Transcript Comparing Classical Nomads - White Plains Public Schools

Conquerors,assimilators,Diffusers
Classical Nomads
COMPARING THE ROLE OF BANTUS,
POLYNESIANS, GERMANIC AND ASIATIC
GROUPS
Read docs on Roman
Perspective of
“barbarians” to evaluate
Different attitudes
Toward nomadic tribes
Doc 1 (love) Doc 2(brutal) Doc 3(brutal) Doc
4(capable of domestication)
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Doc #1, a Christian priest writing in his book: Romans and Barbarians, c. 440:” shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another "), almost all barbarians, at least
those who are of one race and kin, love each other, while the Romans persecute each other.”
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Doc #2Advice to a 2nd century "barbarian king" from his mother:”destroy everything that others have built
and massacre everyone that you have conquered; for you are not better able to rebuild monuments than those
constructed by your predecessors and there is no more noble accomplishment for you to make your name”
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Doc #3: unknown Roman historian, circa 300 CE “Barbarians are driven by evil spirits; "possessed by
demons", who force them to commit the most terrible acts...incapable of living according to written laws and
only reluctantly tolerating kings...Their lust for gold is immense, their love of drink boundless” “given to gross
personal hygiene...They run dirty and barefoot, even in the winter...They grease their blond hair with butter
and care not that it smells rancid...Their reproductive energy is inexhaustible”
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Doc #4:Roman historian Tacitus: Germania (written c. 98CE) an account of Germanic tribes. “Whenever they
are not fighting, they pass much of their time in the chase, and still more in idleness, giving themselves up to
sleep and to feasting, the bravest and the most warlike doing nothing, and surrendering the management of
the household, of the home, and of the land, to the women, the old men” “We have now taught them to accept
money also.”
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Doc 5(Brutal), Doc 6 (impressive) Doc 7 (useful or domesticatable
enlisting in the army) Doc 8( assimilated and in control)
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Doc #5 Ammianus Marcellinus (c.330-395 CE): “spared neither those who
yielded nor those who resisted … the conquerors, like wild beasts rendered
still more savage by the blood they had tasted, and allured by the
temptations of groundless hope”
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Doc # 6Greek historian Priscus describes the court of Attila king of the Huns (448): “was
said to be more splendid than his houses in other places. It was made of polished boards,
and surrounded with wooden enclosures, designed not so much for protection as for
appearance' sake. Not far from the inclosure was a large bath built by Onegesius”
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Doc #7 unknown 4th century writer commenting on the decision by Emperor Probus to
enlist barbarian warriors into the Roman : “He took 16,000 [German] recruits, all of
whom he scattered through the various provinces, incorporating bodies of fifty or sixty in
the detachments or among the soldiers along the frontier”
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Doc #8Cassiodorus (ca. 493-526), secretary to the Roman Emperor King Theodoric
A letter written by King Theodoric to Ungis, the Sword-Bearer “We delight to live after
the law of the Romans, whom we seek to defend with our arms; and we are as much
interested in the maintenance of morality as we can possibly be in war” “our purpose is,
God helping us, so to rule that our subjects shall grieve that they did not earlier acquire
the blessing of our dominion”
Role of nomads: In relation to Classical Empires
 Diffusers:technology, language, religion, agriculture
 Assimilators: blending into settled societies, adopting universalizing religions,
need for sedentary foodstuffs
 Conquerors: destroying and plundering sedentary societies, did they conquer or
was their land taken by sedentary societies?
 Middle Men- merchants, tour guides, recievers of payment (either tribute or
extortion for safety and travel), Military conscripts ( served in classical empire
militaries)
Bantus
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Started in West Africa (Nigeria)- 3000 BCE
1st century CE- occupied forest region of equatorial Africa
Spread:
agricultural civilization
 cattle domestication, crop cultivation, crops themselves
iron working skills
 LANGUAGE( family of thousands)
Impact:
generated about 400 closely related Bantu languages
Form the basis of settled stateless societies
Kingdom of Ghana formed ( controlled the lucrative Trans-Saharan trade)
Gold was traded for salt where iron metallurgy helped maintain
Military control over stone age societies.
Us vs them: A story of migration?
In Depth: Nomads and Cross-Civilization Contacts and Exchanges
 Nomadic peoples were often agents of contact between civilizations and between farming
peoples and town dwellers. Both Chinese and Roman armies battled hostile nomads who
threatened to disrupt trade. Religions, art, agriculture, technology, and, most infamously,
disease spread along trade routes established by nomads. Sedentary civilizations adopted
military tactics and material from nomadic peoples and developed their own to deter them, like
the Great Wall and gunpowder, in China.
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Huns: Asiatic tribes like White Huns and Hshung
Nu
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Movement:
originated in steppes of North Central Asia
migrated westward towards India
in Europe by 4th century BCE
settled in what is now called Hungary
History:
395- assault on East Roman empire- helped the fall of Roman Empire
Raided China under Han dynasty and contributed to its fall
Attila the Hun unified Hun forces 434-453- after his death they fell apart
Around 500 CE- attacked India under Gupta and gained control of North and Central India
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Contributed to fall of Gupta
Pushed Germanic tribes in Rome
Spread:
New style of warfare and political ideology to W Europe ( siege tactics,horseback cavalry)
Impact:
Contributed to fall of the Roman, Han, and Gupta empires
Pushed Germanic peoples into Roman territory
Romans and Han paid extortion to provide safety: most notorious leader was Attila ( the
scourge of God)
Germanic
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Movement:
Originated in N Europe (Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals,Franks)
Migrated West starting around 370 CE in response to steppe nomads (Huns) invading across Asia
History
600 BCE- est. small villages
500 BCE- started working w iron- developed sophisticated tools/weapons
370 CE- began pushing into and colonizing Roman territories
 est. control in W. Europe
 Carolingian dynasty (751-987 CE) and Charlemagne’s Empire
500 CE- sailed into Britain
Will assimilate into Christian culture
Many will fight for Roman Empire
Impact:
fall of Roman empire: legions (professional Roman fighting force) made up of too many Germanic groups
Rome refused citizenship and they attacked from within ( Alaric/Odavacar: leader of Ostrogoths credited with
the sack of Rome 476 C.E)
 helped transform Rome into Medieval Europe
descendants include English, Dutch, French, Swedish, and many more
Polynesians
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Polynesians
Movement:
1000 BCE- reached islands Fiji and Samoa
400 CE- Hawaii
1000 CE- New Zealand
Spread: language and culture
animals
major crops All the Polynesian food plants except the sweet potato - notably taro, bananas, yams, breadfruit, and sugar
cane - and the three domesticated animals - the pig, dog, and chicken - come from the Asian side of the Pacific.
stratified caste system
** Although Polynesians did bring these things with them when they colonized the islands, they were the first people to
live on the islands, so they could not spread or impact any natives that were already living there
Religions/Political structure ( Easter Island)
Comp: Classical Nomads
In the classical world 600 B.C.E-600 C.E both the Polynesians and Bantu would
independently spread their agricultural technologies as well as contribute to the diffusion of
their languages, however the Bantu would migrate across the Sub-Saharan African continent
while the Polynesian sea-farers would sail across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Or
The Germanic tribes and Huns in the classical world both posed a threat to the classical
empires they served in the periphery. The Huns, however were a much more formidable
force contributing to the decline and fall of both the Han Dynasty and the Gupta empire and
forcing the Germanic tribes into Rome. The Germanic tribes, would serve in Rome’s military
ultimately attack Rome from the inside.
Other Nomads of Classical world
 Arabs- would form Islamic world
 Slavs- Would form Russian Culture
 Celts- would settle with Germanic peoples in
Western Europe