The “barbarian” figured prominently in the context of the Roman, and later of the Spanish, British, French, and the other Western European colonial empires.38 The Roman Empire sustained a strong sense of center versus periphery. Rome operated as a control panel, imposing laws, policies, educational norms, and military structures upon the provinces. In this context, being barbarian was not (always) an irremediable state, but one that could be “cured” through a civilizing process that involved Roman education (Heather 241). This idea can be compared with the civilizing mission of European colonialism. However, as opposed to the European missionaries who systematically tried to convert colonized peoples, in the Roman Empire it is not the task of the Roman to (collectively) educate and lead the ignorant barbarians to civilization.39 The educational process towards Romanitas took place more on an individual rather than on a collective level. It was primarily the responsibility of the barbarian, who should consciously wish to rise above his or her state and the society that produced him or her. In Rome, the promotion from barbarism to Romanitas was more an option for the barbarian than a systematic mission for the Roman.
However, not every barbarian was a potential Roman citizen. There were conquered barbarians within Roman borders: those were the groups that could potentially share the benefits of Romanitas. But there was also a barbarous exterior of savagery, turbulence, aggression, and lack of organization, “waiting to be conquered” (Goffart 280). This external barbaricum, which was defined in more absolute terms, contributed to the self- perception of the Roman Empire as the order that warded off chaos from the civilized world (280).40