Jožko Šavli (March 22, 1943March 11, 2011) was a Slovene author, self-declared

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and high school teacher in economic sciences from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Šavli was born in

Tolmin Tolmin (; ,trilingual name ''Tolmein, Tolmino, Tolmin'' inGemeindelexikon, der im Reichsrate Vertretenen Königreiche und Länder. Bearbeit auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1900. Herausgegeben von der K.K. Statistische ...

, then part of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

(now in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

). He obtained a degree in business management at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

in 1967. Then he continued his studies at the Vienna School of International Trade ("Hochschule für Welthandel"), where in 1975 he obtained a doctorate in social and economic sciences with a thesis on the economic structure and regional economic development in the district of Horn in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

.Catalogue of the Austrian National Library:
Josef Savli, ''Wirtschaftsstruktur und regionale Wirtschaftsentwicklung im politischen Bezirk Horn (NÖ)'', unpublished dissertation, Hochschule für Welthandel, Vienna 1975 From 1978 he taught business subjects at the

Slovene language Slovene ( or ) or Slovenian ( ; ) is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic language of the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. Most of its 2.5 million speakers are the ...

Technical School of Commerce in

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

. Šavli became known in Slovenia in the mid-1980s, when he advanced the Venetic theory, together with the poet Matej Bor. According to the theory, the Slovenes were not descended from the

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

that settled the region in the 6th century, but that they were descended from a proto- Slavic speaking people known as the Veneti. The theory was rejected in academic circles, but nevertheless gained widespread popularity in Slovenia, as well as some interest abroad. Already in the early 1980s, Šavli began to publish articles and essays that concerned in particular traditions of the Medieval state of Carantania. In his books, Šavli emphasized the political and cultural continuity between the proto-Slovene state of Carantania and the later

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (; ; ) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Car ...

. Šavli claims to have discovered the

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

as the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

or symbol of Carantania. This discovery is disputed by academic historians. Šavli lived and worked in Gorizia, where he died in March 2011.

Essential bibliography

In Slovene

*''Veneti: naši davni predniki'' ("Veneti: Our Ancient Forefathers", 1985), together with Matej Bor and Ivan Tomažič; *''Slovenska država Karantanija'' ("The Slovene State of Carantania", 1990); *''Slovenska znamenja'' ("Slovene Symbols", 1994); *''Slovenija: podoba evropskega naroda'' ("Slovenia: the Image of a European Nation", 1995); *''Etruščani in Veneti'' ("

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in List of ancient peoples of Italy, ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. Af ...

and Veneti", 1995), together with Ivan Tomažič; *''Slovenski svetniki'' ("Slovene Saints", 1999).

In English

*''Veneti : First Builders of European Community'' (1996); *''Slovenia : Discovering a European Nation'' (2003).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savli, Jozko 1943 births 2011 deaths People from Tolmin 20th-century Slovenian historians University of Vienna alumni University of Ljubljana alumni