No one nowadays would try to tell the story of the British Empire from the point of view of the British, but it's still the case that the story of the Roman Empire is always told from the perspective of Rome. Well, not any more!
Accompanying a 4-part BBC 2006 TV series, also fronted by Terry Jones, this is the story of Roman history as seen by the Britons, Gauls, Germans, Hellenes, Persians and Africans. And suddenly the Romans don't look at all familiar. In place of the propaganda spectacles the Romans pushed on our noses, we'll see these people as they really were.
The Vandals didn't vandalize - the Romans did. The Goths didn't sack Rome - the Romans did. Attlia the Hun didn't go to Constantinople to destroy it, but because the emperor's daughter wanted to marry him. Show an Asterix comic to an ancient Gaul and - surprise, surprise - he wouldn't realise that it was supposed to be about him. His life was more sophisticated than a Roman's, not more primitive.
Terry Jones travels round the geography of the Roman Empire - through Europe and Africa - bringing wit, irreverence, passion and the very latest scholarship to transform a history that seemed well past its sell-by date, and make it relevant to living with the new American world empire.
