Chronicles of the Barbarians: Firsthand Accounts of Pillage and Conquest, from the Ancient World to the Fall of Constantinople

Description

Novelist and anthologist McCullough brings together firsthand accounts of barbarian invaders from Herodotus (d. 424 B.C.E.) to the fall of Constantinople (1553) for general readers. Common fears color these accounts, which stretch across a millennium and a half and span two continents. Scythians, Huns, Vandals, Mongols, Turks - all were seen through the same lenses of fear, ignorance, and bias. The Irish were lazy, the Vandals treacherous, the Tartars relentless in vengeance. The Vikings "everyday wash their faces and heads in the dirtiest and filthiest fashion possible: a girl servant brings a great basin of water to her master; he washes his hands and his face and his hair; then he blows his nose and spits into the basin. When he has finished, the servant carries the basin to the next person. Each blows his nose, spits, and washes face and hair in it." History buffs will enjoy this attractive and lively anthology. A Barbarian chronology -- Barbarians on the landscape -- from Geography, A.D. 24 / Strabo -- The Greeks' barbarians. -- "Scythians and Thracians," 424 B.C. / Herodotus -- Rome encounters the Celts. -- 'Romans and Celts battle in Umbria," ca. 390 B.C. / Diodorus Siculus -- "The Celts enter Rome," ca. 390 B.C. / Livy -- "The early Celtic-Roman wars," 225 B.C. / Polybius -- Gaul. -- "On the Gauls," 58 B.C. / Julius Caesar -- "On the people and customs of Gaul," ca. 50 B.C. / Diodorus Siculus -- "Border battles," 55 B.C. / Julius Caesar -- Germany. -- "On the Germans," 55 B.C. / Julius Caesar -- Germania, A.D. 98 / Tacitus -- Britain. -- "The first invasion of Britain," 55 B.C. / Julius Caesar -- "The people and customs of Britain," ca. 50 B.C. / Diodorus Siculus -- "A battle between Romans and Caledonians in southern Scotland," ca. A.D. 80 / Tacitus -- The Goths turn south to Rome. -- "The Gothic invasion and the battle of Hadrianople," A.D. 378 / Ammianus Marcellinus -- "Alaric sacks Rome," A.D. 410 / Procopius -- "The death and funeral of Alaric" / Edward Gibbon -- The Huns. -- "The Huns," ca. A.D.400 / Claudian -- "Negotiating and dining with Attila," A.D. 449 / Priscus -- "A Goth's biography of Attila," A.D. 551 / Jordanes -- The Vandals. -- from The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire / Edward Gibbon -- The Vikings. -- The battle of Maldon," 991 -- "Viking raids," from The annals of St. Bertin, 843-859 -- "Viking raids," from The Anglo-Saxon chronicle, 994-1016 -- "A Viking funeral," 922 / Ibn Fadlan -- "The beastly Eruli," ca. 560 / Procopius -- Ireland. -- "The customs of the Irish," 1185 / Geraldus Cambrensis -- "Bricriu's feast and the war of words of the women of Ulster," from Cuchulain of Muirthemne, 12th century -- Genghis Khan. -- from The history of the world conqueror, 1260 / Juvaini -- "Some incidents during Genghis's war with the Tatars," from The secret history of the Mongols, 13th century -- Mongols and Tartars. -- from The Tartar relation, 1247 / C. de Bridia -- from The chronicle of Novgorod, 1224-1259 -- from Chronicles, 1240-1243 / Matthew Paris -- Tamerlane. -- from The life of Timur, 15th century / Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Ibn' Arabshah -- from Travels and bondage, ca. 1430 / Johann Schiltberger -- The Crusades : infidel against infidel. -- "Pope Urban II calls for a crusade," 1095 / Robert the Monk -- "The capture of Jerusalem," 1099 / anonymous Norman knight and Raymond, Canon of Le Puy -- "Encounters with crusaders in Syria," ca. 1150 / Usamah Ibn-Murshid -- "The fall of Constantinople," 1453 / Doukas -- "At the gates of Hadrianople," 1453 / Doukas.