Barbarisation, acculturation et “démocratisation de la culture” dans l’Antiquité tardive

Abstract

Barbarians in the Late Roman Empire (4th century) may be seen as ‘creative minorities’. Inside an Empire whose “Roman” character is strongly affirmed, native populations are not often designated as barbari; in the same way, this term is not frequently used for those soldiers in the Roman armies who were born beyond the frontier. Even if there is always a Roman point of view in favour of the assimilation of the barbarians, the fear of “barbarization” coexists all the same, and the conviction that the opposition between the Empire and the barbaricum is something threatening. Barbarian presence in the Empire is revealed in different ways: relations with their native society, the concept of “cross-border society”, and frequency of roman-barbarian marriages. Political and social integration of the barbarians and their cultural assimilation, though closely related, are two different problems. As regards these matters, the classical tradition passed on a mix of rejection and acceptance; Christians provided a no more united response.