Rome and the Barbarians, 100 B.C. - A.D. 400

Description

The barbarians of antiquity, so long a fixture of the public imagination as the savages who sacked and destroyed Rome, emerge in this colorful, richly textured history as a much more complex―and far more interesting―factor in the expansion, and eventual unmaking, of the Roman Empire. Thomas S. Burns marshals an abundance of archeological and literary evidence, as well as three decades of study and experience, to bring forth an unusually far-sighted and wide-ranging account of the relations between Romans and non-Romans along the frontiers of western Europe from the last years of the Republic into late antiquity. Looking at a 500-year time span beginning with early encounters between barbarians and Romans around 100 B.C. and ending with the spread of barbarian settlement in the western Empire around A.D. 400, Burns removes the barbarians from their narrow niche as invaders and conquerors and places them in the broader context of neighbors, (sometimes bitter) friends, and settlers. His nuanced history subtly shows how Rome's relations with the barbarians―and vice versa―slowly but inexorably evolved from general ignorance, hostility, and suspicion toward tolerance, synergy, and integration. What he describes is, in fact, a drawn-out period of acculturation, characterized more by continuity than by change and conflict and leading to the creation of a new Romano-barbarian hybrid society and culture that anticipated the values and traditions of medieval civilization. List of Illustrations and Maps xi Preface xiii One. Sometimes Bitter Friends 1 Two. Recognition, Confrontation, and Coexistence 42 Three. Through Caesar's Eyes 88 Four. The Early Empire and the Barbarians: An Overview 140 Five. Perspectives from Pannonia 194 Six. The Barbarians and the "Crisis" of the Empire 248 Seven. Barbarians and the Late Roman Empire 309 Epilogue 374 Appendix: Most Important Roman Emperors and Usurpers 385 Notes 391 Bibliography 431 Index 453