Two Worlds Become One: A 'Counter-Intuitive' View of the Roman Empire and 'Germanic' Migration (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
The Fall of Rome (or more specifically the Western Roman Empire) remains a hotly debated subject in the history of Late Antiquity. The Battle of Adrianople can be argued to be the beginning of Rome's end, but the cause of the battle lay more with Rome's imperial mismanagement than any deliberate attempt at war from the barbarians. Rome turned against those who would have defended the empire, and for many centuries had done just that. Despite being forced into an antagonistic relationship with Rome, their reputation as the cause of Rome's calamity has remained to the present day. This thesis will first argue that the fault lies more with Rome than with the various barbarian tribes. After making that argument, it will investigate why the "barbarian invader" myth has remained in the public consciousness for more than 1500 years after Rome's fall. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of those involved in helping me through my academic career, and helped me shape this argument. Dr. Edward Dandrow, Dr. Barbara Gannon, and Dr. Amelia Lyons for giving me the chance to prove myself and supporting me every step of the way. Also, I want to thank my committee members Dr. Duncan Hardy and Dr. Amy Foster, who provided invaluable suggestions and critiques. My future wife Samantha, who put up with hours spent on the table and around the world. My father, who has always pushed me to better myself, been supportive of my endeavors and helped establish my love of learning. My classmate Jim, who helped keep me sane during the process.
The debate on migration and identity in Europe. Antiquity 78 no. 300 (June 2004). 453-456.
In one respect, the three volumes reviewed here are similar to one another: they are all sceptical of the idea of mass migrations, and ambiguous about the concept of ethnic identity and the possibility of inferring it from archaeological evidence. This reflects current intellectual fashion, and there are, of course, good scholarly reasons for the doubts and uncertainties expressed in these volumes. It is, however, an irony that exactly at the point where identity has become the key question of the post-modern world, and migration is fast becoming the key issue of post-Soviet Europe, academic archaeologists and historians have lost their own convictions and fail to provide the historical guidance that the general public is looking for. There is some evidence that the pendulum of the academic debate is swinging back. This is partly due to the use of scientific techniques, primarily DNA analysis. But there is another irony here. The first results from recent Y-chromosome analyses suggest large-scale population replacement in England following the Anglo-Saxon immigration. In other words: the most modern technique returns us to the oldest model. Those who ducked when the pendulum swung by just over a decade ago should prepare to duck again.
2012
This paper argues that, by concentrating on debating the existence or scale of migration, we are missing the really important questions about the fifth-and sixthcentury migrations. These concern why they took place in the first place. After a case study concerning Anglo-Saxon settlement archaeology, the paper argues that the terms of the debate need radical rethinking. Fifthcentury migration needs to be placed in a longer-term perspective looking at both sides of the divide between the 'Roman' fourth century and the 'migration-period' fifth century. We must also see the Roman and 'barbarian' regions as interlinked parts of the same world rather than as two antagonistic, opposing, confronted worlds. Doing this will not only allow a better understanding of the migrations themselves. That this is the case is suggested by a quick look at the North Sea regions. Finally, such a recasting of the debate will permit a more politically responsible contribution to modern discussions of migration.
Barbarians and the Roman Empire – Towards a Framework for Comparison
2018
The topic of this paper is complementary to Nicola di Cosmo's contribution on 'China-steppe relations in comparative perspective'; the theoretical framework he has presented is also useful to the study the Roman Empire. Similar to Nicola di Cosmo, I am going to argue that we should not take the basically useful shorthand dualism-'Romans/barbarians'-for granted. Unlike him, I cannot resort to the 'steppe' as a rather neutral common denominator for the populations beyond Rome's frontiers, because many of the European barbarians lived in different ecological zones. I will call all these 'others' 'barbarians' although this is problematic. I am aware that this term was coined in a derogatory sense, and can still be used in that way. However, for want of a better designation it has become a household term in research about European Late Antiquity, and is intended in a purely descriptive sense. Greek and Roman Antiquity coined both the words for 'empire' and for the 'barbarians' still used in most European languages, and created their juxtaposition, so it is hard to avoid using this scheme. The cultural significance of perceptions of alterity in Antiquity is still a matter of intense research and controversial debate. Benjamin Isaac has collected considerable material about prejudices against Jews and barbarians and interpreted it as "the invention of racism". 2 Erich S. Gruen, on the contrary, has tried to show "that ancient societies, while certainly acknowledging differences among peoples (indeed occasionally emphasizing them) could also visualize themselves as part of a broader cultural heritage, could discover or invent links with other societies, and could couch their own historical memories in terms of a borrowed or appropriated past." 3 These two influential studies taken together mark out a wide range of cultural practices, perceptions, conflicts, interactions, exchanges and xenophobic reactions. Rather than controversial debate (was it racism or not?), what we need is differentiation. Greek/Roman-barbarian relations need to be set in different contexts in which they mattered:
Different Ways to Quantify the Barbarian Peoples of the Migration Period (c.200 - 800 CE)
2022
It is also important to note that cultural and ethnic identity do not have to correspond to archaeological identifications as well. The definitive allocation of archaeological findings to a certain ethnic or cultural group is only possible if allowed for by relevant primary sources. Here again it is important to differ between exonyms and endonyms as cultural and ethnic identity can be influenced from within and without. Many late antique or early medieval authors were influenced by religious and/or political motifs which influence perception and description of foreign cultures as well as designations or language.
Barbarians, Historians, and the Construction of National Identities
Journal of Late Antiquity, 2008
This article looks at the changing discourse in the historiography of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and the way in which that discourse is infl uenced by and infl uences attitudes toward the nation. Although the arrival of Germanic peoples had been an issue before the early eighteenth century, in the last century of the Ancien Regime the history of the Franks suddenly became a matter of major debate because it was seen as being relevant to the position of the aristocracy. This essentially class model then was applied to a reading of early Lombard history, where it had particular resonance because of the presence in Italy of outside powers, the removal of which was central to the Risorgimento. In the course of the nineteenth century, discussion of the barbarians took on a new phase, not least because it became involved in the defi nition of Germany, and, most importantly the frontiers of the new German state. Although methodologies changed, not least because of the development of archaeology, this was to provide a dominant focus for the study of the barbarians down to 1945. Although there has been signifi cant academic debate since the Second World War, the most high-profi le discussion of the Germanic peoples now takes place in exhibitions, where a central issue is the question of the defi nition of Europe and the EU.