Lecture 25: Barbarians
I. Xenophobia
(fear of foreigners)
A. Anonymous On military affairs :
surrounded by barbarians
B.
Mediterranean centered empire - Strabo
II.Defining
the Barbarian -
A.
Barbarus = non-Greek or Latin speaker
Reality = Ethnic, linguistic, racial and cultural variety (Celts, Germans, Sarmatians, Persians, Ural-Altaic, African)
B.
Lack of civilization: Herodotus Scythica
no cities; no agriculture; "eaters of flesh and drinkers of milk"; dress (pants, skins); long hair; beards; wagons (nomadic)
Ammianus (4th century):The Huns (nomads) = Antithesis of the Roman
III.Goths
(Romania to the Ukraine)
A. Two confederations:Tervingi (west) and Greuthungi (east)
B. Political structures: reges (kings) = reiks >> “Judge” (central control of
treaties, defense, religious persecution)
C. Social structures = “Sintana de Mures-Tcherniakov culture”:fixed villages; agricultural; industry; trade
D. Roman Contacts:Christianity
(Passion of Saba); Army (individual recruits and expeditions)
IV. Defining
the Roman -
A. Military virtue (spare the conquered, war down the proud Virgil Aen. 6)
Triumphal Rulership: ethnic titulature + coins + arches/columns + triumphs
B.
Barbarian relations = foreign policy (Ad hoc / reactive)
1.Mildly
expansionist (Augustus to Trajan)
2.Shifts
(Hadrian to Severus):front moves
East+ direct involvement of Emperor
+ defensive posturing (castella; limitanei)
3.Third
century invasions:Völkerwanderungen
(movements of peoples) - new tribes (Saxons, Franks, Goths); Rise
of Sassanids in Persia (230s); Dacia evacuated 271
4.
Stabilization:284-378
IV.Romanization
-
A. Spread of civilization: “hostages”; trade; urbanization; military structures
B. Barbarization of the army: Barbarian auxiliaries; clothing; war cry (baritus)
C.
Divide et impera (Divide and conquer): barbarian recruits / settlements
(laeti = soldier farmers)
V.Heirs
to Rome
410
Alaric sacks Rome; 476 Odoacer King; 800 Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor
