Early Slavs

The early Slavs were Indo-European peoples and speakers of the Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe. They established the foundations for the Slavic nations through the Slavic states of the Early and High Middle Ages. The Slavs' original homeland is still debated due to a lack of historical records, but scholars generally place it in Eastern Europe, with Polesia being the most commonly accepted location.

Ancient Roman writers referred to the ancestors of Slavs as Venedi. The first written use of the name "Slavs" dates to the 6th century, when Slavic tribes inhabited a large portion of Central and Eastern Europe. Over the next two centuries, the Slavs expanded westwards, southwards, and eastwards, absorbing many local peoples in the process.

Beginning in the 7th century, the Slavs were gradually Christianized by the Church. By the 12th century, they formed the core populations of several medieval Christian states, including Kievan Rus', the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia, and the Kingdom of Poland. The oldest known Slavic principality was Carantania, established in the 7th century by the Eastern Alpine Slavs, the ancestors of present-day Slovenes.

Origins

Main articles: Slavs (ethnonym), Vistula Veneti, Spori, Antes (people), Sclaveni, and Wends

The early Slavs were known to ancient Roman writers as Veneti. They lived east of the Vistula river and near Gdańsk Bay. Later, during a time of big movements of people, they split into three groups called Veneti, Antes, and Sclaveni. A writer named Jordanes mentioned these three names in the year 551.

Other writers like Procopius said that Sclaveni and Antes were once called Sporo in the past. The oldest hints of Slavs appear in old maps from the 2nd century. By the 8th century, some early Slavs near the Carolingian Empire were called Wends.

People are not sure exactly where the Slavs came from, but many think it was in a place called Polesia in Central and Eastern Europe. Some old ideas that placed their home far away, like near the Near East, are no longer believed. The Slavs never lived as far east as the Volga River, or as far southwest as the Dinaric Alps, or past Bohemia to the west. Old writings from around the year 900 talk about a place called Zeriuani, which might be connected to where the Slavs began.

Linguistics

Main articles: History of Proto-Slavic and Proto-Balto-Slavic language

Proto-Slavic started from Proto-Indo-European, the ancient language that many languages in Eurasia came from. The Slavic languages share some special features with the Baltic languages, like using certain words in sentences that say "no." This suggests that at one time, these two language groups might have been one.

Proto-Slavic became its own language around the first half of the second millennium BC. It had words for family members and everyday life but did not have many words for things found near the sea or in mountains. River names from that time show links between Slavic and other nearby languages, like Iranian and Germanic. Words for things like "god" and "house" in Slavic might have come from Iranian languages. Also, some words like "buy" and "helmet" came from Germanic languages.

Historiography

Further information: Migration Period, Slavic migrations to the Balkans, Maurice's Balkan campaigns, Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps, Limes Saxoniae, and Baltic Slavic piracy

Jordanes, Procopius, and other Late Roman writers gave some of the earliest mentions of the southern Slavs in the middle of the 6th century AD. Jordanes finished his book, Gothic History, in Constantinople around the year 550. He described a group of people called the Venethi, saying they were strong in numbers and lived in areas near the Vistula and Aeningia rivers.

Procopius wrote about the Slavs during the time of Emperor Justinian I. He described their ways of life and how they lived in the areas near the Eastern Roman Empire. These early writings help historians learn about where the Slavs lived and how they lived long ago.

Archaeology

In archaeology, scientists try to understand early Slavic people by looking at old ways of living from different places and times. One important way of living is called the Kiev culture, which existed from the 2nd to the 5th century near the middle and upper Dnieper basin. This culture is thought to be the beginning of later Slavic groups.

Another way of living, the Chernyakhov culture, existed from the 2nd to the 5th century in places like modern Ukraine, Moldova, and Wallachia. It included special pots, decorations, and tools. Some believe it shows early Slavic people, but others think it was a mix of different groups.

The Przeworsk culture was located northwest of the Chernyakhov area, stretching from the Dniester to the Tisza valley and up to the Vistula and Oder rivers. It was a mix of local traditions with influences from other cultures.

East of Przeworsk, the Zarubintsy culture existed from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD in the Dnieper forest zone. Some think it may be connected to early Slavic people.

Ethnogenesis

Culture-historical viewpoint

According to a main idea, the Slavic homeland in forests and wetlands helped them keep their identity, language, and farming customs. The early Slavs began with groups called the Zarubintsy and Chernyakov cultures, living between the Vistula and Dnieper rivers, especially around the Pripet Marshes of Polesia. These cultures might explain how early Slavs later split into different groups during their travels.

Paul Barford thought Slavic groups existed over a wide area of central-eastern Europe before the sixth to ninth centuries. They served in armies of other groups and might have reached the Balkans before the sixth century. After the Hunnic Empire fell and the Avars arrived, the Slavs spread quickly across central and south-eastern Europe, taking their customs and language with them.

Marija Gimbutas said that after the Avars left, the Slavs moved into lands that had been empty. As farmers, they looked for new places to live when their old ones got too full. They had been limited by other groups for a long time, but when those groups left, the Slavs spread out.

Walter Pohl said that the Slavs succeeded because their simple way of farming let them settle in new areas between the Baltic and the Aegean. Their numbers grew, and the area became empty partly because of people leaving and diseases. All these things helped the Slavs spread to the west and south of the Carpathian Mountains. This movement is the most accepted reason for how Slavs and their culture spread.

Processual viewpoint

Another idea says there is no need to explain culture change only by people moving. It argues that Slavic languages spread for different reasons. Central Europe became Slavic partly because many people moved there, but also because people there started speaking Slavic. The East Slavic languages spread by people moving and by other people starting to speak them. East Slavic became important because people learned to read and write in it, replacing other languages. South Slavic languages spread in the Balkans as more people started speaking them.

Horace Lunt thought Slavic became a common language used by groups in the Avar khanate, helping it spread. But this idea doesn’t explain why Slavic spread to areas far from the Avars. Alan Timberlake said that people moving was important, along with other groups adopting Slavic ways and small groups joining the Slavs.

Genetics

Studies of DNA from modern Slavic people try to find where they came from. The Y-DNA haplogroups R1a and I2 match the time when Slavs moved and spread their language from Eastern Europe, probably Ukraine and Poland. A study from 2010 said that Slavic culture spread mostly because real people moved. Later studies found that South Slavs share common ancestors with Poles, likely because a small group of Slavs moved into areas with fewer people.

Socio-political organisation

Early Slavic groups were not ruled by one leader. They lived under a system where decisions were made together. Over time, some groups started to have leaders and warriors. By the mid-9th century, these leaders lived richly, wore fine clothes, and had soldiers with them. They often fought each other.

Arab travelers from the 10th century wrote about a group called the Walītābā, who were once the leading group among the Slavs. Other Slavic groups chose their rulers from this group.

Tribal and territorial organisation

Main article: List of ancient Slavic peoples and tribes

Before AD 560, there is no sign of Slavic leaders. The Sclaveni and the Antes lived without leaders, making decisions together. But some writers mention leaders who led groups of Slavs, like Daurentius, Chatzon, Samo, Dervan, and Perbundos. They had meetings called věče to make decisions.

Settlements were often in groups, linked by family ties. These groups formed the basis of areas called župa in South Slavic and opole in Polish. Several of these areas made up tribes. The names of many tribes come from the lands they lived in, like the Milczanie (in loess areas), Moravians (along the Morava river), and Diokletians (near Doclea). Other names describe their land, like Polanes (fields) and Drevlyans (trees). Some names might come from non-Slavic languages. Some tribes shared names even if they lived far apart, like the Dregoviti, Croats, Sorbs/Serbs, and Obodrites. The word "Slav" is still in the names of Slovenes, Slovaks, and Slavonians.

Culture

Settlements

Early Slavic settlements were small, usually between 0.5 to 2 hectares (1.2 to 4.9 acres). These settlements were often temporary and located near rivers. They featured sunken buildings called Grubenhäuser in German or poluzemlianki in Russian. These buildings were built over rectangular pits and ranged from 4 to 20 m² (43 to 215 sq ft) in area, enough for a typical family. Each house had a stone or clay oven, a key feature of Eastern European homes. Settlements included a central open area for community activities and were divided into zones for living and working.

The Slavs also built underground shelters covered with wood to stay warm during winter.

Log cabin saunas were used, as described by Ibrahim Ibn Ya'qub. They were made with gaps filled with moss for insulation. Inside, a stone stove was placed, and water was poured onto it to create steam. People used grass tufts to circulate the air and open their pores.

Fortified strongholds, known as gords, became common in the 9th century and were often located at the center of groups of settlements. Some of these strongholds appeared as early as the 5th and 6th centuries near the Dnieper river and lasted until the early 7th century. They were also found on the Dniester river and in regions like Western Ukraine, Belarus, and Eastern Poland.

The Slavs preferred to live in hard-to-reach places like dense forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes to protect themselves from attacks. Maurice's Strategikon noted that their settlements had exits branching in many directions for safety.

Food and agriculture

The Slavs hunted, farmed, herded animals, and kept bees. They settled in valleys with rich soil and access to rivers for their livestock. They practiced crop rotation and developed an efficient plow called the moldboard plow, which helped increase their population. They used tools like iron hoes, sickles, and wooden spades. Selective breeding of animals was also common.

Hunting included animals like boar, deer, hare, elk, and occasionally bear. Beavers and marten were trapped for their fur.

When crops were ready, they were cut with sickles and threshed with a wooden flail. The grain was ground using stone querns. Common crops included wheat, millet, and barley, which grew well even in poor soil. Vegetables like onions, carrots, radishes, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, cabbage, peas, and beans were grown in gardens. Herbs such as garlic and parsnip were used, and hops were grown for beer. Fruit trees like cherry, apple, pear, plum, and peach were cultivated, along with walnuts.

Animals were raised not just for meat, leather, or milk but also to fertilize the soil. Cattle were bred in large herds for plowing and meat, and their females provided milk. Pigs were valued for their meat. Goats and sheep were less common but still bred. Horses were rarely eaten and were mainly used for work or riding. Fowl like ducks and geese were also kept.

Maurice's Strategikon mentioned that the Slavs had many cattle and grew millet and buckwheat. They cultivated crops and livestock that could be easily moved. Procopius noted that they changed their homes often.

They planted crops in both summer and spring and harvested twice a year. Millet was their main crop. They avoided eating chicken, believing it caused illness, but ate beef and goose. Their drinks and wine were made from honey.

Ibn Rusta described their beehives as wooden boxes with holes where bees lived. They collected about ten jars of honey from each box. They herded pigs like sheep and drank mead.

Medicine

The ancient Slavs understood human anatomy well, as shown by old names for body parts. Due to limited records, we don’t know exactly what illnesses they faced, but they likely suffered from diseases like plague, malaria, and dysentery. Their medicines came from animals, plants, minerals, sulfur, and salt. They cleaned themselves in log cabin saunas and bathed in rivers. Ibrahim ibn Yaqub noted that cold weather was good for them, while heat was harmful.

Craftsmanship

The Early Slavs were skilled in working with wood, leather, metal, and clay. Pottery was made by craftsmen or women, often in home workshops. Clay was mixed with materials like sand to improve it and was shaped by hand or with a pottery wheel. After drying, the pottery was baked at low temperatures in kilns. While pottery was made by both professionals and ordinary people, other crafts like metalworking were done by specialists.

Metalworking was crucial for making tools and weapons. Iron was obtained from local ore by smiths and made into bars. Smiths created products like knives, tools, decorative items, and weapons. Broken tools were reforged because iron was valuable.

Houses and everyday items were made from wood. Carved bowls, vessels, and dippers were common. Leather and textiles from linen and wool were used to make carpets, blankets, overcoats, and clothing. Spindlewhorls were used to make thread at home. Glass beads were crafted and often used in trade.

Clothing

Our main knowledge of Early Slavic clothing comes from images and graves. Clothing varied by region, season, and social status, but a general picture can be described.

Men wore long-sleeved tunics made of linen or wool, reaching to the knee, with breeches underneath. Wool cloaks were sometimes worn over the tunic, fastened on the right shoulder to leave the right arm free. Cloaks could also be made of leather and lined with fur. Hats and mittens were worn in winter, sometimes trimmed with fur. Both men and women wore leather boots and shoes, along with belts carrying knives and whetstones for sharpening.

Some women wore long patterned dresses made of linen, sometimes with an apron over the dress. Dresses or tunics could be made from a single piece of fabric. Unmarried women often wore their hair braided or loose, but covered it after marriage. Ornaments and jewelry like beads, earrings, and twisted wire bracelets were worn, especially by wealthier women.

Musical instruments

The Slavs had many musical instruments, as recorded in historical writings.

Ibn Rusta noted they had various lutes, pan pipes, and flutes. Their lutes had eight strings, and they drank mead. They played instruments during ceremonies for the dead, believing their joy showed respect.

Ibrahim Ibn Ya'qub mentioned they had different wind and string instruments, including a wind instrument over two cubits long and an eight-stringed instrument with a flat sounding board.

Theophylact Simocatta wrote that Slavs carried lyres with them.

Marriage

Capturing wives and marriage outside their group were traditions among Slavic tribes until the early medieval period. In some places like Bohemia and Ukraine, women sometimes chose their husbands. The 12th-century Primary Chronicle recorded that groups like the Vyatichi, Radimichs, and Severians practiced polygamy instead of monogamous marriages.

Law

Main article: Old Rus' Law

See also: Medieval Serbian law

Slavic law was based on customs rather than written rules. The East Slavs didn’t have written laws until the time of Yaroslav the Wise. One important custom was the law of hospitality. If a tribe treated a guest poorly, neighboring tribes would attack them for dishonoring the guest.

Ibn Rusta described Slavic law around 903–918. Leaders collected taxes yearly. Men had to provide clothing for their daughters, sons, or wives. Thieves were either strangled or sent far away.

Warfare

Our knowledge of Early Slavic warfare comes from old writings and archaeological finds. Early warrior groups were small, usually under 200 men, and aimed for quick attacks and retreats. The Slavs preferred ambushes and fighting in forests, gorges, or marshes but also fought in open battles, sieges, and close combat. They attacked from the flank and were clever in planning. They used siege tools like towers and ladders. Weapons included spears, javelins, and bows and arrows. Swords and armor were rare and used only by leaders and their closest warriors. Shields were round with a central grip. Axes and slings were also used.

Procopius and Pseudo-Maurice wrote that South Slavs had few weapons and no armor, using spears, small shields, and bows. Ibn Rusta noted that Central-Eastern Slavs had few horses. Their weapons included javelins, shields, and lances. They followed a leader called the Župan and had a higher leader called the "chief of chiefs." The Župan was the lieutenant of this leader.

Although Slavs often fought on foot, they were also skilled cavalrymen. Procopius mentioned that in 536, 1,600 Slavic, Hun, and Antes horsemen served as Byzantine reinforcements in Italy. In 595, Slavic or Antes horsemen captured Byzantine scouts. Interactions with groups like the Sarmatians, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars may have made them skilled light horsemen. Archaeological finds show influence from Asian steppe nomads on Slavic cavalry.

By the mid-6th century, Slavs knew about naval warfare, building rafts and monoxyles. These small boats were used for travel and could be carried over land, allowing movement on both land and sea.

Byzantine writers mentioned Slavic mercenaries who were brave soldiers. Some became Byzantine officials and military leaders between the 8th and 10th centuries.

Menander Protector mentioned a Slavic leader named Daurentius around 577–579. He killed an Avar envoy who asked the Slavs to accept Avar rule, saying, "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs – so it shall always be for us as long as there are wars and weapons."

Military organization

Procopius wrote that Slavs attacked without formations, but this may be biased. It seems unlikely that poorly armed and disorganized groups could successfully invade, plunder, and conquer parts of the Byzantine Empire, defeat the Avars, and resist Frankish expansion. By the late 6th and early 7th centuries, Slavic warriors began using heavier defensive armor, especially in Southeastern Europe.

Historical records show that alongside ordinary soldiers, there were military leaders and professional warriors, some of whom were hired as mercenaries, even before the mid-6th century. Society was changing from egalitarian to a military-social hierarchy. Archaeological finds of professional warriors and leaders were found mainly in Southeastern and Eastern Europe, in cultures like Prague, Ipotești–Cândești, Penkovka, and Kolochin. In the Prague culture, elite items often came from or imitated the Avars, while other cultures had influences from the Byzantine and Roman-Germanic (Lombards) worlds.

In 550, a small Slavic group of about 3,000 men invaded Thrace, winning several battles against the Byzantines and capturing fortresses. Mentions of larger Slavic forces and Byzantine losses suggest a well-organized and numerous Slavic population.

Writing

Main article: Pre-Christian Slavic writing

The existence of writing among the Early Slavs is debated. They passed down stories and legends orally like most tribal peoples in Europe. However, they may have used a runic script.

The 9th-century Bulgarian writer Chernorizets Hrabar mentioned that before becoming Christian, Slavs used a system of strokes and incisions, or tallies and sketches. After converting to Christianity, they used Roman and Greek letters unsystematically. He questioned how well Slavic could be written with Greek letters and noted this continued for many years.

Symbols

Early Slavs had many symbols representing concepts, beliefs, and gods. These symbols were found in large numbers and variety, possibly due to influences from steppe and Roman cultures. They included types of swastikas and similar shapes, such as the kolovrat, meaning "spinning wheel." The swastika, both right-facing and left-facing, appeared in Zarubintsy, Kyiv, and Proto-Slavic cultures. The kolovrat stood for the sun and the ongoing cycle of life, death, and birth. It was often carved on markers near graves to represent eternal life.

Gromovitit Znaci were symbols linked to Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and sky. Early Slavic homes often had these symbols carved into beams to protect against lightning. The circular shape represented ball lightning. These symbols were also found on Slavic pottery from the 4th century. Another symbol connected to Perun is the Perunika, resembling a six-petalled rose. Today, it is the name for a flower in some Slavic languages.

The hands of God were another ancient symbol, associated with the god Svarog.

Ancient symbols like these are still sometimes seen on clothing, especially in Russia. Many examples are described in women's folk costumes from the Meshchera Lowlands. Modern Rodonovers have created new symbols not used by Early Slavs, but many are based on old ones.

Burial practices

The Slavs burned their dead. While the Slavic funeral pyre was seen as a way to quickly and publicly free the soul from the body, archaeological evidence shows that South Slavs adopted burial practices from their post-Roman Balkan neighbors.

Ibn Rusta described their practices: "They burn their dead...The day after the funeral of a man, after he has been burned, they collect the ashes and put them in an urn, which is buried on a hill. After a year, they place twenty hives, more or less, on the hill. The family gathers and eats and drinks there and then everyone goes home."

Religion

Main articles: Slavic mythology, List of Slavic mythological figures, and Christianization of the Slavs

Little is known about Slavic religion before the Christianization of Bulgaria and Kievan Rus. After Christianization, Slavic leaders destroyed many records of the old religion. Some evidence remains in stories, the meanings of Slavic religious words, and the Primary Chronicle.

Worship of ancestors was important in pre-Christian Slavic religion.

Early Slavic religion was relatively uniform: animistic, anthropomorphic, and inspired by nature. The Slavs created cults around natural objects like springs, trees, or stones, respecting the spirit within. Slavic pre-Christian religion was originally polytheistic, with no organized pantheon. While early Slavs had a weak idea of God, this evolved into a form of monotheism where a "supreme god ruled in heaven over the others." There is no evidence of beliefs in fate or predestination.

Slavic paganism combined and shared elements with other religions. Linguistic evidence shows that some Slavic pagan beliefs developed when Balts and Slavs shared a common language, containing elements also found in Baltic religions. After the Slavic and Baltic languages separated, early Slavs interacted with Iranian peoples and adopted aspects of Iranian spirituality. Early Iranian and Slavic supreme gods were seen as givers of wealth, unlike thunder gods in other European religions. Both Slavs and Iranians had demons with similar names (Iranian Daêva and Slavic Divŭ) and a concept of dualism: good and evil.

Pre-Christian Slavic spirits and demons could be independent beings or spirits of the dead, linked to homes or nature. Forest spirits, independent beings, were honored as counterparts to home spirits, usually connected to ancestors. Demons and spirits could be good or evil, indicating a dualistic cosmology. They were revered with sacrifices and gifts. Spirits included Leshy, the forest spirit; Domovoy, the home spirit; Rusalka, the water spirit; Rarog, a Slavic version of the phoenix; and creatures like vilas, vampires, and Baba Yaga.

Though evidence of pre-Christian Slavic worship is limited (suggesting it was aniconic), religious sites and idols are most common in Ukraine and Poland. Slavic temples and indoor worship places were rare, with outdoor sites more frequent, especially in Kievan Rus. Outdoor cultic sites were often on hills and included ringed ditches. Indoor shrines existed: "Early Russian sources... refer to pagan shrines or altars known as kapishcha" and were small, enclosed structures with an altar inside. One was found in Kiev, surrounded by bones of sacrificed animals. Some pagan temples were recorded as destroyed during Christianization, and many worship sites were turned into churches.

Records of pre-Christian Slavic priests, like pagan temples, appeared later. While no early evidence of Slavic pre-Christian priests has been found, the presence of sorcerers and magicians after Christianization suggests that pre-Christian Slavs had religious leaders. Slavic pagan priests were thought to talk with gods, predict the future, and lead religious rituals. Pagan priests, or magicians (known as volkhvy by the Rus' people), resisted Christianity after its introduction. The Primary Chronicle describes a campaign against Christianity in 1071 during a famine. The volkhvy were respected nearly 100 years after Christianization, indicating that pagan priests held important positions in 1071 and in pre-Christian times.

Later history

Christianization

See also: Saints Cyril and Methodius

Christianization started in the 7th century and finished in the 12th century. Some Slavs in the Balkans became part of the Byzantine Empire and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. The most important work happened in the mid-800s. In 864, Boris I made Bulgaria officially Christian. Because of Bulgaria's important location, both the Greek East and the Latin West wanted the people to follow their ways. Boris chose to support Constantinople and created an independent Bulgarian national church in 870. Later, Bulgaria became a center for Slavic culture and learning. They created the Cyrillic script in the 800s.

Some East Slavs started becoming Christian earlier, but Kievan Rus' stayed mostly pagan until Vladimir the Great became Christian in the 980s. In Poland, Duke Mieszko I became Christian in 966. In parts of Pomerania, people stayed pagan until the 1100s when they were slowly brought into the Christian faith.

Medieval states

See also: Great Moravia, Samo's Empire, and Kievan Rus'

After becoming Christian, the Slavs formed many kingdoms and principalities. The First Bulgarian Empire began in 681 when Bulgars and Slavs joined together. The South Slavs created places like the Duchy of Croatia and the Principality of Serbia. The West Slavs formed states such as Samo's Empire, Great Moravia, and later the Kingdom of Poland.

After Yaroslav the Wise died in 1054, Kievan Rus' split into smaller parts. Over time, Muscovy grew to become the strongest. Some western areas became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.