The Enemies of Rome

The Barbarian Rebellion Against the Roman Empire

Stephen Kershaw

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781643133751
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia antigua romana

A fresh and vivid narrative history of the Roman Empire from the point of view of the "barbarian" enemies of Rome. History is written by the victors, and Rome had some very eloquent historians. Those the Romans regarded as barbarians left few records of their own, but they had a tremendous impact on the Roman imagination. Resisting from outside Rome's borders or rebelling from within, they emerge vividly in Rome's historical tradition, and left a significant footprint in archaeology. Kershaw builds a narrative around the lives, personalities, successes, and failures both of the key opponents of Rome's rise and dominance, and of those who ultimately brought the empire down.Rome's history follows a remarkable trajectory from its origins as a tiny village of refugees from a conflict zone to a dominant superpower. But throughout this history, Rome faced significant resistance and rebellion from peoples whom it regarded as barbarians: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Picts and Scots.Based both on ancient historical writings and modern archaeological research, this new history takes a fresh look at the Roman Empire through the personalities and lives of key opponents during the trajectory of Rome's rise and fall.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Maps
• Introduction: What is a Barbarian?
• 1. Mythical and Semi-Mythical Resistance: Aeneas to Tarquin the Proud
• 2. Brennus: The Gaul Who Sacked Rome
• 3. The Plebs: Barbarous Insiders and Internal Resistors
• 4. Pyrrhus of Epirus: Cadmean and Pyrrhic Victories
• 5. Hannibal at the Gates
• 6. Graecia Capta: Resistance in the Greek East – Philip V, Antiochus III and Perseus of Macedon
• 7. Viriathus: Iberian Shepherd, Hunter and Warrior
• 8. Jugurtha: The Struggle to Free Africa from Rome
• 9. The Cimbri and the Teutones: A Germanic Threat to Italy
• 10. The Italian War: Resistance and Rebellion in Italy
• 11. Spartacus: The Gladiator Who Challenged Rome
• 12. Mithridates VI: The ‘Poison King’ of Pontus
• 13. The Parthian Shot: Crassus at Carrhae
• 14. Vercingetorix: Rebellion in Gaul
• 15. Cleopatra VII: The Whore Queen of Incestuous Canopus
• 16. Arminius: Bring Me Back My Legions!
• 17. Boudicca: Queen of the Iceni, Scourge of Rome
• 18. Judaea Capta: Revolts in Judaea
• 19. Decebalus: Genocide in Dacia
• 20. Parthia, Persia and Palmyra
• 21. Fri tigern: The Gothic Hannibal
• 22. Alaric the Goth: Sacker of Rome
• 23. Attila the Hun: Born to Shake the Nations
• 24. Barbarian Warlords: Gaiseric and the Fall of Rome
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• Also by Stephen P. Kershaw
• Copyright