"In regard to the Veneti themselves it cannot fail to be remarked that we meet with three tribes or na-tions of this name in other parts of the world, be-sides those of Italy, viz. the Gaulish tribe of the Veneti on the coast of Armorica; the Venedi or Veneti of Tacitus, a Sarmatian or Slavonian tribe on the shores of the Baltic; and the Heneti or Eneti, who are mentioned as existing in Paphlagonia in the time of Homer. {Iliad, ii. 85.) The name of this last people does not subsequently appear in history, and we are therefore wholly at a loss as to their ethnical affinities, but it is not improbable that it was the resemblance or rather identity of their name with that of the Italian Veneti (according to the Greek form of the latter) that gave rise to the strange story of Antenor having migrated to Venetia after the si-ege of Troy, and there founded the city of Patavium. (Liv. i. 1; Virg. Aen. i. 242 : Serv. ad loc.) This legend, so generally adopted by the Romans and later Greeks, seems to have been current as early aa the time. (Strab. xiii. p. 608.) Some writers, how-ever, omitted all mention of Antenor, and merely represented the tribe of the Heneti, after having lost their leader Pylaemenes in the Trojan War, as wan-dering through Thrace to the head of the Adriatic, where they ultimately established themselves." [1]
"On the other hand the existence of a tribe or pe-ople on the southern shores of the Baltic, who were known to the Romans (through their German neighbors) as Venedi or Veneti, a name evidently identical with that of the Wenden or Wends, by which the Slavonian race in general is still known to the Germans, would lead us to regard the Italian Veneti also as probably a Slavonian tribe : and this seems on the whole the most plausible hypothesis. There is nothing improbable in the circumstance that the Slavonians may at an early period have ex-tended their migrations as far as the head of the Adriatic, and left there a detached branch or off-shoot of their main stock. The commercial intercour-se of the Veneti with the shores of the Baltic, a traffic which we find already established at a very early period, may be the more readily explained if we suppose it to have been carried on by tribes of the same origin. Herodotus indeed represents the Veneti as an Illyrian tribe (i. 196, v. 9) ; but it seems probable that the name of Illyrians was applied in a vague sense to all the mountaineers that occupied the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and some of these may in ancient times have been of Slavonian origin, though the true Illyrians (the ancestors of the pre-sent Albanians) were undoubtedly a distinct peo-ple)." [2]
Since Herodotus mentions the Veneti as Illyrians, a logical question arises: how could the ancestors of today's Albanians also be Illyrians? The answer is clear: Illyrians are not a special ethnos, but the na-me "Illyrians" is based on the territory where some peoples live.
And what does the name ENETI, or VENETI, mean in the Greek translation of the Iliad in the singular Ἐνετῶν, in the plural Ένετοί; in Herodotus Ένετοὺς? It means FAMOUS, GLORIOUS, because Gallic, i.e. Briges, or Thracian or Illyrian ENET means FE-STIVAL, CELEBRATION [3], Serbian SLAVA (> SLAVS).
"The Wendes, Venetes, or Slavonians, who, when they first became known in Europe, were settled on the frontiers of Italy towards Tyrol and Carniola, spread by degrees into Rhaetia,or the country of the Grisons, into Suabia, and probably into Franconia. This race at present occupies the whole space comprised between the countries above-mentioned and the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, on one side, and the Frozen Ocean on the other. It was the de-scendants of the ancient Slavonians who penetra-ted into Kamtschatka, peopled the Aleutian Islands, and perhaps crossed over to the North American continent. The population of Russia, part of Turkey, and the dominions of the house of Austria, consists almost exclusively of Slavonians." [4]
"All historians agree that the Slavonians, Venetes, or Sarmatians, originally dwelt on the banks of the Tanais, Palus Maeotides, and Cimmerian Bospho-rus, countries lying eastward of llliyria and Dalma-tia." [5]
The mentioned "original place" is before the Veneti came to the eastern coast and the northern part of the Adriatic.
"The name which the modern nations of this race assume in preference is that of Slavenzi, or Slasvin, that is to say, the illustrious." [6]
Illustrious means FAMOUS, serbian SLAVNI.
"The physical qualities of the extensive nation kno-wn by the names of Slavonians, Wendes or Vene-tes, Getae, Jazyges, Antes and Serbians, vary much according to the climate of the country inha-bited by its different branches. The Russians and Tscheques, or Bohemians, are short and squat ; whi-le the Illyrians, Croats and Poles, are either tall or of good stature, and well-proportioned. The qua-lities of the water have a powerful influence on personal beauty and shape; so likewise have cli-mate, food, and the physical or moral habits of na-tions.
The different branches of the Slavonians are distin-guished by particular characteristics, as may be seen in the profiles which form the frontispiece to this volume. The Slavonian is a Sauromatian, dwel-ling to the north of the Carpathian mountains ; the Wende a descendant of the ancient Japides ; and the Illyrian an inhabitant of Croatia." [7]
"This race of men is ancient, and it is generally said that they rose to great fame while inhabiting the re-gion facing the Ionian Sea. They are now commonly called Bosnians. But the Dalmatians, Mysians, Tri-balli, and even the Sarmatians, use almost the sa-me language, or not very different, so that they understand each other with no difficulty. It is pro-bable, however, that they departed from the region which extends towards the Ionian Sea, since they were few in number and everywhere they became famous for their brave deeds. that they subdued Thrace, and having crossed the Ister, they inhabited the region of Sarmatia; but there are those who say that they were driven out by the Scythians and crossed into the region which is cultivated beyond the Ister, and having subdued Thrace, they came to the gulf and settled there. I am surprised, however, that there are those who think that the Illyrians are Albanians, as if the Illyrians, who occupy the gulf of the Ionian, had advanced into this continent and Aetolia and the region of Thessaly. But the whole region from Epidamnus to the gulf of Carnerium en-compasses a distance of three thousand stadia. — this region is occupied by one race of men using the same language. It extends from the Mediterranean, extending as far as the Ister, reaching the region of the Sandals, bordering on all sides the Triballi and Mysians. But I say this, mainly following this con-jecture, which is clear that the Illyrians attained great power and were scattered in many places throughout Thrace. Therefore, I believe that they should rather be called Illyrians than Albans. I also agree with those who they asserted that the Illyrians derived their name from the region. But, divided among themselves, some have a different language in use. Therefore, since many kinds of people live there, and their languages are different from each other in use, I think that these people were destined for this name, so that they are called Illyrians." [8]
Ister is the Danube river. Today's modern Albanians are not the only descendants of the Illyrians, beca-use the Veneti and their relatives the Thracians and the Celts lived in Illyria. By the political will of the West in 1912, Albanians were declared to be the only descendants of the Illyrians, which is a histo-rical lie.
"Catari around Emona have names ol Venetic origin and may be a group ol the Carni. Except for the Latobici and Varciani, whose names arc Celtic, the civitates of Colapiani, Jasi, Breuci, Amantini and Scordisci were lllyrian. There is little known of the civitates in Moesia. In the south the Dardani rema-ined a single group, while the civitas of the Celegeri in the northwest may be newly formed out of the Scordisci." [9]
"The identity of the Thracians and Illyrians is proven by ancient writers, some earlier, some later, refer-ring to one and the same people." [10]
The old name of Slavs is the Veneti, Illyrians or Thracians with all the Thracian and Sarmatian peo-ples:
"This race of men is ancient, and it is generally said that they rose to great fame while inhabiting the region facing the Ionian Sea. They are now com-monly called Bosnians, but the Dalmatians, Mysi-ans, Triballi, and even the Sarmatians, use almost the same language, or not very different, so that they understand each other with no difficulty." [11]
The Cimmerians and Thracians were one people (Strabo i,3,21; xii,1,8). Later the Cimmerians are called Cimbri, after that they are called Celts and Gauls and they are all a branch of the Thracians. The Thracian Getae were later called Goths and they are Slavs:
"In ell these countries they were one and the same people, though subject to different princes, and kno-wn by different names. Thus, in Cimmeria, Sarma-tia, Scythia, they were called Cimmerians, Sarma-tians, Scythians; in Thrace, Dacia, and Moesia, Thracians, Dacians, and Moesians; and in the ne-ighbourhood of the Ister and the Pontus, Illirians and Pontics. As for the appellations of Westrogoths, softened by the Latins into that of Visigoths, and Ostrogoths, they were distinguished by the names as Grotius shews by Jornandes, before they left Scandinavia, being called Westrogoths and Ostro-goths, or Western and Eastern Goths, from their situation there to the east and west, the former inhabiting that part of Scandinavia, wich borders on Denmark, and the latter the more eastern parts, lying on the Baltic. What Jornandes writes of the various migrations and settlements of the Goths, is intirely agreeable to what we read in the antient Greek and Latin authors concerning the various migrations and settlements of the Getes. And truly that the Goths and Getes were one and the same people, is supposed by all the writers, who flou-rished in or near the times in wich both empires were over-run by them." [12]
Dacian Getae or Goths are Thracians and they are Slavs in the Balkans and beyond the borders of the Roman Empire:
"The Getae or Slavs attack the border of Thrace..." [13]
And to conclude who the Slavs were:
"The seventh book tells of the disordered ranks of the Romans and of their brave successes against the Slavs or Getae; for by that name they were for-merly called." [14]
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[1] William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, Vol. II; Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1870, pg. 1272.
[2] Ib., p. 1273.
[3] Jean-Baptiste Bullet, Mémoires Sur La Langue Celtique, Tome II; Besançon: Claudi-Joseph Daclin, 1759, pg. 542.
[4] Frederic Shoberl, Illyria and Dalmatia, Volume I, Introduction xi-xii; London, Printed for R. Acker-mann, 1821.
[5] Ib. xiii.
[6] Ib.
[7] Ib. xvii-xviii.
[8] B. G. Niebuhr, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae: Laonicus Chalcocondylas, De rebus Turcicis, L. X; Bonnae, Impensis Ed. Weberi, 1843, pg. 530-531.
[9] John Wilkes, The Illyrians; Blackwell Publishers Ltd., Oxford, UK; Blackwell Publishers Inc., Cam-bridge, Massachusetts, USA, 1996, pg. 218.
[10] The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany, Vol. 15, August 1824, Edinburgh, Prin-ted for Archibald Constable and Company, 1824, pg. 135.
[11] B. G. Niebuhr, Ib. pg. 530.
[12] An Universal History from the Earliest Account of Time to the Present: Compiled from Original Authors, and Illustrated with Maps, Cuts, Notes, and Other Tables. Vol. VII; London: Printed for T. Os-borne, J. Osborn, A. Millar, J. Hinton, 1792, pg. 487.
[13] Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae, Continuata 10, Immanuel Bekkerus, The-ophylacti Simocattae, Historiarum, Libri Octo; Bo-nae, Impensis Ed. Weberi, 1834, pg. 9.
[14] Ib. pg. 14.
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