Chapter I Origin of the Slavs. Where did the Slavs come from? Is it true that it came from Scandinavian sailors? The emergence of Slavic peoples

Origin of the Slavs. This very phrase immediately raises more questions than answers.

S. V. Ivanov “Housing of the Eastern Slavs”

Soviet archaeologist P. N. Tretyakov wrote:

“The ancient Slavs in the light of archaeological materials is an area of ​​hypotheses, usually short-lived, constantly raising numerous doubts.”

Today, even after global work carried out by archaeologists, many works by linguists, and research on toponymy, this question remains open. The fact is that we have practically no written sources on the early history of the Proto-Slavs, and this is the stumbling block for all further reasoning. This work is based on key research on this topic.

Introduction

At the end of the 6th century, new enemies appeared on the Danube border and attacked the Byzantine state.

These were peoples about whom ancient and Byzantine authors had already heard a lot, but now they became their restless neighbors, leading constant fighting and carrying out devastating raids on the empire.

How could the new tribes that appeared on the northern border for a long time not only compete with the military forces of the most powerful country in Europe, but also seize its lands?

How were these peoples, unknown or little known to the Roman world just yesterday, able to occupy such vast territories? What powers and capabilities did they have, how and by whom were they involved in the worldwide migration of peoples, how did their culture develop?

We are talking about the ancestors of the Slavs, who settled over the vast expanse of central, northeastern and southern Europe.

And if about the military operations and battles of the Slavs in the VI-VII centuries. is known quite well thanks to written sources that have come down to us, archaeological sites give us important information that significantly complements the picture and helps us understand many aspects of early Slavic history.

The clash or cooperation of the Slavs with nearby peoples: the Byzantine Empire, Germanic tribes and, of course, the nomads of the Eurasian plain enriched their military experience and military arsenal.

The Slavs and their military affairs are little known to the general public; they for a long time were in the shadow of the Germanic peoples who lived in these areas, as well as the nomadic peoples who lived in the Danube region.

Origin

The Kiev chronicler in the “ethnographic” part of “The Tale of Bygone Years” wrote:

“After a long time, the Slavs settled along the Danube, where now the land is Hungarian and Bulgarian. From those Slavs the Slavs spread throughout the land and were called by their names from the places where they sat. So some, having come, sat down on the river in the name of Morava and were called Moravians, while others called themselves Czechs. And here are the same Slavs: white Croats, and Serbs, and Horutans. When the Volochs attacked the Danube Slavs, and settled among them, and oppressed them, these Slavs came and sat on the Vistula and were called Poles, and from those Poles came the Poles, other Poles - Lutichs, others - Mazovshans, others - Pomeranians.

For a long time, this chronicle story was considered decisive in the picture of the settlement of the Slavic tribes, but today, on the basis of archaeological data, toponymy, but especially philology, the Vistula River basin in Poland is considered the ancestral home of the Slavs.

The Slavic language belongs to the Indo-European language family. The question of the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans still remains open. Anatolian, Greek, Armenian, Indo-Iranian and Thracian languages ​​independently emerged from the Proto-Indo-European language, while the Italic, Celtic, Slavic, Baltic and Germanic proto-languages ​​did not exist. They constituted a single community of the ancient European language, and their division occurred during the settlement throughout Europe.

There is a debate in the literature about whether there was originally a Balto-Slavic linguistic community or whether there were long-term contacts between the ancestors of the Slavs and Balts, which influenced the similarity of the languages. Recent research suggests that, firstly, the Proto-Slavs had contacts only with the Western Balts (ancestors of the Prussians), and secondly, they initially had contacts with the Proto-Germanic tribes, in particular, with the ancestors of the Angles and Saxons, which is recorded in the vocabulary of the latter . These contacts could only take place on the territory of modern Poland, which confirms the localization of the early Proto-Slavs in the Vistula-Oder interfluve.

This territory was their European ancestral home.

First historical evidence

For the first time, messages about the Vends or Slavs appear on the pages of Roman manuscripts at the beginning of our millennium. Thus, Guy Pliny the Elder (23/24-79 AD) wrote that, among other peoples, the Sarmatians and Veneti lived in the east of Europe. Claudius Ptolemy (died 178 AD) pointed to the gulf, calling it Venedsky, now presumably the Gulf of Gdansk in Poland, he also writes about the Venedian Mountains, possibly the Carpathians. But Tacitus (50s - 120 AD) argues as follows:

“Whether the Pevkin [Germanic tribe], the Wends and the Fennians should be classified as Germans or Sarmatians, I really don’t know... The Wendians have adopted many of their customs, for for the sake of robbery they scour the forests and mountains that exist between the Pevkin and the Fenni. However, they can rather be classified as Germans, because they build houses for themselves, carry shields and move on foot, and with great speed; all this separates them from the Sarmatians, who spend their whole lives in a cart and on horseback.” .

Area of ​​the Przeworsk archaeological culture. Source: Sedov V.V. Slavs. Old Russian people. M., 2005

Early name of the Slavs

As we have already said, ancient authors, like ancient peoples, at the turn of the millennium called the ancestors of the Slavs “Vends”. Many researchers believe that in antiquity this term defined not only the Slavs, but all tribes of the Slavic-Baltic language group, since for the Greeks and Romans this land was distant and information about it was sketchy, and often simply fabulous.

This word is preserved in Finnish and German, this is how the Luga Sorbs or Western Slavs are still called today - Wendel or Wende. Where did it come from?

Perhaps, some researchers believe, this was the self-name of some of the first tribal groups moving from the Vistula River basin to the west and north, to the area inhabited by the Germans, and, accordingly, the Finnish tribes.

By the 6th century The “Wends” were clearly localized in the north of Central Europe, in the west they went beyond the borders of the Oder, and in the east - to the right bank of the Vistula.

The actual name “Slavs” appears in sources in the 6th century. at Jordan and Procopius, when both authors could actually get acquainted with representatives of this people. Procopius of Caesarea, being the secretary of the commander Belisarius, more than once observed and described the actions of the Slavic warriors.

There is also an opinion that if the word “Vends - Venets” was colloquial, then “Slavins” or “Slavs” had a book origin, such as, for example, the term “Rosy”.

There is no exact answer as to where this name came from. Until the 19th century. it was believed that it comes from the word “glory” (gloriosi). Another version, which also circulated until the 19th century, suggested a connection between the word “Slav” and “slave,” a term identical in many European languages.

Modern theories suggest two solutions to this issue. The first links it with the places of initial residence of the Slavs, people living along the rivers. Derived from the word “flow, water flows”, hence: the rivers Sluya, Slavnica, Stawa, Stawica.

The vast majority of researchers are followers of another theory, they believe that the ethnonym comes from “word” - verbosi: to speak, “to speak clearly”, “people who speak clearly”, unlike “Germans” - cannot speak, are dumb.

We find it in the names of tribes and modern peoples: Novgorod Slovenes ( Ancient Rus'), Slovaks (Slovakia), Slovenians (Slovenia and other Balkan countries), Slovinians-Kashubs (Poland).

Early Slavs and Celts

In the south of the Vistula-Oder interfluve, the ancient Slavs (Przeworsk archaeological culture) had their first contacts with the Celts migrating to these territories.

The Celts by this time had reached great heights in the development of material culture, which was reflected in the archaeological culture of La Tène (the settlement of La Tène, Switzerland). The Celtic society of Europe at this time can be defined as “heroic,” with the cult of leaders and heroes, squads and the militarization of all life, consisting of clans grouped into tribes.

The Celts made an outstanding contribution to the history of metallurgy in Europe: archaeologists discovered entire forging production complexes.

They mastered the technology of welding, hardening, made a great contribution to the production of iron tools, and, of course, . A significant fact in the development of Celtic society is the process of urbanization; by the way, it is with this that archaeologists associate a new important moment: from the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. No military equipment was recorded in Celtic burials.

We know the large Celtic cities of Alesia (97 hectares), Bibracta (135 hectares) and Gergovia (Clermont) (75 hectares) and others.

Society is moving to a new stage, in conditions of accumulation of wealth, when weapons lose their symbolic significance. It was during this period that one of the waves of Celtic migration reached the upper reaches of the Vistula in Central Europe in the 2nd century. BC e., from this moment the time of interaction between the early Slavs and the Celts began. From this period, the Przeworsk archaeological culture began to form.

The Przeworsk archaeological culture is associated with the early Slavs, although signs of habitation by both Celts and Germans are found on its territory. Archaeological monuments provide a wealth of material about the development of material culture; artifacts testify to the emergence of military affairs among the Slavs at the turn of the millennium.

An important factor in the interaction was the process of influence of the Celts, who were more high level development, on the spiritual culture of the Slavs, which was reflected in religious buildings and burial rites. At least, what can be judged today is very likely. In particular, in the construction in a later period of a pagan temple of the Western Slavs in Arkona, on the island of Rügen, historians find features of Celtic religious buildings. But if weapons disappear in the burials of the Celts of central Europe, then on the periphery of the Celtic world they are preserved, which is completely understandable within the framework of military expansion. And the Slavs began to use the same ritual.

The participation of the Celts in the formation of the Przeworsk culture led to the first great division in the history of the Slavs: into southern (central Europe) and northern (Powisle). Celtic movement in Central Europe, quite likely accompanied by military expansion into the Vistula region, forced some of the local tribes to begin moving to the Dnieper region. They go from the Vistula and Volhynia zone to the upper Dniester zone and especially to the Middle Dnieper region. This movement, in turn, caused an outflow of the Baltic tribes who lived here (Zarubinsk archaeological culture) to the north and east.

Although some archaeologists associate the Zarubinsk culture with the Slavs.

It was during this period that the western neighbors of the ancient Slavs began to call them “Veneti”. And here too there is a Celtic trace.

One of the hypotheses comes from the fact that the ethnonym “Veneta” was the self-name of the Celtic tribes that lived in Powiślie, but when they collided with the Germans at the beginning of our era, they retreated to the lands of the northeast and southeast of modern Poland, where they conquered the Proto-Slavs and They gave them their name: “Vends” or “Venetas”.

Armament of the Slavs in the early period

Tacitus, as we see, told us little, but this information is priceless, since we are talking primarily about the Slavs as a sedentary people who do not live like the Sarmatians in carts, but build houses, which is confirmed by archaeological data, and also that their weapons are similar to their western neighbors.

Among the Slavs, like most tribes who lived in the forest-steppe zone and embarked on the path historical development, the main type of weapon was spears, which, naturally, owe their origin to sharpened sticks. Given the early contacts with the Celts, whose society was at a higher stage of material development, the influence in weaponry is obvious. It was even reflected in the funeral rite, when weapons or any piercing and cutting instruments were damaged. This is what the Celts did when burying male warriors.

Diodorus Siculus, (80-20 BC) wrote:

“...they [the Celts. - V.E.] they fight with a long sword, which they carry, suspended on an iron or copper chain to the right thigh... In front of them they put out spears, which they call “lankias”, with iron tips one cubit (45 cm) long or more, and width - slightly less than a dipalesta (15.5 cm).”

Swords and spear tip. Celts. Archaeological culture of La Tène.

It is quite difficult to reliably tell about the origin of the Slavs briefly and interestingly, because there is no written confirmation. Where did they come from? The very first mention according to the chronicle comes after the Flood, when the sons of Japheth took the west and north. It was from them, the sons of Japheth, that the Slavic people came, or another name - Noriki.

So, Slavs.

There are several versions even about how the word Slavs arose. Maybe from Indo-European ancient language, in which they denoted rumor and fame, glorious people. Or, people who could be easily understood, speaking our language. Basically, there is a version in which the Slavic peoples are designated as Slovenes or Sklavens (Eastern Venets), among many peoples of Scandinavia, such names have been preserved in the language to this day. The name Russian Slavs appeared in the 12th century.

Motherland, where is it?

It is believed that it was from Central and Eastern Europe that the origin and subsequent settlement of Slavic peoples began in the 6-7 centuries AD. Valleys of the Vistula, Oder, Elbe and Danube rivers. Fortunately, numerous excavations of everyday objects confirm this.

Settlement.

As a rule, settlement occurred in all directions, but was more noticeable towards the Baltic and Black Sea. Historical military-tribal alliances could help people and took care of their safety and survival. The suitability of a place for life attracted people, good pastures for livestock and meadows for sowing. During the same period, as a result of movements and mixing of tribes, religious movements appeared, replacing paganism. In the west - the Vagrs, the Drevans. In the north there are Pomeranians, Sledzhans, and Bohemians. In the north-west - Polish, Silesian, Lusatian. Eastern and southeastern - Buzhans, Volynians. The names were given according to the place of residence.

Slavic fortifications.

Fortifications were built, as a rule, on high banks of rivers; they were surrounded by high earthen ramparts, deep ditches filled with water and log palisades. It was protection from wild animals, of which there were a lot then, from warring neighbors from different parts of the world, and simply from robbers. Housing - dugouts - was poor, damp and dark. In the center of the settlements there was a square. Everyone usually gathered in the squares for general meetings or courts. From here they escorted traders and warriors on their way.

Culture.

The basis of Slavic culture is called Prague. Burial grounds of that time have been found, containing burials of cremated people, women's jewelry - temple rings, molded ceramics, frying pans and bowls. The gods and idols had clear names. Perun was a warrior, Veles was the protector of livestock, Mokosh was in charge of weaving, Stribog was guarding the sky, Dazhdbog was the sun. Common language was Proto-Slavic, then Slavic and Old Church Slavonic. The initial writing was in the form of the Glagolitic alphabet, later in the form of the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet. The counting system and calendars were developed. They are associated with the rituals of that time and activities - solar and lunar, wedding, sowing, hunting. When Christianity came to the Slavs, from the 6th to the 10th centuries, calendars with fasting and meat-eaters appeared. The Eastern and South-Eastern Slavs became Christians according to the Byzantine rite, and the Western and South-Western ones according to the Roman rite. Balkan settlements of the Slavs, occupied Ottoman Empire, converted to Islam. In our time, rituals from the pagan past have been preserved, such as Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala, Krasnaya Gorka. And a lot of superstitions about brownies and ghosts.

Basic classes.

Hunting and gathering berries and mushrooms could not feed large tribes. The found tools of agricultural implements made of iron indicate that the ancient sedentary Slavs were engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry and crafts. And surplus food was exchanged or sold to neighboring tribes. Thus, trade routes leading to all directions of the world were born, and with them the settlement of the Slavs continued.

Modern Slavs.

If in past centuries all groups were united by a common tribal way of life, now similarities are observed only in language. There is no common race, no common religion, no common culture.

Origin of the Slavs

Ethnogenesis of the Slavs- the process of formation of the ancient Slavic ethnic community, which led to the separation of the Slavs from the conglomerate of Indo-European tribes. Currently, there is no generally accepted version of the formation of the Slavic ethnic group.

The Slavs as an established people were first recorded in Byzantine written sources from the mid-6th century. Retrospectively, these sources mention Slavic tribes in the 4th century. Earlier information refers to peoples who could take part in the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, but the degree of this participation varies in different historical reconstructions. The earliest written evidence of Byzantine authors of the 6th century deals with an already established people, divided into Sklavins and Antes. Mentions of the Wends as the ancestors of the Slavs (or a separate Slavic tribe) are retrospective. Evidence from authors of the Roman era (I-II centuries) about the Wends does not allow us to connect them with any authentically Slavic archaeological culture.

Archaeologists identify as credibly Slavic a number of archaeological cultures dating back to the 5th century. In academic science there is no single point of view on ethnic origin carriers of earlier cultures and their continuity in relation to later Slavic ones. Linguists also do not have a consensus on the time of appearance of a language that could be considered Slavic or Proto-Slavic. Existing scientific versions suggest the separation of the Proto-Slavic language from the Proto-Indo-European (or from the language family of more low level) in a wide range from the 2nd millennium BC. e. until the turn of eras or even the first centuries AD. e.

The origin, history of formation and habitat of the ancient Slavs are studied using methods and at the intersection of various sciences: linguistics, history, archeology, paleoanthropology, genetics.

Linguistic data

Indo-Europeans

In Central Europe during the Bronze Age, there was an ethnolinguistic community of Indo-European tribes. The attribution of certain groups of languages ​​to this community is controversial. The German scientist G. Krahe came to the conclusion that while the Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Armenian and Greek languages ​​had already separated and developed as independent ones, the Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Illyrian, Slavic and Baltic languages ​​existed only as dialects of a single Indo-European language. The ancient Europeans, who lived in central Europe north of the Alps, developed a common terminology in the field Agriculture, social relations and religion. The famous Russian linguist, academician O. N. Trubachev, based on an analysis of the Slavic vocabulary of pottery, blacksmithing and other crafts, came to the conclusion that the speakers of early Slavic dialects (or their ancestors) at the time when the corresponding terminology was being formed were in close contact with the future Germans and Italics, that is, Indo-Europeans of Central Europe. Approximately, the separation of the Germanic languages ​​from the Baltic and Proto-Slavic occurred no later than the 7th century. BC e. (according to the estimates of a number of linguists - much earlier), but in linguistics itself there are practically no precise methods of chronological reference to historical processes.

Early Slavic vocabulary and habitats of the Proto-Slavs

Attempts were made to establish the Slavic ancestral home by analyzing early Slavic vocabulary. According to F.P. Filin, the Slavs as a people developed in a forest belt with an abundance of lakes and swamps, far from the sea, mountains and steppes:

“The abundance in the lexicon of the common Slavic language of names for varieties of lakes, swamps, and forests speaks for itself. The presence in the common Slavic language of various names for animals and birds living in forests and swamps, trees and plants of the temperate forest-steppe zone, fish typical for reservoirs of this zone, and at the same time the absence of common Slavic names for the specific features of the mountains, steppes and sea - all this gives unambiguous materials for a definite conclusion about the ancestral home of the Slavs... The ancestral home of the Slavs, at least in the last centuries of their history as a single historical unit, was located away from the seas, mountains and steppes, in a forest belt of the temperate zone, rich in lakes and swamps...”

The Polish botanist Yu. Rostafinsky tried to localize the ancestral home of the Slavs more accurately in 1908: “ The Slavs transferred the common Indo-European name yew to willow and willow and did not know larch, fir and beech.» Beech- borrowing from the Germanic language. IN modern era The eastern border of the distribution of beech falls approximately on the Kaliningrad-Odessa line, however, the study of pollen in archaeological finds indicates a wider range of beech in ancient times. In the Bronze Age (corresponding to the middle Holocene in botany), beech grew throughout almost the entire territory of Eastern Europe (except for the north), in the Iron Age (late Holocene), when, according to most historians, the Slavic ethnic group was formed, remains of beech were found in most of Russia, the Black Sea region, Caucasus, Crimea, Carpathians. Thus, the probable place of ethnogenesis of the Slavs may be Belarus and the northern and central parts of Ukraine. In the north-west of Russia (Novgorod lands) beech was found back in the Middle Ages. Beech forests are currently widespread in Western and Northern Europe, the Balkans, the Carpathians, and Poland. In Russia, beech is found in the Kaliningrad region and the northern Caucasus. Fir does not grow in its natural habitat in the territory from the Carpathians and the eastern border of Poland to the Volga, which also makes it possible to localize the homeland of the Slavs somewhere in Ukraine and Belarus, if the assumptions of linguists about the botanical vocabulary of the ancient Slavs are correct.

All Slavic languages ​​(and Baltic) have the word Linden to designate the same tree, which suggests that the distribution area of ​​the linden tree overlaps with the homeland of the Slavic tribes, but due to the extensive range of this plant, the localization is blurred over most of Europe.

Baltic and Old Slavic languages

Map of Baltic and Slavic archaeological cultures of the 3rd-4th centuries.

It should be noted that the regions of Belarus and northern Ukraine belong to the zone of widespread Baltic toponymy. A special study by Russian philologists, academicians V.N. Toporov and O.N. Trubachev showed that in the Upper Dnieper region Baltic hydronyms are often formalized with Slavic suffixes. This means that the Slavs appeared there later than the Balts. This contradiction is removed if we accept the point of view of some linguists regarding the separation of the Slavic language from the common Baltic language.

From the point of view of linguists grammatical structure and other indicators, the Old Slavic language was closest to the Baltic languages. In particular, many words not found in other Indo-European languages ​​are common, including: roka(hand), golva(head), lipa(Linden), gvězda(star), balt(swamp), etc. (close ones are up to 1,600 words). The name itself Baltic are derived from the Indo-European root *balt- (standing waters), which has a correspondence in Russian swamp. The wider spread of the later language (Slavic in relation to Baltic) is considered by linguists to be a natural process. V.N. Toporov believed that the Baltic languages ​​are closest to the original Indo-European language, while all other Indo-European languages ​​moved away from their original state in the process of development. In his opinion, the Proto-Slavic language was a Proto-Baltic southern peripheral dialect, which turned into Proto-Slavic around the 5th century. BC e. and then developed independently into the Old Slavic language.

Archaeological data

The study of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs with the help of archeology encounters the following problem: modern science It is not possible to trace until the beginning of our era the change and continuity of archaeological cultures, the bearers of which could confidently be attributed to the Slavs or their ancestors. Some archaeologists accept some archaeological cultures at the turn of our era as Slavic, a priori recognizing the autochthony of the Slavs in a given territory, even if it was inhabited in the corresponding era by other peoples according to synchronous historical evidence.

Slavic archaeological cultures of the V-VI centuries.

Map of Baltic and Slavic archaeological crops V-VI centuries

The appearance of archaeological cultures, recognized by most archaeologists as Slavic, dates back only to the 6th century, corresponding to the following similar cultures, separated geographically:

• Prague-Korczak archaeological culture: the range stretches in a strip from the upper Elbe to the middle Dnieper, touching the Danube in the south and capturing the upper reaches of the Vistula. The area of ​​the early culture of the 5th century is limited to the southern Pripyat basin and the upper reaches of the Dniester, Southern Bug and Prut (Western Ukraine).

Corresponds to the habitats of the Sklavins of Byzantine authors. Characteristic features: 1) dishes - hand-made pots without decorations, sometimes clay pans; 2) dwellings - square half-dugouts with an area of ​​up to 20 m² with stoves or hearths in the corner, or log houses with a stove in the center 3) burials - corpse burning, burial of cremation remains in pits or urns, the transition in the 6th century from ground burial grounds to the mound burial rite; 4) lack of grave goods, only random things are found; brooches and weapons are missing.

• Penkovskaya archaeological culture: range from the middle Dniester to the Seversky Donets (western tributary of the Don), capturing the right bank and left bank of the middle part of the Dnieper (territory of Ukraine).

Corresponds to the probable habitats of the antes of Byzantine authors. It is distinguished by the so-called Ant treasures, in which bronze cast figurines of people and animals are found, colored with enamels in special recesses. The figurines are Alan in style, although the technique of champlevé enamel probably came from the Baltic states (earliest finds) through the provincial Roman art of the European West. According to another version, this technique developed locally within the framework of the previous Kyiv culture. The Penkovskaya culture differs from the Prague-Korchak culture, in addition to the characteristic shape of the pots, in the relative wealth of material culture and the noticeable influence of the nomads of the Black Sea region. Archaeologists M.I. Artamonov and I.P. Rusanova recognized the Bulgar farmers as the main carriers of culture, at least at its initial stage.

• Kolochin archaeological culture: habitat in the Desna basin and the upper reaches of the Dnieper (Gomel region of Belarus and Bryansk region of Russia). It adjoins the Prague and Penkovo ​​cultures in the south. Mixing zone of Baltic and Slavic tribes. Despite its proximity to the Penkovo ​​culture, V.V. Sedov classified it as Baltic based on the saturation of the area with Baltic hydronyms, but other archaeologists do not recognize this feature as ethnically defining for the archaeological culture.

In the II-III centuries. Slavic tribes of the Przeworsk culture from the Vistula-Oder region migrate to the forest-steppe areas between the Dniester and Dnieper rivers, inhabited by Sarmatian and Late Scythian tribes belonging to the Iranian language group. At the same time, the Germanic tribes of the Gepids and Goths moved to the southeast, as a result of which a multi-ethnic Chernyakhov culture with a predominance of Slavs emerged from the lower Danube to the Dnieper forest-steppe left bank. In the process of Slavicization of the local Scythian-Sarmatians in the Dnieper region, a new ethnic group was formed, known in Byzantine sources as the Ants.

Within the Slavic anthropological type, subtypes are classified that are associated with the participation of tribes of various origins in the ethnogenesis of the Slavs. Most general classification indicates the participation in the formation of the Slavic ethnos of two branches of the Caucasian race: southern (relatively broad-faced mesocranial type, descendants: Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians) and northern (relatively broad-faced dolichocrane type, descendants: Belarusians and Russians). In the north, participation in the ethnogenesis of Finnish tribes was recorded (mainly through the assimilation of Finno-Ugrians during the expansion of the Slavs to the east), which gave some Mongoloid admixture to East Slavic individuals; in the south there was a Scythian substrate, noted in the craniometric data of the Polyan tribe. However, it was not the Polyans, but the Drevlyans who determined the anthropological type of future Ukrainians.

Genetic history

The genetic history of an individual and entire ethnic groups is reflected in the diversity of the male sex Y chromosome, namely its non-recombining part. Y-chromosome groups (outdated designation: HG - from the English haplogroup) carry information about a common ancestor, but as a result of mutations they are modified, due to which the stages of development can be traced by haplogroups, or, in other words, by the accumulation of a particular mutation in a chromosome humanity. A person’s genotype, like his anthropological structure, does not coincide with his ethnic identification, but rather reflects the migration processes of large groups of the population during the Late Paleolithic era, which makes it possible to make probable assumptions about the ethnogenesis of peoples at their earliest stage of formation.

Written evidence

Slavic tribes first appear in Byzantine written sources of the 6th century under the name Sklavini and Antes. Retrospectively, in these sources the Antes are mentioned when describing the events of the 4th century. Presumably the Slavs (or ancestors of the Slavs) include the Wends, who, without defining their ethnic characteristics, were reported by the authors of the late Roman period (-II centuries). Earlier tribes noted by contemporaries in the supposed area of ​​formation of the Slavic ethnos (middle and upper Dnieper region, southern Belarus) could have contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, but the extent of this contribution remains unknown due to the lack of information on both the ethnicity of the tribes mentioned in the sources, and along the exact boundaries of the habitat of these tribes and the Proto-Slavs themselves.

Archaeologists find a geographical and temporal correspondence to the neurons in the Milograd archaeological culture of the 7th-3rd centuries. BC e., whose range extends to Volyn and the Pripyat River basin (northwestern Ukraine and southern Belarus). On the issue of the ethnicity of the Milogradians (Herodotus's Neuros), the opinions of scientists were divided: V.V. Sedov attributed them to the Balts, B.A. Rybakov saw them as Proto-Slavs. There are also versions about the participation of Scythian farmers in the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, based on the assumption that their name is not ethnic (belonging to Iranian-speaking tribes), but generalizing (belonging to barbarians).

While the expeditions of the Roman legions revealed Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe and the barbarian lands from the middle Danube to the Carpathians to the civilized world, Strabo, in describing Eastern Europe north of the Black Sea region, uses legends collected by Herodotus. Strabo, who critically interpreted the available information, directly stated that there was a white spot on the map of Europe east of the Elbe, between the Baltic and the Western Carpathians mountain range. However, he reported important ethnographic information related to the appearance of bastarns in the western regions of Ukraine.

Whoever ethnically the bearers of the Zarubintsy culture were, their influence can be traced in the early monuments of the Kyiv culture (at first classified as late Zarubintsy), early Slavic according to most archaeologists. According to the assumption of archaeologist M. B. Shchukin, it was the Bastarns, assimilating with the local population, who could play a noticeable role in the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, allowing the latter to stand out from the so-called Balto-Slavic community:

“Part of [the Bastarns] probably remained in place and, along with representatives of other “post-Zarubinets” groups, could then take part in the complex process of Slavic ethnogenesis, introducing into the formation of the “common Slavic” language certain “centum” elements, which separate the Slavs from their Baltic or Balto-Slavic ancestors."

“Whether the Pevkins, Wends and Fennes should be classified as Germans or Sarmatians, I really don’t know […] The Wends adopted many of their customs, for for the sake of robbery they scour the forests and mountains that exist between the Pevkins [Bastarns] and the Fennes. However, they can rather be classified as Germans, because they build houses for themselves, carry shields and move on foot, and with great speed; all this separates them from the Sarmatians, who spend their entire lives in a cart and on horseback.”

Some historians make hypothetical assumptions that perhaps Ptolemy mentioned among the tribes of Sarmatia and the Slavs under distorted stavan(south of the ships) and sulons(on the right bank of the middle Vistula). The assumption is justified by the consonance of words and intersecting habitats.

Slavs and Huns. 5th century

L. A. Gindin and F. V. Shelov-Kovedyaev consider the Slavic etymology of the word to be the most justified strava, pointing to its meaning in Czech "pagan funeral feast" and Polish "funeral feast, wake", while allowing the possibility of Gothic and Hunnic etymology. German historians are trying to derive the word strava from Gothic sûtrava, meaning a pile of wood and possibly a funeral pyre.

Making boats using the hollowing method is not a method unique to the Slavs. Term monoxyl found in Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Strabo. Strabo points to gouging as a method of making boats in ancient times.

Slavic tribes of the 6th century

Noting the close kinship of the Sklavins and Antes, Byzantine authors did not provide any signs of their ethnic division, except for different habitats:

“Both of these barbarian tribes have the same life and laws [...] They both have the same language, which is quite barbaric. And by appearance they do not differ from each other […] And once upon a time even the name of the Sklavens and Ants was the same. In ancient times, both these tribes were called spores [Greek. scattered], I think because they lived, occupying the country “sporadic,” “scattered,” in separate villages.”
“Starting from the birthplace of the Vistula [Vistula] river, a populous Veneti tribe settled across vast spaces. Although their names now change according to different clans and localities, they are still predominantly called Sclaveni and Antes.”

The Strategikon, whose authorship is attributed to Emperor Mauritius (582-602), contains information about the habitats of the Slavs, consistent with the ideas of archaeologists on early Slavic archaeological cultures:

“They settle in forests or near rivers, swamps and lakes - generally in places that are difficult to access […] Their rivers flow into the Danube […] The possessions of the Slavs and Antes are located along the rivers and touch each other, so that there is no sharp border between them. Due to the fact that they are covered with forests, or swamps, or places overgrown with reeds, it often happens that those who undertake expeditions against them are immediately forced to stop at the border of their possessions, because the entire space in front of them is impassable and covered with dense forests.”

The war between the Goths and the Antes took place somewhere in the Northern Black Sea region at the end of the 4th century, if we relate to the death of Germanarich in 376. The question of the Ants in the Black Sea region is complicated by the point of view of some historians, who saw in these Ants the Caucasian Alans or the ancestors of the Circassians. However, Procopius expands the habitat of the antes to places north of Sea of ​​Azov, although without precise geographical reference:

“The peoples who live here [Northern Azov Sea] in ancient times were called Cimmerians, but now they are called Utigurs. Further, to the north of them, countless tribes of Ants occupy the lands.”

Procopius reported the first known Ant raid on Byzantine Thrace in 527 (the first year of the reign of Emperor Justinian I).

In the ancient German epic “Widside” (the content of which dates back to the 5th century), the list of tribes of northern Europe mentions the Winedum, but there are no other names Slavic peoples. The Germans knew the Slavs under the ethnonym Venda, although it cannot be ruled out that the name of one of the Baltic tribes bordering the Germans was transferred by them to the Slavic ethnic group during the era of the Great Migration (as happened in Byzantium with the Rus and the ethnonym Scythians).

Written sources about the origin of the Slavs

The civilized world learned about the Slavs, who had previously been cut off by the warlike nomads of Eastern Europe when they reached the borders of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines, who consistently fought off waves of barbarian invasions, may not have immediately identified the Slavs as a separate ethnic group and did not report legends about its occurrence. The historian of the 1st half of the 7th century Theophylact Simocatta called the Slavs getae (“ that's what these barbarians were called in the old days"), apparently mixing the Thracian tribe of the Getae with the Slavs who occupied their lands on the lower Danube.

Old Russian chronicle the beginning of the 12th century, “The Tale of Bygone Years” finds the homeland of the Slavs on the Danube, where they were first recorded by Byzantine written sources:

“A long time later [after the biblical Pandemonium of Babylon], the Slavs settled along the Danube, where now the land is Hungarian and Bulgarian. From those Slavs the Slavs spread throughout the land and were called by their names from the places where they sat. So some, having come, sat down on the river in the name of Morava and were called Moravians, while others called themselves Czechs. And here are the same Slavs: white Croats, and Serbs, and Horutans. When the Volochs attacked the Danube Slavs, and settled among them, and oppressed them, these Slavs came and sat on the Vistula and were called Poles, and from those Poles came the Poles, other Poles - Luticians, others - Mazovshans, others - Pomeranians. Likewise, these Slavs came and settled along the Dnieper and were called Polyans, and others - Drevlyans, because they sat in the forests, and others sat between Pripyat and Dvina and were called Dregovichs, others sat along the Dvina and were called Polochans, after the river flowing into the Dvina , called Polota, from which the Polotsk people took their name. The same Slavs who settled near Lake Ilmen were called by their own name - Slavs."

The Polish chronicle “Greater Poland Chronicle” follows this pattern independently, reporting on Pannonia (the Roman province adjacent to the middle Danube) as the homeland of the Slavs. Before the development of archeology and linguistics, historians agreed with the Danube lands as the place of origin of the Slavic ethnic group, but now they recognize the legendary nature of this version.

Review and synthesis of data

In the past (Soviet era), two main versions of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs were widespread: 1) the so-called Polish, which places the ancestral home of the Slavs in the area between the Vistula and Oder rivers; 2) autochthonous, influenced by the theoretical views of the Soviet academician Marr. Both reconstructions a priori recognized the Slavic nature of the early archaeological cultures in the territories inhabited by the Slavs in the early Middle Ages, and some of the original antiquity of the Slavic language, which independently developed from Proto-Indo-European. The accumulation of data in archeology and the departure from patriotic motivation in research led to the development of new versions based on the identification of a relatively localized core of the formation of the Slavic ethnic group and its spread through migrations to neighboring lands. Academic science has not developed a single point of view on exactly where and when the ethnogenesis of the Slavs took place.

Genetic research also confirms the ancestral home of the Slavs in Ukraine.

How the expansion of the early Slavs from the region of ethnogenesis occurred, the directions of migration and settlement in central Europe can be traced through the chronological development of archaeological cultures. Typically, the beginning of expansion is associated with the advance of the Huns to the west and the resettlement of Germanic peoples towards the south, associated, among other things, with climate change in the 5th century and the conditions of agricultural activity. By the beginning of the 6th century, the Slavs reached the Danube, where their further history is described in written sources of the 6th century.

The contribution of other tribes to the ethnogenesis of the Slavs

The Scythian-Sarmatians had some influence on the formation of the Slavs due to their long geographical proximity, but their influence, according to archaeology, anthropology, genetics and linguistics, was mainly limited to vocabulary borrowings and the use of horses in the household. According to genetic data, common distant ancestors of some nomadic peoples, collectively called Sarmatians, and the Slavs within the Indo-European community, but in historical times these peoples evolved independently of each other.

The contribution of the Germans to the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, according to anthropology, archeology and genetics, is insignificant. At the turn of the era, the region of ethnogenesis of the Slavs (Sarmatia) was separated from the places of residence of the Germans by a certain zone of “mutual fear”, according to Tacitus. The existence of an uninhabited area between the Germans and the Proto-Slavs of Eastern Europe is confirmed by the absence of noticeable archaeological sites from the Western Bug to the Neman in the first centuries AD. e. The presence of similar words in both languages ​​is explained by a common origin from the Indo-European community of the Bronze Age and close contacts in the 4th century after the start of the migration of the Goths from the Vistula to the south and east.

Notes

1. From the report of V.V. Sedov “Ethnogenesis of the early Slavs” (2002)
2. Trubachev O. N. Craft terminology in Slavic languages. M., 1966.
3. F. P. Filin (1962). From the report of M. B. Shchukin “The Birth of the Slavs”
4. Rostafinski (1908). From the report of M. B. Shchukin “The Birth of the Slavs”
5. Turubanova S. A., Ecological scenario of the history of the formation of living cover in European Russia, dissertation for the competition scientific degree Ph.D., 2002:
6. Toporov V. N., Trubachev O. N. Linguistic analysis of hydronyms of the Upper Dnieper region. M., 1962.

SLAVS, Slavs (Slavs outdated), units. Slav, Slav, husband. A group of peoples living in eastern and central Europe and the Balkans. East Slavs. Southern Slavs. Western Slavs. “Leave it alone: ​​this is a dispute among the Slavs among themselves.” Pushkin... ... Dictionary Ushakova

SLAVS, a group of peoples in Europe: East Slavs(Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians), Southern Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins). They speak Slavic... ...Russian history

Ancient, a group of Indo-European tribes. First mentioned in the 1st and 2nd centuries. in ancient Roman sources under the name of the Wends. According to the assumption of a number of researchers, the Slavs, along with the Germans and Balts, were descendants of pastoralists and agriculturalists... Art encyclopedia

Slovenian Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Slavs noun, number of synonyms: 1 Slovenes (2) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Modern encyclopedia

Group of peoples in Europe: eastern (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), western (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians), southern (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins). 293.5 million people (1992), including Russian Federation… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

SLAVS, yang, unit. Yanin, ah, husband. One of the largest groups in Europe of peoples related in language and culture, making up three branches: East Slavic (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), West Slavic (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians) and... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Slavs- (Slavs), group of peoples of the East. Europe, known in Ancient. Rome as the Sarmatians or Scythians. It is believed that the word S. comes from slowo (well-spoken; the word Slovenian has the same root). After the collapse of the Hunnic state in the 5th century. S. migrated to 3 ... The World History

Slavs- SLAVS, a group of related peoples with a total number of 293,500 thousand people. Main regions of settlement: countries of Eastern Europe (about 290,500 thousand people). They speak Slavic languages. Religious affiliation of believers: Orthodox, Catholics,... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

The largest group of peoples in Europe, united by the proximity of languages ​​(see Slavic languages) and common origin. Total number glory peoples in 1970 about 260 million people, of which: Russians over 130 million, Ukrainians 41.5 million... Big Soviet encyclopedia

Books

• , . Slavs, their mutual relations and communications / Op. Joseph Pervolf, order. prof. Warsaw. un-ta. T. 1-3A 183/690 U 390/30 U 62/317 U 238/562: 1890: Reproduced in the original author’s spelling...
• Slavs, their mutual relations and connections T. 1-3, . Slavs, their mutual relations and connections / Op. Joseph Pervolf, order. prof. Warsaw. un-ta. T. 1-3A 183/690 U 62/317 U 390/30 U 238/562: Warsaw: typ. Warsaw. textbook okr., 1893: Reproduced in...

Slavic peoples occupy more space on earth than in history. The Italian historian Mavro Orbini, in his book “The Slavic Kingdom,” published back in 1601, wrote: “ The Slavic family is older than the pyramids and so numerous that it populated half the world».

Written history about the Slavs BC does not say anything. Traces of ancient civilizations in the Russian North are a scientific question that has not been resolved by historians. The country is a utopia, described by the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Plato Hyperborea - presumably the Arctic ancestral home of our civilization.

Hyperborea, aka Daaria or Arctida - ancient name North. Judging by the chronicles, legends, myths and traditions that existed among different peoples of the world in ancient times, Hyperborea was located in the north of today's Russia. It is quite possible that it also affected Greenland, Scandinavia, or, as shown on medieval maps, generally spread out on the islands around North Pole. That land was inhabited by people who were genetically related to us. The real existence of the continent is evidenced by a map copied by the greatest cartographer of the 16th century, G. Mercator, in one of Egyptian pyramids in Giza.

Map of Gerhard Mercator, published by his son Rudolf in 1535. In the center of the map is the legendary Arctida. Cartographic materials of this kind before the flood could only be obtained using aircraft, highly developed technologies and the presence of a powerful mathematical apparatus necessary to create specific projections.

In the calendars of the Egyptians, Assyrians and Mayans, the catastrophe that destroyed Hyperborea dates back to 11542 BC. e. Climate change and the Great Flood 112 thousand years ago forced our Ancestors to leave their ancestral home Daaria and migrate through the only isthmus of the now Arctic Ocean (the Ural Mountains).

“...the whole world turned upside down and the stars fell from the sky. This happened because a huge planet fell to Earth... at that moment “the heart of Leo reached the first minute of the head of Cancer.” The great Arctic civilization was destroyed by a planetary catastrophe.

As a result of an asteroid impact 13,659 years ago, the Earth made a “leap in time.” The leap affected not only the astrological clock, which began to show a different time, but also the planetary energy clock, which sets the life-giving rhythm for all life on Earth.

The ancestral home of the peoples of the White race of clans did not completely sink.

From the vast territory of the north of the Eurasian Plateau, which was once dry land, today only Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land, and Svalbard are visible above the water. New Earth, Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands.

Astronomers and astrophysicists studying the problems of asteroid safety claim that every hundred years the Earth collides with cosmic bodies less than a hundred meters in size. More than a hundred meters - every 5000 years. Impacts from asteroids a kilometer across are possible once every 300 thousand years. Once every million years, collisions with bodies with a diameter of more than five kilometers cannot be ruled out.

Preserved ancient historical records and research show that over the past 16,000 years, large asteroids, whose dimensions exceeded tens of kilometers in diameter, hit the Earth twice: 13,659 years ago and 2,500 years before that.

If missing scientific texts, material monuments are hidden under arctic ice or not recognized, language reconstruction comes to the rescue. Tribes, settling, turned into peoples, and marks remained on their chromosome sets. Such marks remained on Aryan words, and they can be recognized in any Western European language. Mutations of words coincide with mutations of chromosomes! Daaria or Arctida, called Hyperborea by the Greeks, is the ancestral home of all Aryan peoples and representatives of the racial type of white people in Europe and Asia.

Two branches of Aryan peoples are evident. Approximately 10 thousand years BC. one spread to the east, and the other moved from the territory of the Russian Plain to Europe. DNA genealogy shows that these two branches sprouted from one root from the depths of thousands of years, from ten to twenty thousand years BC, it is much older than the one about which today's scientists write, suggesting that the Aryans spread from the south. Indeed, there was an Aryan movement in the south, but it was much later. At first there was a migration of people from north to south and to the center of the continent, where future Europeans, that is, representatives of the white race, appeared. Even before moving south, these tribes lived together in the territories adjacent to the Southern Urals.

The fact that on the territory of Russia in ancient times the predecessors of the Aryans lived and there was a developed civilization, confirms one of the oldest cities discovered in the Urals in 1987, an observatory city that existed already at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. uh... Named after the nearby village of Arkaim. Arkaim (XVIII-XVI centuries BC) is a contemporary of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, Cretan-Mycenaean culture and Babylon. Calculations show that Arkaim is older than the Egyptian pyramids, its age is at least five thousand years, like Stonehenge.

Based on the type of burials in Arkaim, it can be argued that proto-Aryans lived in the city. Our ancestors, who lived on Russian soil, already 18 thousand years ago had the most accurate lunar-solar calendar, solar-stellar observatories of amazing accuracy, ancient temple cities; they gave humanity perfect tools and started animal husbandry.

Today, Aryans can be distinguished

1. by language - Indo-Iranian, Dardic, Nuristan groups
2. Y chromosome - carriers of some R1a subclades in Eurasia
3. 3) anthropologically - the Proto-Indo-Iranians (Aryans) were carriers of the Cro-Magnoid ancient Eurasian type, which is not represented in the modern population.

The search for modern “Aryans” encounters a number of similar difficulties - it is impossible to reduce these 3 points to one meaning.

In Russia, there has been interest in the search for Hyperborea for a long time, starting with Catherine II and her envoys to the north. With the help of Lomonosov, she organized two expeditions. On May 4, 1764, the Empress signed a secret decree.

The Cheka and Dzerzhinsky personally also showed interest in the search for Hyperborea. Everyone was interested in the secret of the Absolute Weapon, similar in power to nuclear weapons. Expedition of the 20th century

under the leadership of Alexander Barchenko, she was looking for him. Even the Hitlerite expedition, consisting of members of the Ahnenerbe organization, visited the territories of the Russian North.

Doctor of Philosophy Valery Demin, defending the concept of the polar ancestral home of humanity, gives versatile arguments in favor of the theory according to which in the North in the distant past there was a highly developed Hyperborean civilization: the roots of Slavic culture go back to it.

Slavs, like everyone else modern peoples, arose as a result of complex ethnic processes and are a mixture of previous heterogeneous ethnic groups. The history of the Slavs is inextricably linked with the history of the emergence and settlement of Indo-European tribes. Four thousand years ago, the single Indo-European community began to disintegrate. The formation of the Slavic tribes occurred in the process of separating them from among the numerous tribes of the large Indo-European family. In Central and Eastern Europe separates language group, which, as genetic data has shown, included the ancestors of the Germans, Balts and Slavs. They occupied a vast territory: from the Vistula to the Dnieper, some tribes even reached the Volga, pushing out the Finno-Ugric peoples. In the 2nd millennium BC. The German-Balto-Slavic language group also experienced processes of fragmentation: Germanic tribes went to the West, beyond the Elbe, while the Balts and Slavs remained in Eastern Europe.

From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. over large areas from the Alps to the Dnieper, Slavic or speech understandable to the Slavs predominates. But other tribes continue to be in this territory, some of them leaving these territories, others appearing from non-contiguous areas. Several waves from the south, and then the Celtic invasion, encouraged the Slavs and related tribes to move north and northeast. Apparently, this was often accompanied by a certain decline in the level of culture and hampered development. Thus, the Baltoslavs and the isolated Slavic tribes found themselves excluded from the cultural and historical community, which was formed at that time on the basis of the synthesis of Mediterranean civilization and the cultures of alien barbarian tribes.

In modern science, the most widely recognized views are those according to which the Slavic ethnic community originally developed in an area either between the Oder (Odra) and the Vistula (Oder-Vistula theory), or between the Oder and the Middle Dnieper (Oder-Dnieper theory). The ethnogenesis of the Slavs developed in stages: Proto-Slavs, Proto-Slavs and the Early Slavic ethnolinguistic community, which subsequently split into several groups:

• Romanesque - from it the French, Italians, Spaniards, Romanians, Moldovans will descend;
• Germanic - Germans, English, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians; Iranian - Tajiks, Afghans, Ossetians;
• Baltic - Latvians, Lithuanians;
• Greek - Greeks;
• Slavic - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

The assumption about the existence of the ancestral home of the Slavs, Balts, Celts, and Germans is quite controversial. Craniological materials do not contradict the hypothesis that the ancestral home of the Proto-Slavs was located between the Vistula and Danube, Western Dvina and Dniester rivers. Nestor considered the Danube lowlands to be the ancestral home of the Slavs. Anthropology could provide a lot for the study of ethnogenesis. During the 1st millennium BC and the 1st millennium AD, the Slavs burned their dead, so researchers do not have such material at their disposal. And genetic and other research is a matter of the future. Taken separately, various information about the Slavs in the ancient period - historical data, archaeological data, toponymic data, and linguistic contact data - cannot provide reliable grounds for determining the ancestral homeland of the Slavs.

Hypothetical ethnogenesis of proto-peoples around 1000 BC. e. (Proto-Slavs are highlighted in yellow)

Ethnogenetic processes were accompanied by migrations, differentiation and integration of peoples, assimilation phenomena in which various ethnic groups, both Slavic and non-Slavic, took part. Contact zones emerged and changed. Further settlement of the Slavs, especially intensive in the middle of the 1st millennium AD, occurred in three main directions: to the south (to the Balkan Peninsula), to the west (to the region of the Middle Danube and between the Oder and Elbe rivers) and to the northeast along the East European plain. Written sources did not help scientists determine the boundaries of the distribution of the Slavs. Archaeologists came to the rescue. But when studying possible archaeological cultures, it was impossible to single out exactly the Slavic one. Cultures overlapped each other, which spoke of their parallel existence, constant movement, wars and cooperation, mixing.

The Indo-European linguistic community developed among a population whose individual groups were in direct communication with each other. Such communication was possible only in a relatively limited and compact area. There were quite large zones within which related languages ​​developed. In many areas there lived multilingual tribes, and this situation could also persist for centuries. Their languages ​​were getting closer, but the formation of a relatively common language could only take place under state conditions. Tribal migrations seemed to be a natural cause of the disintegration of the community. So the once closest “relatives” - the Germans - became Germans for the Slavs, literally “mute”, “speaking an incomprehensible language”. The migration wave threw out this or that people, crowding out, destroying, assimilating other peoples. As for the ancestors of modern Slavs and the ancestors of modern Baltic peoples (Lithuanians and Latvians), they formed a single nation for one and a half thousand years. During this period, the northeastern (mainly Baltic) components increased in the Slavic composition, which introduced changes in the anthropological appearance and in certain elements of culture.

Byzantine writer of the 6th century. Procopius of Caesarea described the Slavs as people of very tall stature and enormous strength, with white skin and hair. Entering the battle, they went to the enemies with shields and darts in their hands, but they never put on shells. The Slavs used wooden bows and small arrows dipped in a special poison. Having no leader over them and being at enmity with each other, they did not recognize the military system, were unable to fight in a proper battle and never showed themselves in open and level places. If it happened that they dared to go into battle, then they all slowly moved forward together, shouting, and if the enemy could not withstand their shout and onslaught, then they actively advanced; otherwise, they fled, not in a hurry to measure their strength with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. Using the forests as cover, they rushed towards them, because only among the gorges they knew how to fight well. Often the Slavs abandoned the captured booty, allegedly under the influence of confusion, and fled into the forests, and then, when the enemies tried to take possession of it, they unexpectedly struck. Some of them wore neither shirts nor cloaks, but only pants, pulled up by a wide belt on the hips, and in this form they went to fight the enemy. They preferred to fight the enemy in places covered with dense forest, in gorges, on cliffs; They suddenly attacked day and night, taking advantage of ambushes and tricks, inventing many ingenious ways to surprise the enemy. They easily crossed rivers, bravely enduring their stay in the water.

The Slavs did not keep captives in slavery for an unlimited time, like other tribes, but after a certain time they offered them a choice: to return home for a ransom or to remain where they were, in the position of free people and friends.

The Indo-European language family is one of the largest. The language of the Slavs retained the archaic forms of the once common Indo-European language and began to take shape in the middle of the 1st millennium. By this time, a group of tribes had already formed. Slavic dialectal features proper, which sufficiently distinguished them from the Balts, formed the linguistic formation that is commonly called Proto-Slavic. The settlement of the Slavs in the vast expanses of Europe, their interaction and miscegenation (mixed ancestry) with other ethnic groups disrupted pan-Slavic processes and laid the foundations for the formation of individual Slavic languages ​​and ethnic groups. Slavic languages ​​fall into a number of dialects.

The words "Slavs" in those ancient times did not have. There were people, but they had different names. One of the names, the Wends, comes from the Celtic vindos, which means “white.” This word is still preserved in the Estonian language. Ptolemy and Jordan believe that the Wends are the oldest collective name of all the Slavs who lived at that time between the Elbe and the Don. The earliest news of the Slavs under the name of the Wends dates back to the 1st - 3rd centuries A.D. and belongs to Roman and Greek writers - Pliny the Elder, Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Ptolemy Claudius. According to these authors, the Wends lived along the Baltic coast between the Gulf of Stetin, where the Odra, and the Gulf of Danzing, into which the Vistula flows; along the Vistula from its headwaters in the Carpathian Mountains to the coast of the Baltic Sea. Their neighbors were the Ingevon Germans, who may have given them such a name. Latin authors such as Pliny the Elder and Tacitus They are also identified as a special ethnic community with the name “Vends.” Half a century later, Tacitus, noting the ethnic differences between the Germanic, Slavic and Sarmatian worlds, assigned the Wends a vast territory between the Baltic coast and the Carpathian region.

The Wends inhabited Europe already in the 3rd millennium BC.

Veneda withVcenturies occupied part of the territory of modern Germany between the Elbe and Oder. INVIIcentury, the Wends invaded Thuringia and Bavaria, where they defeated the Franks. The raids on Germany continued untilXcentury, when Emperor Henry I began an offensive against the Wends, setting their acceptance of Christianity as one of the conditions for concluding peace. The conquered Vendas often rebelled, but each time they were defeated, after which more and more of their lands passed to the victors. The campaign against the Wends in 1147 was accompanied by the mass destruction of the Slavic population, and henceforth the Wends did not offer any stubborn resistance to the German conquerors. German settlers came to the once Slavic lands, and the new cities founded began to play an important role in economic development northern Germany. From about 1500, the area of ​​distribution of the Slavic language was reduced almost exclusively to the Lusatian margraviates - Upper and Lower, later included in Saxony and Prussia, respectively, and adjacent territories. Here, in the area of ​​the cities of Cottbus and Bautzen, live the modern descendants of the Wends, of whom there are approx. 60,000 (mostly Catholic). In Russian literature, they are usually called Lusatians (the name of one of the tribes that were part of the Vendian group) or Lusatian Serbs, although they themselves call themselves Serbja or Serbski Lud, and their modern German name is Sorben (formerly also Wenden). Since 1991, the Foundation for Lusatian Affairs has been in charge of preserving the language and culture of this people in Germany.

In the 4th century, the ancient Slavs finally became isolated and appeared on the historical arena as a separate ethnic group. And under two names. This is “Slovene” and the second name is “Anty”. In the VI century. The historian Jordanes, who wrote in Latin in his work “On the Origin and Deeds of the Getae,” reports reliable information about the Slavs: “Starting from the birthplace of the Vistula River, a large tribe of Veneti settled across immeasurable spaces. Although their names now change according to different clans and localities, nevertheless, they are predominantly called Sclaveni and Antes. The Sklavens live from the city of Novietuna and the lake called Mursian to Danastra, and north to the Viskla; instead of cities they have swamps and forests. The Antes, the strongest of both (tribes), spread from Danaster to Danapra, where the Pontic Sea forms a bend." These groups spoke the same language. At the beginning of the 7th century, the name "Antes" ceased to be used. Apparently, because during the migration movements a certain tribal union, which was called In ancient (Roman and Byzantine) literary monuments the name of the Slavs looks like “Sklavins”, in Arabic sources as “Sakaliba”, sometimes the self-name of one of the Scythian groups “Skoloty” is similar to the Slavs.

The Slavs finally emerged as an independent people no earlier than the 4th century AD. when the “Great Migration of Peoples” “teared apart” the Balto-Slavic community. Under their name “Slavs” appeared in chronicles in the 6th century. From the 6th century information about the Slavs appears in many sources, which undoubtedly testifies to their significant strength by this time, to the entry of the Slavs into the historical arena in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, to their clashes and alliances with the Byzantines, Germans and other peoples inhabiting at that time Eastern and Central Europe. By this time they occupied vast territories, their language retained archaic forms of the once common Indo-European language. Linguistic science determined the boundaries of the origin of the Slavs from the 18th century BC. until the 6th century AD The first news about the Slavic tribal world appears on the eve of the Great Migration of Peoples.