Venetic theory

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'''Venetic theory''' ([[Slovenia#Language|Slovene]]: ''venetska teorija'') is a  [[Pseudohistory|pseudohistorical]] idea favoured by [[Slovenia]]n [[Nationalism|nationalists]] that the Slovenes are a Middle European ''master race'' because they (or rather, proto-Slovenes) have inhabited the Eastern Alps since generically "ancient times". Though it has strong support amongst Slovenian politicians, nationalists and uneducated people, it has virtually no academic support.

== The concept ==
The theory was first popularized by Slovenian authors in 1984, who stated that the Slovenian people are not descendants of Slavic immigrants to the area, but were rather the original Slavs, who spoke a proto-Slavic language from which all Slavic languages evolved.  The claim is that modern Slovenians are direct descendants of the Veneti (derived from "Sloveneti"), who inhabited what is now Slovenia in the pre-Roman era. Since the Slovenes were supposedly the first inhabitants of the region, they, and not the [[Russia]]ns, are the best Slavic (if not European) race. Not only that, the Veneti are also actually [[Aryan]]s!<ref>[http://www.hervardi.com/vindija.php "Vindia"]</ref>

Venetic theory is widely branched and has lots of little subtheories or versions where ''Veneti'' is simply replaced with a name of another indigenous ancient population - at least one radical nationalist website can be found to directly connect modern Slovenes with any nation that set foot on any part of the surface of modern Slovenia ({{wpl|Noricum|regnum Noricum}} etc.), and further connect ''those'' nations with other "master races" (i.e. Aryans above). It's actually quite entertaining.

==The reality ==
The archeological, linguistical and historical evidence gathered about ethnogenesis of Slovenes thus far points to Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps in the sixth century [[CE]]. There was indeed an Italic nation called ''Veneti'' ([[Latin]]; Greek ''Enetoi'') on a part of modern Slovenia and Italy in the pre-Roman era.  The city of Venice gets its name from them.  Their [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language is not directly related to Slavic<ref group=note>Early Slavic is well attested in the form of Old Church Slavonic.</ref> but it appears to have been an independent branch of Indo-European with some relationship with Italic or Germanic.<ref> [http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511486814&cid=CBO9780511486814A018 Cambridge Ebooks, The Ancient Languages of Europe].</ref>  Their culture was strongly influenced by Celtic, Roman and Slavic cultures. They left behind a fair number of short inscriptions, mostly votive dedications to the [[goddess]] Reitia. Dr. Rajko Bratož, one of most respected Slovene historians, speculates that 1% of Slovenian heritage is of Venetic origin.<ref name="Bratož">[http://web.archive.org/web/20080418091732/http://revija.ognjisce.si/leto2000/dec2000/gost.htm Dr. Rajko Bratož, one of most respected Slovene historians, on Venetic theory (via Archive.org)]</ref> That's ... not enough to support the Venetic theory.

Besides, the Venetic theory proponents often ignore the way nations evolve — for example: Italians are not just the descendents of Romans, and Modern Greeks are not just the descendants of the ancient Greeks, because almost all ethnic groups mix with their neighbors and are genetically "mongrels" (the idea of a "pure" race is meaningless). Thus one can conclude that even if Slovenians were the direct descendants of the Veneti, that would mean nothing in terms of culture or rights of the nation as a whole (why would you even need that in modern times?), except that you can't get a big ole' boner over knowing your grandpa was here first.

== Evidence that clearly shows that the Venetic theory is the ultimate truth ==
Venetic theory was developed by author and quasi-historian Jožko Šavli, Catholic priest and publicist Ivan Tomažič and ex-[[partisan]] author Vladimir "Matej Bor" Pavšič. The theory is based on some vaguely similar-sounding names of European nations, some even more fuzzy linguistical similarities between Eastern European languages, and some historical theorizing. There were also some strange claims about DNA relating Slovenes to [[Sweden|Swedes]] and [[Norway|Norwegians]],<ref name="Goriškipanterji1">[http://www.goriski-panterji.com/1delslovenci.html Goriški Panterji, website of Slovene ultranationalists, on Venetic theory]</ref> because all nationalism comes back to Nordicism eventually.

Venetic theorists often take inscriptions of ancient Veneti, give them to Slovenes and ask them to read the inscriptions using their modern Slovene language. Of  course, no one knows how to read ancient Venetic runes, until they are told what to read.<ref>[http://www.hervardi.com/stari_slovenski_napisi.php Hervardi, 
Slovenetic
 Slovene nationalist site]</ref>

Venetic theorists often hold idea that Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps is a theory used by [[Nazi Germany]] (see [[Reductio ad Hitlerum]]) to make Slovenes look inferior and that that alone is enough to attack the sixth century settlement theory. They often ignore archeological and actual linguistic evidence that debunks their theory.<ref name="Goriškipanterji1">[http://www.goriski-panterji.com/1delslovenci.html Goriški Panterji, website of Slovene ultranationalists, on Venetic theory]</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Jovan I. Deretić]] — another pseudohistorian who has basically the same idea, but with Serbs as the main actors
* [[Nationalist pseudohistory]]

== External links ==
* {{wpa|Venetic theory}}
* [http://www.goriski-panterji.com/Veneti_ndp.html Goriški Panterji, website of Slovene ultranationalists, on Venetic theory]
* [http://www.promin.si/zgodovina/Od_kod_ime.htm Promin.si on Venetic theory]
* [http://www.hervardi.com/stari_slovenski_napisi.php "Translations" of "Slovenetic" inscriptions]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Ancient history]]
[[Category:Nationalism]]
[[Category:Nationalist pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Pseudolinguistics]]
[[Category:Slovenia]]
[[Category:Woo]]

Categories: Ancient history, Nationalism, Nationalist pseudohistory, Pseudolinguistics, Slovenia, Woo