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The Roman World was not a homogeneous zone of Romanness, although it tended to present itself that way, in opposition to the surrounding ‘Barbarians’. It incorporated pre-existing regional, ethnic and civic identities and transformed them.

When the Roman empire eroded in the 5^th–7^th centuries, new (and old) identities complemented the provincial ones in a dynamic process in which newly-defined peoples and regions began to emerge. This process has never been studied comprehensively, and the present project proposes to contribute to that goal.

Lecture, dicussion, readings

Written exam

Will be announced in the course.

Behind the concept of migration lies the assumption that peoples or tribes like the Goths, Vandals, Herules, Gepids or Rugii emigrated from their places of origin and established a kingdom on Western Roman territory. Thereby different and quite problematic categories discussed in the past decades are thrown together.