Editing Slavs (section)

====First mentions====
{{Main|Early Slavs}}
{{See also|Vistula Veneti|Spori|Antes (people){{!}}Antes|Sclaveni|Wends|Fatyanovo–Balanovo culture|Middle Dnieper culture|Milograd culture|Zarubintsy culture|Kyiv culture|Prague-Korchak culture|Penkovka culture|Kolochin culture|Ipotești–Cândești culture}}
[[File:Bolgari_sclavi_teracota_Vinitza_FYROM.jpg|thumb|Terracotta tile from the 6th–7th century AD found in [[Vinica, North Macedonia|Vinica]], [[North Macedonia]], depicting a battle scene between the [[Bulgars]] and Slavs, with the Latin inscription BOLGAR and SCLAVIGI<ref>{{cite book |last1= Balabanov |first1= Kosta |title= Vinica Fortress: mythology, religion and history written with clay |date=2011 |publisher=Matica |location=Skopje |pages=273–309}}</ref>]]

[[Ancient Rome | Ancient Roman]] sources refer to the [[Early Slavs|Early Slavic]] peoples as [[Vistula Veneti| "Veneti"]], who dwelt in a region of central Europe east of the [[Germanic Peoples|Germanic]] tribe of [[Suebi]] and west of the Iranian [[Sarmatians]] in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD,<ref>Coon, Carleton S. (1939) ''The Peoples of Europe''. Chapter VI, Sec. 7 New York: Macmillan Publishers.</ref><ref>Tacitus. ''Germania'', page 46.</ref> between the upper [[Vistula]] and [[Dnieper]] rivers. Slavs - called ''[[Antes (people)|Antes]]'' and ''[[Sclaveni]]'' - first appear in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] records in the early 6th century AD. Byzantine historiographers of the era of the emperor [[Justinian I]] ({{reign | 527 | 565}}), such as [[Procopius of Caesarea]], [[Jordanes]] and [[Theophylact Simocatta]], describe tribes of these names emerging from the area of the [[Carpathian Mountains]], the lower [[Danube]] and the [[Black Sea]] to invade the Danubian provinces of the [[Eastern Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Jordanes, in his work ''[[Getica]]'' (written in 551 AD),<ref>Curta 2001: 38. Dzino 2010: 95.</ref> describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He also describes the Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine frontier in the early-6th century.

Procopius wrote in 545 that "the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called ''[[Sporoi]]'' in olden times". The name ''Sporoi'' derives from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] σπείρω ("to [[sowing|sow]]"). He described them as barbarians, who lived under [[democracy]] and believed in one god, "the maker of lightning" ([[Perun]]), to whom they made sacrifice. They lived in scattered housing and constantly changed settlement. In war, they were mainly [[infantry | foot soldier]]s with shields, spears, bows, and little armour, which was reserved mainly for [[Tribal chief | chief]]s and their inner circle of warriors.<ref>{{cite book |last= Barford |first= Paul M |year= 2001 |publisher= Cornell University Press |title = The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe | isbn = 978-0-8014-3977-3 }}</ref> Their language is "barbarous" (that is, not Greek), and the two tribes are alike in appearance, being tall and robust, "while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blond, nor indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in color. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts..."<ref name="ufl" />

Jordanes describes the Sclaveni as having swamps and forests for their cities.<ref name="jordanes1" /> Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly-impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes.<ref name="strategikon" />

[[Menander Protector]] mentions [[Daurentius]] ({{reign | c. 577 | 579}}) who slew an [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] envoy of Khagan [[Bayan I]] for asking the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars; Daurentius declined and is reported as saying: "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs – so it shall always be for us as long as there are wars and weapons".{{sfn|Curta|2001|pp=91–92, 315}}