Terry Jones challenges the received Roman and Roman Catholic notion of the 'barbarian'.Terry Jones challenges the received Roman and Roman Catholic notion of the 'barbarian'.Terry Jones challenges the received Roman and Roman Catholic notion of the 'barbarian'.
Browse episodes
Photos
Storyline
Featured review
I looked forward to this when it came out, as I realized that the common history tends to paint the "barbarians" as uncivilized. The series does a good job of pointing out that as a lie. However, what bothers me is the tone that basically tells us that Rome had no redeeming qualities, that the "barbarians" were all saintly, advanced and nearly perfect, compared to the evil Romans.
I think the mistakes of the history books could be corrected without going overboard and simply switching from the incorrect view of Rome being the purely civilized empire, while those living in the lands around them were uncivilized and backwards, to having Rome the monster with no civilized values and no real contribution to the future world while those other lands were all so wonderful and purely peaceful.
Why is it so hard for people to try to give a balanced, unbiased account? All to often I get the feeling that there's an ax to grind. History shouldn't be about pushing some personal feelings or desire to bring someone or some nation down a peg, but to simply give us facts.
So, even though I thought this was well done, it was too black and white, in a politically correct way that was more about bashing the Romans than to give us a fair assessment of the time.
I think the mistakes of the history books could be corrected without going overboard and simply switching from the incorrect view of Rome being the purely civilized empire, while those living in the lands around them were uncivilized and backwards, to having Rome the monster with no civilized values and no real contribution to the future world while those other lands were all so wonderful and purely peaceful.
Why is it so hard for people to try to give a balanced, unbiased account? All to often I get the feeling that there's an ax to grind. History shouldn't be about pushing some personal feelings or desire to bring someone or some nation down a peg, but to simply give us facts.
So, even though I thought this was well done, it was too black and white, in a politically correct way that was more about bashing the Romans than to give us a fair assessment of the time.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Terry Jones' Barbarians
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content