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

Book excerpt: This historical analysis of Roman-Barbarian relations from the Republic into late antiquity offers a striking new perspective on the fall of the Empire. The barbarians of antiquity, often portrayed simply as the savages who destroyed Rome, emerge in this colorful, richly textured history as a much more complex factor in the expansion, and eventual unmaking, of the Roman Empire. Thomas S. Burns marshals an abundance of archeological and literary evidence to bring forth a detailed and wide-ranging account of the relations between Romans and non-Romans along the frontiers of western Europe. 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, Burns reframes the barbarians as neighbors, friends, and settlers. His nuanced history subtly shows how Rome’s relations with the barbarians slowly evolved from general ignorance, hostility, and suspicion toward tolerance, synergy, and integration. This long period of acculturation led to a new Romano-barbarian hybrid society and culture that anticipated the values and traditions of medieval civilization.