The Spali () was an ancient tribe mentioned in

classical geography ;Pre-Hellenistic Classical Greece *Homer *Anaximander (died ) *Hecataeus of Miletus (died ) * Massaliote Periplus (6th century BC) * Scylax of Caryanda (6th century BC) *Herodotus (died ) ;Hellenistic period *Pytheas (died ) *'' Periplus of Pseu ...

that inhabited the south of today's Ukraine. Pliny ( 77–79) enumerated a group of tribes through which the

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

(''Tanais'') crossed, in which the Spalaei are last mentioned. He mentioned the conquerors of the Napaei as the Palaei (6, 50), while in another chapter (6, 22) says that it was the three Scythian tribes of Auchetae, Athernei and Asampatae that defeated them. It is believed that the Spalaei and Palaei are one and the same. Diodorus (2, 43) reported that the Spalaei/Palaei/Pali were descendants of Scythian king Palus, the son of Scythes. The mythical origin and chapter '6, 22' suggests that the Spalaei/Palaei/Pali was a "collective designation of the eastern branch of Royal Scythians". By examinating Pliny and Diodorus, the Auchetae (or Euchatae) were part of the Spalaei/Palaei/Pali.

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

( 440 BC) stated that the Scythians or Scoloti consisted of the Auchatae (descending from Lipoxais), Catiaroi and Traspies (from Arpoxais), and Paralatae (from Colaxais), the latter which was "the youngest of them, the royal race". Tadeusz Sulimirski believed that they were a branch of the

Roxolani The Roxolani or Rhoxolāni ( , ; ) were a Sarmatian people documented between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD, first east of the Borysthenes (Dnieper) on the coast of Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), and later near the borders of Roman Daci ...

. Sulimirski attributed

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 ...

archaeology on the mid-

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

to the tribe, supported by the Sarmatians' downfall after the Gothic invasion in 200 AD. The "Royal Scythian" connection is supported by Indo-Parthian royal names '' Spalirisos'', ''Spalyris'', '' Spalahora'', and the Slavic word ''ispolin'', ''spolin'' ("giant"), assumed to date back to when

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 ...

were ruled by the Spalaei. Francis Dvornik (1893–1975) believed that the Sporoi mentioned by

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

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

Sclaveni The ' (in Latin language, Latin) or ' (Sclaveni#Terminology, various forms in Greek language, Greek) were Early Slavs, early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled in the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became one of the p ...

were probably the ''Spali'' mentioned by

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

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