The term barbarian means an uncivilized person, and it most often carries a highly negative meaning. Three great civilizations of the ancient world used the word to describe outsiders: the Greeks, the Chinese, and the Romans. The Romans, in fact, used the term so frequently that it has come to be used as a general name for the Celts, Goths, and others who threatened Rome.
The word comes from Latin, but it ultimately originated with the Greek barbaroi. Obviously the Chinese did not use "barbarian" or even a variation, since their language is completely unrelated to Greek; however, their own word for the nomadic tribes beyond their borders had much the same meaning.
Though it is not very "politically correct" to call someone a barbarian in modern times, it is understandable how the civilized peoples of the ancient world would have looked on outsiders that way. On the one hand, there were the splendid, highly civilized cultures of the Chinese,
Greeks, or Romans; on the other hand, there were the tribes of northern China and northern Europe, who wore animal skins and slept on the ground. Worse, they often invaded the cities of the civilized world, where they would rape and loot and burn.
The barbarians were uncivilized, of course, meaning that they did not build cities or develop a written language; but many adapted to city life and learned civilized ways, including reading and writing. Yet to the Chinese and later the Romans, that was when the barbarians truly became a threat.
From the beginning, the understandable fear of barbarian invasion was mixed with a heavy dose of prejudice against outsiders. In fact the Greek word barbaroi really just meant someone who was not Greek. Later, white Europeans would use words such as "barbarian" and "savage" to describe black Africans, many of whom were highly civilized. Therefore, it is a word to use carefully.
Began the persecutions of Christians, which would continue off and on for nearly 300 years. Nero himself committed suicide after revolts against the empire broke out in a variety of places, including Palestine.
Vespasian (vehs-PAY-zhee-uhn; r. a. d. 69-79) began restoring order to the empire. In a. d. 70 his son Titus (TIE-tuhs) captured the city of Jerusalem and destroyed its temple. Titus
Was practically a partner in his father's reign, then served as emperor himself from A. D. 79 to 81, during which time a volcano destroyed the city of Pompeii (pahm-PAY). Titus was followed by his brother, the tyrant Domitian (doh-MISH-uhn; r. a. d. 81-96), who quarreled with the senate and demanded that he be addressed as “God.”
Ruins of Hadrian's Wall.
Corbis/Robert Estall. Reproduced by permission.
After the brief reign of another emperor came a series of four able rulers. In fact, the historian Edward Gibbon (1734-1794), whose Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is the most important historical work about Rome, described the period from A. D. 96 to 180 as “the period of the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous.”
First of these four “good” emperors was Trajan (TRAY-juhn; r. a. d. 99-117), who added several provinces, including Mesopotamia, to the empire. In 116, in fact, the empire reached its greatest extent, stretching from the borders of Scotland to the mouth of Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Among the notable figures in his empire was Pliny the Younger (PLIN-ee; c. a. d. 61-113), a statesman and orator whose uncle, Pliny the Elder (c. a. d. 23-79), had been a famous naturalist.
The emperor Hadrian (HAY-dree-uhn; r. a. d. 117-138) gave the first evidence that Rome had grown too big for its own good. He gave up the recently acquired province of Mesopotamia. He built a large stone border, Hadrian's Wall, between Roman Britain and Scotland. His reign also saw the construction of the Pantheon, a huge temple to the gods covered by an open dome. Another great Roman historian, Tacitus (TAS-i-tuhs; c. a. d. 55-117) flourished under Hadrian. Like others before him, Tacitus, author of a noted work on the German tribes beyond the Roman borders, criticized the moral direction Rome was taking. He was among the last Roman writers of note.
Hadrian was followed by a minor emperor, and then by one of the greatest rulers in Roman history, Marcus Aurelius (oh-REEL-ee-uhs; r. 161-180), who is also famed as a Stoic philosopher. Certainly the events of Marcus's time must have influenced the brave approach to life that he recommended in his writings. Not only did soldiers fighting in Asia bring back the plague, but Rome was subjected to invasions from several German tribes. Marcus became the first of many emperors to allow barbarians to settle inside Roman borders as a means of protecting the frontier from other barbarians.
World History
