by hand and
roughly smoothed after completion, clay vessels also made with
assistance of pottery wheels. After they were dried they were baked at a
low temperature in bone-fire kilns. Pottery was produced not only by
craftsmen, but also ordinary people as it did not require extensive
practice, other crafts however were produced by professional craftsmen.
Metalworking was very important, as it was required to make tools and

weapons. Iron was needed by every tribe, and it was produced by smiths
using local ore, which was primarily bog ore. Once the ore had been
turned into usable iron and slag removed, it was made into bars. Smiths Slavic fibula brooch, c. 7th
made many types of products such as knives, tools, decorative items as century AD
well as weapons, which were not always made by separate weapon
smiths. Broken tools were reforged, as iron was a valuable resource.
Houses, as well as their inside fittings and everyday items were made from wood. Carved bowls,
vessels and beautifully made dippers were common in most homes. Leather and textiles, made of both
linen and wool were made into carpets, blankets, overcoats and other clothing. Spindlewhorls were
used to make thread in the home. Glass beads were crafted, and were often used as trade goods.[148]
Clothing
Most of the knowledge we have on Early Slavic clothing comes from iconographic sources and
cemeteries. Although clothing differed according to region, season of year and social status, a general
picture can be reconstructed.
Men wore long sleeved tunics made of linen or wool, extending to about the knee, under these
breeches were worn. wool cloaks were sometimes worn over the tunic, fastened at the right shoulder
leaving the right arm free. Cloaks were occasionally also made of leather, and lined with fir or other
material. Hats and mittens were worn for the winter, some trimmed with fur. Leather boots and shoes
were also worn by both men and women, as well as a belt carrying a knife and whetstone for
sharpening.
Some women wore long patterned dresses, made from linen, sometimes with an apron tied over the
dress. Dresses or tunic were sometimes made from one piece. Unmarried women wore their hair
braided or loose, but covered it after they were wedded. Ornaments and jewelry such as beads and
earrings and twisted wire bracelets were also worn, especially by wealthier women.[148]
Musical Instruments and Burial Practices
The Slavs had many musical instruments as recorded in historical

chronicles:
“They have different kinds of lutes, pan pipes and flutes a cubit
long. Their lutes have eight strings. They drink mead. They play
their instruments during the incineration of their dead and claim
that their rejoicing attests the mercy of the Lord to the dead.”[143]
-Ibn Rusta
A square Slavic burial site in
"They have different kinds of wind and string instruments. They
Löcknitz, Germany
have a wind instrument more than two cubits long, and an eight-
stringed instrument whose sounding board is flat, not
convex."[123]
-Ibrahim Ibn Ya’qub
Theophylact Simocatta mentioned of Slavs bearing lyres: "Lyres were their baggage"[149]
The Slavs burned their dead. Although the Slavic funeral pyre was seen as a means of freeing the soul
from the body rapidly, visibly and publicly,[150] archaeological evidence suggests that the South Slavs
quickly adopted the burial practices of their post-Roman Balkan neighbours.
"They burn their dead...The day after the funeral of a man, after he has been burned, they collect the
ashes and put them in an urn, which is buried on a hill. After a year, they place twenty hives, more or
less, on the hill. The family gathers and eats and drinks there and then everyone goes home."[143]
-Ibn
Rusta
Marriage
Capturing wives and exogamy were traditions among the tribes and continued until the early
medieval era. However, on some occasions in Bohemia and Ukraine, it was women who chose the
spouse.[151] Fornication had a sentence in Pagan Slavs that was described as capital punishment by
travelers, Ibn-Fadlan: "Men and women go to the river and bathe together naked... but they do not
fornicate and if anyone would be guilty of it, no matter who is he and she... he and she would be
pinked by pole-axe... then they hang out each part both of them on a tree", Gardizi: "If someone
makes fornication, he or she would be killed, without accepting any apologies".[147]
The Byzantine Emperor Maurice wrote:

"Their women are more sensitive than any others in the
world. When , for example, their husband dies, many look upon it as their own death and freely
smother themselves, not wanting to continue their lives as widows.”[132]
Law
Rus law was based on Early Slavic customary law, which was
partially recorded in the Rus-Byzantine treaties. However the Early
Slavs did not have written laws, but relied on customs that dictated
what was acceptable and not. The East Slavs did not have written law
until the rule of Yaroslav the Wise.[152][153] One such customary law
was the law of hospitality, which was very important to the tribal
Slavs. If a tribe mistreated any guest, they would be attacked by a
neighbouring tribe for their dishonour.[154]
Ibn Rusta wrote of Slavic law in c 903-918: "The ruler levies fixed
taxes every year. Every man must supply one of his daughter’s
gowns. If he has a son, his clothing must be offered. If he has no
children, he gives one of his wife’s robes. In this country thieves are
strangled or exiled to Jira [Yura by the Urals?], the region most
remote from this principality."[155]
First page of the oldest surviving
copy of Russkaya Pravda(old
Warfare Rus law)(Vast edition) from
Synodic Kormchaia of 1282
Our understanding of Early Slavic (Novgorod)
warfare is based on both the writings of
ancient authors and archeological
discoveries.[156]
Early barbarian warrior bands, typically numbering 200 or less, were

intended for fast penetration into enemy territory and an equally-quick
withdrawal.[144] The Slavs favoured ambush and guerrilla tactics,
preferring to fight in dense woodland or marsh.[157] However, victories in
the open, sieges and hand-to-hand fighting were also achieved.[156] They
often attacked their enemy's flank, and were cunning in devising
stratagems.[132] The Slavs also used siege engines, such as siege towers
Example of early Slavic
and ladders as described by Procopius and St. Demetrius.
armour
Ibn Rusta wrote: “They have very few horses...Their weapons are javelins,
shields and lances...They obey a cheif whom they call the Župan and carry
out his orders...Their supreme lord, however, is called ‘chief of chiefs...this king has many effective
and finely woven coats of mail...The Župan is his lieutenant”[143]
Weapons were usually spears, javelins and bows and arrows. Swords and body armour were rare and
reserved for chiefs and their inner circle of warriors. Shields were round in shape[144] with a central
boss grip in the middle.[158] Axes and slings were also in use.[144]
Although the Slavs fought mostly on foot, they were also proficient cavalry fighters as historical
sources mentioned. Procopius wrote that Slav and "Hun" horsemen were Byzantine mercenaries,
serving as horsearchers.[159] In their dealings with the Sarmatians and Huns, the Slavs may have
become skilled horsemen, an explanation for their expansion.[160]
Menander Protector mentions a Slavic chief Dobret (circa 577–579) who slew an Avar envoy of
Khagan Bayan I for asking the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars; Dobret declined and is
reported as saying: "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs – so it shall always be for us
as long as there are wars and weapons".[161]
Writing
The existence of writing among the Early Slavs is a disputed topic. The
Slavs passed down their stories and legends orally like most other tribal
peoples in Europe. But in addition to this, a runic script was used.[162]
The 9th-century Bulgarian writer [163]Chernorizets Hrabar, in his work

"An Account of Letters", briefly mentions that, before becoming
Christian, Slavs used a system of strokes and incisions or tallies and
sketches: "Before, the Slavs did not have their own books, but counted
and divined by means of strokes and incisions, being pagan. Having The bone with elder futhark
become Christian, they had to make do with the use of Roman and Greek runic inscription found in the
letters without order [unsystematically], but how can one write [Slavic] early Slavic settlement in
well with Greek letters...[note 1] and thus it was for many years."[164] Lány (near Břeclav) in the
Czech Republic.
Symbols
The Slavs and Balts had many symbols representing concepts,

beliefs and Gods. They had many types of swastikas and similar
symbols, such as the Kolovrat.(meaning spinning wheel) The
kolovrat symbolized the sun, and the ever going cycle of life, death
and birth. It was often carved on markers near the graves of fallen
Slavs to represent eternal life.[166]
Gromoviti znaci, symbols associated
with Perun Identical symbols wereGromovitit Znaci, were symbols associated with Perun, the Slavic
thunder and sky god. Early Slavic homes often had the symbols
discovered on Slavic pottery of 4th
century Chernyakhov culture.[165]carved into a beam to protect them from lightning. The circular
shape of the Gromoviti symbolize ball lightning. Such symbols
were also found on Slavic pottery from the 4th century.[165]
Another symbol associated with Perun is the Perunika, which resmebles a six pettled rose. Today it is
the name for a flower in some Slavic languages.
The hands of God were another ancient symbol, associated with the god Svarog.[167]
Ancient symbols such as these are still sometimes shown on clothing and the like, especially
Russia.[168] Many samples are described on the instance of a women's folk costume at the Meshchera
Lowlands.[168] Modern Rodonovers have developed some new symbols, that were not used by the
Early Slavs, but many were.
Religion
Little is known about Slavic religion before the Christianization of Bulgaria and of Kievan Rus. After
Christianization, Slavic authorities destroyed many records of the old religion. Some evidence
remains in apocryphal and devotional texts,[169] the etymology of Slavic religious terms[170] and the
Primary Chronicle.[171]
Ancestor worship was an important part of the pre Christian Slavic religion.[172]
Early Slavic religion was relatively uniform:[173] animistic,

anthropomorphic[174] and inspired by nature.[175] The Slavs developed
cults around natural objects, such as springs, trees or stones, out of
respect for the spirit (or demon) within.[176] Slavic pre-Christian religion
was originally polytheistic, with no organised pantheon.[177] Although the
earliest Slavs seemed to have a weak concept of God, the concept
evolved[178] into a form of monotheism in which a "supreme god [ruled]
in heaven over the others".[179] There is no evidence of a belief in fate[180]
or predestination.[181]
Slavic paganism was syncretistic[182] and combined and shared with

other religions.[183] Linguistic evidence indicates that part of Slavic
paganism developed when the Balts and Slavs shared a common
language[173] since pre-Christian Slavic beliefs contained elements also
found in Baltic religions. After the Slavic and the Baltic languages The Zbruch Idol
diverged, the early Slavs interacted with Iranian peoples and
incorporated elements of Iranian spirituality. Early Iranian and Slavic
supreme gods were considered givers of wealth, unlike the supreme thunder gods of other European
religions. Both Slavs and Iranians had demons, with names from similar linguistic roots (Iranian
Daêva and Slavic Divŭ) and a concept of dualism: good and evil.[179][184]
Pre-Christian Slavic spirits and demons could be entities in their own right or spirits of the dead and
were associated with home or nature. Forest spirits, entities in their own right, were venerated as the
counterparts of home spirits, which were usually related to ancestors.[185] Demons and spirits were
good or evil, which suggests that the Slavs had a dualistic cosmology and are known to have revered
them with sacrifices and gifts.[186] Spirits included Leshy the spirit of the forest, Domovoy spirit of the
home, Rusalka the female spirit of waters, Rarog the Slavic variant of phoenix, and other creature
such as vilas, vampires and Baba Yaga or Roga.
Although evidence of pre-Christian Slavic worship is scarce (suggesting that it was aniconic), religious
sites and idols are most plentiful in Ukraine and Poland. Slavic temples and indoor places of worship
are rare since outdoor places of worship are more common, especially in Kievan Rus'. The outdoor
cultic sites were often on hills and included ringed ditches.[187] Indoor shrines existed: "Early Russian
sources... refer to pagan shrines or altars known as kapishcha" and were small, enclosed structures
with an altar inside. One was found in Kiev, surrounded by the bones of sacrificed animals.[188] Pagan
temples were documented as destroyed during Christianization.[189]
Records of pre-Christian Slavic priests, like the pagan temples, appeared later.[189] Although no early
evidence of Slavic pre-Christian priests has been found, the prevalence of sorcerers and magicians
after Christianization suggests that the pre-Christian Slavs had religious leaders.[190] Slavic pagan
priests were believed to commune with the gods, to predict the future[181] and to prepare for religious
rituals. The pagan priests, or magicians (known as volkhvy by the Rus' people),[171] resisted
Christianity[191] after Christianization. The Primary Chronicle describes a campaign against
Christianity in 1071 during a famine. The volkhvy were well-received nearly 100 years after
Christianization, which suggested that pagan priests had an esteemed position in 1071 and in pre-
Christian times.[192]
Later history
Christianization
Christianization began in the 7th century and was not completed

until the second half of the 12 century. Later, as the Empire of
Constantinople ("Byzantium") reclaimed some of the areas of the
Balkans occupied by Slavs ("Byzantine Reconquista"), slight parts
population of Slavs were Hellenised, including conversion to
Eastern Orthodox Christianity, for example under the reign of
Nicephorus I (802-811). However, the most significant missionary
work was in the mid-ninth century. The Christianization of
Bulgaria was made official in 864, during the reign of Knyaz Boris
I during shifting political alliances both with the Byzantine Fresco of Saints Cyril and
Empire and the kingdom of the East Franks and the Methodius, both Byzantine Christian
communication with the Pope. missionaries to the Southern Slavs.
Because of the Bulgarian Empire's strategic position, the Greek

East and the Latin West wanted their people to adhere to their liturgies
and to ally with them politically. After overtures from each side, Boris
aligned with Constantinople and secured an autocephalous Bulgarian
national church in 870, the first for the Slavs. In 918/919, the Bulgarian
Patriarchate became the fifth autocephalous Eastern Orthodox
patriarchate, after the patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria,
Antioch and Jerusalem. That status was officially recognised by the
Patriarchate of Constantinople in 927.[193] The Bulgarian Empire
developed into the cultural and literary centre of Slavic Europe. The
development of the Cyrillic script at the Preslav Literary School, which
was declared official in Bulgaria in 893, was also declared the official
liturgy in Old Church Slavonic, also called Old Bulgarian.[194][195][196]
Although there is some evidence of

early Christianization of the East Page of the Gospel of Mark
Slavs, Kievan Rus' either remained from Codex Zographensis,
largely pagan or relapsed into an Old Church Slavonic
paganism before the baptism of manuscript written in
Vladimir the Great in the 980s. The Glagolitic script.
Christianization of Poland began with
the Catholic baptism of King Mieszko
Map of Europe in 814 showing the I in 966. Slavic paganism persisted into the 12th century in
distribution of the Slavic tribes and Pomerania, which began to be Christianized after the creation of
the First Bulgarian Empire in relation the Duchy of Pomerania as part of the Holy Roman Empire in
to the Carolingian Empire and the 1121. The process was mostly completed by the Wendish Crusade
Byzantine Empire. in 1147. The final stronghold of Slavic paganism was the Rani,
with a temple to their god Svetovid on Cape Arkona, which was
taken in a campaign by Valdemar I of Denmark in 1168.
Medieval states
After Christianisation, the Slavs established a number of kingdoms, or feudal principalities, which
persisted throughout the High Middle Ages. The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681 as an
alliance between the ruling Bulgars and the numerous Slavs in Lower Moesia. Not long after the Slavic
incursion, Scythia Minor was once again invaded, this time by the Bulgars, under Khan Asparukh.[197]
Their horde was a remnant of Old Great Bulgaria, an extinct tribal confederacy that was north of the
Black Sea in what is now Ukraine. Asparukh attacked Byzantine territories in Eastern Moesia and
conquered its Slavic tribes in 680.[198] A peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire was signed in 681
and marked the foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire. The minority Bulgars formed a close-knit
ruling caste.[199]
The South Slavs established also the Duchy of Croatia in the early 7-8th century (Kingdom of Croatia
since 925) and short-lived Duchy of Lower Pannonia. Roughly in the same time Principality of Serbia
(later Grand Principality and Kingdom of Serbia), while Banate of Bosnia emerged from the 10th
century by merging localities called župas, which were remnants of Early Christianity ecclesiastical
divisions.[200][201] Duklja, Zachlumia, Pagania, Travunia and Kanalites similarly started emerging in
the south.[199][202] The West Slavs were distributed in Samo's Empire, which was the first Slavic state
to form in the west, followed by the Great Moravia and, after its decline, the Kingdom of Poland, the
Obotritic confederation (now eastern Germany) the Principality of Nitra (modern Slovakia) a vassal of
the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Duchy of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).
After the 1054 death of Yaroslav the Wise and the breakup of Kievan Rus', the East Slavs fragmented
into a number of principalities from which Muscovy would emerge after 1300 as the most powerful
one. The western principalities of the former Kievan Rus' were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania.
Slavic studies
The debate between proponents of autochthonism and allochthonism began in 1745, when Johann
Christoph de Jordan published De Originibus Slavicis. The 19th-century Slovak philologist and poet
Pavel Jozef Šafárik, whose theory was founded on Jordanes' Getica, has influenced generations of
scholars. Jordanes equated the Sclavenes, the Antes and the Venethi (or Venedi) based on earlier
sources such as Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and Ptolemy. Šafárik's legacy was his vision of a Slavic history
and the use of linguistics for its study.[160]
The Polish scholar Tadeusz Wojciechowski (1839–1919) was the first to use place names to study
Slavic history and was followed by A. L. Pogodin and the botanist J. Rostafinski. The first scholar to
introduce archaeological data into the discourse on the early Slavs, Lubor Niederle (1865–1944),
endorsed Rostafinski's theory in his multi-volume Antiquities of the Slavs. Vykentyi V. Khvoika
(1850–1914), a Ukrainian archaeologist of Czech origin, linked the Slavs with the Neolithic Cucuteni
culture. A. A. Spicyn (1858–1931) attributed finds of silver and bronze in central and southern
Ukraine to the Antes. Czech archaeologist Ivan Borkovsky (1897–1976) postulated the existence of a
Slavic "Prague type" of pottery. Boris Rybakov has linked Spicyn's "Antian antiquities" with
Chernyakhov culture remains excavated by Khvoika and theorised that the former should be
attributed to the Slavs.[160] The debate became politically charged during the 19th century,
particularly in connection with the partitions of Poland and the German Drang nach Osten, and the
question of whether Germanic or Slavic peoples were indigenous east of the Oder was used to pursue
both German and Polish claims to the region.
Some modern scholars debate the meaning and the usage of the term "Slav" depending on the context
in which it is used. The word can refer to a culture (or cultures) living north of the River Danube, east
of the River Elbe, and west of the River Vistula during the 530s CE.[203] "Slav" is also an identifier for
the ethnic group shared by the cultures[204] and denotes any language with linguistic ties to the
modern Slavic language family, which may have no connection to either a common culture or a shared
ethnicity.[205]
Despite the concepts of "Slav", such scholars argue that it is unclear whether any of the descriptions
add to an accurate representation of the group's history. Historians such as George Vernadsky, Florin
Curta and Michael Karpovich have questioned how, why and to what degree, the Slavs were a cohesive
society between the 6th and the 9th centuries.[160][206] The Austrian historian Walter Pohl wrote,
"Apparently ethnicity operated on at least two levels: the 'common Slavic' identity, and the identity of
single Slavic groups, tribes, or peoples of different sizes that gradually developed, very often taking
their name from the territory they lived in. These regional ethnogeneses inspired by Slavic tradition
incorporated considerable remnants of Roman and Germanic population ready enough to give up
ethnic identities that had lost their cohesion".[117]
See also
Slavic paganism
Sclaveni
Antes people
Kievan Rus'
Serbia in the Middle Ages
Footnotes
1. In this place are listed eleven examples of Slavic words, such as живѣтъ /živět/ "life", which can
hardly be written using the unadapted Roman or Greek letters (i.e. without diacritics changing
their sound-values).
References
Citations
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when he wrote: 'ab unastirpe exorti, tria nomina ediderunt, id est Veneti, Antes, Sclaveni'
(although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti , Antes
and Sclaveni). The Veneti were the West Slavs, the Antes the East Slavs and the Sclaveni, the
South or Balkan Slavs."
12. "Procopius, History of the Wars, VII. 14. 22–30".
13. Gołąb, Zbigniew (1992), The Origins of the Slavs: A Linguist's View (https://archive.nyu.edu/handl
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European University Press, p. 107, ISBN 9789639116429
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18. Barford 2001, p. 37.
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haplogroup R1a", European Journal of Human Genetics, 23 (1): 124–131,
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elsewhere (Figure 2d). Unlike hg R1a-M458, the R1a-M558 clade is also common in the Volga-
Uralic populations. R1a-M558 occurs at 10–33% in parts of Russia, exceeds 26% in Poland and
Western Belarus, and varies between 10 and 23% in the Ukraine, whereas it drops 10-fold lower
in Western Europe. In general, both R1a-M458 and R1a-M558 occur at low but informative
frequencies in Balkan populations with known Slavonic heritage."
30. Pamjav, Horolma; Fehér, Tibor; Németh, Endre; Koppány Csáji, László (2019). Genetika és
őstörténet (https://books.google.com/books?id=xq2xDwAAQBAJ) (in Hungarian). Napkút Kiadó.
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legkorábbi közös őse 2200 évvel ezelőttre tehető, így esetében nem arról van szó, hogy a mezolit
népesség Kelet-Európában ilyen mértékben fennmaradt volna, hanem arról, hogy egy, a mezolit
csoportoktól származó szűk család az európai vaskorban sikeresen integrálódott egy olyan
társadalomba, amely hamarosan erőteljes demográfiai expanzióba kezdett. Ez is mutatja, hogy
nem feltétlenül népek, mintsem családok sikerével, nemzetségek elterjedésével is számolnunk
kell, és ezt a jelenlegi etnikai identitással összefüggésbe hozni lehetetlen. A csoport elterjedése
alapján valószínűsíthető, hogy a szláv népek migrációjában vett részt, így válva az R1a-t
követően a második legdominánsabb csoporttá a mai Kelet-Európában. Nyugat-Európából
viszont teljes mértékben hiányzik, kivéve a kora középkorban szláv nyelvet beszélő keletnémet
területeket."
31. Fóthi, E.; Gonzalez, A.; Fehér, T.; et al. (2020), "Genetic analysis of male Hungarian Conquerors:
European and Asian paternal lineages of the conquering Hungarian tribes", Archaeological and
Anthropological Sciences, 12 (1), doi:10.1007/s12520-019-00996-0 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs
12520-019-00996-0), "Based on SNP analysis, the CTS10228 group is 2200 ± 300 years old. The
group’s demographic expansion may have begun in Southeast Poland around that time, as
carriers of the oldest subgroup are found there today. The group cannot solely be tied to the
Slavs, because the proto-Slavic period was later, around 300–500 CE... The SNP-based age of
the Eastern European CTS10228 branch is 2200 ± 300 years old. The carriers of the most ancient
subgroup live in Southeast Poland, and it is likely that the rapid demographic expansion which
brought the marker to other regions in Europe began there. The largest demographic explosion
occurred in the Balkans, where the subgroup is dominant in 50.5% of Croatians, 30.1% of Serbs,
31.4% of Montenegrins, and in about 20% of Albanians and Greeks. As a result, this subgroup is
often called Dinaric. It is interesting that while it is dominant among modern Balkan peoples, this
subgroup has not been present yet during the Roman period, as it is almost absent in Italy as well
(see Online Resource 5; ESM_5)."
32. Kushniarevich, Alena; Kassian, Alexei (2020), "Genetics and Slavic languages" (https://www.rese
archgate.net/publication/341945550), in Marc L. Greenberg (ed.), Encyclopedia of Slavic
Languages and Linguistics Online, Brill, doi:10.1163/2589-6229_ESLO_COM_032367 (https://doi.
org/10.1163%2F2589-6229_ESLO_COM_032367), retrieved 10 December 2020, "The
geographic distributions of the major eastern European NRY haplogroups (R1a-Z282, I2a-P37)
overlap with the area occupied by the present-day Slavs to a great extent, and it might be
tempting to consider both haplogroups as Slavic-specic patrilineal lineages ... Altogether, long
genomic segments distribution in eastern Europe, where Slavs predominate today but are not an
exclusive linguistic group, are compatible with actual movements of people across this region,
presumably within historical time"
33. Jiří Macháček, Robert Nedoma, Petr Dresler. Ilektra Schulz, Elias Lagonik, Stephen M. Johnson,
Ludmila Kaňáková, Alena Slámová, Bastien Llamas, Daniel Wegmann, Zuzana Hofmanová,
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multidisciplinary analysis of runic bones", Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol. 127, March
2021, quote: "At the continental scale, modern Slavic speakers were found to share more
haplotypes among each other than with other Europeans. This was initially also interpreted as
evidence for a demic expansion (Hellenthal et al., 2014; Ralph and Coop, 2013), but might be
equally consistent with low population size (Al-Asadi et al., 2019; Ringbauer et al., 2017).
Nevertheless, in some regions, a physical replacement of the population after the Migration
Period is more obvious. In Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), for instance, the Angles,
Jutes and other Germanic tribes initially inhabiting the region left during the Migration Period
(Brugmann, 2011), as confirmed by ancient DNA research for their migration to the British Isles
(Schiffels et al., 2016). As confirmed by palaeobotany and archaeology (Wieckowska et al., 2012;
Wiethold, 1998), the region remained not or only sparsely occupied for at least 200 years, after
which it was settled by various groups. Some of those are connected with Slavs based on
archaeological finds and written records of later periods, as well as linguistic (toponomastic)
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34. Mallory & Adams 1997.
35. Sussex & Cubberley 2011, p. 19.
36. Schenker 2008, pp. 61–62.
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39. Fortson (2004), p. 16.
41. Schenker 2008, p. 109.
42. Schenker 2008, p. 113.
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dates it to the 1210s BC and "recalibrated glottochronology" conducted by Novotná & Blažek
dates it to 1400–1340 BC. That agrees well with Trziniec-Komarov culture, localised from Silesia
to Central Ukraine, which is dated to 1500–1200 BC.
44. Mallory 1994, p. 80.
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63. Curta 2001, p. 7.
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71. Barford 2001, p. 36.
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76. Curta 2001, p. 56.
77. Curta 2001, pp. 46, 60.
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79. Barford 2001, p. 29.
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81. Curta 2001, p. 118.
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89. Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 104.
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109. Lindstedt, Jouko (19–22 October 2017), "How the early Slavs existed: A short essay on ontology
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10 August 2022, "Despite Florin Curta (2015) declaring the prehistoric Slavs as a "fairy tale", they
certainly existed at least in a linguistic sense: the Slavic language family is unexplainable without
an earlier protolanguage, this Proto-Slavic must have had speakers, and "Slav" is the name that
mediaeval sources mainly propose as the designation of those ... but there is also no reason to
argue that they are totally unrelated groups of people. Linguistics shows the spread of the Slavic
language in Eastern Europe in the second half of the first millennium CE; history and archaeology
tell us about at least some major migrations in this same period of worsening living conditions
(due to the Late Antique Little Ice Age and Justinian’s Plague); population genetics shows the
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speakers of Slavic on their basis, not to bury the Slavs under ontological doubts and
methodological scruples."
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diffusion of the Slavic model would hardly be possible, in any case in which a long period of time
when the populations of different cultural traditions lived close to one another is assumed.
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Moravia and southern Poland, (but) could hardly explain the spread of Slavic into Poland,
Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, all regions that produced so far almost no archaeological evidence
of Avar influence."
122. Helmold (1120). Chronica Slavorum.

123. Ibrahim Ibn Ya’qub (961–976). Book of Roads and Kingdoms.
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Further reading
Nowakowski, Wojciech; Bartkiewicz, Katarzyna. "Baltes et proto-Slaves dans l'Antiquité. Textes et
archéologie". In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 16, n°1, 1990. pp. 359–402. [DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3406/dha.1990.1472];[www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-
7256_1990_num_16_1_1472]
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10/15/22, 2:31 AM Early Slavs - Wikipedia

Jordanes wrote that the Venethi, Sclavenes and Antes were

A similar description of the Sclavenes and Antes is found in the

Although Martin of Braga was the first western author to refer to a

the Carpathian foothills of Podolia, at the northwestern fringes of

The Przeworsk culture, northwest of the Chernyakov zone,

The 8th-to-3rd-century BC Chernoles culture, sometimes associated with Herodotus' "Scythian

Tribal and territorial organisation

There is no indication of Slavic chiefs in any of the Slavic raids before AD

Early Slavic settlements were no bigger than 0.5 to 2 hectares (1.2

The Slavs also built underground shelters roofed with wood to

Log cabin saunas were also used as recorded by Ibrahim Ibn

Food and Agriculture

The Slavs practiced hunting, farming, herding and beekeeping. They

Metalworking was very important, as it was required to make tools and

Musical Instruments and Burial Practices

The Slavs had many musical instruments as recorded in historical

The Byzantine Emperor Maurice wrote:

Early barbarian warrior bands, typically numbering 200 or less, were

The 9th-century Bulgarian writer [163]Chernorizets Hrabar, in his work

The Slavs and Balts had many symbols representing concepts,

Early Slavic religion was relatively uniform:[173] animistic,

Slavic paganism was syncretistic[182] and combined and shared with

Christianization began in the 7th century and was not completed

Because of the Bulgarian Empire's strategic position, the Greek

Although there is some evidence of

83. Barford 2001, pp. 7–8.

122. Helmold (1120). Chronica Slavorum.

177. Cross 1946, pp. 78–87.

Ibn Rusta (903). The book of Precious Records.

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This page was last edited on 10 October 2022, at 23:58 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

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