Ethnic Groups in Balkans - South Slavs (Paperback)

Chapters: South Slavs. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 66. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live mainly in the Balkans. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the southern Pannonian Plain, the eastern Alps and the Balkan peninsula and they speak South Slavic languages. Numbering close to 35 million, the South Slavs include Bosnians, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes. Little is known about the Slavs before the 5th century AD. Their history prior to this can only be tentatively hypothesized via archeological and linguistic studies. Much of what we know about their history after the 500s is from the works of Byzantine historians. In his work De Bellis, Procopius portrays the Slavs as unusually tall and strong, with a tan complexion and reddish-blonde hair, living a rugged and primitive life. They lived in huts, often distant from one another and often changed their place of abode. They were not ruled by a single leader, but for a long time lived in a "democracy" (i.e. anarchy). They probably believed in many Gods, but Procopius suggests they believed in one, perhaps supreme god. He has often been identified as Perun, the creator of lightning. The Slavs went into battle on foot, charging straight at their enemy, armed with spears and small shields, but they did not wear armour. This information is supplanted by Pseudo-Marice's work Strategikon, describing the Slavs as a numerous but disorganised and leaderless people, resistant to hardship and not allowing themselves to be enslaved or conquered. They made their homes in forests, by rivers and wetlands. Jordanes states that the Slavs "have their homelands on the Danube, not far from the northern bank." Subsequent information about e...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=284345