Does BBC Civilisations gets its four stories of collapse correct? Experts weigh in

By Jay Silverstein, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Forensics, Nottingham Trent University
Jane Draycott, Lecturer, Classics, University of Glasgow
Lars Laamann, Lecturer on the History of China, SOAS, University of London
Tim Penn, Lecturer in Roman and Late Antique Material Culture, University of Reading

In four episodes, the BBC’s Civilisations series tells the story of the fall of the Romans, Aztecs, Egypt’s Ptolemies and Japan’s Edo Samurais. The show tells these stories through a combination of recreated dramatic scenes, explanation from experts and discussions of objects from the British Museum. Here, four experts in each period have reviewed the episodes and shared their recommendations for further reading.

The Collapse of the Roman Empire

The canonical date of the fall of the Western Roman Empire is 476, when the general Odoacer deposed the last emperor, Romulus…

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