__NOTOC__ The Serboi ( grc, Σέρβοι, Sérboi) was a tribe mentioned in Greco-Roman geography as living in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

, believed by scholars to have been

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...

Etymology

Moszyński derived the name from Indo-European ''*ser-'', ''*serv-'', meaning "guard, protect" (cognate of Latin ''servus''), and originally, it may have meant "guardians of animals", that is "shepherds". Similar toponyms were mentioned earlier farther away.

History

Greco-Roman

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(100–170) mentioned in his ''

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

'' (ca. 150) the Serboi as inhabiting, along with other tribes, the land between the northeastern foothills of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

and the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

. The tribe was included on maps of the antique

Sarmatia Asiatica Sarmatia Asiatica ("Asiatic Sarmatia") was the name used in Ptolemy's ''Geography (Ptolemy), Geography'' (ca. 150) for a part of "Sarmatia", a large region which included parts of Europe and Asia. Another part was Sarmatia Europea ("European Sarmat ...

as ''Serbi'', ''Sirbi'', in the Early modern period. The

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...

were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g.

Slavicisation Slavicisation or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something Slavic into a non-Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. To a lesser degree, it also means acculturation or adoption of something non-Slavic into Slavic culture or terms. Th ...

) and absorbed by the

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...

population of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

around the Early Medieval Age. Scholars have connected the ethnonym with those of the Slavic peoples of

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

and

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

in Europe. There is a theory that "Horoati" and their kin Serboi fled a Hunnic invasion into southern Poland and southeast Germany where they were assimilated by

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

, and by the time of the 7th-century Slavic migration to the Balkans were completely

Slavicized Slavicisation or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something Slavic into a non-Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. To a lesser degree, it also means acculturation or adoption of something non-Slavic into Slavic culture or terms. Th ...

. Others believe that the tribe may in fact have been

early Slavic The early Slavs were a diverse group of Tribe, tribal societies who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central and Eastern Europe and established the foundations for th ...

, as noted by Lithuanian-American archaeologist

Marija Gimbutas Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, ...

(1921–1994), and others. While some Serbian historians treat them as a Sarmatian tribe that was part of the Proto-Serb ethnogenesis, some more fringe theories treat them as a historical Serb tribe, pushing the Serbs' history further into antiquity. In 10th century, Byzantine emperor

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Kar ...

Porphyrogennetos mentions in his book ''De Ceremoniis'' two tribes named Krevatades (Krevatas) and Sarban (Sarbani) located in the Caucasus near

Alania Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania, from its independence from th ...

. There were most likely the original Sarmatian tribes, but some researches identify them with the Croats and Serbs respectively.Parameśa Caudhurī, India in Kurdistan, Qwality Book Company, 2005, page 79.
/ref>The Slavs: their early history and civilization, Francis Dvornik, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1959, page 28.
/ref>

Annotations

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Scythia Tribes in Greco-Roman historiography Sarmatian tribes Alans History of the Serbs

Etymology

History

See also

Annotations

References

Sources