Barbarians --- by Terry Jones (2006)
BOOK REVIEW and collection of research notes
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia

Editorial Comments

Research into history, shows it to be, surprisingly - like nature itself,
composed of a myriad of factal things rather than a myriad of things
called "historical facts".

For a small introduction to the distinction between history and historiology,
if you've time, take a look at this page about the emminent 20th century ancient
historian and historiographer, Arnaldo Momigliano.

Hierarchical and Relational Historiology

The subject matter of history is also looked at, it would appear, through a number of various regimes, many of them hierarchical, such as for example, the "Historia Ecclesiastica" of the christian historiographical tradition, in its adherence to a very gradual lineage of both canon and apostolic succession of its bishops. In such an hierarchical perspective, everything is essentially presented with exclusive reference to a specific ideology, or tradition.

It would become apparent to students of life and particularly of history, that there are very few historians able to engage the presentation of history - particularly ancient history for the period 0 to 300 - from a relational perspective. By this, relational perspective, I mean simply that nothing is excluded from examination and review about the period in question, but that the information so accumulated may be presented from different perspectives. Different traditions are equally represented in the picture.

Relational Historiology and "Barbarians"

Perhaps Barbarians by Terry Jones & Alan Ereira s a classic example of both this relational methodology, and the surprising (to some) results which are presentable on what known "factals" exist.

The so-called "barbarians" were simply targets of plunder for the Roman empire machinery. Fragments of literature from the Irish Celtic barbarians, show a sophistication of both the Celtic Law and its related communities which extended over the British Isles, and western Europe, in Gaul and Germany. The Irish Celtic traditions were not directly plundered by the Romans. The pre-Roman law gave equal rights to women and men, equal rights to divorce and equal rights to hold property. Warrior queens are not uncommon.

The British Celts, not isolated like the Irish, suffered the direct conquest of their lands and traditions by the Romans. Their queen Boudicca, and their ancient religious center of Druidism, at Anglesea, regarded perhaps at one of the major centres of the Celtic ("Barbarian") traditions in Europe, were destroyed. Over the English Channel, the Gallic Celts, as documented by the authors (and their research notes) were one third destroyed or relocated. Roman roads were constructed not as a new technology, but as road over the top of existing roads, often constructed from timbers, for chariots. These chariots, the Roman's were to find, were of superior technology.

The sack and destruction of Israel, and the Judaic tradition is likewise presented as an act of plunder. Much of the greatest art work, treasure, gold, sculpture, even entire temples and monuments, were taken back to Rome, for display. Everything non Roman was perceived as "barbarian".

The ancient Egyptian "barbarian" tradition, established at Rhodes and at Alexandria is "Romanised". The absolutely huge Karnack Obelisk, according to the account of Ammianus Marcellinus (Book 17), is finally relocated for display in Rome.

Once conquered and subjects of the Roman empire, some Romans evens considered the Greeks, as "barbarians". The Greek ancient knowledge, consistent of philosophy, mathematics and science, was not an object of interest for the new and powerful collection of Roman warlords. The Roman empire was to become a tax machine, based on the plunder of "barbarians nations", and of course, taxations of the citizens of the empire itself.

The German "barbarians" were decimated in Dacia, and the entire empire was essentially a taxation and tribute, military plunder machine, driven by the professional rulers (of the "barbarians") the Romans. The Persian "barbarians" and their parallel empire, were the target of constant war, until the the appearance of the Huns.

Technology and science of the ancient world was plundered for power and tribute. To cut a long story short, the above two authors present a thesis...

"The thesis is that
we've all been told
a false history of Rome that has twisted
our entire understanding
of our own history -
glorifying (and glossing over)
a long era of ruthless imperial power ..."

So what is Historiology ?

It's about trying to get questions answered in some manner.
Some of these questions will include the following ...
• Who wrote the source (primary or secondary)?
• Who Primary sources - the person in his or her society?
• Who Secondary sources - the theoretical orientation of the approach, categorisable **?
• What authenticity, authority, bias/interest, and intelligibility of source(s)?
• What view of history when the source was written?
• When was the source written?
• Was history supposed to provide moral lessons?
• What or who was the intended audience?
• What sources were privileged or ignored in the narrative?
• By what method was the evidence compiled?
• How was it written, and using what material media?
• In what historical context was the work of history itself written?
• What it the story of the textual transmission of the text to the present?
• What citation trail is evident by date and by category**.

  Now, the problem remains that the answers to these questions are not exactly things called "facts", but more resemble things that might be termed "factals". These atomic elements of history are sometimes used by different historical commentators to derive certain hypotheses, and thereby frame a theory of history. Discernment and integrity are the hallmarks of great historians, in their ability to perceive the parallel paths of nations and tribes, politics and conquest, and to make a more and more "relational" picture of the history, and historiology, of the times.

  History is obviously a massively parallel thing. Histories were written in parallel, and often destroyed in parallel. To the victors of the hard and cruel times of antiquity not only went the spoils, but the right by conquest, to publish literature -- often described as propaganda. The transmission of history is in the hands of the victorious.

  
  Pete Brown
  EDITOR
  www.mountainman.com.au

I would like to see the documentary. The book was read within 24 hours, and was presented with a generous supply of footnotes, and further references, index, etc. The authors do an extensive excursion around the perimeter of the Roman empire, and dig out all the various forms of barbarians that were known to exist.

The scene opens before the Roman empire has been formed, in 576 BCE, when Cyrus I, King of Persia began his rule, until 535 CE, and the Byzantine conquest of Ravena. Almost a thousand years of ruthless imperial oppression is recorded, enacted on the "subjects" of the empire, or the "Commonwealth", as Ammianus Marcellinus would sometimes call it.

Enthusiastically liberating in its thesis and scope

The following tribes of barbarians are indentified, and discussed
in terms of the technology and systems of law, and learning, that
each are now known to have possessed, prior to "Romanisation":
• Greek "barbarians" (Archimedes speared by a Roman soldier)
• Irish Celtic "barbarians"
• British Celtic "barbarians" (centralised Druidic priesthood)
• Scotish Celtic "barbarians"
• Gallic Celtic "barbarians"
• Germanic Celtic "barbarians"
• Dacian Celtic "barbarians"
• Jewish and Hebrew "barbarians"
• Parthian/Persian "barbarians"
• Goths, Visigoths and Astrogoth "barbarians"
• The Vandals, etc "barbarians"
• The mysterious Huns
• All who were non-Roman, were "barbarians".

A very relational picture of the development of history. Emminently readable and informative. Quite enthusiastically liberating in its thesis and scope. As I mentioned earlier, I look forward to the opportunity of seeing the corresponding documentary. For those who rate a text on the value of its footnotes, this text rates surprisingly high. Surprising because all the footnotes, carefully placed at the back of the book, do not get in the way of the casual reader, who may not be impelled to check the sources.

Minor note

On a minor note, it is interesting to observe that the authors skillfully avoided having to deal with what is currently known as the christian ecclesiastical history, in the time prior to Constantine, with one very small exception. This exception is the history provided for of the Persian sage and prophet, Mani, who is known to have lived under the rule of Shapur I.

The christian ecclesiastical historian Eusebius, attempts to make Mani christian, in his literature. Moreover, a sucession of christian bishops are by Eusebius asserted to have existed in Ctsiphon, and other Persian cities, around the time of Mani. There are reasonable grounds to reject this information. Although Manu existed, it is likely that he had never heard of christianity, and/or the fabrication of the Galilaeans. Mani travelled to India, and was quite the universal pilgrim. It is consistent to view him, not as a christian, but of the Persian religion by which Shapur I, and his father before him, had ruled, and passed on with the deathbed message ...

“Consider the Fire Altar and the throne
as inseparable as to sustain each other.”

But this is simply a minor issue, in the overall picture painted. It is not widely known, and acknowledged, that the citations by which Mani is proclaimed to be a christian, are suspect, to say the least.

VANDALS & HUNS p.196

"When they are hostile, the Latin and Greek sources
paint an extraordinary and vivid picture of horror.
Roman writers did, as we have seen, distort the truth
about those whom they regarded as 'barbarians'. But
by the 5th century this was being done in a new way
because the barbarians were seen in a new way."


p.152	ROME TURNS OUT THE LIGHTS:

“We know now that the propaganda of Roman history, that
Rome was the great creator of engineering mastery and
scientific thought, is the very opposite of the truth.  The
non-Roman world of the Eastern Mediteranean was making
new discoveries and inventions in each generation, and its
knowledge & abilities were not recovered until well into
the Middle Ages, or later.”


Chronologically Rearranged by century

CENTURY:  BC

	Persians:
p.156	PERSIAN BARBARIANS -  470 BCE:    Xerxes, Persian King
	CYRUS – 6TH BCE:  Human Rights Charter  :  Tolerance
p.159	CRASSUS – 55BCE:	Control – (Pompey, Caesar, Crassus)
				40,000 Legionnaires lost to Persians
p.164	BATTLE OF HARRAN:	30,000 killed, (10,000 to China, Asia)
p.166	PARTHIAN CIVILIZATION: “Education was at the heart of this civilization”
	PARTHIAN WARS – 55BCE:    for 600 years




p.137	HELLENES:	Barbarians of Medieval Technology
	ALEXANDRIA:	Machines

p.140	ROME THE DESTROYER:  146 BCE  -  Destruction of Carthage
				“Not a line of Punic remains”
       	TEMPLE OF JERUSLEM OBLITERATED:  Contents removed to Rome
	DRUIDS and DACIANS: Exterminated
p. 146	PHILO OF BYZANTINE – 200 BCE:  Machines of War
	ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM:   Complex gears
p.148	“THE DIVINE ARCHIMEDES”:   “Burning Mirrors”
	Besieged -  Syracuse, Sicily
p.150	RHODES: Story of Julius Caesar & “The Pirates”  - (76 BCE)

p.30	ROMAN LAW:	Forgotten until 1070; rediscovery of Justinia Code
        **		Byzantine Code
			Roads: Romans paved over top of Celtic timber
			Original Pre-Byzantine Code?  Gaius  (2nd CE)

p.67	EMPEROR AUGUSTUS – 1st BCE:  Introduced a poll tax
p.31	COLIGNY CALENDAR:   Garrett Olmstead (1989)
			Iron Masters; Ploughshare (350 BCE) “Gallic Vallus”
			Chariot (Superior Technology) (Burials have wagons)

p.37	CELTIC GOLD:  c.50 BCE: Vercingetorix * (Gallic Chieftan) – gold coins

p.41	CAESAR’S ARMIES:  killed 1 million  Gauls [Plutarch]
			and  enslaved 1 million more
			1/3 Gallic population – 55 BCE  *Defensive
		         *	Dungeon 5 years, strangled “Barbarian”



CENTURY: 1st Century
======================


p.45	BOUDICA:		Celtic Law: Women had rights to divorce and property
				[Irish “Brehon Laws”}
p.51	CLAUDIUS -  43 CE:  **  Roman Law: Male

p.57	DRUIDS – 60CE:	Menai straight to Island of Anglesey
p.63	TACITUS:		Robbers of the World – {Agricola, 30)
				70AD:  Britain  -  Silver
p.66	BRITAIN:		Latin & Roman  -  (Gov. Britain 78-84)


CENTURY: 2nd 
=============

p.90	JEWS CRUCIFIED – Early 2nd CE:  2,000 Jews of the town Emmaus
			Roman historian – Florus
			Quintilius Varus
			Florus, Epitome of Roman History – II, 88
p.95	ARMINUS:	German Barbarian Leader
p.100	TRAJAN’S COLUMN – 101 ? 106 CE:  Death & Roman ruthlessness
		                        on a grand scale
AUGUSTUS: Inscription in “Temple of Augustus, Ankara, Turkey”

			“Three times I gave gladiatorial shows in my own name,
			and five times in the name of my sons or grandsons, in
			which shows about 10,000 men fought to the death”

                        -- These are ROMAN QUALITIES: - Not Barbarian

p.101	DACIAN GENOCIDE:	by Trajan  - (101 ? 106 CE)
				Zalmoxis (philosopher & sage)
			 and King Burebista   -  Strabo 7, 3, 5

	GALEN – 2nd CE:	“Townsmen/City-dwellers carried off harvest”

p.68	RUNAWAY INFLATION:  Coinage lot its value and prices soared
				It is believed that shopping that cost 1 denarius
				in 2nd CE, cost 27 denarius by the late 3rd CE
				and then rose to 150


CENTURY: 3rd 
=============
p.68	EXPANSION OF EMPIRE CEASED – 3rd CE:  with a collapse
				in the supply of slaves and plunder or new land,
				the whole Empire became one giant taxation
				machine
p.70	EMPEROR GOTHICUS II – 270 CE:     Plague outbreaks
	235 ? 285 CE:  49 proclaimed Emperor by different groups of soldiers

p.118	EMPEROR PHILIP, THE ARAB – 247 ? 248 CE:
	  Most (immigrants) Romans already quit Dacia
	BAGAVDAE – 280 CE:  (Warriors)
	  Suppressed uprising (Carausius – 286 CE)

p.72  	CARAUSIUS: Self-proclaimed Emperor minted coins in London
		  (90% Silver) – Nero Days and Gold
		 Appointed by Diocletion as “Commander of Nth Sea Fleet”

p.74	ALLECTUS:	Officer of Carausius -    British Emperor
			293 CE – Coins
			297 CE – Constantius (Constantine's Father) 
 			London seized, Allectus killed

Persian:
p.173	SASSANIANS:	60 miles West of ancient Persian city of Shiraz
	BISHAPUR – 266CE:	Temple Complex, Roman occupation
	ROCK RELIEF COMMEMORATE – Humiliation of Roman Emperor by Shapur I
				1 Gordian III - (244)     
 				2 Philip the Arab (2)
				3 Valerian

p.175	ARDASHIR (SHAPUR’S FATHER) – 224CE: Ordered the complete
	destruction of all record of the Parthians
	EMPIRE:	He called “Iran”:  New state a ‘centralized Theocrasy – (p181)

p176	THE KINDGOM OF THE LIE:  The Roman empire was referred to as this

p.178	SHAPUR I – 241 CE: Comes to power:  Sassanian were “courtly”, manners etc

p180	SASSANIAN RELIGION: Anahita, Ishtar, Aphrodite: Sacred Fire (Persian)
	DIVINE LIGHT:	Spirit, Goodness & Purity:  “Ahura Mazda”

p.181	DEATHBED ADVICE ARDASHIR ? SHAPUR I:

	“Consider the Fire Altar and the Throne as inseparable
	as to sustain each other.  His rule was the will of God”.

	ZOROASTRIANISM: basis ... “The Avesta” (17 Hymns)
        Ardashir used "The Avesta" as a basis for his legal code *

	The “Logic” was that religion provided justice, the basis of an
	ordered society that could sustain military expenditure”  The MANTRA
	was that …….
		‘There can be no power without an Army’
		‘There can be no Army without Money’
		‘There can be no Money without Agriculture’
		‘There can be no Agriculture without Justice’
	SHAPUR & THE MESSIAH MANI: “Religious philosophy was a big issue”

p.182	ROME/PARTHIAN WARS – 3RD CE:	Zoroastrian revolution in Persia
	ELKESAITES:	Jewish Sabbath, Vegetarianism … MANI (India)
	MANI:		Original sin was eating meat
	SHAPUR CORONATION:  Mani invited to Coronation, accompanied on campaigns
	ZOROASTRIAN PRIESTS:	“Fire Rituals”, cleanse conquered land

p182	SHAPUR – MULTI CULTURALISM:   Inclined to traditional Persian
	multi-culturalism (e.g. conversion with Greek Philospher)

	ZOROASTRIAN PRIESTHOOD:  Shapur persuaded them to expand 
	the AVESTA”, to include Metaphysics & Astronomy, Medicine 
	(texts used were from Greeks & Indian sources)

	FREEDOM OF WORSHIP: 	for Manicheans, Jews etc proclaimed 
				so long as they liver under
				Sassanian Law and paid taxes

	SHAPUR INVADES SYRIA:	Deports Greek speaking (C) – Persis,
				Parthia, Susiana & Babylon
	 			“There appeared a (CB) of Ctesiphon”

p.186	QUEEN ZENOBIA: 	“Bat Zabbai”   (Warrior Queen)
	PALYMYRA:	Main city Roman province of “Syria Phoenice” – TRADE
	PLACE OF PALMS:  Un- Romanised: Temple of Baal built after Romans ‘moved in’
	SHAPUR LOST MESOPOTAMIA TO PALYMYRA

p.183	PEOPLE IN THE EAST:  found it hard to come to terms with Roman power,
			the great problem was that the Romans were such
			“Upstarts” – by the standards of religion, they had a very
			short history and virtually no culture
	SOLOMON’S TEMPLE AT PALYMYRA

272	Shapur I dies; Zoroastrian priesthood in power; toleration "off the agenda".
272	Mani: tried and condemned, partly as a pacifist, killed c.276
273	Emperor Aurelian "demoloshes Palmyra; inhabitants are slaughtered".
295	Persian War resumes; Rome repelled from an attack on Ctesiphon
	Rome captures harem and entire Royal family of "King of Kings".
	Loss of control of NW persian lands of Roman Empire (Armenia, nth Mesopotania)


CENTURY: 4th 
=============
309	Sassanian Emperor Hormizd II dies
	Magi appoint unborn baby as successor (Shapur II)

	DIOCLETION:	Pound of Gold = 50,000 denari
				c.307 ? 100,000
				c.324 ? 300,000
				c.350 ? 2.1 billion denari
				“Rich got richer and the poor got poorer”  ?

	DOMESDAY BOOK – 295 ? 305 CE:  The Emperor commissioned this
	book so that he could correctly tax everyone in the
	Empire, it was ordered that none could ever leave
	their farm or change their job”.

306 CE – Constantine accepted as “Saviour of Social Order”
         in Gaul/Britiain; ruler of Celtic Lands

	“The distinction between Roman & Barbarian at the time
	when Constantine assumed power was not at all clear”

312	"Thorough-going military conquest of Italy by a Balkan-born
	military commander, Constantine."   p.188

324	Huge war with the commander of the Eastern forces; 25,000 dead

325	"Having come to power he decided to move the whole focus of
	the empire to the East, replacing the palace-city of Byzantium
	with a great new capital, Constantinople, New Rome, on the 
	very border of Asia.

	The old latin Empire was doomed to a peripheral enterprise,
	concerned with agriculture and the Germans."

337     Constantine dies, almost a signal for ...
337-350	PERSIAN WAR Resumes: Shapur II vs Constantius

p.69	350CE:	“Land tax had tripled within living memory”

p.75	CLAUDIUS MAMERTINUS: 
	“Rural revolt became quite overtly anti-Roman” – (x1, 3 & 4)
362 CE – “People preferred to live under the barbarians”

363	Julian marches on Ctesiphon, and loses life.
	Rome loses territories acquired 295.

350-357	Shapur II defends Persia against the Huns
375	Huns appear in Dacia, their origin still a mystery.
	Long range bows 50-63"; equivalent to Medieval English longbow)

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