Belegezites

The Belegezites (Greek: Βελεγεζίται, Belegezitai) were a South Slavic (Sklavenoi) tribe that lived in the area of Thessaly in the Early Middle Ages.

[3][4] According to the Miracles of Saint Demetrius, they were settled around Demetrias and Phthiotic Thebes on the northern shores of the Pagasetic Gulf.

[5] The area is usually identified with the region of Velechatouia (Βελεχατουΐα, Velechativa in Latin) in the chrysobull of 1198 granting privileges to the Republic of Venice, and in the 1204 Partitio Romaniae.

[6] After settling in the region of Thessaly, the economic activities of the tribe included trade with the Byzantine city of Thessalonica by 670–80.

[12] Religious buildings of the 8th century in Thessaly have been connected with the Christianization of the tribe, after the campaigns of Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I against the Slavs of the area.

Bronze figures from the Velestino Hoard , discovered in the village of Velestino , Thessaly in the 1920s and dating from as early as the 7th century AD. The findings are linked to the Slavic tribe of the Belegezites.