how western was the roman empire?
The Roman Empire may have had Rome as its centre, but its original focus was never towards the northern barbarian lands that constitute today's West. Instead, its focus was North Africa -- it's bread basket -- and all of the Mediterranean lands from Syria to Greece.
The original inhabitants of Rome were from the native Latini tribe who were similar in ethnicity to the neighboring Germanic tribes -- fair skin, blue eyes, blond hair. The Latini were largely wiped out by war or interbreeding when Rome was invaded and settled by the Greeks and the Phoenicians (Syria).
Rome became the centre of civilization and the seat of a new empire by about 450BC and its ethnicity by then was wholly of Greek and Syrian origin -- olive skin, brown eyes, black hair -- typically known today as the Mediterrean type.
Because the Romans -- and Italians in general since 450BC -- were settlers from Greece and Syria their focus was always towards the lands of their origin from which they inherited their languages, religions and customs. Their only concern with the barbarians to the north was keeping them out of Italy!
It was not until 54BC that Caesar took an interest in Britain, but it took nearly a century before Claudius actually brought Britain into the empire in 43BC.
By then, continuing conquests by Rome had brought many more ethnic types into Italy -- either as conquered slaves or new citizens asserting their right to live wherever they liked in the empire -- and these conquests also provided opportunities for ordinary Greek-Syrian Romans to live in northern lands as the ruling administrative and military class.
Ethnically, then, the Roman Empire was never white and neither was the early western civilization which evolved from it. In fact, as the Romans with their legions of African soldiers moved into the northern lands the ethnicity of the local populations changed dramatically. Gaul (France) was the first area to experience a change in ethnicity from white to Mediterranean, and then southern Britain. The Scandinavian lands of the Vikings were the only parts of Europe that were impervious to Roman invasion and ethnic change.
The original inhabitants of Rome were from the native Latini tribe who were similar in ethnicity to the neighboring Germanic tribes -- fair skin, blue eyes, blond hair. The Latini were largely wiped out by war or interbreeding when Rome was invaded and settled by the Greeks and the Phoenicians (Syria).
Rome became the centre of civilization and the seat of a new empire by about 450BC and its ethnicity by then was wholly of Greek and Syrian origin -- olive skin, brown eyes, black hair -- typically known today as the Mediterrean type.
Because the Romans -- and Italians in general since 450BC -- were settlers from Greece and Syria their focus was always towards the lands of their origin from which they inherited their languages, religions and customs. Their only concern with the barbarians to the north was keeping them out of Italy!
It was not until 54BC that Caesar took an interest in Britain, but it took nearly a century before Claudius actually brought Britain into the empire in 43BC.
By then, continuing conquests by Rome had brought many more ethnic types into Italy -- either as conquered slaves or new citizens asserting their right to live wherever they liked in the empire -- and these conquests also provided opportunities for ordinary Greek-Syrian Romans to live in northern lands as the ruling administrative and military class.
Ethnically, then, the Roman Empire was never white and neither was the early western civilization which evolved from it. In fact, as the Romans with their legions of African soldiers moved into the northern lands the ethnicity of the local populations changed dramatically. Gaul (France) was the first area to experience a change in ethnicity from white to Mediterranean, and then southern Britain. The Scandinavian lands of the Vikings were the only parts of Europe that were impervious to Roman invasion and ethnic change.
Labels: greeks, latini, roman empire, syrians, western civilization
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