Early Slavs

[hoplite14gr]

Symbolic, yes definately.

one of them-- rather hyper thyroid and classic blonde-- swinging various weapons as the ultimate Rusky femme "fatal."

Alanus, A.J.

Yes but she was scared wiles infrond of the futre mother in law

Mothers in law are supposed to be more teerible than some German knights :twisted:

Kind regards

[Alanus]

Yes. I know.
But I was lucky. Three wives (one Rusky), but only two mothers in law. :lol:

Alanus, A.J. Campbell

[kuura]

Eye witness accounts describe the Slavs as being Ill armed with bows, spears axes and a few swords. No mention of shields which is strange as accounts of them at Thessaloniki in 597 state they had round shields and large ones the height of a man, possibly rectangular? They were also described as being half naked during the siege, perhaps stripping down to trousers/breeches during the siege works.

A little bit off topic:

Is bishop John's account of the siege of Thessaloniki available online?
I would like to read it because there are few eyewitness account's of ancient sieges...and in this case it is the first description of a traction trebuchet!

Sorry for late reply, not been checking in for months (shameful :roll: )

Yep here you go

http://members.tripod.com/%7EGroznijat/ ... yonis.html

[g_b]

Sorry for late reply, not been checking in for months (shameful :roll: )

Yep here you go

http://members.tripod.com/%7EGroznijat/ ... yonis.html

Thanks!

[The Barbarian at the gate]

Eye witness accounts describe the Slavs as being Ill armed with bows, spears axes and a few swords. No mention of shields which is strange as accounts of them at Thessaloniki in 597 state they had round shields and large ones the height of a man, possibly rectangular? They were also described as being half naked during the siege, perhaps stripping down to trousers/breeches during the siege works.

A little bit off topic:

Is bishop John's account of the siege of Thessaloniki available online?
I would like to read it because there are few eyewitness account's of ancient sieges...and in this case it is the first description of a traction trebuchet!

I'm interested in the ethnogenesis of Serbs inhabiting the modern day region of Serbia and Montenegro. I am wondering if it can be considered as originating with the second phase of the Migrations period with Slavic movement to the Eastern Byzantine Empire from White Serbia in roughly Polish lands in the 6th century. Despite the proximity and influence of Thessalonika and Naissus, it appears the Slavic movement used superior numbers and took advantage of the reduced resistance from the local population in the East Roman Empire due to the the Plague of Justinian. The multiple sieges of Thessaloniki must have cemented them in the region.

It becomes a bit muddy when the Slavs arrived in Byzantinian lands and encountered local Greco-Roman tribes, which seems to have resulted in their synthesis with the local culture. It becomes clouded further with the rash of invaders throughout the regions history (the Turks, Frankish, Bulgarian, Ottomans, etc). I don't really know how distinct the Serb/Slav groups remained from the invading forces.

I suppose what I'm asking is what cultural origin do Serbs identify most strongly with?

I'm new to the subject so please be gentle with any misinterpretations I have made so far.

[kuura]

Eye witness accounts describe the Slavs as being Ill armed with bows, spears axes and a few swords. No mention of shields which is strange as accounts of them at Thessaloniki in 597 state they had round shields and large ones the height of a man, possibly rectangular? They were also described as being half naked during the siege, perhaps stripping down to trousers/breeches during the siege works.

A little bit off topic:

Is bishop John's account of the siege of Thessaloniki available online?
I would like to read it because there are few eyewitness account's of ancient sieges...and in this case it is the first description of a traction trebuchet!

I suppose what I'm asking is what cultural origin do Serbs identify most strongly with?

I think you would have to ask a Serb can of worms and all that
:wink:

[Martin Wallgren]

Johannes Magnus in his book 'History of all the Kings of Gotland and Sweden' mentions a large fleet of Baltic tribes to include Estonians, Curonians and Ulmigeri (Prussians) attacking the coast of Sweden in 410. This collective force was apparently dispersed by Tordo the thiry third King of Sweden.

I wouldn´t trust that as historical at all though!

[Martin Wallgren]

I couldn't agree more. I read a paper the other day on the genetics of the baltic region. They showed that about 1/3 of Swedes have a type that is usually associated with slavic groups. They didn't conjecture as to when this element entered.

This is probally true! But not because there where slavic people here before the Germanic speakers. The natives here is sami. The high presetiage is probally due to the fact that most of the slaves or thralls of eastern scandinavia was from slavic speaking stock. And of course all the raids and wars in the 18th century (rape and such you know).