I
The Settlement of Serbs on the Balkans and the
First State
The territory of the Balkan peninsula, which the Serbs - a
Slavic tribe - were to settle and in it create their states, was
inhabited from time immemorial. Scientists believe that today's
Western and Central European countries were inhabited already in
the first period of the Pleistocene (Diluvial, Ice Age), and the
man appeared in the Balkans in the period of the last glaciation
(Alp glaciation - Wuerm) During those cold climates, 40.000
years ago, perpetual ice descended on 1.500 meters above
sea-level.
The first communities at the time inhabited caves. Research on
these caves, in particular the one under the Jerinini hill in
the villages of Gradac and Risovace on Vencac, allows us to
recreate their lifestyle. The communities had 10-15 members
each, from one to three biological families, who lived chiefly
off hunting and fruit gathering. The man, already a Homo
sapiens, shaped stone and bones into implements and weapons. He
first hunted large herbivores (huge deer, wild horses, and
cattle), but when climatic conditions changed (when the
prearctic climate prevailed) he hunted mammoths, rhinoceroses,
lions and hyenas. Owing to an extremely cold spell, (glaciation
Wuerm 3) around 25.000 years B.C., caves were abandoned and
human life ceased. The first chapter in the history in human
life in communities on the territory of Serbia is thus closed.
The next phase began in changed climatic conditions, at the
close of the Ice Age (a new geological epoch - the Holocene).
Research conducted on archeological sites in Djerdap has
confirmed that one of the most complex cultures of the
pre-historic era developed there, named the culture of the Lepen
Whirl (7000-5500 years B.C.) after a large whirlpool in the
Danube river. The oldest people lived in settlements, in
communities of two to four biological families. Subsequently, as
the population expanded, settlements were built on an
established pattern. Burial places were outside the settlements.
The quality of implements and weaponry improved. Many finds
point to the existence of private ownership, social hierarchy,
religion, art. In the field of production they retained
traditional methods in obtaining food and never became farmers
or stockbreeders.
Communities on Serbian soil dating from the second period of the
Stone Age (Paleolithic) developed cultures of the latest period
of the Stone Age (Neolithic) which, besides the
hunting-gathering economy, cultivated farming and stockbreeding.
This was certainly the result of a warmer climate. The Neolithic
culture expanded north and south of the Sava and Danube rivers,
from 5300 to 3200 B.C., and the most important sites are at
Starcevo and Vinca. Based on archeological excavation, it can be
assumed that these communities built their houses in
juxtaposition, pasting them with a mixture of mud and weed.
Floors were made of pressed earth, and roofs from brushwood and
thatch. Households had a variety of dishes. Implements and
weaponry were made of polished stone, and ornaments from shells.
The communities, which formed the cultures of Starcevo and Vinca,
were subject to migrations for internal, but also external
motives. Thus, with the arrival of people from Anatolia and
Pannonia, the ethnic and cultural picture changed and the Vinca
communities disappeared, their place taken by others who
employed metal, marking the beginning of a new epoch in human
history.
Around 1900 B.C. the first centers of culture in the Bronze Age
were set up in Banat (moriska), Srem (vinkovacka), northwestern
Serbia (Belotic-Bela Crkva), the southern Morava River basin (Bubanj-Hum
III Slatina). Communities of Bronze Age, inhabiting expanses
north and south of the Sava and Danube lived in peace for
centuries. Their life was upset around 1425 B.C. with the
penetration of people from the north (the culture of grave
mounds) who had bronze weapons - swords, daggers, axes/ Those
movements continued in the following centuries, reaching as far
as Egypt. Archeological finds dating from 1125 to 750 B.C. lead
to the conclusion that a new culture was developing - the Iron
Age - together with the formation of the first ethnic groups
known in history within the Balkan peninsula> Dardanians,
Tribals, Illyrians and Thracians.
From 1200 to 1000 B.C. in Kosovo, the Morava River basin, Srem,
Backa and Banat uniform settlements were built, the dishes were
the same, and the burial custom identical. Farming was already
developed, wheat and barley were grown, and cattle, pigs and
horses were largely kept, much less sheep and goats. The Iron
Age on Serbian soil was linked with the arrival of
Thrako-Kimercis from the Caucasus-Pont regions about 750 B.C.
They brought with them cultural goods, such as weapons and
ornaments made of iron. Over the next 200 years the Iron Age
culture grew stable and clear distinctions were drawn between
ethnic groups. In time active trade was established between
ethnic and cultural groups that started undergoing
stratification. Archeological sites uncovering luxury items
produced in Greece provide evidence of this. Rich finds testify
to the Hellenization of the Tribals and Dardanians. They did not
disappear since in the coming centuries they waged wars against
Macedonian kings. From 300-100 B.C., the Dardanians, historical
sources say, retained their individuality and self-awareness, as
witness the extraordinary dating from the 3rd century A.D.
The arrival of Celts and the breakthrough of the Hellenic
civilization marked the later period of the Iron Age on Serbian
soil. Celtic emissaries met Alexander the Great by the Danube in
335 B.C., and after his death crossed the Sava and Danube. Their
devastation throughout Dardani, Macedonia and central Greece
were cut short after a Greek victory at the Delphi in 279 B.C.
During their retreat, and in the following decades, the Celts
conquered Tribal and part of the Autariat territory, together
forming a powerful tribe called Skordiska. They were the first
to build a settlement on the territory of Belgrade. At the
beginning of the new era the Romans took all the lands of the
Balkan Peninsula, conquered both the Dardanians and Skordiskans,
but did not destroy their culture. The old Balkan tribes, nearly
three hundred years old, lived autochthonously, though under
Roman rule, and nurtured their traditional culture. Only
subsequently did they become part of the political and cultural
history of the Roman Empire.
By the Roman administrative division, the largest part of the
present-day Serbia was a province called Gornja Mezija. This
province served as a platform for Emperor Trayan to cross the
Danube at Ram and Tekija with his army, conquer Decane and
establish the Dakija province. At the close of the first century
A.D., the Roman Empire boasted the greatest territory. New
cities were founded and old ones strengthened in Mezija and
Pannonia. Cities at the Danube became important defense posts
when the Romans withdrew from Dakija (about 272 A.D.) and
fortified themselves on the right bank of the Danube. Regardless
of the organization of the Romans and the strength of their
boundaries (limites), barbarian tribes continually raided the
border provinces, which permanently weakened the Empire.
After the division of the Roman Empire in 395 A.D. into the
Western and Eastern (Byzantium), the latter inherited the
continual struggle with barbarians at the Danube. During the
reign of Justinian (527-565), the situation settled, but then an
onslaught of Avars and Slavs followed, whose plundering were
stopped only after their defeat at Constantinopole in 626. Among
the Slavic tribes were the Serbs. According to a Byzantine
source, Tsar Traklije (610-641) allowed them to settle around
Salonika, which they did, subsequently withdrawing from it to
the north. The same source also testifies that the first Serbian
princes (arhonti) were called Viseslav, Radoslav, Prosigoj and
Vlastimir.
The ancient history of Serbia, until the rule of Nemanja, was
marked by continual fighting either with Bulgaria or with
Byzantium, and internal struggles for power among Serbian
princes - members of the same family. The supreme rule in
Byzantium was conducive to the Hristianization of Serbs in the
second half of the 9th century, mainly the work of Cyril and
Methodius, From the third decade of the 12th century; Hungary
became the third state to affect the history of Serbs. In the
Hungarian-Byzantine struggles from 1165-1167, the name of Stefan
Nemanja was mentioned for the first time. In the first years of
his reign, Nemanja ruled over Toplice, Ibar, Rasina and Reka.
After a conflict with his brother Tihomir, he became the grand
zupan of Raska, probably in 1166. Nemanja`s attempts to achieve
independence resulted in a conflict with Tsar Manojlo I Komnin
of Byzantium. The Tsar won; Nemanja was taken prisoner to
Constantinople, but returned to Serbia remaining loyal, as
vassal, to Tsar Manojlo I until his death in 1180.
During 1180-1190, Nemanja succeeded, with an offensive policy
and making avail of Byzantium`s troubles (the Bulgarian
uprising, the Crusades), to considerably expand the Serbian
state. He conquered Metohija and Kosovo in the south. Further
expansion came with the annexation of the Nis region, Dubocica,
Vranje, Binicka Morava, land to the east of Juzna Morava and
Reka. Regions between Zapadna and Velika Morava (Levac, Belica,
Lepenica) were also adjoined. To the west, Nemanja took Duklja
with the coastal cities (Ulcinj, Bar, Kotor) and entrusted his
son Vukan to rule over them, The attempts of Nemanja and his
brothers, Miroslav and Stracimir, to conquer Dubrovnik, bore no
fruits. Thus, Nemanja established and consolidated his rule in
lands from Kotor to Sofia, with the center in Ras where Serbian
Bishops Jevtimije and Kalinik had their seat. During his reign,
Nemanja generously assisted the clergy, and left behind large
endowments.
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