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

by Thomas S. Burns

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801873061
• ISBN13: 9780801873065
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 461 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.6" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A treasure trove of valuable themes that you have to dig for

This is a collection of very long essays on the relationships between Rome and the barbarian societies present beyond or within its European frontier boundaries north of the Alps. Each essay focuses on one part of the Roman frontier in Europe and/or some period of time during the span of time in the title. I found that the level of care and detail displayed in the essays tended to fall as the essays moved from the west (Gaul and Batavia) to the east (Dacia) and from the earliest period (the late Republic) to the latest period (late Empire) covered in the book. I could never figure out how Prof. Burns organized any of these essays. They have no roadmaps, summaries, concluding sections, or subtitle markings to light the way. Mainly, I experienced a well-read, subtle scholar working his way through issues he thought were important for each essay, reaching out as he drove on to the treasure trove of references that he has accumulated in his study or office over the course of his long career. The experience is a bit like eating tapas. You get lots of interesting things to eat through the course of a meal that someone else has planned, but can't predict what will arrive next or why one has appeared with another. The focus throughout is clearly on Rome--on mainly Roman sources and on events within Roman boundaries or that result from Roman actions. I came to the book mainly to learn more about the barbarian communities of Europe. In fairness, the title, the dust cover, and everything about the book makes it clear that Rome will be the focus--just a heads up for anyone who might have come to this book with priorities like mine. The references are a goldmine for any amateur like me who wants to know what is available and where to look next. The text itself makes an amateur like me work to fit the pieces together and construct a complete picture that holds together. What follows is the picture that I built by looking for themes that run through the essays and circle back on themselves as Prof. Burns moves from one period or location to another. A warning to other readers: This is my take on Prof. Burns; my apologies in advance for misinterpretations! The book relies most heavily on written sources in Latin and on Roman artifacts to describe barbarian society. In doing so, it repeatedly raises a strong caveat that Roman writers and artists usually did not seek to describe barbarians accurately. The structure of their works and the tropes used in them reveal a rhetoric broadly shared at the time in which writer and reader (artist and viewer) thought of barbarians as an essential "other" (1) that embodied characteristics that could be used to highlight growing softness and decadence in Rome, and (2) that Rome had to defend itself against and, more specifically, that Roman emperors-to-be had to show they could defend Rome against, whether real a threat existed or not. Result: We should read Latin accounts of barbarian life with great skep

Roman containment or Roman envelopment?

Thomas Burns has painstakingly compiled a career's worth of educational study to show the relationships created, nurtured and harnessed between the Roman people and the ancient tribes of Western and Eastern Europe. You may find it suprising the actual dependencies held between both groups. The establishment of border "Barbarians" to shield long held Roman interests from the more savage of the norther tribes is a very old view of modern allied states. The Roman Republic and subsequent Empire was, in a very few words, a complex diplomatic, economic and military machine. The numerous working parts required much more than the strong arm presumed by most passing readers. The ability to successfully manage this type of entity placed incredible demands on Rome and its leaders while, at the same time, provided the proving (battle) grounds for all aspiring Roman up and comers. Burns does a fantastic job in showing that not only did Rome use the Barbarian tribes to prove the mettle of Roman officers, but integrated these same tribes into what would eventually become the ancient worlds greatest "modern" economy. The fall of the Roman Empire is shown not to be the cause of irresistible hordes of barbarian invaders, but the inherent impossibility of managing the vastness of Roman interests. Thomas Burns has earned his merits as a Roman scholar and in doing so brings to light a broad expanse of history and speculation that is integral to the study of Rome. Recommend this book to anyone who seeks a wide understanding of Rome and the group who both sustained and eventually became its citizenry - the Barbarians.

Whoz Ya Callin' a Barbarian? Identity & Change in the West

ROME AND THE BARBARIANS, 100 B.C. - 400 A.D. by Thomas S. Burns is a book designed for general readers about the peoples of the Western Empire in what is largely Europe from Great Britain to the Balkans. Burns is interested in the military, political, and commercial interactions between the Romans and the indigenous peoples of this area, which were termed by the Romans as barbarians. He does this through analyzing literary sources and looking at the archaeological record, as it is currently understood. Burns also discusses the mechanisms by which barbarians became Roman and the role of the military in this process.The book is divided into seven chapters and a short epilogue.Chapter 1 - Sometimes Bitter Friends. This is the layout of the book. Investigation of Roman and barbarian relations through literary sources and archaeology. Roman rhetoric and mental landscape. How they thought of barbarians. Terminology is discussed. What were barbarians, Germans, Celts, citizens, peregrini (foreigners)? The rest of the book is three phases laid out in six chapters, with two chapters a piece for each phase. The phases: first expansion, second consolidation with some expansion, third confusion that impacted on the eras that followed.Chapter 2 - Recognition, Confrontation, and Coexistence. First half the of the chapter is Roman relationship with the Celts in what is now southern France beginning in the second century B.C. Discussion of the long presence of the Celts in this area before the Roman incursion. Archaeological record of oppida (proto-towns/market places) also in place before the coming of the Romans. Greek contact with the Celts and the Roman idea of the Celts deriving from the Greek idea of the Celts. The Roman patron-client relationship is discussed. The second half deals with the Cimbri and Teutones and the barbarians in Bavaria area. Marius and other generals contact with these peoples.Chapter 3 - Through Caesar's Eyes. THE GALLIC WARS by Julius Caesar is analyzed. This is fascinating.Chapter 4 - The Early Empire and the Barbarians: An Overview. A time of rapid change. The end of oppida for civitates. The financing and reorganization of the military by Augustus. The barbarians join the military and win Roman citizenship. The impact of the military on the growth of towns through trade and building program. The continuing idea of the barbarians as threat whereas most war was caused by rebellions or civil war. The change from personal patron-client relationships to provinces.Chapter 5 -- Perspectives from Pannonia. Pannonia used as specific example to demonstrate the generalities of chapter 4. Pannonia is the area that would be western Hungary, parts of Serbia and Croatia, and bits of Slovenia and Austria. The wars in this region from Augustus to Caracalla. Caracalla's edict on citizenship for all who lived within the Roman Empire.Chapter 6 - The Barbarians and the "Crisis" of the Empire. Change again. The shrinking of towns. Lack of dynastic empe