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Quickly displacing or assimilating the indigenous people of the regions they entered, they never truly settled anywhere, ever-moving as their needs and resources changed.  Eventually they did settle and create homes and lifestyles for themselves, yet their culture was never elaborate.  Those who they came in contact with considered them uncivilized, and yet were fascinated by their strength, stamina, force of will, charisma, and versatility.  They were respected by those they befriended, and feared by those who opposed them.  Even within their own society, they fought amongst themselves, seeking supremacy of power and controllership of the lands they acquired. 

In Northern Europe they became known as the Teutons, Norse, Goths, and Celts, and within those tribes arose many sub-tribes.  Settling deep in the regions of Northern Europe, they were forgotten by the various civilizations to the South and East such as Greece, Assyria, Persia, and Egypt.  It was not until the end of the Bronze age and the onset of the Iron Age that the cultures would re-emerge, clashing with those civilizations fronting the Mediterranean Sea; Greece, and Rome. 

Reviled by the Greeks, and both respected and feared by the Romans, these people would time and again engage in battles against those civilizations.  Those of Teutony proved to be indomitable, and even the ones conquered by Rome did not remain under Roman rule for long.  Their fierce, warlike nature and coarse behaviors earned them the name "barbarians", meaning both "illiterates" and "wanderers". 

The term "Barbarian" is Greek in origin. The Greeks originally levied it at any races who were not of Greek extraction; especially those who threatened Greek civilization and culture.  Originally applied to the Persian invaders under Artaxerxes and Darius, the Greeks later referred to the invading peoples of Northern Europe as "barbarians."  To the Greeks, the harsh barking sound of the newcomers' speech sounded to them like "bar-bar-bar."  Since these strangers from the north did not understand classic Greek, the Greeks believed them to be "illiterate."  The term also came to mean "stranger" or "wanderer," since most of the barbarians with which they came in contact were nomadic (the Goths, for example). 

To the peoples of ancient Greece, and later, Rome, a barbarian was anyone who was not of their extraction or culture.  Because most of these "strangers" regularly practiced raids upon these civilizations, the term "barbarian" gradually evolved into a perjorative term:  a person who was sub-human, uncivilized, and regularly practiced the most vile and inhuman acts imaginable.  Nothing could have been farther from the truth. 

A glimpse of the dim view concerning the barbarians, taken by the cultural historian Herodotus of Greece, follows:

"Barbarians can neither think nor act rationally, theological controversies are Greek to them...Under the assault of their horrible songs the classic meter of the ancient poet goes to pieces...Barbarians are driven by evil spirits; "possessed by demons", who force them to commit the most terrible acts...incapable of living according to written laws and only reluctantly tolerating kings...Their lust for gold is immense, their love of drink boundless. Barbarians are without restraint...Although generally they are considered good-looking, they are given to gross personal hygiene...They run dirty and barefoot, even in the winter...They grease their blond hair with butter and care not that it smells rancid...Their reproductive energy is inexhaustible; the Northern climate of their native land, with its long winter nights favors their fantastic urge to procreate...If a barbarian people is driven back or destroyed, another already emerges from the marshes and forests of Germany...Indeed, there are no new barbarian peoples--descendents of the same tribes keep appearing." 
(Herwig Wolfram, The History of the Goths, p. 6-7).

Indeed these racial slurs and stereotypes, propagated by such noted historians as Herodotus and Tacitus, are not of the past.  They exist in our world today, aimed at whatever minority that the powers that be wish to dominate, repress, and undermine.  The life of the barbarian people was very hard; the climate rough.  Resources were scarce (thus the need for minimal clothing; running barefoot was often a necessity.)  Greasing the hair with butter was a strategic maneuver; an enemy would find it very difficult to grab hold of a barbarian's long luxuriant hair if it was thus oiled.  As for the remarks concerning "evil spirits", this was a common tactic used then (and even now) to produce fear in the hearts of the populace.  As far as the barbarian's lust for gold and drink, it was no greater or less than that of the Greeks or Romans.  Shall we mention the gluttonous banquets and orgies thrown by these same Grecian and Roman elite, not to mention the depths of depravity and sexual license incurred among such festivities?  (These activities included bestiality, child molestation, sado-masochism; most acts of which were unheard of among the barbarian culture).  The comments about the barbarian's reproductive fecundity are again racial slurs; many of which are heard today, levied at various people of different racial and cultural backgrounds.  No, it was no unbiased historical account that was recorded of the barbarian culture and lifestyle. 

You can read more of Tacitus' view of the Barbarians in Germania, his discorse on the Germanic Barbarians.  Although some of it is complimentary, much of it is filled with rumor and "mud-slinging" propaganda. 

Other than their rather ferocious battle tactics, the barbarians of Iron-Age Northern Europe (N.E.) were fairly civilized.  Unlike the Huns and Allans, barbarian races hailing from the orient, the N.E. barbarians were pretty much content to keep to themselves and to their own.  Raiding forays were made only in direst circumstances when climatic conditions or other natural disasters forced them to look for resources elsewhere.  The N.E. barbarians, also known as the Celts, Teutons, and Norse, consisted of several loosely-knit tribes of people.  To the far northwest and west were the Celts (now the British, Welsh, Irish, French, and Spanish).  The northern part of Britain was inhabited by barbarians of both Celtic and Pictish origin, which make up the current race of the Scots.  To the west were the Franks (later the French), a Germanic race, and the Gauls (also now the French), who were a subset of the Celtic race.  To the North were the various Germanic tribes (the Vandals, Langobards, Alamanni, Marcomanni, Cherusci, Anglo-Saxons, Celts, Jutes, and Burgundians; all which helped to form the present day Germans, Scandinavians, Swiss, Austrians, French, and British.)  To the East and Northeast were the nomadic Gothic races ( Visigoths and Ostrogoths), which were the most active in helping bring the fall of the Roman Empire.

History has shown the barbarians to be civilized and far from the uncultured stereotype with which they have been saddled.  History has also shown them to be strong family folk, who mated and remained faithful to their mates for life.  So how did they get such a bad reputation? 

First of all, very few of the barbarians could read or write.  Only the studious mages, skalds, bards, and loremasters among them knew their alphabetic system, the runes (Germanic) or oghams (Celtic).  Therefore, their histories were largely passed by word of mouth, from generation to generation.  The Greeks and Romans, however, being very adept at the written record, are the ones who have given us much of the recorded history of the Iron Age.  Obviously, they would not have spoken very well of those who helped bring about the fall of their empire!  We have already seen some of the stereotypes propagated by Tacitus and Herodotus.  They were not alone in their execrations against the barbarians.

It was, actually, Rome who drew "first blood" against the Germanic tribes.  Rome wished to claim the lands north of the Rhine river for its own.  Up to that point in time, the Germanic people had been content to "live and let live", with a few border skirmishes and forays.  When Rome crossed the line and entered the Teutonic lands with intent to conquer, the Germanic tribesmen rose up in fury.  After several failings, the Teutons managed to defeat the Roman invasion at the battle of Teutoberg Forest (circa C.E. 9) to such a great extent that Rome never again tried to conquer the barbarian Germans. 

It was, in fact, common practice during the latter parts of the Roman Empire, for Rome to actively recruit young barbarian males for duty in the Roman army, especially patrolling the outer borders.   These were regularly recruited from the Gothic barbarians. Alaric the Goth, the first barbarian to actually "sack" Rome (410 A.D.), was one such barbarian that Rome had first recruited into its ranks.  Stilicho the Vandal was another; in charge of the forces that guarded Northern Italy, around the Arno river near present-day Firenze (Florence).  The practice of hiring barbarian warriors for service in the Roman legions became known as the barbarization of the Roman Empire , which many historians believe helped lead to the decline of the empire.  More likely, the barbarization practice allowed many barbarians to see the weaknesses inherent in the empire and to capitalize on those weaknesses.  As more barbarians entered the Roman Army, barbarian raids on the empire began to escalate. 

It should be noted that for the most part, the Romans with their war-oriented civilization, both appreciated and feared the barbarians as mighty warriors.  It was the more elitist Greeks who excoriated the barbarians as bloody, subhuman, demonic entities.  Much of Rome came to appreciate the Greek point of view as the barbarian civilizations grew in number and in power, eventually toppling the empire in the latter part of the 5th century C.E.  By this time, the empire had practically killed itself anyway from its internal weaknesses, social laxity, and greed, and the barbarians took advantage of what they saw to be a prime opportunity.