"Everyone calls barbarism what does not agree with their own custom." Europeans and some of their barbarian others.

KWIATKOWSKI, NICOLÁS

Roma

Conferencia; Research Seminar; 2018

Biblioteca Hertziana

I will start by briefly tracing the classical origins of the terms we?ll be discussing and their progress in the Medieval world. This will, in fact, be superficial, but it is necessary as an initial setting for the focus of my presentation. We will then step foot into the Early Modern World. At this point, we will go through examples regarding barbarians and barbarism in different contexts. These include the contacts with distant worlds, both old and new, the re-evaluation of Europe?s barbarian past; the uses of the terms to denounce cruelty and brutality, their incorporation in a long-term narrative of human history, and the criticism of the "barbarity of the civilised".