Indo-European people east of the Vistula river and the Bay of Gdansk (modern Poland), also called Baltic Veneti or Venedi. Roman geographers first mentioned them in the 1st century AD, distinguishing their language and customs from neighboring Germanic and Sarmatian tribes.
Persisted as a recognized regional population through the Roman Iron Age; 6th-century Byzantine historians described the Veneti as ancestral to the Slavs who crossed the Byzantine frontier during the Migration Period.
Discusses the Vistula-region peoples neighboring the Elbe-Germanic tribes, including the Veneti/Venedi.