Roman Holiday___Barbarians week on the History Channel

Slate ^ | 09 March 2007 | Troy Patterson

[Lorianne]

The other night on the History Channel, the amethyst sunsets and lilac jazz of a Cialis commercial gave way to an advertisement for one of the network's own potency-restoring products. A hirsute fellow sat in a shadowy room. Before him was a hearty meal—a goblet of mead and a goose leg the size of a moose haunch—and yet, despite this bounty, he wept. A friend rushed in, his voice heavy with concern and piquant with an I, Claudius accent.

"What's wrong?"

"We sack. We pillage. But for what? In a thousand years, who will care? No one—that's who."

"Oh, but you're wrong," came the consolation, "for I have seen a vision of glooorious prophecy. … 'Tis called Barbarians Week." And the voice-over verily confirms that this was the week to quit whining and feast on the exploits of "four tribes with nothing in common but their hatred of Rome."

That's actually a more academically proper use of "barbarian" than the History Channel intended when, in 2004, it so branded its airing of hour-long quasi-documentaries about Goths, Huns, Mongols, and Vikings. As we recall vaguely from our school days and can read clearly on Wikipedia, medieval historians use that word to describe groups that went sword-to-shield with the Roman Empire—a party to which both Genghis Khan and Eric the Red were rather late. But that is beside the point, and it seems almost a coincidence that Barbarians II, a sequel to that earlier ratings smash, busies itself with the Franks, Lombards, Saxons, and Vandals. The four shows primarily use the term "barbarian" in the sense of Conan the. All that matters is the vicarious plundering and the romance of battle.

[Lorianne]

Actually, I've quite enjoyed Barbarians Week.

[Chi-townChief]

That recreation of the battle of Adrianople is pretty slick.

[6323cd]

So have I, the Goths sacking Rome last Tuesday was great.

[PzLdr]

I thought "Barbarians II" was well done, and appreciated the episode on the Lombards [you don't hear much about them, usually]. The special they did Sunday night before the first episode [Barbarian Battle Tech]was excellent, although I disagree with their rating of the Celtic sword over the Gladius Hispaniensis [another Celtic sword].

[SunkenCiv]

What is your Dark Ages Character?
Historychannel.com | 3-4-07 | The History Channel
Posted on 03/04/2007 8:35:51 PM EST by dynachrome
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1795238/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[ZULU]

I liked it.

[sneakers]

Same here. My family and I have all been watching and enjoying it.

[BenLurkin]

Been watching -- enjoyed it.

Disagreed with much of the analysis during the "Dark Ages" show last night.

[Tallguy]

It (Barbarians II) amounts to camp for straight men—something good for chasing an 8 p.m. scotch or spicing a bedtime cup of cocoa.

Nice... I guess we should expect this from the Metro's at Slate.

[SunkenCiv]

Well, such shows are generally so dark, the writers wind up falling down a flight of stairs.

[Windcatcher]

I found myself unable to watch anything else this weekend. It's a shame that it's over.