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Revision as of 00:08, 7 June 2011
, 00:08, 7 June 2011→Croatian Slavic Identity
Contemporary historian Danijel Dzino states that the 19 century theories of mass movements of people into the old Roman Province of Dalmatia are questionable. Modern Archaeological and Scholarly research seems to be saying that we are looking at much smaller groups of Slavs and Avars invading the region. According to Danijel Dzino the term Slavs was first used by outside observers of the day to describe the newcomers. The Slavs used the term to describe themselves at a later stage. Thus began the construct identity of the new arrivals. Later the Slavic peoples started to identify themselves and separated (or were separated by others) into different groups.
Contemporary historian Danijel Dzino states that the 19 century theories of mass movements of people into the old Roman Province of Dalmatia are questionable. Modern Archaeological and Scholarly research seems to be saying that we are looking at much smaller groups of Slavs and Avars invading the region. According to Danijel Dzino the term Slavs was first used by outside observers of the day to describe the newcomers. The Slavs used the term to describe themselves at a later stage. Thus began the construct identity of the new arrivals. Later the Slavic peoples started to identify themselves and separated (or were separated by others) into different groups.
The issue of dates is an interesting one. Historians from the 18th and 19th century place the arrival of the Slavs into the Western Balkans in the 7th century but the more modern research undertaken by scholars and archaeologists cannot confirm this. The arrival and settlement of the Slavs by some has now been thought to be more in the region of the 8th century or even early 9th century.
In my opinion they could be both correct. The first arrivals may have been with the Slavs and Avars (who were a nomadic people from Eurasian). This first wave of invasion would have been one of many in the region so the Romans would have abandoned their cities and towns (i.e. Epidaurum, Narona and Salona) and altogether their way of life. New cities were established with fortification. Cities such as Ragusa (today called Dubrovnik) and Spalatum later know as Spalato (today called Split). The cities that survived the invasions were fortified. The new arrivals would not have been significant enough to leave an historical footprint other than in the cities and towns of Roman Dalmatia where there remains physical evidence of attacks and raids.
The second wave appears to have been a intermix of Croatian Slavs who arrived later. This invasion was more gradual and slightly larger in numbers however nothing like the great wave of mass movement as describe by the 19th century Historians. By the time of the late 8th century and early 9th century their numbers were large enough to leave an historical footprint. This historical footprint would be the start of the written history as well as the recording of archaeological evidence. The historical footprint is one of settlement.
De Administrando Imperio & 0thers:
De Administrando Imperio (On the Governance of the Empire) by Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos is a book that was written between 948 and 952. It contains advice on running the empire as well as fighting foreign enemies. Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos was the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, sometimes known simply by its contemporaries as the Roman Empire. Today it is now know as The Byzantine Empire.
Porphyrogennetos would have written in terms of political identity rather than ethnicity. It was the Greco-Roman way. For a reader from the 10 century the book would have a different meaning than read by scholars from the 18th and 19th century.
