(Redirected from Rascia)
'Raška' (
Serbian Cyrillic: Рашка; alternative spellings have included ''Raschka'', ''Rascia'' and ''Rassa'') was the central and most successful
medieval Serbian state (or ''
župa'', area ruled by a ''župan'') that unified neighboring
Serbian tribes into a main medieval Serbian state in the
Balkans.
History
Constantine VII ''Porphyrogenitos'' describes Raška (Rascia) in ''
De Administrando Imperio'' as being settled by
Serbs at the start of the 7th century. Also in ''De Administrando Imperio'', he wrote that the Serbs resided in Zachumlie (
Zahumlje), Trebounia (
Travunia), the
Zeta (
Duklja), Bosnia (
Bosna) and
Pagania (Paganija).
From the early 7th century, the history of Raška becomes intimately bound with the history of the Serb
House of Vlastimirović, which ruled from Raška. The house was named for
Knez Vlastimir, who was the great-great-grandson of the
Unknown Archont who led the Serbs to the
Balkans from
White Serbia.
The House of Vlastimirović was later succeded by the
House of Nemanjić and
Stefan Dušan of the House of Nemanjić transformed Raška into powerful
Serbian Empire in the 14th century.
Name origin theory
The state of Raška was named after the
Raška River in present-day south-western
Serbia. It is thought that Sarmatian
Serboi, an ancient tribe from the
Caucasus that probably gave its name to the Slavic Serbs, left their traces around the river
Volga (Araxes in
Greek), which is also called "Rashki". This name is found wherever the name Serb is found in clusters.
Later usage of the term
Between 15th and 18th century, term ''Raška'' (''Rascia'', ''Ráczság'') was used to designate southern parts of the
Pannonian Plain that were inhabited by Serbs who migrated there from the territory of original Raška in the
Balkans.
References
★ Vladimir Ćorović, Ilustrovana istorija Srba, knjige 1-6, Beograd, 2005-2006.
★ Sima M. Ćirković, Srbi među evropskim narodima, Beograd, 2004.
★ Tim Džuda, Srbi, Beograd, 2003. (translation of: Tim Judah, The Serbs, 2000.)
★ Milan Tutorov, Mala Raška a u Banatu, Zrenjanin, 1991.
See also
★
List of Serbian monarchs
★
Stefan Nemanja
★
Stefan Prvovenčani
★
Raci
External links
★
Rascia - The Nucleus of the Medieval Serbian State
★
About Serbia - History
★
Map
★
Map