Unele observaţii asupra informaţiilor literar-istorice bizantine privitoare la regiunea Dunării de Jos în secolele V-X

Abstract

Summary in English

Some Observations about the Byzantine Literary and Historical Sources Regarding The Region of the Lower Danube in the 5th - 10th Centuries

The author examines, mainly, the information of the late Roman and Byzantine literary sources concerning the ethnical realities on the Lower Danube in the second half of the first millenium.The interest of the Byzantine authors for this geographical area is illustrated by the frequent mention of the different migratory populations and tribes (Gepidae, Huns, Slavs, Avars, Bulgars a. o.). This interest depended on the military and political relations of Byzantium with these ethnical groups.However, the Byzantine authors notice the existence of an ethno-linguistical background, composed of the Thraco-Daco-Roman population living on the both banks of the Danube river. Sometimes this local background is represented, occasionally, by Roman (Byzantine) war-captives, refugees from Byzantium over the Danube, who were, often, ransomed by state or by their relatives (see: Priscus Panites, Procopius Caesariensis, Mcnander Protector, Thephylactus Simocatta, Pseudo-Mauricius a. o.). In De aedificiis Procopius notices many Latin and Thraco-Dacian toponymicals, in the 6-th century. The existence of this native human and linguistical fund represents the most recent stage of the complex process which generated the Romanian people and language. In the 10-th century the Byzantine sources pointed out the Greek name of Vlahoi (Walachi = Romanians). The map presents the political situation from the Danube region in the 4th-6th centuries.