Original Slavic homeland (modern-day southeastern Poland, northwestern Ukraine and
southern Belarus)
Expansion of the Slavic migration in Europe
Origins
First mentions
Main article: Early Slavs
See also: Vistula Veneti, Spori, Antes, Sclaveni, and Wends
Terracotta tile from the 6th–7th century AD found in Vinica, North
Macedonia, depicting a battle scene between the Bulgars and Slavs, with the Latin inscription BOLGAR
and SCLAVIGI[15]
Ancient Roman sources refer to the Early Slavic peoples as Veneti, who dwelt in a region of central
Europe east of the Germanic tribe of Suebi, and west of the Iranian Sarmatians in the 1st and 2nd
centuries AD,[16][17] between the upper Vistula and Dnieper rivers. The Slavs under name of
the Antes and the Sclaveni first appear in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Byzantine
historiographers under emperor Justinian I (527–565), such as Procopius of
Caesarea, Jordanes and Theophylact Simocatta describe tribes of these names emerging from the area
of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea, invading the Danubian provinces of
the Eastern Empire.[ citation needed ]
Jordanes, in his work Getica (written in 551 AD),[18] describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose
dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He also describes the
Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine
frontier in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that "the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a
single name in the remote past; for they were both called Sporoi in olden times". The
name Sporoi derives from Greek σπείρω ("to sow"). He described them as barbarians, who lived under
democracy, believed in one god, "the maker of lightning" (Perun), to whom they made a sacrifice. They
lived in scattered housing and constantly changed settlement. In war, they were mainly foot
soldiers with shields, spears, bows, and little armour, which was reserved mainly for chiefs and their
inner circle of warriors.[19] Their language is "barbarous" (that is, not Greek), and the two tribes are alike
in appearance, being tall and robust, "while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blond, nor
indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in color. And they live a
hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts..."[20] Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and
forests for their cities.[21] Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly-impenetrable
forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes.[22]