Slavs and nomadic populations in Greece
The archaeological evidence on the presence of “foreigners” in Greek territory The archaeological evidence can be of major importance for the knowledge and interpretation of human activity during periods of transition, such as the 7th, 8th and partially 9th centuries of the Byzantine era. For this period there are series of finds that had been for a long time attributed by the specialists to foreign populations living within the territories of the Byzantine Empire. There has been especially much debate about the traces the Slavs left in the archaeological record. Earlier analyses of the archaeological evidence related to the Slavs or generally to foreigners within the Byzantine territory have concentrated on two distinct bodies of material: the handmade pottery and the metal dress accessories, specifically bronze fibulae and belt buckles. Concerning the belt buckles made of bronze, despite the various interpretations of the ethnic identity of their users, it became soon clear that these accessories were produced in Byzantine workshops and used by the Byzantines for fastening trousers ( βρακία ) with a belt, a piece of costume which from the end of the 6th and mainly during the 7th century was gradually adopted by large numbers of the Byzantine urban population. More complex is the case of the bronze fibulae and the hand made pottery, for this reason we will discuss these two bodies of material more in detail: I.) Bronze fibulae of the so-called Slavic (or Antic) type have been found in six sites in Greece: a random find is the fibula from Sparta, a surface find is the fibula from the early Byzantine settlement of Messene as well as the fibulae found in Demetrias and Dion. There are only two cases so far of fibulae found in a burial; unfortunately these complexes have been very poorly documented: a pair of fibula was found together with a belt buckle of the so-called Syracuse type in Kouphia Petra, Edessa, while in the Early Byzantine site of Thebes (Nea Anchialos, Thessaly) a fibula came up together with a Byzantine belt buckle in a grave chamber of one of the town’s basilicas. Fibulae of these type cannot be easily associated with the Byzantine population; it is known that the use of a pair of fibulae is a characteristic of the female costume of Germanic peoples but also of peoples of nomadic origin (Alans, Ants) in the region of Crimea and the Ucrainian steppe, but it is nevertheless impossible with the evidence available so far to identify more accurately the origin of persons using this type of fibulae in Greece. These fibulae were circulating since the second half of the 6 th century AD. Until the middle of the 7th century they were being produced probably in workshops within the Byzantine territory and they were used by people of foreign origin. II.) During the period in question (7th - beginning of the 9th century) we can observe the diffusion of hand made pottery in several sites of the Balkans and the coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean. This is a pottery made of coarse clay, formed by hand and not on the potter’s wheel, burned in provisory ovens and of low quality compared to the ceramic products of the Byzantine workshops which are still producing good quality vessels in this period. The presence of this pottery can be associated with the presence of diverse ethnic groups, mainly of Slavic origin, in the area north and south of the Danube in this period. This lead some scholars in naming the pottery “Slavic” or “barbaric” and thus ascribing to it an ethnic identity. The presence of hand made pottery in some Greek sites functioned as the proof for the penetration and settlement of the Slavs on Greek territory, a fact corroborated by the evidence of the written sources. A detailed study of the hand made pottery leads to conclusions showing that the issue is much more complex. Based on the excavation data we may make a distinction of the material in four groups according to its use:
From these four groups only the last one must have been used with certainty by “foreigners” and more specifically Slavs. The urns from the cemetery of Olympia belong to this group. It is difficult to attribute the remaining three categories exclusively to Slavs. Our research showed that hand made pottery was found in areas where Slavs never settled (Cyprus, Carthago) while its chronology is not limited to the 6th-7th century, period of the settlement of the Slavs in Greece, but extends to the 12th – 13th century. This same pottery is being found in the same strata together with coins and good quality contemporary pottery. Thus the finding of a handmade pot in a burial in Corinth found together with a Byzantine sword and a Byzantine belt buckle cannot serve as a means of ethnic identification but only as an indication about the different ethnic origin of the dead soldier. In a grave at the cemetery of Messene a hand made pot was placed at the grave together with a buckle of the Messene type (similar to the Emling type); once more the hand made pot is only an indication about the dead’s origin. As to the few sherds of hand made pottery found in Argos, besides their controversial dating (beginning of the 7th – 8th/ beginning of the 9th century) it is not certain that they were used by the newcomers or by a part of the population of the town of Argos, which of course was not abandoned. Finally the few sherds of hand made pots found in Demetrias, Thessaly or the pots used in the funerary ritual at burial in Palaioboukouvina, Elis could have been produced and used by Slavs or other ethnic groups that had settled in Byzantine territory or even used by the local population. Thus hand made pottery can provide us with valuable information on the co-existing of diverse groups and on the society of the transitional period between Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Period. Metal ornaments as well as ceramic finds can acquire an ethnic identity only under certain circumstances. To this date it has been possible to identify with the help of the archaeological record a Slavic community only in the famous ancient site of Olympia: this community used hand made pottery typologically similar to that from the Slavic sites north of the Danube, dress ornaments such as iron neck rings with formal affiliations in Eastern Europe and buried its dead according to the Slav custom of cremation. The material culture of diverse ethnic groups within the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire still remains elusive for the archaeologist. The reasons are twofold: a gap in the archaeological record, since the Dark Ages in Greece from an archaeological viewpoint have become a subject of study only recently; the nature of the archaeological evidence itself, being scarce and ambiguous. We may hope that further research will shed more light on the material culture of the Dark Ages.
The Slavic Presence in Greek territory (end of the 6th ��� beginning of the 9th century)
The Byzantine historical sources Several written sources of the Byzantine era mention the attacks of Slavs and Avars in Greek territory around the end of the 6th ��� beginning of the 7th century AD. Some of them refer to the settlement of the Slavs in Greece. The most important sources are the Miracula Sancti Demetrii, the chronicle of Monemvasia as well as works from the entourage of Constantine Porphyrogennetos. The Miracula Sancti Demetrii, a text of the 7th century, despite its hagiographic character and the religious purpose for which it was composed, provides us with plenty of information on the military campaigns and settlement of the Slavs on Greek soil. It is also an interesting source for the attacks of Slavs and Avars against the city of Thessaloniki. The narratives of the first book of the Miracula were authored around 620 by the archbishop of Thessaloniki, John, while the narratives of the second book were composed by an anonymous chronographer at the end of the 7th century. The first miracle of the second book of the Miracula describes in reversed order first the dispersion of Slavic tribes in Greek territory and then the third siege of Thessaloniki by the Slavs, which took place in 615. The actual sequence of the historical events mentioned in the miracle is the following:
According to our source after their failure in Thessaloniki the Slavic tribes dispersed and some of them settled in Macedonia, some in Thessaly and others moved towards the South pillaging even the Aegean islands and the Cyclades. These are the tribes of Drogouvites, Sagoudates, Velegezites, Vaiounites and Verzites. According to recent research the Sagoudates and Drogouvites lived in south Macedonia north and south of the mount Vermion, the Verzites lived in northwest Macedonia, the Vaiounites probably in Epirus, while the Velegezites lived in the area of Demetrias in Thessaly. In another episode of the second book of the Miracula two other tribes living in Macedonia are being mentioned, the Strymonites in the area of the river Strymon, east of Thessaloniki and the Rynchinoi, probably to be localized in the straits of Rendina or the lower Aliakmon river. Finally, another source refers to the Smoleanous of Macedonia who settled probably between the upper Nestos and the upper Ardas rivers. The events mentioned in this episode of the Miracula can be divided from an historical point of view in two categories: a) the actual ones referring to the siege of Thessaloniki by the Slavic tribes and b) to the fictitious that refer to the crossing of these tribes to the Cyclades, the whole of Achaia, Epirus, most part of the Illyricum and part of Asia. It is obvious that in order to demonstrate the powerful protection of Saint Demetrius towards Thessaloniki and to enhance the importance of the miracle, the power of the enemy is being exaggerated, who, although inexperienced in sea battles, reaches as far as the Cycladic islands. The compact settlement of Slavs is being attested in the sources, for ex. Theophanes, with the term Sklavinia or Sklavinies. This term refers to areas exclusively inhabited by Slavs with their own leaders and institutions. Later these Slavs either served the Byzantine state or for some reason their self-government was suppressed and they became subject to taxation like the Drogouvites and Sagoudatoi. In the beginning of the 10th century the Slavs of Macedonia were either christianized and co-existing with the Greek population or they lived in mixed villages with Greeks or they served the strategos of the theme of Strymon as experienced archers (Strymonites). The Chronicle of Monemvasia, an important though controversial source of the 10th century, reports of the invasion and settlement of Slavs in the Peloponnese around the end of the 6th century. The Chronicle, after mentioning briefly the raids of Avars during the reigns of Justinian and Maurice, tells us that the Slavs (Avars) occupied Thessaly, Hellas, old Epirus, Attica and Euboea and then invaded the Peloponnese and destroyed or chased away the Greek inhabitants. Those who managed to flee, were obliged to settle on the nearby islands or on mountainous and inaccessible sites of the Peloponnese and others fled to Southern Italy and Sicily. Thus the inhabitants of Patras moved to Reggio Calabria, the Argives to the island of Orovi, the Corinthians to Aegina, the Laconians to Monemvasia etc. According to the Chronicle after the Avars occupied the Peloponnese, they remained there for 218 years; during this period only the eastern part of the Peloponnese remained ���clean��� of Slavs. After the re-conquest of the region by the Byzantines and the restitution of Byzantine authority in the reign of Nicephoros I, the inhabitants of Patras returned to their city which was reconstructed and promoted to a metropolis, the same happened with Lacedaimon, Methoni and Coroni which became bishoprics. The year of the conquest 587-8, mentioned by the Chronicle of Monemvasia, was related initially to the siege of Thessaloniki by the Slavs also reported in the Miracula of St Demetrius. The significant difference of the two texts consists in the chronological distance between the above mentioned events. In the Miracula there is no mention of the settling of Slavs in the Peloponnese before the beginning of the 7th century, on the contrary according to the Chronicle of Monemvasia this took place at the end of the 6th century. Related to the Chronicle of Monemvasia is the Scholion of Arethas preserved on a manuscript written on his order in 931-932. This source is of interest because it was written by Arethas, a native of Patras, is dated with accuracy and focuses on events taking place in Patras. Arethas knew the content of the Chronicle, which was composed probably in Patras, and relied on it for the composition of his own work. Finally Constantine Porphyrogennetos in his De thematibus while noting that the great pest of 746 that came from the West, had an extremely high death toll and this enabled the settlement of the Slavs in the area, in his other work De administrando imperio makes clear that part of the Peloponnese is not inhabited by Slavs but by Greeks. During the 218 years that the Slavic occupation lasted, that is from 587-8 to 805-6 the largest part of the Peloponnese was in the hands of the Slavs, so that ���the Romans were not able to put their feet on its soil��� according to the Patriarch Nikolaos III. This statement is contradictory to our other textual source, the Scholion of Arethas, since in the Scholion it is being admitted that the eastern part of the Peloponnese was clear from Slavs, while on the other hand the patriarch claims that the Byzantines were unable to access the Peloponnese. The discovery of the Scholion left at a first stage no doubt as to the authenticity of the Chronicle and lead scholarship to research about its purpose of composition and the identification of exaggerations or inexactitudes etc. Thus it has been noted that the purpose of the author of the Chronicle was the showcasing of the claims of the metropolis of Patras which for the first time becomes equal to that of Corinth. In consequence it is evident why in the Chronicle the duration of the Slavic settlement in the Peloponnese is being exaggerated, so that the claims can be better justified. The Chronicle states clearly that only the western part of the Peloponnese was under occupation, while in the eastern part Byzantine power was maintained without interruption. We should point out that the Chronicle of Monemvasia and the Miracula of St Demetrius are not a reliable source concerning the time and mode of the events that took place but a reflection of the historical reality people of that era were experiencing living within a theocratic ideology. The sources we have been discussing should be confronted with the archaeological evidence brought into light and which can probably help us substantiate the pros or contras concerning the reliability of the Chronicle and other sources like the Miracula of Saint Demetrius. The Slavic tribes mentioned in the Byzantine sources contemporary or later (Miracula of Saint Demetrius, Chronicle of Monemvasia, the works of Theophanes and Constantine Porphyrogennetos) as living in areas of the Greek territory since the beginning of the 7th century are being found mainly in Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly and the Peloponnese. Some of these settlements mentioned in the Byzantine written sources can be localized through archaeological evidence in the Peloponnese; this is the case in Olympia in the Western Peloponnese (cemetery with incineration urns); the presence of Slavs or ���foreigners��� can be postulated in other sites: Messene (a handmade pot and a fibula were found), in Corinth (a hand made pot found together with a knife and a Byzantine sword), Sparta (a bronze fibula) and Palaioboukouvina (hand made vessels and knives). (See also the report of Natalia Poulou-Papademetriou ��� Christina Katsougiannopoulou). The presence of Slavs may be corroborated by archaeological finds from Thessaly: Demetrias (hand made pottery and a fibula) and Central Macedonia, in Dion (fibula) and in Kouphia Petra in Edessa (a pair of fibulae found together with a knife and a Byzantine belt buckle in a burial). There are no finds so far that can be related with some certainty to the Slavs from the Cyclades or the other Aegean islands. In any case the ability of the Slavs to reach the islands must have been very limited, a fact corroborated by the absence of archaeological finds as well as the absence of Slavic place names.
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