Photographs by Pavel Vácha. Illustrations by Pavel Major. Translated by Till Gottheiner.
Very few Western publications have appeared that give clear information on the earliest history of the Slavs and their culture. This publication started as a Czech edition (Prague 1977) and was revised and adapted both in text and illustrations. Its aim is to outline in a brief informative survey the beginnings and cultural forms of the Slavs from their ethnogenesis until the emergence of the first states and nations. In view of the considerable progress made by archeological research in recent decades, these finds are given a prominent place but are set in the context of historical development, including other fields of research. Stress is placed on the pictorial documentation, including reconstructions in the form of drawings, which should give a closer insight into the life of the vanished world of the ancient Slavs.
Author(s): Zdeněk Váňa
Publisher: Orbis Publishing
Year: 1983
Language: English
Pages: 240
City: London
Foreword
1. Searching for the origin of the Slavs
The Oldest Written Records — What Philology Can Prove — What Archeology Has Revealed — When Did the Emergence of the Slavs Take Place?
2. The great expansion begins
The Settlement of Central Europe — The Advance into the Balkans — Slav Colonization of Eastern Europe
3. Between the Frankish and Byzantine empires and the nomads
The Slavs and the Nomad Tribes — The Pressure of the Great Powers and the First Organized States
4. Gods, demons and shrines
The Religious Ideas of the Slavs — Temples, Idols and Cults
5. A major milestone in development
The Great Moravian Empire and its Centres — Pribina's Principality at Nitra and Mosapurc — The Croats and Serbs, their Political and Cultural Emergence — The First Bulgarian Empire — The Early History of Kievan Russia
6. Peasants, craftsmen, merchants and warriors
Peasants — Crafts and Trade — Warriors
7. The Czechs and the Poles – orientation towards the West
The Bohemian State of the Přemyslids — the Heir to the Great Moravian Empire — The Piast State in Poland
8. The tragedy of the north-western Slavs
The Lusatian Centre at Tornow — Timber Fortresses in Mecklenburg — Seafarers and Pirates in the Baltic Sea
Conclusion
Bibliography — Index