Barbarization: Change or Continuity in the Late Roman Empire?
| dc.contributor.advisor | Vanderspoel, John | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Driediger-Murphy, Lindsay | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ramsey, Gregory | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Hughes, Lisa | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Ferris, John | |
| dc.date | 2022-02 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-01-17T17:38:27Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-01-17T17:38:27Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The term ‘barbarization’ has been frequently used in scholarship to describe the admission of Germanic ‘barbarians’ into the Roman Empire and army in late antiquity, and their impact on the Roman military and society. Barbarization is even linked to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476. Despite its frequent usage, the term ‘barbarization’ is problematic. To start with, there is no single definition amongst modern scholars. Even the term ‘barbarian’ was not used in the same way throughout antiquity, nor was it applied exclusively to the Germanic tribes. Moreover, the term ‘barbarian’ itself carries negative connotations in both ancient and modern sources, which carry over into the term ‘barbarization’. Furthermore, ‘barbarization’ isolates the integration of Germanic tribes in late antiquity from the integration of various other peoples, including other Germanic peoples, throughout the history of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, and thus exaggerates the impact the Germanic peoples had. When the relations between Romans and non-Romans from the different time periods are compared, there is far more continuity with the Roman Empire’s policies than there is change. From the first to third centuries, Rome had integrated many of its neighbours into its empire, with Rome’s auxilia being filled with soldiers from allied, annexed, and conquered people. Additionally, late antiquity was not the first time Rome was influenced by other cultures. Even the Roman military frequently adopted foreign ideas and technology. Moreover, when Rome’s interactions with Germanic tribes are focused on specifically, its general policies towards the Germans had not changed significantly between the first and late fourth centuries. The term ‘barbarization’ has unintentionally separated the study of Classical and late antiquity in a way which exaggerates the impacts of Germanic immigrants on the Roman Empire. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Ramsey, G. (2022). Barbarization: change or continuity in the late Roman Empire? (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39507 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1880/114292 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Arts | en_US |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Calgary | en |
| dc.rights | University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Rome | en_US |
| dc.subject | Roman Empire | en_US |
| dc.subject | Barbarians | en_US |
| dc.subject | Barbarization | en_US |
| dc.subject | Late Antiquity | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Language--Ancient | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Economics--History | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | History--European | en_US |
| dc.title | Barbarization: Change or Continuity in the Late Roman Empire? | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Greek & Roman Studies | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Calgary | en_US |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Arts (MA) | en_US |
| ucalgary.item.requestcopy | true | en_US |