Barbarian raids into the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) lasted throughout the 5th century. Science has yet to establish to which tribes these barbarians belonged. Old sources mentioned Scythes, Bulgarians, and Goths. At the beginning of the 6th century, during the reign of Justin I (518-527), a raid of Slavs, i.e. Antis, who lived in steppes north of the outflow of the Danube, was mentioned for the first time. During the first part of his reign (527-565), Tsar Justinian of Byzantium waged successful wars against the Antis and Sclavinis on the left bank of the Danube where the old Roman limes still stood, at least on some points. As Byzantine mercenaries, the Antis waged wars even against the Goths in Italy. In the mid 6th century, the Sclavinis fiercely plundered Byzantium, reaching in their campaigns as far as Constantinopole and Dalmatia. At about the same time, the Avars appeared as new enemies to Byzantium. The fifteen-year Avar-Byzantine war was waged around Singidunum and Viminacium. In the second half of the 6th century, joint Avar-Sclavini troops plundered across Thrace and Macedonia, imperiling Salonika. At the opening of the 7th century, Byzantine sources note, Slavic people, comprising Draguvitis, Sagudatis, Velegezitis, Vajunitis and Verzitis, devastated Thessaly, Hellada, Achaea, Epirus, crossing even into Asia. These Slavs were defeated at Salonika, where they remained and settled.

During the reign of Tsar Heraclius (610-641), the Serbs settled in the vicinity of Salonika (as penned by Tsar C. Porphyrogenitus) and the region was called Servia after them. An Avar-Slav attack on Constantinopole in 626 was fatal for the Avars, because after that they disappeared from the historical stage, while Slavic tribes settled and strengthened themselves within Byzantium. Lands inhabited by the Slavs were called Sclaviniae in Byzantine sources. These wer Ăe most probably the beginnings of the Slavic principalities.

The arrival of the Bulgarians to the Balkan peninsula had permanent historical effect on the life of Byzantium and on the Serbs. Bulgarian ancestors, named by science Protobulgarians – nomads and horsemen – crossed the Danube in 680, settled on the territory between the Danube and the Balkan mountains, and imposed themselves as rulers of the Slavic population which lived in eight tribal regions. The assimilation of the Slavic and Protobulgarian population was quick, without formidable obstacles.

Their state swooped southwards in the second half of the 8th century, striving to expand over the Slavic population inhabiting Thrace. The 50-year Bulgarian-Byzantine war, waged with variable fortune, settled the border between these two states. After that, Bulgarian expansion turned westward and at the opening of the 9th century, the Bulgarians came in contact with the Serbs.

&nbs    Little is known about the life and state of the Serbs in the central regions of the Balkan peninsula. According to Tsar C. Porpyrogenitus, the ruler’s son who had brought the Serbs died before the arrival of the Bulgarians (i.e. before 680). Succeeding him were his son, grandson and so on – arohonti (princes) of the same clan. The earlier known Serbian princes belonged to that clan or family: Viseslav, Radoslav, Prosigoj and Vlastimir. According to the same source, the Bulgarians and Serbs lived in peace, submitting to Byzantine tsars, until Bulgarian Khan Presijam attacked Prince Vlastimir of Serbia.

The war lasted for three years, probably between 836 and 852, and in it the Bulgarian Khan lost the “largest part of his army”. This bespeaks of the strength of Vlastimir’s state, which is known to have stretched over parts of present-day Herzegovina.

His sons Mutimir, Strojimir and Gojnik succeeded Vlastimir. They, too, were to withstand a Bulgarian attack. Vladimir, son of Khan Boris, apparently, headed the Bulgarian army though unsuccessfully. The Serbs took prisoners him and twelve Bulgarian velmozas (boyars). The Serbian ruler released them and after this peace prevailed. Knez Mutimir ruled until 891/892. At the time Byzantium was still strong and held the entire western Adriatic coast. Serbian princes still recognized the rule of the Byzantine tsar. Testifying to this is that the Serbs waged wars in southern Italy as Byzantine soldiers.

At the end of the 9th century the Serbs adopted Christianity. To argument this, science has taken the appearance of the first Christian holy names with the Serbs. It is known that Vlastimir’s grandsons were named Stefan (Mutimir’s son) and Petar (Gojnik’s son). Presumably, they were born between 870-874. Little is known about the early phase of the Christianization of Serbs. Most probably the first missionaries were Methodius’disciples and priests of the archbishopric in Split, who spoke in Latin. Apparently the upper layers of Serbian society first embraced Christianity, while the majority of the population retained its old Slavic pagan religion. It is assumed that the origin and celebration of the Serbian family’s patron day – the slava – was, in fact, a modification of the old respect for ancestry (the cult of the ancestor). The conciliation of pagan belief and the new Christian faith was probably adopted completely during the time of St. Sava. This referred to the believers of the autocephalus Serbian Archbishopric founded in 1219. The bicentennial of the history of the Serbian state (from the close of the 11th century) was marked by struggles for power among Mutimir’s sons ¬ (Pribislav, Bran, Stefan), his nephew Petar (Gojnik’s son), Klonimir (Stojimir’s son) and his grandson Pavle (Bran’s son), Zaharije (Pribislav’s son) and Caslav (Klonimir’s son). Bulgaria and Byzantium invariably took part in those struggles. The consolidation, expansion and growth of the Serbian state in the nmid-10th century were the work of Caslav, a protege of Tsar C. Porphyrogenitus of Byzantium. The western border of Caslav’s state was drawn on the Pliva, Livno and Imota, and the northern on the Sava river. It has not been established whether the east border was on the Zapadna Morava. Caslav was killed in a battle against the Hungarians in the north of his state c. 950. He was the last member of the oldest Serbian dynasty.

At the opening of the 11th century, after the fall of Samuil’s state, the Serbian states Raska, Zahumlje and Duklja were vassals to Byzantium. This lasted throughout the 11th century, even though the zupan of Raska, Vukan, warred against Tsar Alexius I Comnenus of Byzaium. His successors attempted to free themselves during the Byzantine-Hungarian war (1127-1129) and later, but failed. Serbian zupan Uros, Vukan’s grandson, waged a full-scale war against Tsar Manuel I Comnenus. Having won a fierce battle on the Tara (1150), the Byzantine tsar imposed on the Serbian zupan “the yoke of submission twice as much as before”, a Byzantine chronicler penned. Uros’s successor, his brother Desa, also attempted to free himself of vassal tribute to Byzantium. To that aim he sought help from the Hungarian and German rulers, precisely which cost him the throne; he was taken prisoner to Constantinople by the Byzantines, though he contrived his return to the country.

There is evidence of his dying in Trebinje and being buried in the St. Petar’s monastery in Polje.

After Desa, the name Stefan Nemanja appeared for the first time in connection with the Byzantine-Hungarian war at Zemun in 1165. He was most likely related to the zupans of Raska. He was born in Ribnica (Zeta), to where his parents had fled. Nemanja was baptized by Latin priests first, and then after his arrival to Ras, by Orthodox priests in the church of Sts. Petar and Pavle.

When Nemanja’s eldest brother Tihomir was the zupan of Raska, Nemanja was a regional lord. He ruled over Toplice, Ibar, Rasina and Reka. After meeting with Tsar Manuel I Comnenus of Byzantium, Nemanja received as a gift Dubocica (a region near Leskovac).

As an established custom, the brothers did not get along as regional lords. Nemanja aspired to become grand zupan, and in fact became so in 1166. To achieve this, he had to defeat Tihomir’s army.

As grand zupan, Nemanja, like his predecessors, endeavored to free himself from Byzantine submission. He saw suitable opportunity for this in the 1171-1172 Byzantine-Venetian war. However, the war ended happily for Byzantium, and Tsar Manuel waged a campaign against Serbia. Nemanja evaded war, negotiating with the tsar, and was taken to Constantinopole from where he returned as vassal to Byzantine, remaining loyal to Tsar Manuel until his death in 1180.

After the death of Manuel I, Byzantium met with internal difficulties, of which the northern neighbors, including Nemanja, sought to take advantage. From 1183, Nemanja began the expansion of his state. First he conquered Duklja with the coastal towns Danj, Sarda, Drivast, Skadar, Svac, Ulcinj, Bar and Kotor. From 1184-1185 Nemanja’s brothers Miroslav and Stracimir at Ćtempted to conquer Dubrovnik.

The conflict ended with the signing of a peace accord settling the questions of territories and trade. Nemanja directed the further expansion of his state southward. By 1190 he took Metohia (Patkovo, Hvosno, Podrimlje, Kostrc, Draskovina) with the region of Prizren, then Kosovo (Lab, Lipljan, Sitnica), Skoplje and territory on the upper course of the Vardar (Gornji and Donji Polog). To the east, Nemanja annexed lands around Djunis (Zagrlat), Nis, Dubocica, Vranje and Morava (Binacka Morava). His rule also included territories between Zapadna and Velika Morava (Velac, Belica, and Lepenica). Nemanja’s state was open to the Adriatic Sea from present-day Omis in the north and Ljies in the south. Nemanja’s biographer, Stefan Prvovencani (the First Crowned) wrote that Nemanja had conquered the Byzantine cities of Pernik, Zemln (Zemen), Velbuzd (Custendil), Zitominsk and Stob.

Tsar Isaac II Angelus of Byzantium attempted to retrieve the seized lands, but despite victory, he failed to do so. Thankto the strength of his state, Nemanja succeeded in winning independence and marrying his son Stefan to a Byzantine princess, which considerably raised his reputation. Nemanja ended his reign by willingly stepping down from the ruler’s throne for the benefit of his son Stefan. He became a monk and took the monastic name Simeon.

Even at the beginning of his reign Nemanja had a benevolent attitude toward the church. He erected the St. Nikola monastery near present-day Kursumlija and the church of the Holy Mother of God at the mouth of the Kosanica river. Subsequently, as a part of his endowment, he built Djurdje’s Columns, Studenica and Chilandar on Mt Athos together with his son Rastko (St. Sava).

The Roman penetration into the Balkan peninsula began at the close of the 3rd century B.C. Illyria and Macedonia were conquered in the Roman-Illyrian and Roman-Macedonian wars. The first Illyrian war (229-228 B.C.) was successfully waged against Queen Teuta and Illyrian pirates on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The Roman protectorate over several Illyrian vassals was not strong enough, thus Illyrians began pirating again, which triggered off another war in 219 B.C. The Romans failed to take advantage of this victorious war because they were busy warring against Hannibal. Only subsequently in the third warm in 168 B.C., against Illyrian King Gentije, did they triumph over the Illyrians and impose their rule and tribute.

The subjugation of Macedonia also took three wars (215-105 B.C., 200-197 B.C., and the third from 171-168 B.C.). Macedonia finally became a Roman province in 148 B.C.

Further Roman penetration went towards the Danube and Pannonia. The Celtic Scordiscis and Dardanians posed an obstacle to the former destination. Having triumphed over the Dardanians after a victorious three-year war enabled Gaius Scribonius Curio to be the first Roman in 73 B.C. to see the Danube, arriving to its banks with his legion.

During the reign of Octavian (Augustus), tribes in Posavina and Bosnia were subjugated. But this was not easily accomplished; the so-called Pannonia war lasted from 13-9 B.C., and then a mass uprising of Pannonian-Dalmati tribes broke out from 6-9 A.D. The Breucis and Desidiatis of Srem, lead by two Batons, stepped up the insurgents from the upper course of the Bosnia river. Augustus’successor Tiberius crushed the uprising and imposed his rule over the tribes inhabiting spaces from the Danube to the Adriatic.

Romans began coming in touch with the Germans inhabiting the territory of the central Balkans (Domitian’s war against the Marcomannis and Quadis), Sarmatians and Dacians. Emperor Trajan waged two successful campaigns against Dacia (101-102; 105-107 A.D.), making it a province. Considerable construction works preceded the campaigns. First a road was cut through Djerdap in the year 100, and the next year a channel at Sip was dug to open sail along the Danube. The famous Trajan Bridge near Kostol was built in 105. The Roman Empire was the largest during the reign of Emperor Trajan.

The Romans set up large provinces in the Balkan peninsula: Dalmatia (comprising the Adriatic coast and present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina), Pannonia, Upper Moesia (territory of present-day Serbia) and Macedonia. The mainstay of the Roman authorities was the army. In the above provinces two legions – IV of Flavius in Singidunum (Belgrade) and VII Claudius in Vuiminacium (Kostola), were permanently deployed.

Army camps at borders (limites) became points around which cities sprang. Mines, spas and particularly fertile land in the interior were also the nuclei of subsequent urban settlements. The cities had many urban elements in common: a forum, two main streets which joined at a right angle, public buildings (basilicas, shrines), residential and trade areas, baths (thermae), bulwarks around the city, and cemeteries. Cities were joined by roads for economic, but also military, reasons. Traffic was well organized throughout the Roman Empire.

In the Balkan provinces, the Romans devoted particular attention to mining; it could be said that life was wholly in the sign of that branch of the economy. Slaves and manumitted slaves worked there under the strict control of the state administration.

The indigenous population lived traditionally by stock raising and farming. Romanization was slow, though ethnic traits were being lost steadily with the integration into the Roman Empire.

Religious life was colorful. The indigenous polytheists bore the brunt of the Roman and Greek religions, but also of various faiths spread by newcomers form the East. Characteristic for all these religions was the aspiration towards social justice, which paved the way to Christianity.

Barbarian raids north to the Roman border became a regular phenomenon over the years. Thus the Danubian limes, and its background, assumed paramount importance. This was reflected in those strong legions from this part of the Empire, called out their commanders tsars. Barbarian pressure was such that Emperor Aurelian (270-275) realized the futility of defending Dacia, a yielded it to the barbarians. Thus began the dissipation of he Roman Empire.

Emperor Diocletian (185-395) introduced a joint four-rule system, based on which on of the four rulers had to be situated permanently near the limes. Thanks to this the city of Sirmium actually became one of the capitals. Gamzigrad in Upper Moesia (eastern Serbia) probably grew out of the same reasons. It was built at the opening of the 4th century as the residence of Diocletian’s co-ruler Galerius. Constantinopole was founded in the same way, on the Bosphorus in the place of the old Byzant.

Wars against barbarians (Sarmatians and Goths) weakened the Empire both in the military and economic sense. A drop in trade resulted from a production decline, while barbarian plundering raids destroyed both the population and economy. The onslaught of the Huns under Attila in 375 and of the Goths after their triumph at Hadrianopolis (Edirne) in 378 wreaked havoc with the empire. From then on barbarians settled on territory of the Roman Empire. Hardships in ruling over the Empire compelled Emperor Theodosius in 395 to divide in into the Western (capital in Rome) and Eastern (capital in Constantinople) empires. The final, historical result of barbarian destruction and plundering was the fall of the Western Empire 476.

Roman rule and civilization in the Balkan peninsula, especially in the territory to be settled by the Serbs, left deep traces. Testifying to this are the remains of the material culture, preserved until today, or uncovered in archeological excavations. The pictures published in this chapter present but a fraction of that treasure, but impressionable enough for a reconstruction of the appearance and life of that world.

The Iron Age covers a period of 1000 years – from 1000 B.C. to the first century A.D., named thus by science because iron was the dominant metal in the working of weaponry, implements and other objects. Frequent popular movements were characteristic to this period. This was the age of the “people with swords” and the period of frequent clashes, destruction, but also of the formation of tribes. The Iron Age is the last period of prehistory. Thanks to Grecian and Roman writers we know the names of individual tribes in the Balkan peninsula.

The wide use of iron did not largely disturb the cultural development of people on our soil. Changes took place with the penetration of tribes from Caucasus and southern Russia. Science links this penetration first with the Traco-Cimmerians (800-700 B.C.) and subsequently with the Scythes (600-500 B.C.). The merging of indigenous populations with newcomers over a long time period lead to the development of tribes.

People built their settlements generally on elevations suitable for fortification and defense. The folk today call these places castle ruins. Burial took place in clan tumuli, with many weapons, jewelry and ceramics. Research on the tumuli tells us that tribes underwent stratification, and that, probably, tribal chiefs existed. Some tumuli did not differ from others only by their place and size, but also by the objects put in them. They were full of homemade, but also imported weapons, and other items made of gold and silver. One of the most important sites of this period is a large necropolis with several thousand tumuli at Glasinac (central Bosnia). This group was developed also in Herzegovina, Metohia and northern Albania. Finds from tumuli provide evidence of extensive trade with the Greeks. Roads lead through Macedonia and from the eastern Adriatic after the Greek colonization.

This marks the beginning of Hellenistic influence on the old Balkan tribes, which ended with the arrival of Celts at the beginning of the 3rd century B.C.

The ethnic belonging of cultural groups in the Balkans can be established from the remains of their material culture and information provided by Grecian and Roman writers. Illyrians inhabited the western parts of the Balkans, and the Glasinac culture could be ascribed to them, while west of the Iskera and Struma rivers lived Tracians. Between them were Triballis and Dardanians, which ancient writers identified with the Thracians and Illyrians.

Fibulae, decorative and functional pins, were widely used in the Iron Age. The oldest were arch-shaped with two loops and a leg in the shape of either a triangle, trapezoid of the “beotia shield” or circle. Subsequently, arched shapes appeared with starry adornments, stylized snakeheads etc.

Science has defined the period from 2000 to 1000 B.C. as the Bronze Age of the human history, since, contrary to earlier periods, the use of metals prevailed for the working of implements, weaponry and jewelry. In the Balkan peninsula, the Bronze Age is also linked with the Indo-Europeanization of the indigenous population and the creation of ethnic groups which would generate the old Balkan tribes: the Thracians and Illyrians, and north of the Sava and Danube rivers – the Dacians and Getae. Indo-Europeanization means folk penetration from central Asia to Europe.

Archeological sites of the Bronze Age (particularly Bubanj at Nis) indicate that these people primarily lived by stock raising. Their vessels with two handles and poor ornamentation are characteristic. The technique of their work indicates tradition.

The site Glodar at Paracin is most important for the so-called Paracin group. It is known solely from cemeteries – necropolis. The dead were cremated, and their remains put in urns, along with various objects, most jewelry.

The Vatin group (after the site Vatin near Vrsac) is close to the Do??bovac – Zuto Brdo group (sites Dubovac?? near Kovin and Zuto Brdo in the village Vinci near Golubac). These two groups belong to the culture of the middle Bronze Age. Their pottery has unquestionable aesthetic value, especially vessels shaped as animals.

Votive carts from Dupljaje were an important cult object. A cart drawn by pool bids displays an upright figurine. It is a male donned in female clothes. Science links this cart with the myth of the Apollo of Delphi, who sojourned six months in the land of the Hyperboreans and the other six in Delphi.

This chapter contains only a fragment of the artifacts excavated from many Neolithic sites. They show the progress in the working of implements from stone, bones and fired earth. The various vessels for practical use or cult (religious) purposes, as well as human and animal plastics, reflect both the daily and spiritual life of these people.

The basic economy was farming and stock raising, a new quality compared to the previous life of the nomads and hunters. Archeological excavations in Starcevo (the Starcevo culture) tell us the most about the early Neolithic period in Serbia. Science has yet to offer a closer anthropological explanation of the people of this culture.

The people of the early Neolithic built houses in square-trapezoid foundations, on wooden frames, pasted with mud and weed. Houses were probably grouped within families. Barns found (buried in the ground) with charred barley and wheat indicate farmers, while bones of domestic animals point to stock raisers. Remains of game animals found in houses or their vicinity show that the early Neolithic people also lived by hunting. A large numbers of awls, spatulas, harpoons and fishhooks indicate fishing, because the settlements were situated by rivers.

Judging by the remains of their material culture, the people in the Starcevo culture lived south to Macedonia, though there is evidence of their habitation in Bosnia.

Pottery was mainly bomb-like in shape. Barbotine ware – vessels, beakers and bowls, were decorated by pinching and pulling fingers over fresh coatings. Much human and animal plastic was found. Figures of animals were made realistically. Figurines featured mainly the female body, reflecting belief in the cult of fertility.

The mid-Neolithic people were created through a mixture of the indigenous population and communities known by the site Vinca (Vinca culture). Their habitats were made by the old principle and from the same material. The Vinca houses were more massive; they were made up of two sections with hearths. Pottery and stone tools were made in houses. People knew how to weave matting from reed and bast, while artifacts of parts of looms indicate they knew how to process wool.

Many remains of the material culture evince skill in pottery. Vessels were mostly oval in shape, though some were biconical in shape. Particular dexterity is noticeable in the making of vessels and firing. Human plastic acquired new forms; rigidly stylized figurines appeared with long necks and faces resembling masks.

The Vinca culture of the latest Neolithic lived in families owned stock (cattle, sheep, and pigs) which they kept in their yards. Their houses were arranged in rows, with “streets”, which leads to the conclusion that their villages had “urbanistic” solutions.

Their pottery was more sophisticated and decorated. Bowls biconical and conical in shape prevailed. Ornaments were incised and frequently red in color. Human plastics still featured the woman, the pregnant woman and the mother with child, though there were also figurines emphasizing the male attributes.

This chapter contains a few pictures of the artifacts of the material culture of the Paleolithic people. They inhabited territories, which the Serbs would subsequently settle, and create on them their states and culture.

First people appeared in these teritories c. 40 millennia B.C. Their primer habitants were cavemen. Archeological excavations, particularly in the cave on the Jerinini hill on the spurs of Crni Vrh in the villages of Gradac and Rsovace on Vencac, help us create their lifestyle. They lived in communities which contained about fifteen people, 1-3 biological families.The way to survive was hunting and fruit gathering. They made tools of flint-stone, and some implements of bones. People that inhabited caves stretching from the Slovacko Rudogorje till Banat, made the same implements, thus is presumed that the central Balkan’s region was linked by culture and population with Banat and Transylvania from the 35th to the 25th millennia B.C.

Big climatic changes and fresh flora and fauna had vital influence on the life of pre-historic man. Extremely cold spells and extinction of animals forced him to migrate.

Systematic scientific research on 14 sites in Djerdap has shown that man had lived in this area continually from the 11th to the 5th millennia B.C. It has been established that, in a temperate climate, settlements arosed by the banks of the Danube – the Lepenski Vir (Lepen Whirl), Vlasac, Padina, Hajducka Vodenica, Ikona, Kladovska Skela and others. Better conditions, richer soil for hunting and fishing, was conducive to the population growth, which lead to the building of houses and villages.

In these settlements cult places were found, sacral objects and the first sculptures: fish-like human heads, fish, deer.

The territory of the Balkan peninsula, which the Serbs – a Slavic tribe – were to settle and in it create their states, was inhabited from time immemorial. Scientists believe that today’s Western and Central European countries were inhabited already in the first period of the Pleistocene (Diluvial, Ice Age), and the man appeared in the Balkans in the period of the last glaciation (Alp glaciation – Wuerm) During those cold climates, 40.000 years ago, perpetual ice descended on 1.500 meters above sea-level.

The first communities at the time inhabited caves. Research on these caves, in particular the one under the Jerinini hill in the villages of Gradac and Risovace on Vencac, allows us to recreate their lifestyle. The communities had 10-15 members each, from one to three biological families, who lived chiefly off hunting and fruit gathering. The man, already a Homo sapiens, shaped stone and bones into implements and weapons. He first hunted large herbivores (huge deer, wild horses, and cattle), but when climatic conditions changed (when the prearctic climate prevailed) he hunted mammoths, rhinoceroses, lions and hyenas. Owing to an extremely cold spell, (glaciation Wuerm 3) around 25.000 years B.C., caves were abandoned and human life ceased. The first chapter in the history in human life in communities on the territory of Serbia is thus closed.

The next phase began in changed climatic conditions, at the close of the Ice Age (a new geological epoch – the Holocene). Research conducted on archeological sites in Djerdap has confirmed that one of the most complex cultures of the pre-historic era developed there, named the culture of the Lepen Whirl (7000-5500 years B.C.) after a large whirlpool in the Danube river. The oldest people lived in settlements, in communities of two to four biological families. Subsequently, as the population expanded, settlements were built on an established pattern. Burial places were outside the settlements. The quality of implements and weaponry improved. Many finds point to the existence of private ownership, social hierarchy, religion, art. In the field of production they retained traditional methods in obtaining food and never became farmers or stockbreeders.

Communities on Serbian soil dating from the second period of the Stone Age (Paleolithic) developed cultures of the latest period of the Stone Age (Neolithic) which, besides the hunting-gathering economy, cultivated farming and stockbreeding. This was certainly the result of a warmer climate. The Neolithic culture expanded north and south of the Sava and Danube rivers, from 5300 to 3200 B.C., and the most important sites are at Starcevo and Vinca. Based on archeological excavation, it can be assumed that these communities built their houses in juxtaposition, pasting them with a mixture of mud and weed. Floors were made of pressed earth, and roofs from brushwood and thatch. Households had a variety of dishes. Implements and weaponry were made of polished stone, and ornaments from shells. The communities, which formed the cultures of Starcevo and Vinca, were subject to migrations for internal, but also external motives. Thus, with the arrival of people from Anatolia and Pannonia, the ethnic and cultural picture changed and the Vinca communities disappeared, their place taken by others who employed metal, marking the beginning of a new epoch in human history.

Around 1900 B.C. the first centers of culture in the Bronze Age were set up in Banat (moriska), Srem (vinkovacka), northwestern Serbia (Belotic-Bela Crkva), the southern Morava River basin (Bubanj-Hum III Slatina). Communities of Bronze Age, inhabiting expanses north and south of the Sava and Danube lived in peace for centuries. Their life was upset around 1425 B.C. with the penetration of people from the north (the culture of grave mounds) who had bronze weapons – swords, daggers, axes/ Those movements continued in the following centuries, reaching as far as Egypt. Archeological finds dating from 1125 to 750 B.C. lead to the conclusion that a new culture was developing – the Iron Age – together with the formation of the first ethnic groups known in history within the Balkan peninsula> Dardanians, Tribals, Illyrians and Thracians.

From 1200 to 1000 B.C. in Kosovo, the Morava River basin, Srem, Backa and Banat uniform settlements were built, the dishes were the same, and the burial custom identical. Farming was already developed, wheat and barley were grown, and cattle, pigs and horses were largely kept, much less sheep and goats. The Iron Age on Serbian soil was linked with the arrival of Thrako-Kimercis from the Caucasus-Pont regions about 750 B.C. They brought with them cultural goods, such as weapons and ornaments made of iron. Over the next 200 years the Iron Age culture grew stable and clear distinctions were drawn between ethnic groups. In time active trade was established between ethnic and cultural groups that started undergoing stratification. Archeological sites uncovering luxury items produced in Greece provide evidence of this. Rich finds testify to the Hellenization of the Tribals and Dardanians. They did not disappear since in the coming centuries they waged wars against Macedonian kings. From 300-100 B.C., the Dardanians, historical sources say, retained their individuality and self-awareness, as witness the extraordinary dating from the 3rd century A.D.

The arrival of Celts and the breakthrough of the Hellenic civilization marked the later period of the Iron Age on Serbian soil. Celtic emissaries met Alexander the Great by the Danube in 335 B.C., and after his death crossed the Sava and Danube. Their devastation throughout Dardani, Macedonia and central Greece were cut short after a Greek victory at the Delphi in 279 B.C. During their retreat, and in the following decades, the Celts conquered Tribal and part of the Autariat territory, together forming a powerful tribe called Skordiska. They were the first to build a settlement on the territory of Belgrade. At the beginning of the new era the Romans took all the lands of the Balkan peninsula, conquered both the Dardanians and Skordiskans, but did not destroy their culture. The old Balkan tribes, nearly three hundred years old, lived autochthonously, though under Roman rule, and nurtured their traditional culture. Only subsequently did they become part of the political and cultural history of the Roman Empire.

By the Roman administrative division, the largest part of the present-day Serbia was a province called Gornja Mezija. This province served as a platform for Emperor Trayan to cross the Danube at Ram and Tekija with his army, conquer Decane and establish the Dakija province. At the close of the first century A.D., the Roman Empire boasted the greatest territory. New cities were founded and old ones strengthened in Mezija and Pannonia. Cities at the Danube became important defense posts when the Romans withdrew from Dakija (about 272 A.D.) and fortified themselves on the right bank of the Danube. Regardless of the organization of the Romans and the strength of their boundaries (limites), barbarian tribes continually raided the border provinces, which permanently weakened the Empire.

After the division of the Roman Empire in 395 A.D. into the Western and Eastern (Byzantium), the latter inherited the continual struggle with barbarians at the Danube. During the reign of Justinian (527-565), the situation settled, but then an onslaught of Avars and Slavs followed, whose plundering were stopped only after their defeat at Constantinopole in 626. Among the Slavic tribes were the Serbs. According to a Byzantine source, Tsar Traklije (610-641) allowed them to settle around Salonika, which they did, subsequently withdrawing from it to the north. The same source also testifies that the first Serbian princes (arhonti) were called Viseslav, Radoslav, Prosigoj and Vlastimir.

The ancient history of Serbia, until the rule of Nemanja, was marked by continual fighting either with Bulgaria or with Byzantium, and internal struggles for power among Serbian princes – members of the same family. The supreme rule in Byzantium was conducive to the Hristianization of Serbs in the second half of the 9th century, mainly the work of Cyril and Methodius, From the third decade of the 12th century; Hungary became the third state to affect the history of Serbs. In the Hungarian-Byzantine struggles from 1165-1167, the name of Stefan Nemanja was mentioned for the first time. In the first years of his reign, Nemanja ruled over Toplice, Ibar, Rasina and Reka. After a conflict with his brother Tihomir, he became the grand zupan of Raska, probably in 1166. Nemanja`s attempts to achieve independence resulted in a conflict with Tsar Manojlo I Komnin of Byzantium. The Tsar won; Nemanja was taken prisoner to Constantinople, but returned to Serbia remaining loyal, as vassal, to Tsar Manojlo I until his death in 1180.

During 1180-1190, Nemanja succeeded, with an offensive policy and making avail of Byzantium`s troubles (the Bulgarian uprising, the Crusades), to considerably expand the Serbian state. He conquered Metohija and Kosovo in the south. Further expansion came with the annexation of the Nis region, Dubocica, Vranje, Binicka Morava, land to the east of Juzna Morava and Reka. Regions between Zapadna and Velika Morava (Levac, Belica, Lepenica) were also adjoined. To the west, Nemanja took Duklja with the coastal cities (Ulcinj, Bar, Kotor) and entrusted his son Vukan to rule over them, The attempts of Nemanja and his brothers, Miroslav and Stracimir, to conquer Dubrovnik, bore no fruits. Thus, Nemanja established and consolidated his rule in lands from Kotor to Sofia, with the center in Ras where Serbian Bishops Jevtimije and Kalinik had their seat. During his reign, Nemanja generously assisted the clergy, and left behind large endowments.