Terry Jones' Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History

by Terry Jones, Alan Ereira

Overview

Terry Jones' Barbarians takes a completely fresh approach to Roman history. Not only does it offer us the chance to see the Romans from a non-Roman perspective, it also reveals that most of those written off by the Romans as uncivilized, savage and barbaric were in fact organized, motivated and intelligent groups of people, with no intentions of overthrowing Rome and plundering its Empire.

This original and fascinating study does away with the propaganda and opens our eyes to who really established the civilized world. Delving deep into history, Terry Jones and Alan Ereira uncover the impressive cultural and technological achievements of the Celts, Goths, Persians and Vandals.

In this paperback edition, Terry and Alan travel through 700 years of history on three continents, bringing wit, irreverence, passion and scholarship to transform our view of the legacy of the Roman Empire and the creation of the modern world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781409070429
Publisher:	Ebury Publishing
Publication date:	05/27/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	517,443
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Terry Jones is best known as a member of Monty Python but he has also written four books on medieval England: Chaucer's Knight, the highly acclaimed Who Murdered Chaucer?, Crusades and Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, which accompanied a major television series he presented in 2004. He is the author of several children's books including Fairy Tales and Fantastic Stories, The Knight and the Squire and The Lady and the Squire. He has directed several feature films: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life, Personal Services, Erik the Viking and The Wind in the Willows. Terry presented the four-part television series Barbarians in 2006.

Alan Ereira has worked as an award-winning producer and writer of history programmes on radio and television for over 40 years, and has collaborated with Terry for ten years on a number of historical films. His previous books include The People's England, The Invergordon Mutiny, The Heart of the World and (with Terry Jones) Crusades and Terry Jones' Medieval Lives.

Table of Contents

Preface     7
Barbarian Timeline     10
Introducing the Goodies and Baddies     13
The Celts     20
Unearthing the Celts     21
The Looting of Gaul     41
Celtic Women and the Great British Revolt     50
Romans on Top     71
Barbarians from the North     86
The Germans     87
Dacia and the Vanished World     110
The Goths     129
Barbarians from the East     150
Hellenes     151
Persia - the Early Dynasties     172
Sassanians     191
Vandals and Huns     212
Behind the Myths     213
The Christianization of the Empire     217
Vandals     238
Nemesis     264
Epilogue     286
Notes     289
Bibliography     303
Picture Credits     310
Index     311

Editorial Reviews

"I have enormously enjoyed this book - it is very lively and really does get to grips with perceptions of the Barbarians. It's just what we need to readdress the balance and to put the Romans in their correct perspective."

EBOOK COMMENTARY

In the Monty Python film Life of Brian, a member of the People's Front of Judea asks, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" (apart from, of course, the "sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health"). The director of that movie-and now popular historian-Jones (Who Murdered Chaucer?), along with Ereira (The People's England), now answer the question: a bit, but nowhere near as much as the barbarians did. Jones attempts to overturn the popular conception of the glorious Roman Empire, which he says is mostly propaganda, and claims that the barbarians-a general term describing the tribes of western and northern Europe, as well as of the Middle East-have for too long been slandered as "savages" by the allegedly more advanced and civilized Romans and their descendants. In fact, these assorted Celts, Vandals, Persians and Goths were technologically, economically and intellectually sophisticated, but were on the wrong side of history. While scholars will sniff at Jones's offhand humor, somewhat wide-eyed "revelations"-which have been revealed before-and tendency to believe the vastly exaggerated death tolls of the time (he relies on Plutarch's figure that Julius Caesar slaughtered a million Gauls, a virtually impossible feat), readers will go along for a most enjoyable ride and appreciate his fascinating tale of the barbarians' lost world. 24 pages of color photos, maps. (Sept. 15) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

"I wish all historical books written by nonhistorians were so informed, and all books by historians so well written."  —Dr. Walter Pohl, head of the Institute for Medieval History Research, Vienna Academy of Sciences

From the Publisher