Ancient Gaul: The History and Legacy of the Gauls and the Region in Antiquity

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Colin Fluxman

The Roman Republic’s development from a city state into a world power that controlled large swathes of modern Italy, Gaul, and Spain, as well as other parts of Europe is seen by many as being the direct result of Roman fear of the “Celtic Threat.” The sacking of Rome by the Gauls in 386 BC became indelibly imprinted into the Roman psyche, and with this fear came a desire to put as much distance as possible between the city of Rome and any potential enemy. The result was the gradual acquisition of buffer zones that became provinces of an empire that grew without any particular thought out or deliberate strategy of expansion.

The Gallic Wars, the series of campaigns waged by Julius Caesar on behalf of the Roman Senate between 58-50 BC, were among the defining conflicts of the Roman era. Not only was the expansion of the Republic’s domains unprecedented (especially when considering it was undertaken under the auspices of a single general), it had a profound cultural impact on Rome itself as well. The Roman Republic, so dynamic in the wake of the destruction of their ancient enemy, Carthage, had recently suffered a series of dramatic upheavals; from the great slave rebellion of Spartacus to the brutal and bloody struggle for power of Marius and Sulla. Rome had been shaken to its very core, and a victory was essential both to replenish the dwindling national coffers and to instill in the people a sense of civic pride and a certainty in the supremacy of the Republic.

Quite simply, in terms of scale, the Gallic Wars were unmatched by anything the Roman Republic had witnessed since the Punic Wars. By the end of the campaigns, ancient historians estimated that more than a million people had died, and still more were displaced or enslaved. Even by the more conservative estimates of modern historians, a casualty count in the hundreds of thousands appears possible. Either way, the war was a cataclysm, involving tens of thousands of combatants, and it also marked the greatest displays of skill by one of the greatest battlefield generals history has ever known.

Caesar’s successful campaigns in Gaul have become the stuff of military legend on their merits, but it helped that he had the foresight to document them himself. Caesar himself wrote a famous firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, apparently from notes he had kept during the campaigns, and he wrote Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War) in the third person. Caesar’s account described the campaigning and the battles, all as part of a propaganda campaign to win the approval of the Roman people. As a result, he left out inconvenient facts, including how much of a fortune he made plundering, but the work still remains popular today, and it is still used to teach Latin.

Ancient Gaul: The History and Legacy of the Gauls and the Region in Antiquity looks at the most famous events involving Gaul and the ancient world, from the Gauls’ sack of Rome to Caesar’s famous conquest.

©2018 Charles River Editors (P)2018 Charles River Editors

A very brief whirlwind look at Gaul

I think the harshest two things I can say about this audio book is that it has no narrative and the narrator is not very fluid.

The text comes across like a university student in the first semester of a masters school program wrote a paper summarizing several centuries of history. It's not BAD, it just lacks the context of narrative. As a result we are presented with less of a book and more of a list of facts without citation. I have no reason to believe that the author is making anything up, it would just be helpful to have a more nuanced dialog to work with.

The narrator isn't bad either, but he doesn't go out of his way to provide any vocal variety. Most of the time it sounds like he is cold reading only a few sentences at a time and in the exact same cadence and tone each time. He isn't dead monotone like the actor Ben Stein, but his lack of change in vocal dynamics, cadence, rhythm, or narrative shape makes it seem like you're listening to amazon Alexa imitate actor/narrator Stephen Fry.

Now, those things sound awful, but they shouldn't deter you from giving this a listen. Despite the lack of detail, it does act as a very direct and straightforward introduction to the history of the Gallic people. If you listen and make note of sections that interest you, you can Google those moments in the or the people mentioned and find out more.

Pronounces 'celt' wrong

Just look up how to pronounce things before recording the audio. It's so easy these days. That's the narrator. The author is ok, but weird to throw in judgements of ancient peoples long dead, the Gauls, while contrasting them with the Romans as better, considering the entire empire was built on slavery and mass violence.