Terry Jones’ Barbarians

Terry Jones’  Barbarians is a 4-part TV documentary series first broadcast on BBC 2 in 2006.

Presented and written by Terry Jones, he challenges the received Roman and Roman Catholic notion of the barbarian. It could be compared to his earlier series Medieval Lives, it questions aspects of history we take for granted.

So you think you know everything about the Romans? They gave us sophisticated road systems, chariots and the modern-day calendar. And of course they had to contend with barbarian hordes who continually threatened the peace, safety and prosperity of their Empire. Didn’t they?

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 the people 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. Terry Jones argues that we have been sold a false history of Rome that has twisted our entire understanding of our own history. Terry asks what did the Romans ever do for us?

This is the story of Roman history as seen by the Britons, Gauls, Germans, Greeks, Persians and Africans. The Vandals didn’t vandalize – the Romans did. The Goths didn’t sack Rome – the Romans did. Attila the Hun didn’t go to Constantinople to destroy it, but because the Emperor’s daughter wanted to marry him. And far from civilizing the societies they conquered the Romans often destroyed much of what they found. Terry Jones travels round the geography of the Roman Empire and through 700 years of history – bringing wit, irreverence, passion and the very latest scholarship to transform our view of the legacy of the Roman Empire and the creation of the modern world

Watch the entire four part series uninterrupted or watch specific episodes:

1. The Primitive Celts

2. The Savage Goths

3. The Brainy Barbarians

4. The End of the World

Witchcraft and Magic

We’ve all heard of the witch, but do witches have a real existence? Yes, they have existed since the dawn of history, and most likely for millenia before. In the Bible, Saul, afraid of the might of the Philistine army, took himself off to be counseled by the Witch of Endor.In Classical literature we have Homer’s Circe who bewitched men and turned them into swine. Ovid tells us of the Strigae; erotic beings who flew through the air to carry out their murderous deeds. But with such an ancient history, when did the witch first appear? Early mythologies: In Norse mythology we have the Valkyrie; maidens of Odin who flew through the sky and assisted in the outcome of battles, taking slain warriors to Valhalla.

Many theorists believe that witchcraft is a a survival of the cult of Diana, goddess of hunting. English archaeologist Margaret Murray put forward a similar theory in 1921, arguing that the craft traces its roots back to pagan fertility cults.

The Christian image of the Devil is actually an amalgam of god-forms from paganism, such as the Greek Pan and the pagan horned god, sometimes known as Herne the Hunter. The idea no doubt traces itself back to the shaman, usually male, who would dress in the skin of the animal about to be slain; hence the horned god image.

Paris Vampires: The Gwenn Starr Report

A vampire mockumentary.

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