Barbaricum

[2] During the Late Antiquity, it was the Latin name for those tribal territories not occupied by Rome that lay beyond the Rhine and the Danube (but not for Persia): Ammianus Marcellinus used it,[3] as did Eutropius.

[5] In research literature, the terms 'Germania', actually Magna Germania, and 'Barbaricum' are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not entirely identical in the chronological or the geographical senses.

[6] The extra-Roman area described as Barbaricum was, from the beginning of the Migration Period, not exclusively inhabited by Germani, even though they represented the majority of the population until the time of Late Antiquity.

[7] It is important to highlight the diverse cultural, social and economic contacts between (Germanic) Barbaricum and the Empire since the early imperial period.

[8] The formation of major Germanic tribal units such as the Alemanni and Franks, from the time of the imperial crisis of the 3rd century was probably influenced by contact with the Roman world.