Ancestors-Slavs: who they are, where they lived, religion, writing and culture

Modern Slavic peoples have been forming for a long time. They had many ancestors. They can be attributed to the Slavs themselves and their neighbors, which had a significant impact on the way of life, culture and religion of these tribes when they still lived according to the foundations of the tribal community.

Antes and skeletons

Until now, historians and archaeologists have put forward a variety of theories about who the ancestors of the Slavs could be. Ethnogenesis of this people occurred in an era from which almost no written sources remained. Specialists had to restore the early history of the Slavs by the smallest bit. The Byzantine Chronicles are of great value. It was the Eastern Roman Empire that had to experience the pressure of the tribes, which eventually formed the Slavic people.

The first evidence of them refers to the VI century. Ancestors-Slavs in Byzantine sources were called Antes. The famous historian Procopius of Caesarea wrote about them . Initially, the ants lived in the interfluve of the Dniester and the Dnieper in the territory of modern Ukraine. During their heyday, they lived in the steppes from the Don to the Balkans.

If the antes belonged to the eastern group of Slavs, then to the west of them lived related to them sklaviny. The first mention of them remained in the book of Jordan "Gethika", written in the middle of the VI century. Sometimes sklavinov also called venetami. These tribes lived on the territory of modern Czechia.

Social order

The inhabitants of Byzantium believed that the ancestors of the Slavs were barbarians who did not know the civilization. It really was so. And sklaviny, and antes lived under the rule of the people. They did not have a single ruler and statehood. Early Slavonic society consisted of a multitude of communities, the core of each of which was a certain kind. Such descriptions are found in Byzantine sources and are confirmed by the finds of modern archaeologists. The settlements consisted of large dwellings in which lived large families. In one village there could be about 20 houses. The skeletons had a hearth, the Antes had a stove. In the north, the Slavs built log buildings.

Customs corresponded to cruel patriarchal morals. For example, ritual murders of wives at the grave of a spouse were practiced. Ancestors-Slavs were engaged in agriculture, which was the main source of food. Wheat, millet, barley, oats, rye were grown. Breeded cattle: sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens. The craft was poorly developed in comparison with the same Byzantium. It mainly served domestic household needs.

Army and slavery

Gradually, the social stratum of soldiers stood out in the community. They often organized raids on Byzantium and other neighboring countries. The goal has always been the same - robbery and slaves. The Old Slavic squads could include several thousand people. It was in the military environment that voevods and princes appeared. The first ancestors of the Slavs fought with spears (less often by swords). The throwing weapon was also spread - the sultan. It was used not only in combat, but also in hunting.

It is known for sure that the Antes were spreading slavery. The number of slaves could reach tens of thousands of people. Basically, these were captives captured in the war. That is why among the Ants slaves there were many Byzantines. As a rule, the ants kept the slaves in order to obtain a ransom for them. However, some of them were engaged in farming and crafts.

Invasion of the Avars

In the middle of the VI century the lands of the Antes were under the impact of the Avars. They were nomadic tribes, whose rulers bore the title of kagan. Their ethnicity remains a matter of controversy: some consider them Türks, someone - carriers of Iranian languages. The ancestors of the ancient Slavs, although they were in a leeway, visibly crowded the Avars in their numbers. This ratio led to confusion. The Byzantines (for example, John of Ephesus and Constantine Porphyrogenitus) even identified the Slavs and Avars, although such an estimate was a mistake.

The invasion from the east led to a significant migration of the population, who had lived in one place for a long time. Together with the Avars, the ants first moved to Pannonia (modern Hungary), and later began to invade the Balkans, which belonged to Byzantium.

The Slavs became the basis of the army of the Kaganate. The most famous episode of their confrontation with the empire was the siege of Constantinople in 626 AD. The history of the ancient Slavs is known from brief episodes of their interaction with the Greeks. The siege of Constantinople was just such an example. Despite the assault, the Slavs and Avars did not manage to take the city.

Nevertheless, the onslaught of the Gentiles continued in the future. As early as 602, the Langobard king sent his craftsmen to the Slavs. They settled in Dubrovnik. In this port the first Slavic ships appeared (monoxyls). They took part in the already mentioned siege of Constantinople. And at the end of the VI century the Slavs first laid siege to Thessaloniki. Soon thousands of pagans moved to Thrace. Then the Slavs appeared on the territory of modern Croatia and Serbia.

East Slavs

The unsuccessful siege of Constantinople in 626 undermined the strength of the Avarian Khaganate. Slavs everywhere began to get rid of the yoke of strangers. In Moravia, the uprising was raised by Himself. He became the first known Slavic prince by name. Then his fellow tribesmen began their expansion to the east. In the 7th century the colonizers became neighbors of the Khazars. They managed to penetrate even the Crimea and get to the Caucasus. Where the ancestors of the Slavs lived and their settlements were based, there must have been a river or a lake, as well as a suitable land for cultivation.

On the Dnieper appeared the city of Kiev, named after Prince Kia. Here a new tribal union of glades was formed, which, among several more such unions, replaced the antam. In the 7th-8th centuries, three groups of Slavic peoples finally formed, existing today (western, southern and eastern). The latter settled in the territory of modern Ukraine, Belarus, and in the interfluve of the Volga and the Oka their settlements were within the borders of Russia.

In Byzantium, Slavs and Scythians were often identified. This was a serious Greek delusion. The Scythians belonged to the Iranian tribes and spoke Iranian languages. During their heyday they inhabited the Dnieper steppes, as well as the Crimea. When the Slavic colonization got there, regular conflicts began between the new neighbors. Serious danger was represented by the cavalry, which the Scythians owned. The ancestors of the Slavs for many years restrained their invasions, until, finally, the nomads were swept away by the Goths.

Tribal unions and cities of the Eastern Slavs

In the northeast, the neighbors of the Slavs were numerous Finno-Ugric tribes, including all and measuring. Here there were settlements Rostov, Beloozero and Staraya Ladoga. Another city of Novgorod has become an important political center. In 862 in it began to reign Varangian Rurik. This event was the beginning of Russian statehood.

The cities of the eastern Slavs appeared mainly in places where the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks ran. This trade artery led from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium. On the way, merchants transported valuable goods: amber, whale skin, amber, martens and sables, honey, wax, etc. Goods were delivered on boats. The way of the ships ran along the rivers. Part of the route ran along the ground. The rooks were transported by dragging in these areas, as a result of which Toropets and Smolensk cities appeared on the places of transhipment.

For a long time the East Slavic tribes lived apart from each other, and often at all they feuded and fought among themselves. This made them vulnerable to neighbors. For this reason, at the beginning of the IX century, some East Slavic tribal unions began to pay tribute to the Khazars. Others strongly depended on the Varangians. "The Tale of Bygone Years" mentions a dozen such tribal alliances: Bujan, Volhynian, Dregovichi, Drevlyan, Krivich, Polians, Polotsk, Northerners, Radimichs, Tivertz, White Croats and Streets. The common Slavic writing and culture in all of them was formed only in the XI-XII centuries. After the formation of Kievan Rus and the adoption of Christianity. Later, this ethnic group was divided into Russian, Byelorussians and Ukrainians. This is the answer to the question of whose ancestors are the Eastern Slavs.

Southern Slavs

Slavs, who settled the Balkans, gradually separated from other tribesmen and formed the South Slavic tribes. Today, their descendants are Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Slovenes. If the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs inhabited mostly empty lands, then their southern brethren got the edge, in which there were many settlements founded by the Romans. From ancient civilization there were also roads on which pagans quickly moved around the Balkans. Prior to them, the peninsula was owned by Byzantium. However, the empire had to surrender to the land of strangers because of constant wars in the east with Persians and internal turmoil.

On new lands, the ancestors of the southern Slavs mingled with the indigenous (local) Greek population. In the mountains, the colonialists had to face the resistance of the Vlachs, as well as the Albanians. Also strangers clashed with the Greek Christians. The resettlement of the Slavs to the Balkans was completed in the 620s.

Neighborhood with Christians and regular contact with them had a great impact on the new Balkan masters. Paganism of the Slavs in this region was eradicated the fastest. Christianization was both natural and encouraged by Byzantium. At first the Greeks, trying to understand who the Slavs were, sent embassies to them, and then they were followed by preachers. The emperors regularly sent missionaries to dangerous neighbors, hoping thereby to strengthen their influence on the barbarians. Thus, for example, the baptism of Serbs began under Heraclius, who ruled in 610-641. The process was gradual. A new religion was established among the southern Slavs in the second half of the 9th century. Then the princes Rashka were baptized, after that they converted their subjects to the Christian faith.

It is interesting that if the Serbs became the flock of the eastern church in Constantinople, then their Croat brothers turned their eyes to the west. This was due to the fact that in 812 the Frankish emperor Charles the Great concluded an agreement with the tsar of Byzantium, Michael I Rangava, according to which part of the Adriatic coast of the Balkans was dependent on the Franks. They were Catholics and during their short-lived rule in the region they baptized Croats according to their Western custom. And although in the IX century the Christian church was still considered one, the great schism of 1054 markedly alienated Catholics and Orthodox from each other.

Western Slavs

The western group of Slavic tribes inhabited vast territories from the Elbe to the Carpathians. It marked the beginning of the Polish, Czech and Slovak people. The most southerly of all lived the Bodrichis, the Lutichs, the Lusatians and the Pomorians. In the VI century, this Polabian group of Slavs occupied about a third of the territory of modern Germany. Conflicts between different ethnic tribes were constant. The new colonialists pushed the Lombards, vares and rugs (speaking Germanic languages) from the shores of the Baltic Sea .

Curious evidence of the presence of the Slavs in the present German land is the name of Berlin. Linguists figured out the nature of the origin of this word. In the language of the Polabian Slavs, "burlin" meant a dam. There are many in the north-east of Germany. That's how far the ancestors of the Slavs penetrated. Back in 623 the same colonists joined the prince of Samo in his rebellion against the Avars. Periodically, under the successors of Charlemagne, the Slavic Slavs entered into an alliance with the Franks in their campaigns against the Kaganate.

German feudal lords began an offensive against strangers in the 9th century. Gradually, the Slavs who lived on the banks of the Elbe, obeyed them. Today from them there were only small isolated small groups, including several thousand people, who preserved their own unique dialect, unlike even Polish. In the Middle Ages the Germans called all the neighboring Western Slavs Vendian.

Language and script

To understand who such Slavs are, it is best to turn to the history of their language. Once, when this people were still one, he had one adverb. It received the name of the Proto-Slavic language. There were no written monuments left from him. It is only known that he belonged to a vast Indo-European family of languages, which makes him related to many other languages: Germanic, Romance, etc. Some linguists and historians also propose additional theories about its origin. According to one of the hypotheses, the Proto-Slavonic language at some stage of its development was part of the pre-Slavonic language, while the Baltic languages did not separate into their own group.

Gradually, each people had their own dialect. Based on one of these dialects, spoken by the Slavs who lived in the vicinity of the city of Solun, the brothers Cyril and Methodius in the IX century created the Slavonic Christian writing. The Enlighteners did this by the decree of the Byzantine emperor. Writing was necessary to translate Christian books and sermons among the Gentiles. Over time, it became known as the Cyrillic alphabet. This alphabet is today the basis of Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Montenegrin languages. The rest of the Slavs, who adopted Catholicism, use the Latin alphabet.

In the XX century, archeologists began to find many artifacts that became monuments of the ancient Cyrillic script. The key place for these excavations was Novgorod. Thanks to the finds in its vicinity, the specialists learned a lot about what the ancient Slavic script and culture represented.

For example, the most ancient East Slavic text in Cyrillic is the so-called Gnezdovskaya inscription made on a jug made of clay in the middle of the X century. The artifact was found in 1949 by archaeologist Daniil Avdusin. For a thousand kilometers from there in 1912 in the ancient Kiev church found a lead seal with a Cyrillic inscription. Archaeologists, deciphered it, decided that it means the name of Prince Svyatoslav, who ruled in 945-972. It is interesting that then in Russia the main religion was paganism, although Christianity and the same Cyrillic alphabet were already in Bulgaria. Slavic names in such ancient inscriptions help to more accurately identify the artifact.

The question of whether the Slavs had their own written language before the adoption of Christianity remains open. Sketchy references to it are found in some authors of that era, but these inaccurate testimonies are not enough to form a complete picture. Perhaps the Slavs used images and features to transmit information using images. Such letters could have a ritual character and be used for divination.

Religion and Culture

Pre-Christian paganism of the Slavs developed over several centuries and acquired independent unique features. This belief consisted of the spiritualization of nature, animism, animatism, the cult of supernatural forces, veneration of ancestors and magic. The original mythological texts that would help raise the veil of secrecy over Slavic paganism have not survived to this day. Historians can judge this belief only from chronicles, chronicles, foreigners' testimonies and other secondary sources.

In the mythology of the Slavs, traits characteristic of other Indo-European cults are traced. For example, in the pantheon there is the god of thunder and war (Perun), the god of the other world and cattle (Veles), the deity with the image of the Father-Heaven (Stribog). All this in one form or another also exists in the Iranian, Baltic and German mythologies.

The gods for the Slavs were the highest sacred beings. From their complacent depended the fate of any person. At the most important, critical and dangerous moments, each tribe turned to its supernatural patrons. Sculptures of gods (idols) were widespread among the Slavs. They were made of wood and stone. The most famous episode associated with idols was mentioned in the annals in connection with the Baptism of Rus. Prince Vladimir as a sign of acceptance of a new faith ordered to throw away the idols of the old gods in the Dnieper. This act was a clear demonstration of the beginning of a new era. Even despite the Christianization that began at the end of the 10th century, paganism continued to live, especially in the deaf and bearish corners of Russia. Some of its features mingled with Orthodoxy and preserved in the form of folk customs (for example, calendar holidays). It is interesting that Slavic names often appeared as references to religious views (for example, Bogdan - "the god is given", etc.).

For the worship of pagan spirits, there were special sanctuaries, which were called temples. The life of the ancestors of the Slavs was closely connected with these sacred places. Temple rooms existed only among the western tribes (Poles, Czechs), while their eastern counterparts did not have such buildings. Old Russian sanctuaries were open groves. The temples worshiped the gods on temples.

In addition to idols, the Slavs, like the Baltic tribes, had sacred boulder stones. Perhaps this custom was adopted by the Finno-Ugric people. The cult of ancestors was associated with the Slavic funeral rite. During the funeral ritual dances and hymns (triad) were arranged. The body of the deceased did not betray the ground, but was burned at the stake. The ashes and the remaining bones were collected in a special vessel, which was left at the pillar on the road.

The history of the ancient Slavs would have been completely different if all the tribes had not accepted Christianity. Both Orthodoxy and Catholicism included them in a single European medieval civilization.