This video covers several issues regarding the assimilation of non-Romans into the late Roman military. Attila the Hun's 451 invasion, climaxing in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (Chalons), is used as a case study of these phenomenona.
Jeremy Stitts, Graduate Researcher, Princeton University
Video
*Correction* "Flagellum Dei"
Discussion Questions
What is a "Roman" and how fluid was the boundary between Roman and non-Roman identities late antquity?
Were foederati boons or burdens on the empire?
Did the Romans properly integrate non-Romans into their political, military, and social structures?
How did these treaties between Romans and barbarians create the world of the Middle Ages?
Primary Source
Further Reading
Guy Halsall, “Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568”, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
Patricia Southern, “The Roman Army: A History 753BC-AD476”, (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, 2014).
Walter A. Goffart, "Barbarians and Romans, A.D. 418-584: The Techniques on Accommodation”, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981).
Cite
Stitts, Jeremy. "Where are the Romans? What Attila's War Reveals about Barbarian Integration in the Late Roman Empire," Middle Ages for Educators, November 17, 2023. Accessed [date]. https://middleagesforeducators.princeton.edu/where-are-romans-what-attilas-war-reveals-about-barbarian-integration-late-roman-empire
Video Editor
Jeremy Stitts