We all know that an important role in the formation of states of Eastern Europe the Slavs played. This group of related peoples, the largest on the continent, has similar languages ​​and similar customs. Its population is approximately three hundred million people.

Eastern Slavs in ancient times: settlement in Europe

Our ancestors were a branch of the Indo-European family of peoples, which dispersed throughout Eurasia during the Great Migration. The closest relatives of the Slavs are the Balts, who settled in the territories of modern Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Their neighbors were the Germans in the south and west, the Scythians and Sarmatians in the east. In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs traveled through Eastern and Central Europe, where, in the area between the Dnieper and Vistula rivers, they founded the first cities of Ukraine and Poland. Then they crossed the foothills of the Carpathians, settling along the banks of the Danube and on the Balkan Peninsula. The great territorial remoteness of the Proto-Slavs made adjustments to their language, customs and culture. Therefore, the group split into three branches: western, southern and eastern.

Eastern Slavs in ancient times

This branch of our forefathers occupied a vast territory. From Lakes Ladoga and Onega to the Black Sea region, from the Oka and Volga to the Carpathian Mountains, they plowed the land, conducted trade, and built temples. In total, historians name fifteen tribes of the Eastern Slavs. Next door to them, the Finno-Ugric tribes lived peacefully - our ancestors were not excessively belligerent, but preferred to support a good relationship with everyone.

Classes Eastern Slavs

Our ancestors were farmers. They skillfully wielded a plow, a sickle, a hoe, and a plow with a ploughshare. The steppe inhabitants plowed expanses of virgin soil, first uprooted trees in the forest zone, and used the ash as fertilizer. Gifts of the earth were the basis of the Slavs' diet. Millet, rye, peas, wheat, barley, buckwheat, and oats were used for baking bread and cooking porridge. Industrial crops were also grown - flax and hemp, from whose fibers they spun threads and made fabrics. People treated domestic animals with special love, since each family raised cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and poultry. Together with the Slavs, cats and dogs lived in their houses. Hunting, fishing, beekeeping, blacksmithing and pottery were developed at a very high level.

Religion of the Proto-Slavs

Before coming to Slavic lands Christianity reigned here under paganism. In ancient times, the Eastern Slavs worshiped a whole pantheon of gods who personified the forces of nature. Svarog, Svarozhich, Rod, Stribog, Dazhdbog, Veles, Perun had their own places of worship - temples where idols stood and sacrifices were made. The dead were burned on bonfires, and mounds were heaped over the ashes placed in a pot. Unfortunately, the Eastern Slavs in ancient times did not leave written evidence about themselves. The famous Veles book raises doubts among researchers about its authenticity. However, archaeologists find a large number of household items, weapons, remnants of clothing, jewelry, religious items. They can tell about the life of our ancestors no less than chronicles and legends.

Modern Slavic peoples were formed over a long period of time. They had many ancestors. These include the Slavs themselves and their neighbors, who significantly influenced the life, culture and religion of these tribes when they still lived according to the foundations of the tribal community.

Antes and Sklavins

Until now, historians and archaeologists have put forward a variety of theories about who the Slavic ancestors could have been. The ethnogenesis of this people took place in an era from which almost no written sources remain. Specialists had to restore early history Slavs in the smallest grains. Great value contain Byzantine chronicles. It was the Eastern Roman Empire that had to experience the pressure of the tribes that eventually formed the Slavic people.

The first evidence of them dates back to the 6th century. The Slavic ancestors were called Ants in Byzantine sources. The famous historian wrote about them. At first, the Antes lived in the area between the Dniester and Dnieper rivers in the territory of modern Ukraine. During their heyday, they lived in the steppes from the Don to the Balkans.

If the Ants belonged to the eastern group of Slavs, then to the west of them lived the related Sklavins. The first mention of them was in Jordanes’ book “Getica,” written in the middle of the 6th century. Sometimes the Sklavins were also called Veneti. These tribes lived on the territory of modern Czech Republic.

Social order

Residents of Byzantium believed that their Slavic ancestors were barbarians who did not know civilization. It really was like that. Both the Sklavins and the Antes lived under democracy. They did not have a single ruler and statehood. Early Slavic society consisted of many communities, the core of each of which was a specific clan. Such descriptions are found in Byzantine sources and are confirmed by the finds of modern archaeologists. The settlements consisted of large dwellings in which large families lived. There could be about 20 houses in one settlement. The Sklavins had a hearth, while the Ants had a stove. In the north, the Slavs built log houses.

The customs corresponded to cruel patriarchal mores. For example, we practiced ritual murders wives at their husband's grave. The Slavic ancestors were engaged in agriculture, which was the main source of food. Wheat, millet, barley, oats, and rye were grown. Cattle were raised: sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens. The craft was poorly developed compared to Byzantium. It mainly served household needs.

Army and slavery

Gradually, a social stratum of warriors emerged in the community. They often organized raids on Byzantium and other neighboring countries. The goal was always the same - robbery and slaves. Ancient Slavic squads could include several thousand people. It was in the military environment that governors and princes appeared. The first ancestors of the Slavs fought with spears (less often with swords). A throwing weapon, the sulitsa, was also common. It was used not only in battle, but also in hunting.

It is known for certain that slavery was widespread among the Ants. The number of slaves could reach tens of thousands of people. These were mostly prisoners captured in the war. That is why there were many Byzantines among the Anta slaves. As a rule, the antes kept slaves in order to receive a ransom for them. However, some of them were employed in farming and crafts.

Invasion of the Avars

In the middle of the 6th century, the lands of the Antes came under attack from the Avars. These were nomadic tribes whose rulers bore the title of kagan. Their ethnicity remains a matter of debate: some consider them Turks, others consider them speakers of Iranian languages. The ancestors of the ancient Slavs, although they found themselves in a subordinate position, noticeably crowded out the Avars in numbers. This relationship led to confusion. The Byzantines (for example, John of Ephesus) completely identified the Slavs and Avars, although such an assessment was a mistake.

The invasion from the east led to a significant migration of people who had previously 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. The history of the ancient Slavs is known from brief episodes of their interaction with the Greeks. The siege of Constantinople became just such an example. Despite the assault, the Slavs and Avars failed to take the city.

Nevertheless, the onslaught of the pagans continued in the future. Back in 602, the Lombard king sent his shipbuilding masters to the Slavs. They settled in Dubrovnik. The first Slavic ships (monoxyls) appeared in this port. They took part in the already mentioned siege of Constantinople. And at the end of the 6th century, the Slavs laid siege to Thessalonica for the first time. Soon thousands of pagans moved to Thrace. At the same time, 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 Avar Khaganate. The Slavs everywhere began to get rid of the yoke of strangers. In Moravia, Samo led an uprising. He became the first Slavic prince known by name. At the same time, his fellow tribesmen began their expansion to the east. In the 7th century, the colonialists became neighbors of the Khazars. They managed to penetrate even into Crimea and reach the Caucasus. Where the ancestors of the Slavs lived and their settlements were founded, there was always a river or lake, as well as land suitable for cultivation.

The city of Kyiv appeared on the Dnieper, named after Prince Kiy. Here a new tribal union of the Polyans was formed, which, among several other such unions, replaced the Ants. In the 7th-8th centuries, three groups of Slavic peoples were finally formed, existing today (western, southern and eastern). The latter settled on the territory of modern Ukraine and Belarus, and in the area between the Volga and Oka rivers, their settlements ended up within the borders of Russia.

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

Tribal unions and cities of the Eastern Slavs

In the northeast, numerous Finno-Ugric tribes became neighbors of the Slavs, including the All and Merya. The settlements of Rostov, Beloozero and Staraya Ladoga appeared here. Another city, Novgorod, became an important political center. In 862, the Varangian Rurik began to reign there. This event marked the beginning of Russian statehood.

The cities of the Eastern Slavs appeared mainly in places where the Path from the Varangians to the Greeks ran. This trade artery led from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium. Along the way, merchants transported valuable goods: ambergris, whale skin, amber, marten and sable furs, honey, wax, etc. The goods were delivered on boats. The ships' route ran along rivers. Part of the route ran on land. In these areas, the boats were transported by portage, as a result of which the cities of Toropets and Smolensk appeared in the places of portage.

The East Slavic tribes lived separately from each other for a long time, and often were completely hostile and fought among themselves. This made them vulnerable to their neighbors. For this reason, at the beginning of the 9th century, some East Slavic tribal unions began to pay tribute to the Khazars. Others were heavily dependent on the Varangians. “The Tale of Bygone Years” mentions a dozen such tribal unions: Buzhans, Volynians, Dregovichs, Drevlyans, Krivichis, Polyans, Polochans, Severians, Radimichis, Tivertsi, White Croats and Ulichs. They all developed a unified culture only in the 11th-12th centuries. after education Kievan Rus and acceptance of Christianity. Later, this ethnic group was divided into Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. This is the answer to the question of whose ancestors the Eastern Slavs are.

Southern Slavs

The Slavs who settled the Balkans gradually separated from their 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 settled mostly empty lands, then their southern brothers inherited a region in which there were many settlements founded by the Romans. The roads along which pagans quickly moved across the Balkans also remained from ancient civilization. Before them, Byzantium ruled the peninsula. However, the empire had to cede the region to strangers due to constant wars in the east with the Persians and internal turmoil.

In the new lands, the ancestors of the South Slavs mixed with the autochthonous (local) Greek population. In the mountains, the colonialists had to face resistance from the Vlachs, as well as Albanians. Also, outsiders clashed with Christian Greeks. The resettlement of the Slavs to the Balkans ended in the 620s.

Neighborhood with Christians and regular contacts with them have had big influence to the new masters of the Balkans. The paganism of the Slavs in this region was eradicated most quickly. 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 preachers followed them. Emperors regularly sent missionaries to dangerous neighbors, hoping to thereby increase their influence over the barbarians. For example, the baptism of Serbs began under Heraclius, who ruled in 610-641. The process was gradual. The new religion established itself among the southern Slavs in the second half of the 9th century. Then the princes of Raska were baptized, after which they converted to Christian faith their subjects.

It's interesting that if the Serbs became a flock eastern church in Constantinople, then their Croatian brothers turned their gaze to the west. This was due to the fact that in 812 the Frankish emperor Charlemagne concluded an agreement with the king of Byzantium, Michael I Rangave, according to which part of the Adriatic coast of the Balkans became dependent on the Franks. They were Catholics and during their short rule in the region they baptized Croats according to their Western custom. And although in the 9th century Christian church was still considered united, the great schism of 1054 noticeably alienated Catholics and Orthodox from each other.

Western Slavs

The western group of Slavic tribes settled vast territories from the Elbe to the Carpathians. She laid the foundation for the Polish, Czech and Slovak people. To the west lived the Bodrichi, Lyutichs, Lusatians and Pomeranians. In the 6th century, this Polabian group of Slavs occupied about a third of the territory of modern Germany. Conflicts between tribes of different ethnic origins were constant. The new colonialists ousted the Lombards, Varins and Rugs (who spoke English) from the shores of the Baltic Sea.

An interesting evidence of the presence of the Slavs on what is now German soil is the name of Berlin. Linguists have discovered the nature of the origin of this word. In the language of the Polabian Slavs, “burlin” meant a dam. There are many of them in northeast Germany. This is how far the ancestors of the Slavs penetrated. Back in 623, these same colonists joined Prince Samo in his rebellion against the Avars. Periodically, under the successors of Charlemagne, the Polabian Slavs entered into an alliance with the Franks in their campaigns against the Khaganate.

German feudal lords began an offensive against outsiders in the 9th century. Gradually, the Slavs living on the banks of the Elbe submitted to them. Today, all that remains of them are small isolated groups, including several thousand people, who have retained their own unique dialect, unlike even Polish. In the Middle Ages, the Germans called all neighboring Western Slavs Vendians.

Language and writing

To understand who the Slavs are, it is best to turn to the history of their language. Once upon a time, when this people was still united, they had one dialect. It was called the Proto-Slavic language. There are no written monuments left from him. What is known is that it belonged to the vast Indo-European family of languages, which makes it similar to many other languages: Germanic, Romance, etc. Some linguists and historians put forward additional theories about its origin. According to one hypothesis, the Proto-Slavic language at some stage of its development was part of the Proto-Balto-Slavic language, until the Baltic languages ​​separated into their own group.

Gradually, each nation developed its own dialect. Based on one of these dialects, spoken by the Slavs who lived in the vicinity of the city of Thessaloniki, the brothers Cyril and Methodius created Slavic Christian writing in the 9th century. The Enlighteners did this by order of the Byzantine emperor. Writing was necessary for the translation of Christian books and sermons among the pagans. Over time, it became known as the Cyrillic alphabet. This alphabet today is the basis of the Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Montenegrin languages. The rest of the Slavs who converted to Catholicism use the Latin alphabet.

In the 20th century, archaeologists began to find many artifacts that became monuments of ancient Cyrillic writing. Novgorod became the key place for these excavations. Thanks to finds in its vicinity, experts have learned a lot about what the ancient Slavic writing and culture.

For example, the so-called Gnezdovo inscription, made on a clay jug in the middle of the 10th century, is considered to be the oldest East Slavic text in Cyrillic. The artifact was found in 1949 by archaeologist Daniil Avdusin. A thousand kilometers away, back in 1912, a lead seal with a Cyrillic inscription was discovered in an ancient Kyiv church. Archaeologists who deciphered it decided that it means the name of Prince Svyatoslav, who reigned in 945-972. It is interesting that at that time paganism remained the main religion in Rus', although Christianity and the same Cyrillic alphabet were already in Bulgaria. 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. Fragmentary mentions of it are found in some authors of that era, but these inaccurate evidence is not enough to create a complete picture. Perhaps the Slavs used cuts and features to convey information through images. Such writings could be of a ritual nature and used for fortune telling.

Religion and culture

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

In the mythology of the Slavs, features inherent in other Indo-European cults can be traced. For example, in the pantheon there are also wars (Perun), god other world and cattle (Veles), a deity with the image of Father Sky (Stribog). All this in one form or another also exists in Iranian, Baltic and German mythology.

For the Slavs, gods were the highest sacred beings. The fate of any person depended on their complacency. In the most important, responsible and dangerous moments, each tribe turned to its supernatural patrons. Sculptures of gods (idols) were common among the Slavs. They were made of wood and stone. The most famous episode related to idols was mentioned in the chronicles in connection with the Baptism of Rus'. Prince Vladimir as a sign of acceptance new faith ordered to throw the idols of the old gods into the Dnieper. This act became a clear demonstration of the beginning new era. Even despite Christianization, which began at the end of the 10th century, paganism continued to live, especially in the remote and bearish corners of Rus'. Some of its features mixed with Orthodoxy and were preserved in the form folk customs(for example, calendar holidays). I wonder what Slavic names often appeared as references to religious views (for example, Bogdan - “given by God,” etc.).

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

In addition to idols, the Slavs, like the Baltic tribes, had sacred boulder stones. Perhaps this custom was adopted from the Finno-Ugrians. The cult of ancestors was associated with Slavic funeral rites. During the funeral, ritual dances and chants (trizna) were held. The body of the deceased was not buried, but burned at the stake. The ashes and remaining bones were collected in a special vessel, which was left at a pole 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.

Place of the ancestors of the Slavs among the Indo-Europeans. Part to the 2nd millennium BC. e. formed a special massif in Central and Eastern Europe, consisting of the ancestors of the future Germans, the Balts (the descendants of the Balts are now Lithuanians and Latvians), who then spoke the same language.

In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The ancestors of the Germanic tribes became isolated, and the ancestors of the Balts and Slavs continued to form a common Balto-Slavic group for some time.

The center of settlement of the ancestors of the Slavic peoples (proto-Slavs) became the Vistula River basin. From here they moved west to the Oder River, but they were not allowed further by the ancestors of the Germanic tribes who had already occupied part of Central and Northern Europe. The Proto-Slavs also moved to the east, reaching the Dnieper. They also moved south towards the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Balkan Peninsula.

At this time, the Eastern Slavs and the Balts were still close to each other, and only over the centuries did they become completely isolated and cease to understand each other. There were close contacts with the North Iranian Indo-European nomadic tribes, from among which the Cimmerians,Scythians And Sarmatians .

The first invasions. Already at this time, the Proto-Slavs entered into confrontation with nomadic tribes. These were the Cimmerians who occupied the steppe spaces of the Northern Black Sea region and attacked the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs who settled in the Dnieper region. The Slavs built high ramparts on their way, blocked forest roads with rubble and ditches, and built fortified settlements. And yet the forces of peaceful plowmen, cattle breeders and horse-drawn nomadic warriors were unequal. Under the pressure of dangerous neighbors, many Proto-Slavs left the fertile sunny lands and went to the northern forests.

From VI to IV centuries. BC e. the lands of the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs were subjected to a new invasion. They were Scythians. They moved in large masses of horses and lived in wagons. For decades, their nomads moved from the east into the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. The Scythians pushed back the Cimmerians and became dangerous neighbors of the Slavs and Balts. Part of their lands was captured by the Scythians, and local population was forced to flee to the forest thickets.

The Scythians, like the Cimmerians, having captured the space from the Lower Volga region to the mouth of the Danube, stood as an insurmountable wall between the Baltoslavic population living in the forest-steppe and forest zones and the rapidly developing peoples living on the warm shores of the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black Seas.

Greek colonies and Scythians. By the time the Scythians occupied the Northern Black Sea region, Greek colonies already existed there. These were city-states that conducted active trade. Various handicrafts were brought here from Greece, including fabrics, dishes, and expensive weapons. And from the shores of the Black Sea greek ships they left laden with bread, fish, wax, honey, leather, furs, and wool. Note that bread, wax, honey, furs from time immemorial were precisely the goods that the Slavic world supplied to the market. It is known that half of the grain consumed in Athens came from the Northern Black Sea region.

The Greeks also exported slaves from their colonies. These were captives captured by the Scythians during raids against their northern neighbors. However, these slaves were not popular in Greece, as they were freedom-loving and obstinate. In addition, unlike the Greeks, they drank wine undiluted, quickly became drunk and therefore could not work well.

This whole multilingual, dynamic, trading, rapidly developing world was far from the farmers of the Dnieper region, since the Scythians firmly controlled all the routes to the south and were successful intermediaries in the then international trade.

The Scythians eventually created a powerful state in the Northern Black Sea region led by kings. Part of the pre-Slavic population became part of the Scythian state. The ancestors of the Slavs were still engaged in agriculture and over the years passed on their experience to the Scythians, especially those who lived nearby. So some Scythian tribes switched to a sedentary lifestyle. And the Greeks called such Scythians and Proto-Slavs Scythian ploughmen. And later, after the disappearance of the Scythians, the Greeks began to call the Slavs who lived here Scythians.

Ancestors of the Eastern Slavs and new enemies. It was precisely in Scythian times that a population was formed that spoke Slavic, and not the Baltoslavic language.

During archaeological excavations of settlements in the Dnieper region, it was found that local farmers began to live in small huts located inside fortified settlements. The large ancestral houses of the “Trypillians” are a thing of the past. Families became even more isolated. These fortifications were located on hills where there was good review, or among swampy lowlands that are difficult for the enemy to pass through. One such fortress could accommodate up to 1000 huts, where individual families lived. And the hut itself was a chopped wooden structure without partitions. There were small outbuildings and a shed adjacent to the house. In the center of the house there was a stone or adobe hearth. Large semi-dugouts with hearths are also often found. Such dwellings were better able to withstand severe frosts.

Starting from the 2nd century. BC e. The Dnieper region experienced a new onslaught of enemies. Because of the Don, nomadic hordes of Sarmatians advanced here.

The Sarmatians launched a series of attacks on the Scythian state, captured the lands of the Scythians and penetrated deep into the northern forest-steppe zone. Archaeologists have discovered here traces of the military defeat of a number of settlements and fortified settlements. Centuries-old achievements were in vain. After the Sarmatian defeat, the Eastern Slavs in many ways had to start all over again - develop the land, build villages.

Other peoples of Russia in ancient times. In those distant times, not only tribes were formed, which later turned into the Eastern Slavs, but later gave rise to three Slavic peoples - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. In the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the vastness of the future Russia, other ethnic communities continued to emerge simultaneously. The Balts occupied large areas to the north of the Slavic societies, settling from the shores of the Baltic to the interfluve of the Oka and Volga.

Since ancient times, the Finno-Ugric peoples also lived close to the Balts and Slavs, who at that time were the rulers of vast territories of the northeastern part of Europe - right up to Ural mountains and Trans-Urals. In the impenetrable forests along the banks of the Oka, Volga, Kama, Belaya, Chusovaya and other local rivers and lakes lived the ancestors of the present-day Mari, Mordovians, Komi, Zyryans and other Finno-Ugric peoples. The northern inhabitants were mainly hunters and fishermen. Their life, unlike the southerners, changed slowly.

In the areas North Caucasus Since ancient times, the ancestors of the Circassians, Ossetians (Alans) and other mountain peoples, known according to Greek authors, lived there.

The Adygs (the Greeks called them Meotians) became the main part of the population of the Bosporus Kingdom, which arose on the Taman Peninsula and in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. Its center was the Greek city of Panticapaeum, and it included multinational residents of these places: Greeks, Scythians, Circassians, also belonging to the Indo-European group of peoples.

In the 1st century n. e. Jewish communities also appeared in the cities of the Bosporan kingdom. Since then, Jews - merchants, artisans, moneylenders - lived in the future southern Russian territories. Having come here from the Middle East in search of a better life, they began to speak Greek and adopted many of the local customs and customs. In the future, part of the Jewish population will move to those that arose here, giving rise to the constant presence of Jews in them.

In the Caucasian foothills, around the same time, another powerful tribal union became known - the Alans, the ancestors of the current Ossetians. The Alans were related to the Sarmatians. Already in the 1st century. BC e. The Alans attacked Armenia and other states and proved themselves to be tireless and brave warriors. Their main occupation was cattle breeding, and their main means of transportation was the horse.

Various Turkic-speaking tribes formed in Southern Siberia. One of them became famous thanks to ancient Chinese chronicles. These are the Xiongnu people, who in the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e. conquered many surrounding peoples, in particular the inhabitants of the Altai Mountains. A few centuries later, the strengthened Xiongnu, or Huns, began to advance into Europe.

Great Migration

The Great Migration of Peoples and Eastern Europe. From the end of the 4th century. n. e. Numerous movements of tribes began, which went down in history under the name of the Great Migration of Peoples.

By this time, many peoples of Eurasia had learned to make iron weapons, mounted horses, and created fighting squads. The tribes were driven forward by the desire to find booty and new rich, already developed lands of the Roman Empire.

The Germanic tribes of the Goths were the first to move on the territory of Eastern Europe. Previously, they lived in Scandinavia, later settled in the Southern Baltic, but from there they were pushed out by the Slavs. Through the lands of the Balts and Slavs, the Goths came to the Northern Black Sea region and lived there for two centuries. From here they attacked Roman possessions and fought with the Sarmatians. The Goths were led by the leader Germanarich, who, according to some information, lived 100 years.

In the 70s IV century From the east, tribes of the Huns approached the Goths. Fleeing, some of the Goths moved to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Huns were Turkic people, and with their appearance, the dominance of the Turko-Mongol tribes in the steppe expanses of Eurasia begins. They knew ironworking, forged swords, arrows, and daggers; During their stays, the Huns lived in adobe houses and half-dugouts, but the basis of their economy was nomadic cattle breeding. All the Huns were excellent horsemen - men, women, and children. Their main force was light cavalry. According to Roman historians, the appearance of the Huns was terrible: short, overgrown with hair, dense, with thick heads, crooked legs, dressed in fur malachai and shod in rough shoes made from goat skins. Legends were told about their savage morals and atrocities.

In their movement, the Huns carried away everyone who came across them on the way. Together with them, the Finno-Ugric tribes and Altai peoples were removed from their places. This entire huge horde first fell upon the Alans, threw some of them back to the Caucasus, and also dragged the rest into its invasion. The heavy, armored Alan cavalry, armed with swords and spears, became an essential part of the Hunnic army. Having defeated the Goths, they went through the South Slavic settlements with fire and sword. Once again, fleeing death, people fled to the shelter of forests and abandoned fertile black soils. Some of the Slavs, like the Goths, also rushed west along with the Huns.

The Huns made the lands along the Danube, which had beautiful pastures, the center of their power. From here they attacked Roman possessions and terrified all of Europe. Since then, the name of the Huns has become a household name. It meant rude and merciless barbarians, destroyers of civilization.

The power of the Huns reached its highest power under their leader Attila. He was a talented commander, an experienced diplomat, but a rude and merciless ruler. The fate of Attila once again showed that no matter how great, powerful, and terrible a ruler may be, he cannot prolong his power and his greatness forever. Attila's attempt to conquer everything Western Europe ended in 451 with a grandiose battle in Northern France on the Catalaunian fields. The Roman army, which included detachments from many nations of Europe, completely defeated the equally multinational army of Attila. The leader of the Huns soon died, and strife began between the Hun leaders. The power of the Huns collapsed. But the movement of peoples, foamed by the Hunnic wave, continued for several centuries.

The Slavs also became participants in the Great Migration of Peoples, and it was then that they first appeared in documents under their own name.

The Slavs are Europe's largest ethnic group, but what do we really know about them? Historians still argue about who they came from, where their homeland was located, and where the self-name “Slavs” came from.

Origin of the Slavs

There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs. Some attribute them to the Scythians and Sarmatians who came from Central Asia, others to the Aryans and Germans, others even identify them with the Celts. All hypotheses of the origin of the Slavs can be divided into two main categories, directly opposite to each other. One of them, the well-known “Norman” one, was put forward in the 18th century by German scientists Bayer, Miller and Schlozer, although such ideas first appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

The bottom line was this: the Slavs are an Indo-European people who were once part of the “German-Slavic” community, but broke away from the Germans during the Great Migration. Finding themselves on the periphery of Europe and cut off from the continuity of Roman civilization, they were very behind in development, so much so that they could not create their own state and invited the Varangians, that is, the Vikings, to rule them.

This theory is based on the historiographical tradition of the Tale of Bygone Years and famous phrase: “Our land is great and rich, but there is no harmony in it. Come reign and rule over us." Such a categorical interpretation, which was based on obvious ideological background, could not but arouse criticism. Today, archeology confirms the presence of strong intercultural ties between the Scandinavians and Slavs, but hardly suggests that the former played decisive role in the formation of the ancient Russian state. But the debate about the “Norman” origin of the Slavs and Kievan Rus does not subside to this day.

The second theory of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, on the contrary, is patriotic in nature. And, by the way, it is much older than the Norman one - one of its founders was the Croatian historian Mavro Orbini, who wrote a work called “The Slavic Kingdom” at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. His point of view was very extraordinary: among the Slavs he included the Vandals, Burgundians, Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Gepids, Getae, Alans, Verls, Avars, Dacians, Swedes, Normans, Finns, Ukrainians, Marcomanni, Quadi, Thracians and Illyrians and many others: “They were all of the same Slavic tribe, as will be seen later.”

Their exodus from the historical homeland of Orbini dates back to 1460 BC. Where did they not have time to visit after that: “The Slavs fought with almost all the tribes of the world, attacked Persia, ruled Asia and Africa, fought with the Egyptians and Alexander the Great, conquered Greece, Macedonia and Illyria, occupied Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the coasts of the Baltic Sea "

He was echoed by many court scribes who created the theory of the origin of the Slavs from the ancient Romans, and Rurik from the Emperor Octavian Augustus. In the 18th century, the Russian historian Tatishchev published the so-called “Joachim Chronicle,” which, as opposed to the “Tale of Bygone Years,” identified the Slavs with the ancient Greeks.

Both of these theories (although there are echoes of truth in each of them) represent two extremes, which are characterized by a free interpretation historical facts and archaeological information. They were criticized by such “giants” national history, like B. Grekov, B. Rybakov, V. Yanin, A. Artsikhovsky, arguing that a historian should in his research rely not on his preferences, but on facts. However, the historical texture of the “ethnogenesis of the Slavs”, to this day, is so incomplete that it leaves many options for speculation, without the ability to finally answer the main question: “who are these Slavs after all?”

Age of the people

The next pressing problem for historians is the age of the Slavic ethnic group. When did the Slavs finally emerge as a single people from the pan-European ethnic “mess”? The first attempt to answer this question belongs to the author of “The Tale of Bygone Years” - monk Nestor. Taking the biblical tradition as a basis, he began the history of the Slavs with the Babylonian pandemonium, which divided humanity into 72 nations: “From these 70 and 2 languages ​​the Slovenian language was born...”. The above-mentioned Mavro Orbini generously gave the Slavic tribes a couple of extra thousand years of history, dating their exodus from their historical homeland to 1496: “At the indicated time, the Goths and Slavs left Scandinavia ... since the Slavs and Goths were of the same tribe. So, having subjugated Sarmatia, the Slavic tribe was divided into several tribes and received different names: Wends, Slavs, Ants, Verls, Alans, Massetians... Vandals, Goths, Avars, Roskolans, Russians or Muscovites, Poles, Czechs, Silesians, Bulgarians ...In short, the Slavic language is heard from the Caspian Sea to Saxony, from the Adriatic Sea to the German Sea, and within all these limits lies the Slavic tribe.”

Of course, such “information” was not enough for historians. Archeology, genetics and linguistics were used to study the “age” of the Slavs. As a result, we managed to achieve modest, but still results. According to accepted version, the Slavs belonged to the Indo-European community, which most likely emerged from the Dnieper-Donets archaeological culture, in the area between the Dnieper and Don rivers, seven thousand years ago during the Stone Age. Subsequently, the influence of this culture spread to the territory from the Vistula to the Urals, although no one has yet been able to accurately localize it. In general, when speaking about the Indo-European community, we do not mean a single ethnic group or civilization, but the influence of cultures and linguistic similarity. About four thousand years BC it broke up into conventional three groups: the Celts and Romans in the West, the Indo-Iranians in the East, and somewhere in the middle, in Central and Eastern Europe, another language group emerged, from which the Germans later emerged, Balts and Slavs. Of these, around the 1st millennium BC, the Slavic language begins to stand out.

But information from linguistics alone is not enough - to determine the unity of an ethnic group there must be an uninterrupted continuity of archaeological cultures. The bottom link in the archaeological chain of the Slavs is considered to be the so-called “culture of podklosh burials”, which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “klesh”, that is, “upside down”. She existed in V-II centuries BC between the Vistula and the Dnieper. In a sense, we can say that its bearers were the earliest Slavs. It is from this that it is possible to identify the continuity of cultural elements right up to Slavic antiquities early Middle Ages.

Proto-Slavic homeland

Where, after all, was the Slavic ethnic group born, and what territory can be called “originally Slavic”? Historians' accounts vary. Orbini, citing a number of authors, claims that the Slavs came out of Scandinavia: “Almost all the authors, whose blessed pen conveyed to their descendants the history of the Slavic tribe, claim and conclude that the Slavs came out of Scandinavia... The descendants of Japheth the son of Noah (to which the author includes the Slavs ) moved north to Europe, penetrating into the country now called Scandinavia. There they multiplied innumerably, as St. Augustine points out in his “City of God,” where he writes that the sons and descendants of Japheth had two hundred homelands and occupied lands located north of Mount Taurus in Cilicia, along the Northern Ocean, half of Asia, and throughout Europe all the way to the British Ocean."

Nestor called the most ancient territory of the Slavs - the lands along the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Pannonia. The reason for the resettlement of the Slavs from the Danube was the attack on them by the Volokhs. “After many times, the essence of Slovenia settled along the Dunaevi, where there is now Ugorsk and Bolgarsk land.” Hence the Danube-Balkan hypothesis of the origin of the Slavs.

The European homeland of the Slavs also had its supporters. Thus, the prominent Czech historian Pavel Safarik believed that the ancestral home of the Slavs should be sought in Europe in the neighborhood of related tribes of Celts, Germans, Balts and Thracians. He believed that in ancient times the Slavs occupied vast territories of Central and Eastern Europe, from where they were forced to leave beyond the Carpathians under the pressure of Celtic expansion.

There was even a version about two ancestral homelands of the Slavs, according to which the first ancestral home was the place where the Proto-Slavic language developed (between the lower reaches of the Neman and Western Dvina) and where the Slavic people themselves were formed (according to the authors of the hypothesis, this happened starting from the 2nd century BC era) - the Vistula River basin. Western and Eastern Slavs had already left from there. The first populated the area of ​​the Elbe River, then the Balkans and the Danube, and the second - the banks of the Dnieper and Dniester.

The Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis about the ancestral home of the Slavs, although it remains a hypothesis, is still the most popular among historians. It is conditionally confirmed by local toponyms, as well as vocabulary. If you believe the “words”, that is, the lexical material, the ancestral home of the Slavs was located away from the sea, in a forested flat zone with swamps and lakes, as well as within the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, judging by the common Slavic names of fish - salmon and eel. By the way, the areas of the Podklosh burial culture already known to us fully correspond to these geographical characteristics.

"Slavs"

The word “Slavs” itself is a mystery. It firmly came into use already in the 6th century AD; at least, Byzantine historians of this time often mentioned the Slavs - not always friendly neighbors of Byzantium. Among the Slavs themselves, this term was already widely used as a self-name in the Middle Ages, at least judging by the chronicles, including the Tale of Bygone Years.

However, its origin is still unknown. The most popular version is that it comes from the words “word” or “glory,” which go back to the same Indo-European root ḱleu̯- “to hear.” By the way, Mavro Orbini also wrote about this, albeit in his characteristic “arrangement”: “during their residence in Sarmatia, they (the Slavs) took the name “Slavs”, which means “glorious”.

There is a version among linguists that the Slavs owe their self-name to the names of the landscape. Presumably, it was based on the toponym “Slovutich” - another name for the Dnieper, containing a root with the meaning “to wash”, “to cleanse”.

At one time, a lot of noise was caused by the version about the existence of a connection between the self-name “Slavs” and the Middle Greek word for “slave” (σκλάβος). It was very popular among Western scientists of the 18th-19th centuries. It is based on the idea that the Slavs, as one of the most numerous peoples in Europe, made up a significant percentage of captives and often became objects of the slave trade. Today this hypothesis is recognized as erroneous, since most likely the basis of “σκλάβος” was a Greek verb with the meaning “to obtain spoils of war” - “σκυλάο”.