Romans understood propaganda well and lied and bent the truth when it suited them. The heir to the Roman empire, the Catholic, and to some extent the Greek Orthodox Church, had a monopoly on knowledge throughout Europe throughout the Medieval age and to a great extent, even up to today.
Terry Jones (A Welsh-man or a descendant of the Celts) also of Monty Python fame has done a marvelous job dispelling many of the Roman biases that is so prevalent throughout Western Academia and Zeitgeist that they go unquestioned.
Even in University I was taught this rubbish in my history and art history classes. For example the absence of any meaningful coverage of Parthian Empire and then the Sassanian Empires of the near east was astonishing to me. It's like reading about the second half of the 20th Century and without mentioning the Soviet Union. Or the silly term Greco-Roman which makes as much sense as saying Judeo-Nazi. (hint Romans destroyed and pillaged the Greek (Hellenistic) city states and enslaved the majority of the population.)
The majority of history available is a verbatim retelling of Roman propaganda, this series and the accompanying book is a refreshing antidote to that. It opens eyes and minds, highly recommended. Though if Rome is sacred to you and very dear to your heart, you may want to skip it, Rome is definitely not "light of the world" in this version of history.
