Barbarian (Civ4)/Civilopedia

The term "barbarian" was created by the Greeks; it was originally used to denote any foreigner. Since then it has gained a more negative connotation, and it is commonly applied to civilizations deemed "inferior" to one's own. The Chinese, for instance, thought of all foreign cultures - everybody from the Manchus to the Turks to the Europeans - as barbarians. Rome applied it to the Huns and the Germanic tribes, as well as to the more advanced Gauls.
In Civilization IV, the term denotes people that are not part of any organized civilization appearing in the game, but are instead old-style hunter-gatherers who prey on the "weak" civilized world. Though some barbarians may have acquired fairly advanced weaponry - swords and axes, for example - and though they may occasionally capture or even build their own cities, they remain at heart hostile nomads, destroying everything that comes in their path. Barbarians cannot be bargained with or appeased: they must be destroyed - before they destroy you!