Sclaveni

Sklavinien ( gr Σκλαβινίαι Sklaviniai, such as: " Slavs machinations " ) is the name given to the various Slav communities on the ground or on the borders of the Byzantine Empire, which had formed in the early 7th century. The term Sklaviniai ( or variations thereof) is in Byzantine sources from the late 8th century. Later this term was also used to denote the ( at least partially ) by the Slavs dominated and populated regions.

These local gentry were largely dominated by tribal lords, although thus also the Bulgarian Empire may be referred to. The Sklaviniai often had no clear-cut boundaries and were partly tolerated by Byzantium or even sometimes - at least temporarily - accepted. But was the focus of Byzantine politics, especially the recovery of the former Byzantine territories in the Balkans ( the loss of these territories see also Balkan campaigns of Maurikios, Conquest of the Slavs in the Balkans and Chronicle of Monemvasia ).

As the Byzantine army went back since the late 8th century in this area on the offensive, most of the smaller Slav communities were wiped out in Thrace and Greece, when some of us even managed to keep centuries. The Slavic population moved mostly in mountain regions back and was then largely Hellenized, leading to the highly controversial ( and largely rejected ) resulted in acceptance in the 19th century Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer that we are dealing with today's Greeks exclusively Hellenized Slavs ( cf. about Maier, Byzantium, p 142). In fact, many cities and coastal regions had never been occupied by the Slavs, and also settled the Byzantines in the 9th century, many Asia Minor Greeks in Hellas on. There is no doubt but that, 200 years of Slavic dominance in Greece a substantial incision marked - with their " land grab " sealed the Slavs there to 600, the end of antiquity.