"Barbarians Rising" Strangely Depicts the Romans as an Evil Empire

     After watching a few episodes of the History Channel's "Barbarians Rising", I have noticed something rather interesting about their portrayal of the Romans.

     Those of us who have read and studied extensively about the Romans; from kingdom, to republic, to empire and finally to dominate and the split between East and West, we know that the myriad of problems that came with power and corruption led eventually to it's collapse. Yes, the Romans were brutal in their tactics to subdue revolts and people who repeatedly took up arms against them. Yes, the Romans did have slaves, many hundreds of thousands of slaves. Yes, the Romans cracked down on religious cults they believed were undermining their authority (Christianity, Mithra Cult, Sun-God worship). But the Romans were not bloodthirsty tyrants hell bent on death and mayhem.

     The History Channel, in their portrayal of Spartacus, continuously showed Roman soldiers beating  tied-up slaves. The series stated (falsely), that Rome invaded other lands in search of plunder, resources, and most importantly, slaves.

    This could not be further from the truth.

     The Romans took slaves mostly from lands that revolted against Roman rule, or constantly caused insurrections. Julius Caesar was known for his clemency throughout the Gallic Wars, forgiving his enemies, and leaving whole towns and cities unscathed. There were examples though, of Julius destroying whole villages and towns, massacring the populations and enslaving the rest (see Avaricum). The massacre and enslavement of Avaricum's population was in response to their murdering of all Roman merchants and families within their walls.

    In addition, not all slaves were sent to salt mines or other hard manual labor. A very many were learned people, such as the Greeks, who served at teachers and doctors. Others were house servants, stablemen or cooks. These were considered assets by their owners, and were in some cases treated as family members (at least in private).

     I do not know what agenda "Barbarians Rising" is trying to push, but their portrayal of the Romans as an evil people on a constant hunt for slaves is a travesty of the truth.