Sporoi ( el, Σπόροι) or Spori was according to Eastern Roman scholar

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

(500–560) the old name of the Antes and

Sclaveni The ' (in Latin) or ' (various forms in Greek, see below) were early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became the progenitors of modern South Slavs. They were mentioned by early Byz ...

, two Early Slavic branches. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes spoke the same language, but he did not trace their common origin back to the Veneti (as per Jordanes) but to a people he called "Sporoi". He derived the name from Greek ("I scatter grain"), because "they populated the land with scattered settlements".

Studies

Ukrainian historian

Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Mykhailo Serhiiovych Hrushevsky ( uk, Михайло Сергійович Грушевський, Chełm, – Kislovodsk, 24 November 1934) was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and statesman who was one of the most important figure ...

(1866–1934) noted the scholarly view on the matter: Procopius' etymology was rejected as mistaken, and many scholars linked the term with the Serbs; some sought a connection to

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 importance ...

Serboi __NOTOC__ The Serboi ( grc, Σέρβοι, Sérboi) was a tribe mentioned in Greco-Roman geography as living in the North Caucasus, believed by scholars to have been Sarmatian. Etymology Moszyński derived the name from Indo-European ''*ser-'', '' ...

, but "these Serboi lived far to the east, in the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...

region". He noted that the Slavic Serbs appear in historical records in the 9th century, and ''Serbs'' may have had a broader sense as suggested by two completely distinct Slavic peoples (Balkan Serbs and Lusatian Sorbs), however, according to him, identical names occurred frequently among the Slavs and the "

arly The Arly () is a 32.1 km long river in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France. It is a tributary of the Isère, which it joins at Albertville. Towns crossed by the river * Megève * Praz-sur-Arly * Flumet * Saint-Nicolas-la-C ...

Slavs may not even have had their own common name to designate nationality. Such names often emerged only with time.". According to Czech historian

Francis Dvornik Francis Dvornik (14 August 1893, Chomýž – 4 November 1975, Chomýž), in Czech František Dvorník, was a Catholic priest and academic. He is considered one of the leading twentieth-century experts on Slavic and Byzantine history, and on rela ...

(1893–1975), the Sporoi were probably the ''

Spali The Spali ( la, Spalaei, Spali, Palaei, Pali) was an ancient tribe mentioned in classical geography that inhabited the south of Russia. Pliny ( 77–79) enumerated a group of tribes through which the Don River (''Tanais'') crossed, in which the Sp ...

'' mentioned by

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...

( 551) and ''Spalei'' mentioned by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

( 77–79). According to the

North American Society for Serbian Studies The North American Society for Serbian Studies () is a non-profit scholarly organization based in North America, founded in 1978, aimed at promoting research and forward Serbian studies and increasing public awareness and understanding of Serbia an ...

, rather than connecting the ethnonym to the poorly known ''Spali'', it was more likely, as per the old view, a Greek rendering of the name ''Sorpoi'' or ''Sorboi'', connected to the Serbs. According to British archaeologis
Paul M. Barford
writing in 2001, it most likely derived from the

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...

word for "multitude" ('' sporъ'', whence Polish ''sporo'', etc.). A connection has also been made with the ''

Zeriuani The Zeriuani or Zeruiani was an unknown Slavic tribe mentioned by the 9th-century Bavarian Geographer (). It states that the Zeruiani "which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and tra ...

'' mentioned by the 9th-century

Bavarian Geographer The epithet "Bavarian Geographer" ( la, Geographus Bavarus) is the conventional name for the anonymous author of a short Latin medieval text containing a list of the tribes in Central- Eastern Europe, headed (). The name "Bavarian Geographer" was ...

. It states that the Zeriuani "which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and trace their origin" (Zeriuani tantum est regnum, ut ex eo cunctae gentes Sclavorum exortae sint, et originem, sicut affirmant, ducant).

Other ancient views on the Slavs

In contrast to Procopius, the Roman bureaucrat

wrote about the Slavs in his work ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the o ...

'' (551): "although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti, Antes and Sclaveni" (); that is, the West Slavs, East Slavs, and South Slavs. He stated that the Veneti were the ancestors of the Sclaveni and the Antes, the two having used to be called ''Veneti'' but are now "chiefly" called Sclaveni and Antes.Jordanes, ''Getica'' 5.

Studies

Other ancient views on the Slavs

See also

References

Further reading