Was the Dark Ages an age of light and enlightenment? Why did the Barbarians gain their reputation? Waldemar Januszczak seeks to smash the myths of the barbarians. He plans on leaping to the defense of the Barbarians. It was the barbarians that invented trousers because it was easier to ride a horse. Waldemar looks at how the words Barbarians, Vandals, and Huns changed over time.
Barbarians came from the original Greek, meaning foreigner, meaning someone you could not understand. If someone spoke a foreign language you were a barbarian. In Roman times, barbarians meant you came from the non-Roman world. Vandals was another word that was distorted. The Vandals were creative and made things. However, Vandals was turned into something dark. The Goths were creators and the Huns were also a group trashed. Nobody had a good thing to say about the Huns. The Huns were a demonized group, used for propaganda purposes. However, when one looks at the Hun’s art, it tells a different story. Nobody knows where the Huns came from. One suggestion is that they came from the Eurasian step. The Roman’s first encounter with the Huns came when the Visigoths sought shelter from the Romans. The Huns had invaded. They were a nomadic group, traveling in small groups with their horses and goats. Cauldrons created by the Huns are preserved and they would use them to cook their coats. The Huns also loved gold and gold was found in the grave of Huns. Gold had a magical presence and the Huns loved it. They were gold crazy. The Huns had a relationship with nature because they moved around. Their artwork took inspiration from nature. Through their art, the Huns looked to commune with nature, perhaps capturing nature’s power to use for themselves. The Wolf and the eagle were dear to the Huns and inspired gold making. Eagles were the symbols of power and beauty together. Eagle brooches were popular. The Hun also took inspiration from their horses, making sure they looked splendid too. Horses were decked out with horse ornaments. The Huns were a creative force and a rival to the Roman Empire. Atilla the Hun was the most famous of the Huns. Although history paints him as a cruel and sadistic ruler, the records show someone completely different. Atilla had a rich palace and treated his guests to a rich banquet. He dressed simply. He spoke eight languages. Hungarians believe that Atilla was a hero. He ran a federation of barbarians against Rome. Waldemar talks about the barbarians as groups of migrants moving their way across Europe to search for a new life. The next group Waldemar tackles are the Vandals. They were farmers in Europe, at least until the Huns pushed them out. They then moved to Spain and then the Goths pushed them out. Eventually, they settled in North Africa. The Vandals were a kingdom on the move looking for a new home. Eventually, they made their way to Carthage and they conquered the city, shocking the Roman Empire. Instead of destroying what they found, they saved what they could and created their art. To continue to learn more about the barbarian groups watch the rest of this episode. This was a much better episode in this series. Waldemar told an excellent story of each of the barbarian groups: Huns, Vandals, and Goths. I followed along really easily with his pace and enjoyed learning about each of the barbarian groups. This episode made me want to have three separate shows on each of the groups. This would be one episode I would show to a classroom. You can break up this episode into pieces easily as well, so you can show this episode to students one barbarian group at a time.
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