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Terry Jones and Alan Ereira, Barbarians |
Capsule Summary: This book purports that perhaps the real barbarians were the Romans. A revisionist, somewhat controversial history based on newer discoveries that discusses the culture and accomplishments of the peoples surrounding Rome commonly regarded as barbarians.
Jones points out that the unique feature of Rome was not its system of laws, its roads and buildings, or any other similar aspect of its civilization: its unique attribute was that it was the first to have a professional army. He then asserts that the destruction caused by the Roman Empire set learning back 1500 years because what had been discovered and developed by the "barbarians" had to be relearned and redone. Most of the book is spent trying to support his argument.
Just how "civilized" were the Romans? Julius Caesar killed or enslaved one-third of the population of Gaul - or about two million people. A flourishing civilization in Dacia was totally wiped out - perhaps a worse genocide than that attempted by the Nazis. One advancement they had made was a mechanized device for stripping corn off its stalks. This advance one of many lost due to the Roman barbarism; a similar invention would not appear again until 1831 - about 2000 years later!
Another great example showing that the so-called barbarians were more advanced is a device that was developed on the Greek island of Rhodes and only recently reconstructed. No one is sure exactly what it was used for, but it was a perfect calendar at a time when the Roman calendar was off by 80 days - as Jones points out, spring feasts were celebrated in summer heat. A reconstruction has 76 gears and accurately shows the position of the sun, earth and moon PLUS all the five then-known planets! Now, what century was it that Galileo was declared a heretic for proposing such a solar-system model? Yet the ancient Greeks had the advanced mathematical skills to do the required calculations and lack of belief in superstitions to block them from accepting what was obviously true.
Who knows what knowledge was lost with the Roman destruction of conquered people's writings? The great libraries of Carthage were destroyed. Same thing for the writings at the Temple in Jerusalem, most of the writings of the Druids, and everything by the Dacians - whose philosophy compared to the Greeks according to contemporary historians.
Speaking of Carthage, half a million people were slaughtered in Carthage without regard to gender, age, or anything else. The Romans were masters of genocide.
Because of the actions of Rome, one can legitimately ask if the Huns even existed. Attila, yes - but no traces left of the Huns: No portraits or dwellings. no knowledge of their original language, although we do know that during Attila's time they spoke Gothic. Most Hun names are Germanic in origin. They tended to blend in with the peoples conquered, not kill them all off, further obfuscating their true origins. But no one knew where they came from or long they had traveled to reach Dacia. Their Asian-like appearance could have resulted more from tying boards to each side of a baby's skull to create an elongated appearance, frightening to Europeans. But the assumption that they came from the steppes could very well be incorrect.
The Vandals have really gotten short shrift in Western history. Vandals actually destroyed nothing, were basically migrating farmers eventually ending up in North Africa.
There are also some very interesting discussions regarding the development of the Catholic church and its integration into the empire. The Christian Sabbath moved to Sunday from Saturday because the emperor was associated with the sun; the birth of Christ was celebrated on December 25th because it coincided with the feast of Sol Invictus, also identified with the emperor. Actually, the most interesting parts of the book may well be the discussions of Catholicism's influence on how we view history and whom we consider to be barbarians.
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