The world of the ancient Slavs
Zdeněk Váňa
Translated by Till Gottheiner
Orbis Publishing, London, 1983
Photographs by Pavel Vácha
Illustrations by Pavel Major
Text by Zdeněk Váňa
Translated by Till Gottheiner
Illustrations and maps by Pavel Major
Photographs by Pavel Vácha (75), Zdeněk Váňa (35), Zdeněk Bureš (1), Olga Hilmerová (1), Alois Kleibl (1), Miroslav Navara (1), Prokop Paul (1), Ann Münchow (1)
Graphic design by Bohuslav Blažej
Designed and produced by Artia for Orbis Publishing Limited, 20-22 Bedfordbury, London WC2N4BT
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
ISBN 0-85613-474-0
© Artia, Prague 1983
Printed in Czechoslovakia
2/99/72/51-01
CONTENTS
Foreword 7
SEARCHING FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE SLAVS 9
The Oldest Written Records 9
What Philology Can Prove 15
What Archeology Has Revealed 18
When Did the Emergence of the Slavs Take Place? 24
THE GREAT EXPANSION BEGINS 29
The Settlement of Central Europe 29
The Advance into the Balkans 38
Slav Colonization of Eastern Europe 45
BETWEEN THE FRANKISH AND BYZANTINE EMPIRES AND THE NOMADS 53
The Slavs and the Nomad Tribes 53
The Pressure of the Great Powers and the First Organized States 66
GODS, DEMONS AND SHRINES 83
The Religious Ideas of the Slavs 83
Temples, Idols and Cults 91
5
A MAJOR MILESTONE IN DEVELOPMENT 105
The Great Moravian Empire and its Centres 105
Pribina's Principality at Nitra and Mosapurc 119
The Croats and Serbs, their Political and Cultural Emergence 125
The First Bulgarian Empire 131
The Early History of Kievan Russia 139
PEASANTS, CRAFTSMEN, MERCHANTS AND WARRIORS 151
Peasants 151
Crafts and Trade 155
Warriors 166
THE CZECHS AND THE POLES – ORIENTATION TOWARDS THE WEST 173
The Bohemian State of the Přemyslids — the Heir to the Great Moravian Empire 174
The Piast State in Poland 193
THE TRAGEDY OF THE NORTH-WESTERN SLAVS 209
The Lusatian Centre at Tornow 213
Timber Fortresses in Mecklenburg 220
Seafarers and Pirates in the Baltic Sea 228
Conclusion 234
Bibliography 235
Index 236