Roman Vacations - What were they like? DOCUMENTARY
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The Romans were just as hard working as us if not more so. They had few social or legal protections for labor which meant that people were run ragged. The 8th day cycle of Market Day and the various religious festivals sprinkled across the calendar offered some reprieve but its no surprise that people were looking for ways to unwind.
For the lower classes this likely took the form of staycations or short excursions. For the wealthy though, they had the means to stage far more elaborate vacations. These often featured weeks if not months spent in the numerous villas scattered along the hills and shores of Italy. Cities like Pompeii and Baiae along the Amalfi Coast were famous travel destinations. Some even went abroad in search of more exotic experiences. The town of Hippo and its friendly dolphin reportedly drew thousands of tourists while the village of Sparta even ran a theme park of sorts which sought to give visitors a taste of its ancient past.
What other aspects of daily life would you like to see us cover? Check out these recent episodes from our "How They Did It" series:
What Was Roman Sci-Fi and Literature Like? • What Was Roman Sci-Fi ...
What was it like to Grow Up Byzantine? • What was it like to Gr...
Where did Gladiators come from? • Where did Gladiators c...
What were Naval Gladiator Battles like? • Naval Gladiator Battle...
What was a day at the Roman Colosseum like? • What was a day at the ...
Magic, Spells, & Curses in Ancient Rome • How They Did It - Mag...
Sources and Suggested Reading
Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome, by J. P. V. D. Balsdon
Leisure and Ancient Rome, by J. P. Toner
Travel and Geography in the Roman Empire, by Colin Adams and Ray Laurence
Credits
Research = Chris Das Neves
Script = Chris Das Neves
Narration = Invicta
Artwork = Beverly Johnson
Editing = Penta Limited
#history
#documentary
#rome
We cover tourism in ancient Sparta in this video th-cam.com/video/u68_PsQF99E/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the interesting piece.
Nice video. I actually heard that Roman women at times actually sported an early version of the Bikini. I wonder is that true Invicta?
Or zoo
imagine life as a roman travel agent
@@CDNShuffle---Nice
My wife and I took a vacation in Egypt some years ago. We were in a temple that was around 4,000 years old. Our tour guide pointed out some Roman graffiti from around 2,000 years ago which said something to the effect of "Claudius was here on vacation with my family". In a way, I found that to be a much more tangible connection to the past than anything else, since I was doing the exact same thing as Claudius, only 2,000 years later.
How much money did that set you back?
@@MEAT_CANNON This was in 2008, for 1 1/2 weeks, and we were living in Germany at the time. About $3K or so.
people don't recognize how they similar to us, but it makes more terrifying that neither 4000y ago nor 2000 anywhere on Earth such phenomena as mandatory covering of faces, prohibition of work or self imprisonment existed, it is hard to say what response would be on black death, which we as in 14 cent. have no treatment against
The amphitheatre in Arles France has similar graffiti from when it was in operation. It’s a very strange human connection !
@@sidjoosin6549 Mandatory face coverings have been a well known thing since 800AD
If I'm being frank, I do enjoy these little glimpses into more "daily life" style videos.
As you have said, it really helps in finding common ground across the ages, letting us remember that these long-past people were, well, _people._
Well said, Frank.
You are a Frank? Get back to North of Gallia you bloody barbarian.
Don't watch the one about pets real tear jerker. 😢
toldinstone is a great channel for this sort of thing
Franks? They didn't show up until after the Romans
People in the past generally traveled a lot more than we today tend to think- even medieval peasants traveled on pilgrimages to religious sites, ostensibly for the religious duty but the fascination of traveling to new places drew people to it just as often.
Also medieval university students, one year you study in Milano, next in Praha, next Koln.
@@Eskalante you are pretty rich as a university student back then so not surprising
Pilrimages weren't for fun. They were hard and dangerous journeys in the hope they would bless themselves spiritually by making the trip. Not really a valid point.
@@marcl.1346 actually, for the lower end of society, these pilgrimages were the only EXCUSE to be away from your Lord and Land. It's a valid point.
Pilgrims also got free food and accomodation while on pilgrimage as the church had a lot of rules about the treatment of pilgrims. It was an affordable way to travel.
I find the Roman and Greek garden architecture quite appealing, there is a certain simplicity in its clean and elegant design, similar to the geometric shapes of french Baroque gardens as they both share linage yet distinctly their own.
One thing to point out that in reality, all of those nice white buildings would be richly, and for our taste garishly, colored. With paints being expensive, it would make sense that the rich would spend money on them to show off their wealth. Some of the graphics do show painted buildings. But I guess it is not a focus of this video.
All Taken from Egypt and Mesopotamia
@@starcapture3040 Borrowed not taken. Any mesopotamian carthaginians and judeans borrowed just as much in return.
Interestingly the baroque aesthetic is mostly seen as a departure of such traits you described. People tend to associate the greco roman aesthetic to neoclassicism!
@@blipboigilgamesh7865 Gardens, like artwork do not always fall into hard categories of design but take influence from a multitude, often aspects that was highly desired by many others. That is of course until the exceptions show up.
Excellent! So nice to have an occasional reminder that people of the classical world weren't constantly involved in making "history".
The Julio-Claudian dynasty had many villas where they vacationed with their children. In fact, the book "I, Claudius" depicts during a family vacation one of the best foreshadowings ever written in fiction. While playing with his cousins and brothers in one of the villas, a young Claudius accidentally caught a wounded cup in the air that was previously disputed by two eagles who wanted to eat it. A priest visiting the villa regarded this event as an omen, interpreting it to mean that Rome would suffer a mortal wound and that Claudius would be the savior of the Empire. Claudius' sister Livilla laughed at this, mockingly stating that she wished to be already dead the day her fool and disabled brother became Emperor. Livilla was killed by being locked in her room until starving to death 10 years before Claudius became one of Rome's best rulers
Good!
Was she the one married to Germanicus? Didn't his wife and sons (aside from Caligula) get murdered via starvation?
@@jesuschrist9513 No. Germanicus's wife was Agrippina the Elder. Livilla was the sister of Germanicus and Claudius, and was also the mother of the non-recognized Emperor Tiberius Gemellus. She was locked up to starvation because she and the prefect of the guard Sejanus murdered Tiberius's son, Castor, in order to marry and become the next emperors after Tiberius. Livilla's mother, Antonia, discovered the plot after finding her daughter's diary, in which she recounted her evil plans. Antonia then told the Emperor about the plot and killed her own daughter
@@Oskarelu and then Tiberius had weird Epstein parties with his grand nephew Gaius on an island before being suffocated to death possibly
Press S to spit on her grave
I think the daily life videos you do are some of the most important content on the channel, as weird as that may sound. There are functionally infinite sources to learn about the battles and rulers. Not that those are bad, but it's just the common experience of "history" we all obtain through schooling. What is rarely if ever covered is the more practical, real lives of the people living at the time and very little can compare for helping you empathize with the past.
Roman Senator 1#: "Man, going on vacation to Pompeii is priceless and unique, don't you think?"
Roman Senator 2#: "Yeah. However, it's a shame occasional earthquakes can ruin the experience. The last one a few years ago worried even that bastard of Nero."
Roman senator 1#: "Bah. An earthquake from time to time will not ruin the experience. Just watching from here that strange and beautiful mountain emanating more and more smoke makes the experience completely worth it"
*The next day*
Roman Senator 1# covered in ashes: "Well. That was one Hell of vacations, don't you think?"
Roman senator 2# covered in ashes: "Shut up. Glad we are finally back in Rome, at le..." *Get killed by the Second Great Fire*
Pompeis eruption was during tituses reign which is a over an decade after nero died and great fire happened
@@szymonpinkowski256 Pompeii had a giant earthquake in 62 A.D., during Nero's reign, and Rome suffered a Second Great Fire while Titus was visiting the remains of Pompeii
I love the fact that even ancient Roman children were building sand castles or in their cases - sand temples and sand villas
If I remember one of your vids, there was about Sparta who became a Tourist Attraction under the occupation of Rome after Macedon's defeat.
Yeah, the self-hurt attractions lasted into the early Christian era.
Not after macedons defeat but after achaian defeat
I bet they had salted snack concession stands in Carthage as a sick joke.
I grew up on a farm. I moved to the city to chase my dreams. Now that I'm older, I often go back to visit my parents with my kids and wife. It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle. My parents love seeing their grandchildren and it's good to show the kids how life used to be.
This could be a person from 4500bc Sumeria, all the way to 2022 America.
Coming from Finland, it is easy to see how the "barbarian" world might have viewed Rome as something of a wonder. 2 millenia ago, the even low class peasant life would seem like heaven in comparison to the struggle of scraping the living from the forests with just enough to stay alive. With half of the year land in covered in snow, the other half would have to be used just to prepare for that, all of summer had to be worked. Just to keep on living. Not enough food gathered in the summer meant the only source of food was ice fishing or hunting, neither exactly quaranteed method. Such vacations would have been unheard of, except for few wealthiest chieftains.
While it's good to remember that people were like us, even back then, the lifestyle of Rome was reserved only for the few countries in the world. Mostly in the equator or lands nearby with adequate climate to support easy living throughout the year.
I imagine it must have been jarring for a Celtic or Germanic tribesman to come across a fancy Italian villa for the first time.
Like North Korea today, the poorest people in Pyongyang are probably still better off than anyone in rural areas, unless they're high-ranking party officials (or, let's be honest, lords given their estates by the king).
More of this, please. Like Greek vacations, Egyptian vacations, etc, etc......
Scandinavian vacations: *England*
@@endlessnoodle3056 Of course.....
That's actually a really fascinating thing. I think we typically assume these things are only a modern thing - as such leisure not just requires free time, but also wealth across a large enough population. But we see here that it not just only exists, but developed enough to have economies based on leisure, infrastructure to support leisure travel and even resort towns. It really does make Rome feel so much closer to the modern world.
But how much do other civilizations have similar concepts? Is it an example of Roman wealth and societal complexity where only a few others (Persia? China? Greece?) also have to allow enough people to create these economies? Or is it more universal (to an extent, I mean I doubt a subsistence culture would have resort towns) and it's just not explored?
4:55 love the rat couple that has also come on vacation in the inn!😆
148bc Rome : 18-36 days off
2022 USA : Best I can do is 5
That Roman wearing sunglasses, though 😂🤣
Seriously, though, fascinating video. Nice work.
Pretty sure that's not just anyone, but Invicta himself.
I'm starting to get bored by all these history channels talking about war, fighting, murder, weapons and political intrigue, as if there were no people, just imperialist rulers wanting war and using "material" to pursue this. It's an incredibly restricted and one-sided view of history centered on violence and murder.
Your channel however actually talks about how life was actually like for everyday people, which is far more relatable and useful to compare with as a modern citizen.
That is the most accurate description I’ve ever heard.
Yep, history after all is not all about war and violence that just asking that humans are nothing but robots made to fight endlessly.
A lot of our past ain't no different today. Except the reliable convenience of modernity.
But some community in the present still well like from the ancient past.
That's because you're actually interested in history and anthropology. Most people are only interested in the drama that comes from history, so blood, guts, fire, and incest all get published, and history starts to look more like fantasy. Don't get me wrong, those stories are important to have as well, and dramatic histories were more likely to be recorded than the mundane stories of daily life. I'm in complete agreement with you, though. This personal kind of history slaps.
Why should I care that it's relatable?
Always a pleasure when Invicta uploads a new vid! Makes my day infinitely better!
Daily life videos are my absolute favorite. I love the realization that these people were so similar to us.
LOL random namedrop, Ken Bartlett taught me first year European history. One of the best lecturers I've ever had.
That description of a day felt like a dunk. What a life.
Great video, a good dive into the -sea- vacations of the Romans. I always loved the stories about how people went on holiday in older times, being it in the 1800's, in the middle ages, or in the classic world. Maybe they didn't have jetliners, maybe the vast majority had hardly or not at all any possibility of going on vacation, but many more than only the rich had and would go on vacation. The *"Dolphin story from Hippo"* was a video I really loved. My friend here in Denmark experienced about the same:
At his summer cottage he was standing in the water at the beach when he noticed a "dot" coming towards him. The dot got closer, appeared to be someone swimming, but then he noticed they were three dots each a metre apart. Eventually they got close and passed by very close to him: They were two dolphins with a boy in the middle, all swimming on a line. He only saw it this one time.
The symbol of Bizerte ( Hippo ) has a dolphin in it, and even today Tunisians flock to the shores in vacations.
@@mza3764 Really? I collect coins, I must get such a "dolphin coin" from Tunesia. Thanks for the tip.
Baiae: Grand Theft Trireme: Vice Harbor
Welcome to fabulous Sparta!!!
This is Sparta!
@@ecurewitz And buy your tickets for the tour to thermopylae. 2 denarius per person, only 300 vacancies people!
As such, I'm sure there are all types of horror stories about Roman tourists who went missing
"Hey Lucius, let's go hiking in the mountains of Corsica!...."
The missing 411 of Rome:
These are my favorite videos from you.
The pet and food videos have been amazing!
This topic is so enjoyable. Please create more😊
A roman on the beach in his toga would be like a western man on the beach wearing a suit and tie right?
Yup
Yep nude sex segregated bathing except when they did not obey that rule scandal.
But Rome fell a Christian Nation for a few centuries all the pre Christian excess gone.
I can not place one civilization falling from poor sexual morality that a lie.
And pre Christian Rome a lot more prudish for the most part than people think. It always a scandal then when their similar prude morality to now violated.
I've wondered about ancient tourism for SO long! Thank you so much!
Brilliant episode! You've successfully made the ancients feel like the kin they truly are to us, and bridged thousands of years to achieve it- our human brethren, for better or worse. It highlights that our humanity, while seeming like the most basic trait, is actually our strongest and most fundamental connection.
It's responsible that intangible sensation we feel at ancient sites or when handling personal objects from long ago - an evolved reverence when our humanity is exposed in some way- it's delicate and often elusive; this feeling of oneness and connection. This awareness of our place in the universe may be transient and ephemeral, but it's intoxicating in its intensity, impressive in scope and leaves a long-lasting and addictive impact, much like a euphoric 'hit'. Thank you for this brief, captivating and enlightening journey into our shared human history. It's not that easy to conjure these 'feels' but you did it for me evidently in this vid
Incredible video, the insights you provide into everyday life are wonderful.
While it might not be vacation in the strict sense of the word, laborers and skilled craftsmen could have worked along the way or at their destination to cover costs. That would require that it was possible for them to find work.
Regarding the teacher and pupils, the teacher at my grandfathers school actually took the kids on a bicycle vacation every summer. That was back in the 1930s in Denmark.
And thank you for the glimpses into the daily life of our ancestors!
Love the painted backgrounds, keep up the good work!
Love these videos, please keep them coming!
Love your videos and your topics!
Keep doing it! Good work!
Enjoyed ! Thank you for your time and effort!
This was wonderful content. Yes, please keep this type of content coming!
Very interesting video! I didn't know that some Roman school kids actually had field-trips! I thought that was a modern thing! Or that Hadrian had one of the most ornate villas in all of Rome! I always thought that he was too practical and fugal for that! Even with my extensive knowledge of history, one always learns something new everyday!
Maybe your knowledge of history isn’t as extensive as you think. There is always something new to learn!
Probably an ignorant statement, but it would be kinda nice to have so many festivals with time off coordinated with those festivals.
That's the benefit of having more gods :P
hahh you are right
i am glad noyone atack you for your comment, because i did get atacked for no reason
so i was discusing with a guy in the comments about ancient Roman Military and morden military ideas and stuff like that and then i disagree about a morden military rules such as being forced to cut your hair to zero and no beards and them that fucking idiot started atacking me call me names and stuff, those noyone agree with me about this topic?? i get the felling you cant discuss politly
if you agree with me please let me know
People still do that today. They time there vacation days in conjuction holidays to take weeks off at a time.
Functionally, it's a major part of the reason for all the Catholic saints; their assigned days gave reason and excuse for days off if you or your business was a known devotee, and some saints days served as feast days for almost everyone.
Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job
The account from Pliny the Younger just underscores that to live a great life, it can (and usually is) a simple one. what a beast. soul of a giant.
We are interested Hippo Diarythus is my hometown it is now called Bizerte, and its symbol has a dolphin in it. even today Tunisians flock to its shores in vacations
I really dug this video, made me think about how I was spending my free time as a worker, kudos.
Dude, you almost lost me with the line about the Roman's working as hard as us! That's some "dry" , straight faced delivery! I nearly thought you were serious! ✊️😎✌️
It’s amazing 🤩 how u translate modern day experiences into Roman ones. They lacked streaming and movies 🎥 back then but wonder how it was like at their shows. Like not the gladiator fights but just stage plays and mummer shows
Love the video, it really humanizes them, and you can sense their journey's
I live in Brittany, not far from carhaix. When the Romans ran the place the rich had second homes at the coast, benodet, Douarnenez etc and good roads to get there.
No one came from Italy Centuries. And slowly, it stopped.
We know what they were like. "Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck and the perfect Audrey Hepburn showed us what they were like back in 1953.
Awesome video. I didn't think there was vacations at this time.
Thanks for the video
Campania was and still is a good tourist destination. Come and see whenever you can and of course visit Rome, before Rome visits you. 👀
Please do more of these.
It seems some things haven't changed in thousands of years. The wealthiest enjoy the pleasures of life to the fullest while the vast masses are doled out just sufficient distraction to prevent ruinous rioting or armed revolution.
The free baths, bread, entertainment and what passed for medical care kept the commons happy a lot of the time in the Empire. All but a few baths free. Even the Colosseum shows were free. Medical care was free if iffy. And failing to provide they riot.
The Bread and circus quote of fame.
“Tiberius didn’t kill himself”
This is such a cozy video.
Love these videos
This might be the only channel that causes my monkey brain to click on the video no matter the topic. Love it!
*Holiday Road starts playing*
Great episode
I love your channel dude
To just think about how similar people at the beach are today and over 2000 years ago, truly astonishing!
Great work 🫰🏻🫰🏻🫰🏻 Thank you 💜💜💜
this was a cool video. that part where romans are not sure what to do with their exxtra time and often having regreats about their choices relates with me heavily. it is amazing how we as humans have not changed much in centuries.
Interesting, thank you for sharing.
I'd like to see a video on the various income sources of the Roman senatorial classes.
Good job
Yes please! More like this :)
I LOVE YOUR VIDS!!!
Now I gotta go watch Roman Holiday...
Nice to know this interesting lesson
Awesome video! I'd like to see one on Roman companies/firms/enterprises. Were there such a thing? Like the engineers and architects and builders of all the huge projects. Were they all employed directly by the Roman state? Or were there contractors, like today? Chains of restaurants, with a single brand (like McDonalds)? Were there corporations with stock or partnerships? What were the largest companies in ancient Rome? How did all that work?
"Companies" did not exist as we know them today, they had guilds and private small business. But there were the "Publicani" which were public contractors of anyhting the state needed, (From supplying the military to organize buillding projects to collect taxes). It started as a loose group of guild members, but they end up like the first "companies" with share holders and investors because of a legal loophole.
In Rome, there was no limited liability, (If you fail at your contract, your had to cover with your personal wealth with no limit), to overcome that on big contracts, a Slave was made as the "Manager" of souch groups; as a slave is a "thing", it had no properties so it had 0 liabilities. That way Roman citizens could invest in those endeavours with no danger.
I've been to Herculaneum!
So true this really humanized the Roman millionaires for me too
I'm watching this while playing Fallout:New Vegas and pretending it's a pre-war documentary I found on my pip-boy.
Ave. True to Caesar!!!
@@aguy2162 OH, man! I just now got that. I mentioned F:NV on a video... about Roman history. That completely went over my head! I thought you were just saying the iconic legion line. That's actually really funny! That's good stuff!
I'm suprised you didn't mention Ostia, which was a popular vacation spot and not far from Rome.
It was also, his port...
There were many famous cities in the roman empire. Memphis, Alexandria, Palymira, Petra, Jarash, Damsucses, Antionich, Athens, Nikomedia, Laptus Megna, and Carthage. were the most famous to visit.
@@starcapture3040 So many choices so little time!
@@Not-Ap but they have visited and left graffitis
@@starcapture3040 Yeah that's kinda sad and depressing.
Not to be political but
I love these type of Roman videos
"Hey. did you hear about that place everyone goes to? It's so hot right now, we should go"
"What's its name?"
"Mmm something like Pompeii I think"
"Yeah, let's go"
Two romans, probably.
Man, that guy at the end really knew how to enjoy the small things in life. What a lad.
16:50 That's a chill picture
Some things never change!
I find it interesting that the modern, commonly accepted rule of a higher mortality rate in winter was reversed in ancient Rome.
A summer emergency room on a weekend especially a holiday weekend is the busiest place in the world . I think that cars are largely to blame for winter being dangerous
great job!
Brilliant 👌
I need to know more about SpartaLand!!!
Quick suggestion. Would you consider making video with all the art of impressive structures you have made for your videos? Or even make a video on most beautiful and wonderful ancient/earlier or later world architecture?
Love your videos man! I'm curious what ambient music you use for your videos? They'd make a great playlist
Thank you.
1 day off per 8 days is about 30 days off a week plus 18 minimum festival days = 48-50 days off. Which is over 1 day off a week.
Many countries today have a 6 day week , so not very different.
10:50 Tusculum is north of Rome as the name might suggest (In ancient Rome it was of the region of Etruria, today it is part of Latium because of events in the renaissance). Since it originates from Tusci (Another name for Etruscans - Tuscans - Tusci).
Wait, there was a group of people north of Rome called "Tuscans"? I wonder if they lived harsh lives on a desert planet with two suns; spoke a language that sounded like braying donkeys; killed a Chosen One's mother, and incurred his wrath on not just the men, but the women, and children too; but got a more humanized perspective of themselves from a former bounty hunter who escaped from a Sarlacc Pit? Oh, and did they get their name by raiding a settlement called "Fort Tuscan", by chance?
I also wonder if they came from down south, across The Mediterranean Sea in modern-day Tunisia (Where that desert planet was partially filmed at, if it wasn't Death Valley, California)?
Did Rome turn into that sand-hating "Chosen One" figure when they slaughtered all of them?
So, basically, nothing changed except the level of technology.
Indeed, once you open that doorway into the veiled world.. Things are never the same 👁️
Do a video of holidays such as Roman vacations to Egypt and Greece
I had to study that exact Pliny letter as part of my Latin final exam, and I kind of went wild when I realized you were reading it 😂. There’s a really short follow-up letter in which he describes how his routine differs in the winter, though it’s quite boring.
As has happened so many times before, you put up a video of an aspect of Roman life, I think nah that doesn't interest me,
but hey it's Invicta I'll give it a shot, then at the end I'm thinking what a fascinating subject then hit the like button.
In some ways I feel it would be sad to meet my ancestors, just feeling I would be disappointing to many, but at other times I figure there must have been at least a few i could have got along well with or been friends with. And I try to think of what meeting and talking to them may have been like. As I feel I wish I could meet descendants and hear what their life is like and their thoughts and feelings. I wonder what thinking was like even before established forms of science.
hello people. Thank you for a pleasant video
Them villas actually look like modern jet-set private hotels, both in appearance, locations and purposes, they wouldn't be out of place in today's landscape either.
I think we typically assume these things are only a modern thing - as such leisure not just requires free time, but also wealth across a large enough population. But we see here that it not just only exists, but developed enough to have economies based on leisure, infrastructure to support leisure travel and even resort towns. It really does make Rome feel so much closer to the modern world.
But how much do other civilizations have similar concepts? Is it an example of Roman wealth and societal complexity where only a few others (Persia? China? Greece?) also have to allow enough people to create these economies? Or is it more universal (to an extent, I mean I doubt a subsistence culture would have resort towns)?
There was a Pilgrimage "Business" during the whole medieval era and on. So yeah, it just had a religious guise.
@@profezzordarke4362 And, of course, almost everybody got Sunday "off" (and would have been offended if asked to work), though they did go to church, maybe more than once, even.
The pilgrims would also collect relics, an ancestor of souveniers.
@@worldcomicsreview354 Not to forget all the Saints who had special holidays. depending on the region you could have more than 80 days when labour was forbidden.
Imagine a person pulling down $200 a day modern era. This would mean $50 a night for room, dinner, and a working girl. That's not a bad deal at all except for having to sleep in your cloak and probably get double robbed.
Roman's love to vacation beside volcanos.
I hope you get to cover Roman Banking/Ancient Banking someday.