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Slavic Ancient Origins: Stories Of People & Civilization
A brand new beautiful edition. Discover the ancient roots of the people from Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Croatia and the many Slavic nations in Eastern Europe today.
The ancient roots of the Slavs can be traced through language and archeology to the time of late Babylon, and the Vedic culture of India, but more distinct records reveal them as a military force supporting the many tribes, the Avars, the Scythians, Visigoths and Ugrics who harried the edges of the Roman empire in 600s CE. They accompanied many Celtic and the Germanic tribes across the Baltics, down to Constantinople and Greece before retreating to the Black Sea and territories further North, to fill the vaccum left by the collapse of Atilla the Hun's great empire. Records of their early history were written by monkish historians, after conversion to Christianity swept across the most of lands beyond the old Roman Empire in the 800s and 900s. Their mythology is similar to the Scandinavians of the era, but their lands became more extensive as their influence settled into the broad categories familiar today, with East, West and South Slavs, incorporating the Bulgarians and Hungarians too. This fascinating new book locates the history and influence of the Slavic people during the some of the most important eras in the development of European cultures.
Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.
The ancient roots of the Slavs can be traced through language and archeology to the time of late Babylon, and the Vedic culture of India, but more distinct records reveal them as a military force supporting the many tribes, the Avars, the Scythians, Visigoths and Ugrics who harried the edges of the Roman empire in 600s CE. They accompanied many Celtic and the Germanic tribes across the Baltics, down to Constantinople and Greece before retreating to the Black Sea and territories further North, to fill the vaccum left by the collapse of Atilla the Hun's great empire. Records of their early history were written by monkish historians, after conversion to Christianity swept across the most of lands beyond the old Roman Empire in the 800s and 900s. Their mythology is similar to the Scandinavians of the era, but their lands became more extensive as their influence settled into the broad categories familiar today, with East, West and South Slavs, incorporating the Bulgarians and Hungarians too. This fascinating new book locates the history and influence of the Slavic people during the some of the most important eras in the development of European cultures.
Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
416 pages, Hardcover
Published November 5, 2024
11 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Barbora Jirincova
9 books3 followers
Barbora Jiřincová writes about the moments that change everything — in our lives and in our history.
She’s the author of The Power of Later, the first book in her Gamechangers series, which helps readers master impulses, calm the mind, and act on what truly matters. Her self-help writing blends psychology, ancient wisdom, and personal reflection to show how small decisions can shift the course of a day — or an entire life.
But Barbora’s fascination with change runs deeper than the present. As a historian with a Ph.D. in history, she also explores the turning points that shaped our civilization.
Her Rebel History series, including History That Rattles, brings the past to life through human-centered storytelling — the kind that rattles your mind and reads better than a textbook.
Whether she’s writing about self-control or medieval queens, Barbora’s work celebrates curiosity, courage, and the quiet power of choice.
Born in 1986, she grew up in post-Communist Europe, where freedom and creativity were suddenly possible — and where stories, both personal and historical, were worth fighting for.
Some Reviews:
⭐ “A great storyteller with a brilliant sense of humor.” — Alice Bennet, Editor, The Collector
⭐ “Jiřincová brings to life the princely characters of medieval Slavic books and manuscripts, exploring Slavic folklore through custom, material culture, and oral culture.” — Dr. Alexandra Vukovich, King’s College London
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 29, 2025
Author doesn't cite sources and I caught her out claiming early Slavs cultivated pumpkins of all things! This isn't a misunderstanding like the Bible talking about ears of corn (corn was cultivated in Mesoamerica but the word corn described grain in general such as wheat, barely, rye) for centuries before colonisation brought it to the rest of the world. the origin of this claim seems to be a wikipedia page that I corrected. I do not recommend this book because of the sloppy research, I can't believe an actual professor would want to be associated with this rubbish and give a foreword.
December 13, 2024
Amazing book. I loved the fictional pieces, the dialogues made the characters come alive. Rastislav is my favorite ❤
January 26, 2026
I was just delighted by this. This is a beautiful little cheapo edition that exists to sit on someone's shelf and look like a learned tome. This book does not exist to be read. And in its gilded little pages and well-designed font and cheap but substantial binding, it is a perfect little cheap object for remainder houses that is designed to represent the object and the knowledge that the person who buys it aspires to and attempts to fulfill by buying this book. It's not made to be read. But it's so damn cute.
As for the insides, I liked it. We struggle through a semi-mythical past and semi-mythical rulers and fictionalized descriptions of a childhood on the shores of a river and the historical but poorly documented Greater Moravian empire to the better documented but still iffy stories of Croatia and Bohemia, to the trading origins of Kievan Rus, to the founding of the Polish state, where people could already write things down. There are some factual errors, some confusions, and charting the histories of people who invented writing halfway through the story is hard. But we also have legends, conversion tales, the invention of Old Church Slavonic, and the shadow of Byzantium. And it's all pre-Mongolian! It's suspicious that there are no footnotes. But this was a great overview of a region that my historical knowledge of is still paltry. This was a fun read.
As for the insides, I liked it. We struggle through a semi-mythical past and semi-mythical rulers and fictionalized descriptions of a childhood on the shores of a river and the historical but poorly documented Greater Moravian empire to the better documented but still iffy stories of Croatia and Bohemia, to the trading origins of Kievan Rus, to the founding of the Polish state, where people could already write things down. There are some factual errors, some confusions, and charting the histories of people who invented writing halfway through the story is hard. But we also have legends, conversion tales, the invention of Old Church Slavonic, and the shadow of Byzantium. And it's all pre-Mongolian! It's suspicious that there are no footnotes. But this was a great overview of a region that my historical knowledge of is still paltry. This was a fun read.
January 10, 2026
The book should have had another look at by the editor as there are quite a few extra words, grammatical mistakes, etc but nothing too major as to negatively impact the reading experience. There is a minor mistake (claiming pumpkins existed in Europe pre-columbus) but the book is an overall fine addition if one is interested in pop history. In my opinion the author at certain times speaks too authoritatively on certain uncertain parts of history.
July 12, 2025
Rounding up from 3.5 stars.
This was a good introduction to the history of Central-Eastern Europe and the Slavic people. I would have liked more maps and charts to help contextualize different regions or lineages. Overall, this book accomplishes what it set out to do and is a quick, easy read.
I particularly enjoyed learning about the Old Slavic Church language and script.
This was a good introduction to the history of Central-Eastern Europe and the Slavic people. I would have liked more maps and charts to help contextualize different regions or lineages. Overall, this book accomplishes what it set out to do and is a quick, easy read.
I particularly enjoyed learning about the Old Slavic Church language and script.
July 23, 2025
A lot of parts of the book are genuinely interesting, some of them is a fantasy that could put you in the reality of the past, even though i wouldn’t be sure that all what is described there is the truth, because the description of those times in context of different nations I heard from other historians wary. So often it seems like it’s more the beliefs of the author than the actual facts. I’m sure there was a proofreader there, but I had a bunch of problems with understanding what‘s written, because the order of the words or the words themselves were wrong. Also things like calling Kyivan Rus of the 10th century „Russia“ is a bit extreme, things like those shouldn’t be in a history book at all, but overall it wasn’t toooo much of a problem. Maybe a bit more mistakes that i would see in books in general, but it’s normal. Not explained and described well enough to understand most of the existed nations, but as a very short and easy introduction it’s alright:) if you would like to dive deeper though and get a bit more facts it would be better to choose another book. Overall nothing extraordinary, but could be fine for a read.
The cover is great
The cover is great
July 19, 2025
It was really good to read a historical account of Slavic origins written in English. As another reader noted, it would’ve been useful to have some maps to refer to. The book does focus on some Slavic countries more than others which is to be expected but comments on more recent conflicts between Slavic countries felt out of place in chapters discussing the medieval history and should’ve been kept to the introduction and concluding chapter in my opinion.
Otherwise it was a good read and the language was thankfully not dry and kept me engaged.
Otherwise it was a good read and the language was thankfully not dry and kept me engaged.
October 30, 2025
For a so called history book this is extremely inaccurate and contains some very serious mistakes.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews