Several theories on the origins of Serbs.Iranian Theory, the Sarban tribe in Afganistan/Pakistan, which is it?

Question

The Serboi were probably Sarmatian (Iranian) tribe, who lived in Eastern Europe, to the north of the Caucasus near the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The earliest historical records about Serboi dates from the 1st century, in the works of the historian Tacitus and geographer Pliny. The Sarmatian Serbs, it is argued, intermarried with the indigenous Slavs of the region, adopted their language and transferred their name to the Slavs. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, in his Book Of Ceremonies66, calls the Croats and Serbs "Krevatas and Sarban", who were located between Alania and Tsanaria. The information that Serbs were mentioned under the name Sarban is important because there is a Pashtun tribal group in Afghanistan named Sarbans, and that could mean that these Pashtun Sarbans are ancestors or relatives of Sarmatian Serbs.

What do you believe??

Answer 1

There are a variety of tribes who have carried names similar to "Serb" -- Serboi and Sarban, as you mentioned, but also Sorbian (Slavic Germans), Spori, Spali and a variety of others in many different neighborhoods of the globe.

However, historical evidence does get a little more credible when there is at least some provable relationship between the name of the tribe, some linguistic and/or physical similarities, and the present day location of the Serbs in Europe.

Ptolemy (2nd century) relates the name "Serbs" to the city of Serbinum in present day Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Procopius (5th century) refers to the "Spori" and there is some solid linguistic evidence that this relates to both the Balkan Serbs and the German Sorbians. The 10th century scholar-emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos', puts a people called the "Serboi" in the same context and region as the Croats in Pannonia and Dalmatia.

One must bear in mind that there could also be (slight or major) differences in a name that a people call themselves and what name someone from another culture and using another language uses for them. So this people in the same neighborhood with similar names are likely to be the same people, dubbed slightly differently by different authors.

Although I am an American, my own roots came from Hercegovina and I can trace my family line back about 450 years as "a Serb" on both sides of my family tree.

I was lucky enough to have been able to participate in the National Geographic Genome Project that took my DNA (and my brother's) and genetically traced my family's migration into Europe along with all other Europeans and the DNA that I share with other's in my group.

Before I got the results, I fully expected that -- given the Ottoman Turks conquest of the region where my family came from -- that I might show up with some Asian ancestry, even though no Turks showed up on the family tree.

But my whole family was actually stunned by the results. My family's DNA on both sides put us in Haplogroup U, and my mitochondrial ancestral journey marched right up into Scandinavia! The male line was similar, but individual ancestors were also from the Balkans and various places in Europe, including present day Germany.

So, if you combine the historical reference from 2nd century Ptolemy and 5th century Procopius to "Serboi" in their current Balkan neighborhood, the linguistic similarity of the German Sorbian to Serbian, and my own DNA as at least one example of the Serbian lineage, your theories of the Serbs coming from Indian or Persian roots are no more credible than George Bush being a direct descendant of Ghengis Khan, -- no wait, they are even less believable than that!

Answer 2

Serbs come from Eastern Russia / Poland / Ukraine, as do most, if not all, Slavs. There were no Serbs in the Balkans prior to the VI century. Ancient writers are the only source we have, but their accounts are not reliable. All the sources listed in the previous answers don't go beyond Tacitus.

Just because some names sound similar to "Serb" doesn't mean they have anything to do with Serbs.Every ancient tribe was known by many names, due to a plethora of different pronunciations and spellings for one and the same people (again, proof of unreliability of ancient sources).

What you folks forget is the fact that the Serbs were known as "Rascii". They did not get their present name until much, much later.

Answer 3

In his book "Hrvati i Srbi, dva stara različita naroda" Dr. Dominik Mandić disputes the theory that the Serbs are of Iranian origin and claims that they were actually an Alarodian people. He dismisses the Iranian theory because it is based solely on the fact that the area where the Serboi ethnonym is first mentioned (near the Sea of Azov) was home to the Iranian Sarmatians, and this led historians to falsely jump to the conclusion that the Serboi themselves were also Iranian. Mandić notes that Pliny himself does not state that the Serboi are of Iranian stock. If the Serbs were an Indo-Iranian people, Pliny probably would have said so. Furthermore, the non-Slavic substrate in modern Serbian is not Iranian.

In the Balkans during Roman rule, there was a city called Gordoserbon, which was assumed to derive from "city of the Serbs", gord being the Slavic word for city. However, it seems unlikely the Latin-speaking Romans would use the Slavic word for city to name one of their cities. Mandić proposes that Gordoserbon actually gets its name from the city of Gordium, the capital of Phrygia, which he claims is the ancient homeland of the Serbs. Gordium was situated near the ancient Lydian city of Sardis. Sardis was the capital of Lydia, an ancient empire located in present day Turkey. The Lydians spoke an Anatolian language.

The Alarodian languages include two long extinct languages, the Hurrian language and the Urartian language. The Hurrian language is believed to have had a strong influence on some of the Anatolian languages, notably the Hittite language, and it is believed that Hurrians were actually not indigenous there, but were new arrivals who assimilated an earlier people who called themselves the Subar-tu. The language of these Subar-tu, whose name is not recorded, is called Subarian by linguists today, and it is believed that there was a Subarian substratum in the Hurrian language. Sumerian records mention the Subartu. Much later, Persian records mention the Sabarda, and the ancient Greek historian Herodotus mentions the Sabir in the same area, although it is not clear what, if any, connection the Sabir/Sabarda have to the Subar-tu, or if the similar-sounding names are just coincidental. According to Mandić, the Serbs get their name from those ancient Subartu.

Answer 4

According to St. Nikolaj Velimirovic, the Srbs history is a profound mystery. According to him Srb (Serb) is the only national name in Europe whose meaning has been lost. It only linguistic links is r which is both a vowel in the Serbian and in the Eurasian Indian languages. St. Nikolaj concludes that the ancient Srbs came from India originally, this explains some of the ancestral Serbian words which have Old Hindi and Sanskritic origin that he discovered in the language. The concept of destiny is also strong with the Serbs, and their destiny as a people of The Lord Christ is both a profound mystery. This destiny is not a blind fate; but a providential, planned and just destiny. "This is the sort of destiny recorded in the Bible" writes the venerable St. Nikolaj the Myrrh-gusher.

Between the fourth century and the 7th one hears mention of the Serbs by certain Byzantine Emperors, amongst them St. Justinian. At that time they were called Slavs, and were a maurauding presence against the Byzantine Empire. But in time the Zupans began to accept Christ as Lord as many became mercenaries for the cause of the Byzantine Empire and embraced Christianity. It wasn't until St. Simeon the father of the of the Nemanij line that Orthodoxy not only made its mark on individuals, but on the nation state of the Srbs who to the last man became servants of the Lord Christ.

St. Nikolaj, an esteem scholar who reposed in 1956, findings on the origin of the Srbs is rarely mentioned in public debates about the matter. But if his account is correct, and I suspect that it is, then the Srbs truly are the 'first' to inhabit the lands which are now under dispute. For their coming to the lands would have had to have been during the ages of the Old Testament.

Scholars feel free to correct and offer suggestions for modification.

Answer 5

Serbs are very clearly slavic and IndoEuropean.

There were about 26 ethnic groups in the Yugoslav confederation and of those there were only three which ever had any sort of a problem getting along with Serbs, and those three were the three which sided with Hitler in WW-II. The group I'd worry most about being in Europe would be Albanians.

Answer 6

What kind of crack are you smoking? Or maybe its some of that Albanian KLA controlled heroin. The Serbs dear boy are descendant's of the Slavic race. Ever heard of the Serbian Winged Hussars? The were very efficient at dealing with the invading Muslim hoards threatening the Serbian territory and culture.

This theory you have posted reminds me of the studies the Nazis had done to determine racial purity but In your case you are trying to dilute the proud Serb culture with this crap. I am not Serbian but have lived amongst them during the conflict in Croatia in 1992 and I can tell you I did not see any of them with vacation pictures from Iran hanging on the wall nor did I see any of them with their asses in the air pointed east. Their is a very good reason why they have a strong connection to Mother Russia.

Take the Albanian culture and where did it come from? One theory connects them to the Bangladesh culture. It is theorized that they migrated to what is known as Albania 800 years ago in order to find dryer land i.e. to many floods in the homeland. Some mixed with the Slavic culture under what conditions I do not know, which is why you see so many fair haired blue eyed Albanians. I know this culture first hand as well and some are very nice people who unfortunately live under the heavy cruel hand of the KLA but that's another sad story but Lets get back to yours.

This information I am talking about came from an Albanian Professor I met in Pristina Kosovo back in 1999. His name is Professor Mustafe Krasnici and his speciealty was Archeology of the ancient Albanians at the University in Pristina. You see the Serbs have always been in the Kosovo area and actually owned a good portion of present day Albania. The influx of the Muslim culture into the Balkan area redefined the boarders of Serbia due to hostilities over the ages. The Serbs were their first.

Funny when all this was going on never did their Bangladesh brothers bother to come and help their Albanian brothers. Wonder why? In any case Professor Mustafe Krasnici has found in his excavations evidence of the ancient Bangladesh culture in present day Albania. His paper on this was to be published but the War in Kosovo interrupted this. The evidence I recall was destroyed by some Albanian KLA dude firing an RPG into the wrong office at the Pristina University. The target was a Serb professor's office. Mistakes happen during times of hate.

So dude what do you think????.....

Answer 7

it is very simple as the Serbs come from the Slavic regions of Far Eastern Russia and migrated westwards. Serb name derives from Servien from being enslaved by the Germanic tribes.

When the Serviens broke free and moved down to unoccupied/unchartered/unclaimed land known today as the Former Yugoslavia, they settled in.

You will note that all historical monuments and evidence points to Serbian roots and no evidence of Albanian civilization nor settlement.

The Serbs have zero roots in Persia and there is not any evidence to dictate they were from there.

Again, it shows how manipulative the Islamic chorus goes in their attempts to degrade other ethnic groups. Their agenda is to follow the Koran as it allows them to lie to infadels.

Blue Hawaii

Answer 8

There is only very sporadic evidence on origin of Serbs. Have in mind that the accuracy of Roman documents has to be doubted on issues that were of less importance to the writer. I would not dare to make elaborate theories based on few sentences from various sources.
Also, I'm sceptic that a group (nation) is willing to adopt name of another group. Currently you have a lot of ethnic groups in Serbia, Slavian and others, they are intermarried, adopted the langugage, but kept their customs and name. Unless you can find good prof of Sarmatian customs and names incorporated in early Serbia's, this theory cannot be supported.

Answer 9

Origin Of Serbs

Answer 10

No, Serbs and Croats are Slavic people with the same roots as Bulgars, Romanians, Ukrainians, and Russians. You're attempting to link similar sounding words across languages and across continents. It just doesn't hold up.