Barbarian facts for kids

The purpose of the Great Wall of China was to stop the "barbarians" from crossing the northern border of China.

The word barbarian is used to describe someone who is seen as uncivilized or uncultured. It can refer to a person or a group of people thought to have a lower level of civilization. When used for a person, it often means someone who is brutal, cruel, or whose behavior is not acceptable in polite society. This use is usually negative.

Historically, the meaning of "barbarian" has changed over time and in different cultures.

The Word's Origins

The word "barbarian" comes from the ancient Greek language. The Greeks used the word bárbaros to describe anyone who did not speak Greek. They thought that people who spoke other languages sounded like they were saying "bar-bar."

Later, the term came to mean "anyone who is not Greek."

Barbarians in Ancient Rome

The Ancient Romans also used the word. For them, a "barbarian" was anyone who lived outside the Roman Empire. They used this term for many different tribal groups.

Some of the groups the Romans called barbarians included:

• The Germanics
• The Celts
• The Gauls
• The Vandals
• The Goths
• The Huns
• The Franks
• The Saxons
• The Iberians
• The Thracians
• The Illyrians
• The Berbers
• The Sarmatians

These groups often had different customs and ways of life compared to the Romans.

Barbarians in Other Cultures

The idea of "barbarians" was not only found in ancient Greece and Rome.

• In the early modern period, the Byzantine Greeks (who continued the Eastern Roman Empire) sometimes used the term for the Turks.
• In Ancient China, references to "barbarians" go back a very long time. They appear as early as the Shang Dynasty and in texts like the Spring and Autumn Annals. The Chinese often used the term for groups living outside their main cultural areas.

Images for kids

• 

  Routes taken by barbarian invaders during the Migration Period, 5th century AD

• 

  A marble statue of a barbarian from the 2nd century AD.

• 

  Slaves in chains, from a relief found in Smyrna (present day İzmir, Turkey), 200 AD

• 

  Ransom of Christian slaves held in Barbary, 17th century

• 

  A scene of the Chinese campaign against the Miao in Hunan, 1795

• 

  A Sarmatian barbarian serves as an atlas on a 16th-century villa in Milan. Sculpted by Antonio Abbondio for Leone Leoni

See also

In Spanish: Bárbaro para niños