The Serboi or Serbi () and Sirbi () was a tribe mentioned in
Greco-Roman geography
The History of geography includes many history, histories of geography which have differed over time and between different cultural and political groups. In more recent developments, geography has become a distinct academic discipline. 'Geography ...
as living in the
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...
, believed by scholars to have been
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...
.
Etymology
Kazimierz Moszyński derived the name from
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
''*ser-'', ''*serv-'', meaning "guard, protect" (cognate of
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''servus''), and originally, it may have meant "guardians of animals", that is "shepherds". Similar toponyms were mentioned earlier farther away.
History
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
mentioned in Book IV of his ''
Natural History
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
'' (ca. 77–79) the Serbi among tribes inhabiting the coast east of the
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...
. Almost a century later,
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
(100–170) in his ''
Geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
'' (ca. 150) mentioned the Serboi as inhabiting, along with other tribes, the land between the northeastern foothills of the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
and the
Volga
The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
. The tribe was included on maps of the antique
Sarmatia Asiatica as ''Serbi'', ''Sirbi'', in the
Early modern period
The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...
.
Identification with Slavs and Serbs
The
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...
were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g.
Slavicisation) and absorbed by 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 BC through the 6th ...
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. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
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 a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
and
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
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
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 ...
, and by the time of the 7th-century Slavic migration to the Balkans were completely
Slavicized
Slavicisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something non-Slavic into a Slavs, Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. The process can either be v ...
. Others believe that the tribe may in fact have been
early Slavic, as noted by Lithuanian-American archaeologist
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas (, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeology, archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old European Culture, Old Europe" and for her Kurgan ...
(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 the 10th century, the Byzantine emperor
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, an ...
Porphyrogennetos mentions in his book ''
De Ceremoniis'' two tribes named Krevatades (Krevatas) and Sarban (Sarbani) located in the Caucasus near
Alania. There were most likely the original Sarmatian tribes, but some researchers identify them with the Croats and Serbs respectively.
[Parameśa Caudhurī, India in Kurdistan, Qwality Book Company, 2005, page 79.](_blank)
/ref>The Slavs: their early history and civilization, Francis Dvornik, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1959, page 28.
/ref>
See also
* Origin hypotheses of the Serbs
* Sorbs (tribe)
The Sorbs, also known as Serbs or White Serbs in Serbian historiography, were an Early Slavs, Early Slavic tribe settled between the Saale-Elbe valley and the Lusatian Neisse (in present-day Saxony and Thuringia). They were part of the Polabian ...
* Sabirs
Annotations
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Serboi
Tribes in classical historiography
Sarmatian tribes
Ancient Slavic peoples
Alans
History of the Serbs