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( South Slavs)
The South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live in the Balkans mainly in former Yugoslavia (meaning "Land of the South Slavs"); in the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps. They speak the South Slavic languages. Numbering close to 35 million, the group includes the Bulgarians and Macedonians in the east, and the Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Slovenes and Montenegrins in the west. Little is known about the Slavs before the fifth century. Their history prior to this can only be tentatively hypothesized via archeological and linguistic studies. Much of what we know about their history after the 500s is from the works of Byzantine historians. In his work De Bellis, Procopius portrays the Slavs as unusually tall and strong, with a tan complexion and reddish-blonde hair, living a rugged and primitive life. They lived in huts, often distant from one another and often changed their place of abode. They were not ruled by a single leader, but for a long time lived in a "democracy" (ie anarchy). They probably believed in many Gods, but Procopius suggests they believed in one, perhaps supreme god. He has often been identified as Perun, the creator of lightning. The Slavs went into battle on foot, charging straight at their enemy, armed with spears and small shields, but they did not wear armour. This information is supplanted by Pseudo-Marice's work Strategion, describing the Slavs as a numerous but disorganised and leaderless people, resistant to hardship and not allowing themselves to be enslaved or conquered. They made their homes in forests, by rivers and wetlands.[1] Jordannes states that the Slavs "have their homelands on the Danube, not far from the northern bank”. Subsequent information about early Slavic states and the Slavs' interaction with the Greeks comes from De Adminitrando Imperio by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, the compilations of Miracles of St Demetrius, History by Theophylact Simocatta and the Royal Frankish Annals.
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