The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c.500-700

by Florin Curta

Overview

This book offers a new approach to the problem of Slavic ethnicity in southeastern Europe between c. 500 and c. 700. The author shows how Byzantine authors "invented" the Slavs, in order to make sense of political and military developments taking place in the Balkans. Making extensive use of archaeology to show that such developments resulted in the rise of powerful leaders, responsible for creating group identities and mobilizing warriors for successful raids across the frontier. The author rejects the idea of Slavic migration, and shows that "the Slavs" were the product of the frontier.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521036153
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/30/2007
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series , #52
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.18(d)
Lexile:	1520L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Slavic ethnicity and the ethnie of the Slavs: concepts and approaches; 2. Sources for the history of the early Slavs (c. 500–700); 3. The Slavs in early medieval sources (c. 500–700); 4. The Balkans and the Danube limes during the sixth and seventh centuries; 5. Barbarians on the sixth-century Danube frontier: an archaeological survey; 6. Elites and group identity north of the Danube frontier: the archaeological evidence; 7. 'Kings' and 'democracy': power in early Slavic society; Conclusion: the making of the Slavs; Appendices; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"The book is notable for the emphasis on the study of the material culture as evidence of cultural process...the novel and thorough approach of the book has a great deal to offer the scholar interested in many aspects of the history and historiography of early Medieval eastern and southeastern Europe and the study of past ethnicities." Slavic Review

"...the author offers quite a coherent and convincing approach...not only intriguing, but quite inspiring...this new study of early Slavic history is a particularly successful attempt to open new perspectives for dealing with the important challenges of history." Comitatus

"...brilliant...this book is a significant contribution to medieval history and an outstanding achievement in Slavic studies." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"The hypothesis that Curta advances is extremely neat..." International History Review

From the Publisher