Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire

Producer: History Channel
Topic:  Roman Empire

 sez says: This is a 4 Disc Series--each disc has 4 episodes --so there is a lot of material covered.  The visuals are reenactments--and maps.  Meanwhile there is a voice-over narration telling about the rise and fall of various figures, or reading from texts of the time.  This is interspersed with talking-head academics filling in info about what is known / or believed to be true / about the folks involved. Why we got into watching this I am not sure. It is not fabulous but it is just compelling enough to keep you with it.  Certainly it is full of detail that I'll never retain but it also provides a strong overview-sensibility that describes a civilization that is based on militarism and is held together by the military. According to this program no one could rule without the support of the military; all wealth came from the plunder obtained via military conquest; the military repeatedly removed leaders and replaced them; there was always trouble on the borders with various tribes of people fighting back; there was plenty of intrigue inside Rome as people vied for power.   That is not particularly surprising. But I keep wondering about all those folk (called barbarians) who resist the Romans along the borders...who were they? -- did they too just want to be 'Romans' and conquer other people, or were there any that just wanted to live peaceably and get the Roman's off their backs?    Also, not covered are questions like how exactly did communication take place over such a large area? People seemed to know what was going on from one end of the empire to another..and I'd sure like to know more about the society that grew out of this wealth..not just the ruling elite but how did regular, everyday-people fare. But there is the rub, the more you learn, the more questions you have, and this silly thing is already over long.

mjc says:  I've picked up a few morsels about this empire from the series, although I am always skeptical about what is said when I don't know the ideology/perspective of the producers.  I mean, was this really all about to whom the legions were loyal, or was there more to it then that.  Most of the academics, I noticed, were from fairly obscure schools, many in the South.  Just a itch that I might scratch one of these days.  
GRADE C