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The Coming of the Barbarians (The Huns (Warfare (Don't know much about…
The Coming of the Barbarians
Background
Barbarians often cited as the reason behind the fall of the empire - historians more skeptical now
How can you tell if someone is a barbarian?
Religion e.g. Arianism and Goths - but taught that by the empire
Language as a marker - but most likely spoke Latin/Greek, could be profitable to learn a barbarian language
Nothing inherent in bones that would prove a concrete racial difference
Burials and items - but culture of materialism, things move, items are traded - anyone can wear types of clothing and brooches, whatever is fashionable
Moving Groups
Clans and Tribes - explanation sources favour
Ethnogenesis - central set of myth/legend/beliefs about themselves - anyone could participate
Armies with a brand name - Guy Halsall - names for armies, people in groups take these names without having much to do with the groups
Units within the imperial army with names like this - groups with very old names, or in geographically incorrect places
Definition
Originally a Greek word, deragatory
Non-Greek speaker
Described a people who lived without law and without cities, outside the empire - someone who lived without civilization and the empire = civilization
Therefore did not include Persians - later sources talk about them like that but not common
Linked by their location in relation to the empire
Further away = more barbaric - from villages to nomads - based on Scyths
Although they are outside the empire they are in contact with it
Arguably a fundamentally misleading term, too generalized, too many groups for it to be useful
Indiviudals
Alaric, King of Goths
First appears in primary sources in late 4th century as a commander in the imperial army - already part of the imperial structure
Famous example of a barbarian who got inside the empire
Series of rebellions and returns to imperial service
Main power and bargaining chip is his control over a large Gothic army
Sieges Romes 3 times and sacks it once
Stilicho
Debate as to how far he can be considered a barbarian - father was a Vandal but mother was a Roman citizen, probably born within the empire
Sources that dislike him refer to him as a barbarian
First seen in late 4th century as an envoy to the Persians for Theodosius I - already within imperial structure
Is promoted
Promoted soon after and marries Theodosius' niece
Is appointed consul in 400
Can see how he wanted to be remembered - ivory diptych of him and his wife, cloak fastened with a fibula - seen as barbarian fashion, but could also have become part of army
Also in Roman imperial army regalia
Several other examples - shows possibility of social mobility within the empire
E.g. Ulfila and Silvanus
Barbarians within the Empire
Tertiae
No-one is certain what this term means and there is ongoing debate among historians - term has been translated as thirds of land
Tax from land
Imperial land
Land taken from nobles
Surely would have been more protest in primary sources
Different places, different solutions
Empire fairly vast and varied - likely different solutions for various places within the empire
Some historians believe that pressure from the Hun's advance forced barbarians into the empire - either into conflict with it or inside it
The Huns
The Huns were a nomadic group from far beyond the borders of the empire
Aims
The Huns had no interest in being part of the imperial structure - simply wanted to take the empire for their own
Warfare
Don't know much about how the Huns fought - probably on horseback, possibly with bows - difficult to beat
Romans had a tendency not to use much cavalry
Given too much weight in explanations of the fall of the empire?
Romans seen in the Hun's army - barbarians are better governors?
Roman citizens were more afraid of the Huns that other groups of Vandals - the Huns were only around for ~1 century, the Vandals for ~500 years - alien, unfamiliar
Physical differences - bound their skulls as infants
This is reflected in primary sources such as Jordanes