Daurentius (Greek: Δαυρέντιος) or Dauritas (Greek: Δαυρίτας) was a Slavic (Sclaveni) chieftain in the 6th century.[1] He seems to have been the supreme chief of a Slavic tribal confederation, which "fellow chiefs" were or subordinated to him,[2] or of the similar tribal rank and status as Daurentius.[3]
| Daurentius | |
|---|---|
| Chieftain | |
| Reign | fl. 577–579 |
| Religion | Paganism |
Etymology
editLinguists consider that the original Slavic form of the name was Dobreta, which was rendered via the Greek pronunciation and transcription of "β=ν".[4][5]
Sources
editDaurentius is the first Slavic chieftain to be recorded by name, by the Byzantine historian Menander Protector who's primary focus was on Roman interactions with foreign peoples, particularly the Persians and Avars. The Slavs are mentioned only in relation to their interactions with the Avars. Menander reported that the Avar khagan Bayan I sent an embassy, asking Daurentius and his Slavs to accept Avar suzerainty and pay tribute, because the Avars knew that the Slavs had amassed great gold after repeatedly plundering the Byzantine Balkan provinces. Daurentius reportedly retorted that "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs [...] so it shall always be for us [...] as long as there are wars and weapons", Menander often used this quote, especially when depicting the speeches of Roman or Persian envoys.[6] According to Menander, the Sclaveni eventually slew the envoys of the Khagan. Bayan then campaigned (in 578) against the Sclaveni, with support from the Byzantine emperor Tiberius II. Bayan laid waste to the fields and set fire to many of their settlements, a lot of Sclaveni took refuge in the woods and none "dared to face" the Khagan. Although this did not fufil the expectations of the Byzantine Emperor as the situation in the Balkans continued to remain chaotic.[7]
Location
editThe location of his realm and mentioned Sclaveni is a matter of scholarly debate. Usually scholars consider Daurentius led the Sclaveni around the Lower Danube region (roughly Wallachia),[8][9][10][11] while others situated it in the basin of the Zala river in the territory of the old Roman province of Pannonia Prima, in present-day Hungary.[12]
References
edit- ^ Curta 2001, pp. 47, 91.
- ^ Živković 2008, pp. 47.
- ^ Curta 2001, pp. 327.
- ^ Serbski li︠e︡topis. Vol. 106. Pismeny Kral. Vseučilišta Peštanskog. 1863. pp. 7–.
себи покоравати , а не насъ други ; и тако лъ бит' Ье кодъ насъ , докле устрае бойнихъ поля и мачева на земльи." *) Такавъ одговоръ даду овьшъ послани- цима Добрета, **) тадашньШ краль или великШ кнезъ Ъуяр&у) Словяна , и ньихови племенски жупани. Но аварски посланици узму га на изсмехъ , и у таквомъ тону врло вероятно наведу ... Менандеръ пише на едномъ месту Δαυρέντιος, а на другомъ Δαυρίτας, кое име погрешна паризкогъ изданя при- ну^авала 6 пре^е читати : Лаудмтюд и Лауц1гад. Но и //аьдьтад е врло вероятно подметакъ доцншхъ кописта (збогъ едногласногъ кодъ Византинаца β—ν) на место : ЛаРд/тад —А 0 6 р ...
- ^ T. Lewicki, S. Urbanczyk, J. Strzelczyk, H. Popowska-Taborska, A. Wedzki (1962). Słownik starożytności słowiańskich: A-E (in Polish). Ossolineum, PAN. p. 332. ISBN 978-83-04-00463-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Curta 2001, p. 47.
- ^ Curta 2001, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Živković 2008, p. 13.
- ^ Kardaras, Georgios (2018). Byzantium and the Avars, 6th-9th Century AD: Political, Diplomatic and Cultural Relations. Brill. p. 38. ISBN 9789004248380.
- ^ Pohl, Walter (2018). The Avars: A Steppe Empire in Central Europe, 567–822. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-1501729409.
- ^ Kazanski, Michel (2023). "Первые контакты дунайских славян и авар: свидетельства византийских авторов и археологии" [First contacts of the Danubian Slavs and Avars: the evidences from the Byzantine writers and archaeology]. Antichnaya Drevnost's I Srednie Veka. 23. Ural University Press: 79–80. doi:10.15826/adsv.2023.51.004.
- ^ Bacic, Jakov (1987). "Slav: the origin and meaning of the ethnonym". Slovene Studies. 9 (1–2): 37.
Sources
edit- Martindale, John R.; Jones, A.H.M.; Morris, John (1992), The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire - Volume III, AD 527–641, Cambridge University Press, p. 390, ISBN 0-521-20160-8
- Curta, Florin (2001). The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139428880.
- "Staroslovenski vojvoda Dauritas i oharski kagan Bajan". Istoriski časopis V. Beograd. 1955.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) bibliography entry Archived 2012-03-13 at the Wayback Machine (in Serbian) - Živković, Tibor (2008). Forging unity: The South Slavs between East and West 550-1150. Belgrade: The Institute of History, Čigoja štampa. ISBN 9788675585732.