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The Enemies of Rome: From Hannibal to Attila the Hun

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_The Enemies of Rome_ by Philip Matyszak has as a stated premise the idea that Rome did too good a job of becoming the dominant power in the Mediterranean region. It was not enough that Rome became at the time the major civilization in Europe; it became essentially the only civilization in Europe. Had Rome not crushed the rival powers in the region so completely the Dark Ages might not have ever occurred. When Roman civilization first began to flourish and spread, there were other lively, competing, and different civilizations; the Seleucid Empire in the East, the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt, both legacies of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the urban civilizations of the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians, and the rapidly developing and urbanizing Celtic peoples of western Europe (particularly Gaul). Though Rome absorbed much from the peoples it conquered (particularly from the Greek peoples of Greece and Asia Minor), it also created a "monoculture," as the peoples of the Mediterranean faced the choice of "Roman civilization or no civilization," and without a Europe of diverse cultures and civilizations Rome became "sterile, sick, and ossified." When Rome finally fell to the Goths, Franks, and Vandals, there was no civilization to take its place.

Matyszak divided his narrative into four parts, each proceeded by a prologue, outlining the general state of Rome in that period and giving a broad overview of the enemies it faced, followed by individual chapters, each devoted to a particular opponent, focusing primarily upon one individual leader, as most of the threats from other cultures to Rome centered around one leader and generally when that leader was vanquished the threat from that culture (if not the culture itself) ended. There was also an epilogue.

Part one dealt with the birth of the Roman superpower, beginning in the 260s B.C. and extending till about 100 B.C. During this period Rome faced the greatest threat to its early existence, that posed by Hannibal, and its first enemies outside the Italian peninsula; in addition to fighting Hannibal and the Carthaginians in their homeland Rome had to contend with the Macedonian king Philip V, who proved a threat to Rome while it was fighting Hannibal, the great Lusitanian leader Viriathus, and the Numidian king Jugurtha, a leader who was not only a great general but cunningly exploited the growing arrogance and corruption within Roman society.

In part two Matyszak examined what he called the "slow death of the Roman Republic," a period marked by treason, plots, and civil war (the reader gets a good deal of Roman history in this book). In addition to the Social War, a civil war, Rome clashed with enemies abroad, notably the King of Pontus, Mithridates (Pontus being a region in eastern Asian Minor), a situation made worse by the protracted civil war (Mithridates prevailed in some battles because Roman forces began to fight one another) and due to epic mismanagement and corruption on the part of the Romans (a chronic problem in Roman history). During this time Rome faced the revolt lead by Spartacus, which was well covered, the fight against the Parthian king Orodes II (Parthia being an empire in the lands of Persia and modern Iraq), and the struggle that involved the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra. Also in this time was Caesar's war against the Gauls, lead by Vercingetorix, which the author particularly condemned as having been fought only for internal Roman political reasons and resulted in the death and dispossession of millions of people, one of the "greatest catastrophes of the ancient world," a "holocaust" unmatched until the later Spanish conquistadors actions in the Americas in the 16th century.

Part three focused on the Pax Romana, Rome at its height from Augustus' triumph at Actium in 31 BC through the reign of Emperor Trajan (ending in 117 AD). Rome reached its greatest physical extent at this time, coming into conflict with the Germans under Arminius (a rare retreat for Rome), the revolt by the queen of the Iceni in Britain, Boudicca, the rebellion of the Jews, and the war against the Dacians, lead by king Decebalus (Dacia roughly corresponds to modern Romania and part of Hungary).

The final chapter dealt with the end of the Empire, beginning with the ascension of the "thoroughly bad emperor" Commodus in AD 180, a time during which Rome came to blows with the great Persian king Shapur I, the queen of Palmyra, Zenobia (Palmyra was based in Syria and at one time included parts of Asia Minor and Egypt), the Gothic leader Alaric, and the infamous Attila the Hun.

High points for me about the book were the many excellent contemporary illustrations of Rome's enemies, many of which were surviving examples of artwork from that culture; two sets of plates showed statues, busts, coins, paintings, and reliefs depicting the leaders and soldiers of other cultures as well as some famous Romans that were prominent in the book, such as Sulla, Julius Caesar, and Titus. Within each chapter were black and white illustrations, generally depicting a typical warrior from the culture being discussed in that chapter. There were many excellent, gripping, and adventurous battle accounts as well as some nice descriptions of Roman and other culture's weapons, armor, mounts, and fighting tactics. There were also helpful maps in each chapter as well.

The only complaints I have about the book are that there was no real exploration of how each culture might have survived and what sort of civilization might have developed, particularly in the case of new ones like the urbanizing Celts of Gaul, had they lived on past the end of the Roman Empire. Also the author did not really explore Byzantine civilization to any great extent. I found his book useful and very interesting and liked his general premise; I just wish he had emphasized the cultural and developmental possibilities of the civilizations Rome destroyed or absorbed, perhaps at the expense of some of the detailed and otherwise excellent battle descriptions.

The book is quite good for its intended audience, that is for the person interested in history, but is not a professional historian. The prose is light, the pacing is good, and one can read through it with ease. It is also quite interesting, all the major enemies are covered and enemies are analyzed on all regions.

The author has the thesis that the overwhelming success that the romans enjoyed for a time, destroyed all the cultures that could have taken its place when it fell and could have avoided the dark ages. I am not sure about the validity of such an idea, but it is at least interesting, and it should be remarked that the author does not push this idea throughout all the book, but if one looks for it one can see where the author might be correct.

If you like history, and you like to read about the romans, I recommend this book.

This book tells the stories of seventeen of Rome's most redoubtable enemies. In engaging and informative prose, Philip Matyszak gives us a glimpse into the Mediterranean world from 264 BC to AD 476. But this is not a book of names and dates. It is the highly readable narrative of fascinating people and great civilizations. The text is supplemented by maps, translations from ancient historians such as Tacitus and Cassius Dio, representative line drawings, and photos. I read The Enemies of Rome with a sense of pleasure rather than a sense of obligation.

I would have liked to see more material on Fritigern and the battle of Adrianople, which was mentioned only briefly in the chapter on Alaric the Visigoth. However, this is only a small lack in an otherwise outstanding book.

Rome was an empire built upon the conquest of its neighbors. That means its history is replete with enemies from its earliest days to its ultimate destruction. Now Roman history expert and authority Philip Matyszak has compiled "The Enemies of Rome: From Hannibal to Attila the Hun" an informed and informative roster of Rome's major opponents ranging from the legendary Spartacus who headed up a slave rebellion; to Hannibal whose Carthagians went up against Rome in two major conflicts; to Josephus who led ill-fated Jewish forces against the legions of Rome that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem; to Attila who brought war to the very gates of Rome; to a wide assortment of other generals, warriors and kings who rose to fight against the might of the Roman Empire. A truly fascinating and superbly written 296-page compendium of detailed and documented history, "The Enemies of Rome: From Hannibal to Attila the Hun" is a very highly recommended addition to academic and community library World History reference collections in general, and personal Roman History supplemental reading lists in particular.

The Enemies of Rome is a GREAT book. Philip Matyszak sheads light on those who lost to Rome and how Rome made more enemies by the actions of their leaders and Republican and Imperial policies. This book is a must to understand what happened when Rome went to war.

This book is somewhat entertaining, but some of the vignettes can get a little redundant and monotonous by the end of the book.