A backward person?
Hi, I would like to know the meaning of ¨backward¨ in the following sentence:
¨And it was there-in Italy-that the Romans, who were then a very backward people, a small city-state around Rome, first met the Greeks and begn to learn from them¨.
In which situation would you discribe someone as a backward person?
Thanks in advance!

Question

Answer

Good question!  Backward would mean uneducated, not civilized.  The Romans would later call the Celts and the Germanic tribes backwards, barbarians.  No roads, no written language, buildings, legal systems, etc