Barbarians Rising

As a former ancient history teacher, I found this series had a distinct lack of objectivity, instead opting to take side of the barbarians as freedom fighters against the oppression of Rome. I also noted the historical inaccuracies others have mentioned. History is about taking a good look at all sides of the story, seeking out evidence not just on the facts, but the motives behind them. This series over-sensationalizes the barbarians while leaving out the fact that some of them did not enjoy popular support. Try Terry Jones' Barbarians for a much better idea of what really went on.

I think the keyword here is docudrama. Is the series 100% accurate? No, it can't be, we weren't there and most of the history of the times came from the Romans themselves. That said, it had well acted and engrossing stories that made me do much additional reading on the significant characters. It was enlightening, fun and entertaining to boot. If I was a teacher and wanted to get young adults interested in Roman history, I would definitely use this as an introduction. I highly recommend.

A documentary series on the rebel leaders who stood up to the Roman Empire, with varying degrees of success. Through narration, expert opinion and dramatized scenes we see the histories of Hannibal, Viriathus, Spartacus, Boudica, Arminius, Fritigern, Alaric, Geiseric and Attila the Hun and their struggles for independence from Rome.

An interesting period of history, with colourful subjects, well told. Well dramatized too - not just basic battle scenes as many military history series seem to consist of, but decent dialogue and human drama, in addition to some great action scenes. Many well known actors and actresses too.

On the downside, the dramatization sometimes takes precedence over historical accuracy. Also, the experts that are wheeled out feel very staged, speech-filled, preachy and superfluous. For example, why on earth do you need Jesse Jackson for a series about the Roman Empire? The experts are largely just padding.

As an ex-high school Ancient History teacher, I thought this series took a very one-eyed view of Rome and, as others have pointed out, gets a few of the "facts" wrong. It depicted the Romans as the bad guys and the barbarians as the good guys (and girls). The ancient world was a pretty brutal place no matter where you were.

Think back to the "What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian where the troupe satirically reels off a long list of the good things the Romans had done. A lot of uprisings did not have popular support, as many thought Rome offered an OK deal, or at least a better deal than they were getting.

Rather than a one-sided narrative, this series would have been a lot better with some historical objectivity in the mix.

Please, do not call this history. This is just a epic-romantic fictional drama. The fight of good against evil. An idealistic quest for freedom... Nothing to do with real history. Not only they get all the facts mixed up, when not entirely wrong, the worst is the "analysis" by the "experts". They really sound like 7-year-olds talking about the last Disney cartoon. They do not understand the politics at all, how an empire is built. I gave it 6 for the effort and, because as a work of fiction, it deserves some recognition.