Essay about Early Medieval Barbarians Sense of Ethnicity

Early Medieval Barbarians Sense of Ethnicity There has always been, and will most likely continue to be, great debate as to what we can or cant truly known about the â€Å"Barbarians†. To the peoples of ancient Greece, and later, Rome, a barbarian was ‘anyone who was not of their extraction or culture. Because most of these strangers regularly practiced raids upon these civilizations, the term barbarian gradually evolved into a perjorative term: a person who was sub-human, uncivilized, and regularly practiced the most vile and inhuman acts imaginable’. [1] In a good overall summary of the barbarians, it has been stated that these ‘Barbarians’ were ‘a tall, fierce, fair- haired and fair-skinned†¦show more content†¦There has also been a vast array of archeological evidence that has been discovered that may or may not give us more insight into the lives of the mysterious middle aged warriors, however this type of evidence does not give historians solid facts, but rather evidence u pon which an opinion may be formed. It has been stated that ‘the only thing we can truly know about early medieval barbarians is their sense of ethnicity’. The oxford English dictionary defines ethnicity as ‘pertaining to race; peculiar to a race or nation; ethnological. Also, pertaining to or having common racial, cultural, religious, or linguistic characteristics, esp. designating a racial or other group within a larger system; hence (U.S. colloq.), foreign, exotic’.[3] Research however has shown that the in some cases Barbarians did not have such an extreme sense of ‘ethnicity’, or unique ‘otherness’, that has previously been suggested. In today’s age, our common preconception of somebody who is ‘ethnic’ is more than often a negative perception. There are many reasons for this, but the most common explanation may simply lay with the fact that just because we may not understand enough about a different groups culture or way of life, or we have differentShow MoreRelatedWorld s Most Culturally Diverse And Religiously Open Empire4967 Words   |  20 Pagesof being tolerated in society no matter what, the Roman’s assimilated people into society as full citizens. This meant the empire could strive because it was able to enlist, absorb, reward, and intermix people of different/diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions. The fact that at the Roman’s peak anyone (an African, Spaniard, Briton, and Gauls), could reach the highest power as long as they were assimilated provided tremendous success to the kingdom. Also, the Romans always had multipleRead MoreOne Significant Change Tha t Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pageseven peaceful protest, opened the way for brutally repressive regimes that actively promoted or systematically engineered the massive episodes of rape, oppression, and genocidal killing that were major offshoots of a second global conflict in the early 1940s. The barbarous treatment meted out to tens of millions of men, women, and children in a decade that marked the nadir of recorded human history provided much of the impetus for a worldwide resurgence of human rights activism, agitation, and