Barbarians Rising...the History Channel

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
The History Channel appears to have come up with another Outstanding Series...called Barbarians Rising. This is the story of the Roman Empire and its conquest of neighboring populations, and their resistance to Rome. The first show aired this past Monday, and succeeding shows will be shown on Mondays at 9PM ET. The first show started with Hannibal and his trek across the Alps to attack Rome. Perhaps the best way to view this series is to go to History.com, and watch it on your computer...minus all the commercials. The first show is nearly 1.5 hours....and I assume the rest of the shows will also be 2 hours...1.5 on the computer. This series starts about 175 BC and is slated to show the events through about 450 AD. when the Roman Empire collapses. For those who prefer quality viewing on the TV, I would recommend watching this. It may even rival "The Vikings" for quality of content and production.

A warning, however...it is violent and not for the faint of heart.
 

Thanks for the heads up, Don. I am a history buff. The HC has been a mixed bag. It has a history ( pun intended ) of distorting things to appeal to the teen age video gamer. The last time I saw Hannibal in one of their documentaries he was standing over a pile of bodies swinging a sword Ninja style. Everyone fights like a ninja, whether German barbarian or Hawaiian native. I am happy to say though, that I have seen a few excellent documentaries from them in the past few months, so I will give this a shot and hope that things are changing over there.
 
Underock1 said:
Thanks for the heads up, Don. I am a history buff. The HC has been a mixed bag. It has a history ( pun intended ) of distorting things to appeal to the teen age video gamer. The last time I saw Hannibal in one of their documentaries he was standing over a pile of bodies swinging a sword Ninja style. Everyone fights like a ninja, whether German barbarian or Hawaiian native. I am happy to say though, that I have seen a few excellent documentaries from them in the past few months, so I will give this a shot and hope that things are changing over there.
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I've always been interested in History, and I think there are valuable lessons that our leaders today could learn if they paid more attention to what has happened in the past. This initial show did a pretty good job of describing what led Hannibal to go against the Romans, and it was not treated like some teenage video game. He, and his followers in Carthage were being put upon by the Romans, and he came up with a brilliant strategy to respond. His trek through the Alps in the dead of Winter was almost a disaster, but he managed to send a message to Rome...but didn't have the resources to cement his victory. If the History Channel handles future shows as well as they did this first episode, this could be some quality TV viewing.
 

I'm hoping so. Opening a series entitled "Rise of the Barbarians" with Hannibal seems a bit off the mark. No charmer, but probably way more civilized than the Romans.
 
I missed it. Will the history channel have past episodes of it on their website like they did with the Vikings?
 
O.K. Chic. The first episode is on You Tube. I confess I only skimmed it for about thirty seconds. The very first image is of a black Hannibal swinging away heroically in true comic book hero style. That was enough for me. Call me racist, but Hannibal came from one of the first families of Carthage, the leading city of the Phoenicians. No one can be 100% positive just as no one can disprove the existence if God, but I am 99% sure that Hannibal was not black. I have several books on Hannibal. I could be wrong, but I don't remember any accounts of him being in actual hand to hand combat. Despite a scene showing a typical horned "barbarian" standard complete with Ox skull, the Carthaginians were in no way barbarians. By accident, I clicked the next YT clip "The True Story of Hannibal" Only looked at some of it, but what I saw was accurate in all respects. The laugh here is that it was also produced by the History channel apparently some time ago in black and white. It shows Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal.s father, Hannibal and his brothers as white Semites. I'll leave it there.
 
chic said:
I missed it. Will the history channel have past episodes of it on their website like they did with the Vikings?
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Yes...If you go to History.com, you can view the full episode....minus all the commercials. This first episode takes nearly 1.5 hours, and without all the commercials it flows smoothly. I watched the first show on TV, and then again a couple of days ago, on the computer.
 
Underock1 said:
O.K. Chic. The first episode is on You Tube. I confess I only skimmed it for about thirty seconds. The very first image is of a black Hannibal swinging away heroically in true comic book hero style. That was enough for me. Call me racist, but Hannibal came from one of the first families of Carthage, the leading city of the Phoenicians. No one can be 100% positive just as no one can disprove the existence if God, but I am 99% sure that Hannibal was not black. I have several books on Hannibal. I could be wrong, but I don't remember any accounts of him being in actual hand to hand combat. Despite a scene showing a typical horned "barbarian" standard complete with Ox skull, the Carthaginians were in no way barbarians. By accident, I clicked the next YT clip "The True Story of Hannibal" Only looked at some of it, but what I saw was accurate in all respects. The laugh here is that it was also produced by the History channel apparently some time ago in black and white. It shows Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal.s father, Hannibal and his brothers as white Semites. I'll leave it there.
Click to expand...

I didn't like it either aside from the historical inaccuracies. The history channel is no longer a channel for learning history, it's become a proponet of any ridiculous tripe that may garner positive ratings for them.
 
chic said:
I didn't like it either aside from the historical inaccuracies. The history channel is no longer a channel for learning history, it's become a proponet of any ridiculous tripe that may garner positive ratings for them.
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This 4 part series, "Barbarians Rising", is not "entertaining". Rather it is a fairly accurate presentation of the issues that resulted in the demise of the Roman Empire. It is a "History Lesson" with valid commentary from university professors and military experts. It is an example of what the History Channel should be broadcasting...rather than things like Pawn Stars, and American Pickers. It is a complex subject that requires an audience of History buffs to appreciate. The Only thing I don't like about the TV presentation is the commercial interruptions at key moments....which is why I am viewing it the next day, Online, without the commercial BS.

The second episode was centered around the actions of Spartacus and the uprising of the Germanic Tribes. I like History, and I think I learned a few things about Spartacus that I never knew.

The History Channel is trying to compact 700 years of Roman History into 8 hours of TV viewing...which is a monumental undertaking, and is bound to leave many things out. However, those 8 hours of viewing will enrich a persons knowledge far more than sitting around "Keeping up with the Kardashians".
 

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