Chapter I Origin of the Slavs. Brief message about the Slavs The most ancient ancestors of the Slavs

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. In general, all hypotheses of the origin of the Slavs can be divided into

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. Experts had to reconstruct the early history of the Slavs bit by bit. The Byzantine chronicles are of great value. 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 Antes 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, ritual killings of wives were practiced at the grave of their husbands. 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. 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 Polans was formed, which, among several other such unions, replaced the Antes. 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 the formation of Kievan Rus and the adoption 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 had a great influence on 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 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 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 the Christian Church was still considered united, the great schism of 1054 significantly 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 pushed 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 learned a lot about what ancient Slavic writing and culture was like.

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 belief consisted of the spiritualization of nature, animism, animatism, the cult of 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), the god of the other world and cattle (Veles), and a deity with the image of the Sky Father (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 of the new faith, ordered the idols of the old gods to be thrown into the Dnieper. This act became a clear demonstration of the beginning of a 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 of folk customs (for example, calendar holidays). Interestingly, 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.

Where did the Slavs come from? Of course, you can turn to ethnographic sources, but there are also mythological sources on this topic that also deserve attention. Thus, medieval Russian chronicles directly indicate the origin of the Slavic peoples from Japheth, one of the sons of Noah.

Japheth and his sons

By the way, the name Japhet (variations - Japhet or Iapet) means, on the one hand, “beauty”, on the other, “spreading” or “expansion”. According to the Book of Genesis, even before the Flood, Japheth founded the city of Jaffa. After he and his wife escaped on Noah's Ark, they had seven sons - Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras, who, in turn, also had sons over time. “From them the islands of nations were inhabited in their lands, each according to his language, according to his tribes, among his nations” (Gen. 10: 1-5). The Tale of Bygone Years says: “After the destruction of the pillar and the division of the peoples, the sons of Shem took the eastern countries, and the sons of Ham took the southern countries, while the Japhethites took the west and northern countries. From these same 70 and 2 languages ​​came the Slavic people, from the tribe of Japheth - the so-called Noriks, who are the Slavs. After a long time, the Slavs settled along the Danube, where the land of Hungary and Bulgaria is now... From those Slavs, the Slavs dispersed throughout the land and were called by their names from the places where they settled. 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, others - encouraged. Likewise, these Slavs came and sat 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, and built a city and called it Novgorod. And others sat along the Desna, and the Seim, and the Sula, and called themselves northerners. And so the Slavic people dispersed, and after his name the letter was called Slavic.”

The myth of the three brothers

There is also a myth according to which the ancestors of all Slavic peoples are the three sons of Japheth, whose names were Czech, Lech and Rus. They were first mentioned at the beginning of the 12th century in the “Czech Chronicle” by Cozma of Prague. From them came the Czechs, Poles and Russes (Russians), respectively. By the way, Rus was mentioned even earlier, in the 10th century, by the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan, who visited Rus'. In his writings, he writes about the origin of the Russians from “Rus, the son of Japheth and the grandson of Noah”... True, the Russian historian V.N. Tatishchev believes that the legend about the three brothers, the descendants of Noah and Japheth, is just a fiction. The theory of the 16th-century Dalmatian historian and abbot of the Benedictine monastery on the island of Mljet, Mauro Orbini, set out in the book “The Slavic Kingdom” (published in 1601 in Italian) stands up even less to criticism. She claims that the ancestors of the Slavic peoples were the great-grandsons of Japheth Scythian, Rus and Slaven. Moreover, according to it, such peoples as the Vandals, Goths, Alans, Avars originally belonged to the Slavs, and many European nations allegedly descended from them: Swedes, Finns, Normans, Burgundians, Bretons...

Descendants of Mosoh?

And at the beginning of the 17th century, the Swedish historian Peter Petreus de Erlesunda came to the conclusion that the ancestor of the Russians (Muscovites) was the son of Japheth Meshech, “commonly called Mosoch.” “The Muscovites received their name partly from the Moscow River, and partly from Mosoh, the son of Japheth,” he writes in his “History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow” (1615). Thus, at least that the Slavs descend from Japheth is the generally accepted point of view and the most likely option, since this is stated in many sources. And it is not so important what exactly the names of the descendants of Noah’s son, who founded the various Slavic peoples, were called.

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 backward 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 the famous phrase: “Our land is great, rich, but there is no side 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 it hardly suggests that the former played a 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 of historical facts and archaeological information. They were criticized by such “giants” of Russian history as 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 the 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”. It existed in the 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 the Slavic antiquities of the 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”.