The Zeriuani or Zeruiani was an unknown Slavic tribe mentioned by the 9th-century Bavarian Geographer (BG). It states that the Zeruiani "which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and trace their origin". It was the first Latin source to claim that all Slavs have originated from the same homeland. [1]
Zeruiani tantum est reguum, ut ex eo cunctae gentes Sclavorum exortae sint, et originem, sicut affirmant, ducant [2]
Zeruiani which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and trace their origin [3]
The tribe and its territory has not been identified and localized yet. [4]
While 19th century scholars assumed to have been connected to early Serbs (although they are already mentioned in the same source as Surbi), [2] [3] [5] [6] [7] [8] Czech anthropologist Lubor Niederle and Polish historian Kazimierz Tymieniecki also considered it as a corruption of either Sarmatians or Severians. [9] Modern Polish scholars like Henryk Łowmiański argued it as a corrupted form of the name of the Severians. It is argued that the connections with the Serbs is impossible because the Northern Serbs lived on other part of Europe which also doesn't fit with the list, [10] and the Serbian ethnonym was never written with the Slavic suffix -jane (-eani), while the tribal name of the Severians was written in both collective Sever and plural Severjane form, etymologically implying Severian tribes. Gerard Labuda considered those tribes arrived from the Lesser Poland and western Ukraine, while Ryszard Kiersnowski assumed the Zeriuani were a relic of a large group which lived along the river Oder, but as there was no recorded tribe with such a name in those parts it also indicates the Ruthenian and Balkan Severians. [11] A more probable etymological derivation of both Zeriuani and Zuierani, although their mutual connection is doubtful, [10] is proposed by Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński and many others, relating them to Cherven Cities and hydronym *Czerwia. [4] [12] [13] However, based on the location of other tribes and phenomenological reasons, it is also possible to be a corruption of the name of Drevlians. [4]
Sorbs are an indigenous West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg. Sorbs traditionally speak the Sorbian languages, which are closely related to Czech, Polish, Kashubian, Silesian, and Slovak. Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized minority languages in Germany.
The Severians, also Severyans, Siverians, or Siverianians were a tribe or tribal confederation of early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the middle Dnieper River and southeast of the Danube River. They are mentioned by the Bavarian Geographer, Emperor Constantine VII (956–959), the Khazar ruler Joseph, and in the Primary Chronicle (1113).
The epithet "Bavarian Geographer" is the conventional name for the anonymous author of a short Latin medieval text containing a list of the tribes in Central-Eastern Europe, headed Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii.
Svarog is a Slavic god of fire and blacksmithing, who was once interpreted as a sky god on the basis of an etymology rejected by modern scholarship. He is mentioned in only one source, the Primary Chronicle, which is problematic in interpretation. He is presented there as the Slavic equivalent of the Greek god Hephaestus. The meaning of his name is associated with fire. He is the father of Dazhbog and Svarozhits.
The Drevlians or Derevlianians were a tribe of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th centuries, which inhabited the territories of Polesia and right-bank Ukraine, west of the eastern Polans and along the lower reaches of the rivers Teteriv, Uzh, Ubort, and Stsviha. To the west, the Drevlians' territories reached the Sluch River, where the Volynians and Buzhans lived. To the north, the Drevlians' neighbors were the Dregovichs.
The Buzhans were one of the tribal unions of Early Slavs, which supposedly formed East Slavs in Southern Russia and Volga region. They are mentioned as Buzhane in the Primary Chronicle. Several localities in Russia are claimed to be connected to the Buzhans, like for example Sredniy Buzhan in the Orenburg Oblast, Buzan and the Buzan river in the Astrakhan Oblast.
The Serbs trace their history to the 6th and 7th-century Balkan migration of the Early Slavs. These migrants absorbed the local Byzantines, mostly descendants of different paleo-Balkan peoples, but also of other former Roman citizens, and later established various states throughout the Middle Ages.
The Vistulans, or Vistulanians, were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland.
Radogost is, according to medieval chroniclers, the god of the Polabian Slavs, whose temple was located in Rethra. In modern scientific literature, however, the dominant view is that Radogost is a local nickname or a local alternative name of the solar god Svarozhits, who, according to earlier sources, was the chief god of Rethra. Some researchers also believe that the name of the town, where Svarozhits was the main deity, was mistakenly taken for a theonym. A popular local legend in the Czech Republic is related to Radogost.
The White Croats, also known simply as Croats, were a group of Early Slavic tribes that lived among other West and East Slavic tribes in the historical region of Galicia north of the Carpathian Mountains, in modern western Ukraine, Lesser Poland, Eastern Slovakia, and Northeastern Bohemia.
Podaga is a Polabian deity who had his statue in a temple in Plön. Mentioned only in Helmold's Chronicle, which does not give a depiction or function of the deity.
Among the Slavs there are many modes of idolatry and not all of them coincide with the same kind of superstition. Some create in their temples statues of fantastic forms, such as the idol of Plön, who is called Podaga, others live in forests and groves, as is the case of the god Prone of Oldenburg, of whom no image exists.
The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic languages diversified into their historically attested forms over the 10th to 14th centuries.
The Lendians were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Europe geography was often vague, they were recorded by different names, which include Lendzanenoi, Lendzaninoi, Lz’njn, Lachy, Lyakhs, Landzaneh, Lendizi, Licicaviki and Litziki.
Henryk Łowmiański was a Polish historian and academic who was an authority on the early history of the Slavic and Baltic people. A researcher of the ancient history of Poland, Lithuania and the Slavs in general, Łowmiański was the author of many works, including most prominently the six-volume monumental monograph Początki Polski.
The Serboi was a tribe mentioned in Greco-Roman geography as living in the North Caucasus, believed by scholars to have been Sarmatian.
The Sorbs, also known as White Serbs in Serbian historiography, were an Early Slavic tribe settled between Saale-Elbe valley up to Lusatian Neisse, and part of the Wends. In the 7th century, the tribe joined Samo's Empire and part of them emigrated from their homeland White Serbia to the Balkans. The tribe is last mentioned in the late 10th century, but its descendants are an ethnic group of Sorbs and Serbs.
Praedenecenti was an early medieval Slavic tribe, mentioned only in the Royal Frankish Annals in 822 and 824. They lived in the buffer zone between the Carolingian and Bulgarian empires. The Royal Frankish Annals associated them with the Abodriti, while modern scholars have also connected them to other Slavic tribes, especially the Braničevci or Merehani. The Praedenecenti sought assistance from the Franks against the Bulgars, but they obviously lost their independence because they were not mentioned after 824.
The Sebbirozi was a tribe mentioned by the 9th-century Bavarian Geographer (BG). It states that the Sebbirozi inhabit 90 settlements.
Znetalici was a Slavic tribe mentioned by the 9th-century Bavarian Geographer. They are mentioned as inhabiting 74 civitates (settlements).
Identyfikacja ta nie jest jednak pewna, gdyż w źródle mamy nie Zeufejriani, lecz Zeriuani, co można odczytać jako Zeruiani, gdyż w czasach powstania Geografa Bawarskiego nie stawiano jeszcze kropki nad literą i. Poza tym źródło to nie zachowało się w oryginale. Ponieważ spółgłoska wargowa -Zamieszała się często w wymowie z również wargowym -v- (a raczej -w-), oddawanym w piśmie za pomocą litery -u-, przeto mamy prawo zapis ten odczytać jako Zerbiani, czyli Serbianie i ...