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I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with Simon, but I don't associate him with athleticism. His mates down the rugby club may think he's a legend, but we never see that. I associate Simon with lists, snark, and history. Is there a History and Sarcasm Greens brand??
"600 of us were crucified as a warning to any slave dreaming of rising against Rome, but the Romans never found Spartacus' body. I like to think he's still out there. Of one thing I am sure. When the centuries pass, few will remember the name of Marcus Licinius Crassus...but Spartacus' will live on forever. Because he showed us something we never knew before: that a slave didn't have to just take it. He could be free..." *Oenomaus*
Some tidbits that are worth mentioning: 1) Over the course of the imperial period especially, slaves received greater protections by law, for example wanton punishment became illegal. 2) Again imperial times, many state officials were slaves of the emperor and thus they were arguably higher in status than the majority of the free population. 3) On the perspective on slaves: in many comedic plays clever slaves are the protagonists who run circles around their dumb masters. 4) Slaves could only testify in court under torture, otherwise their testimony was not considered valid.
Romans: "HOW DID YOU DARE TO JOIN THE BARBARIANS AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE FOR YOU?!" Slaves: "Sorry, but the blood of all those hundreds of men, women, old people and children who were crucified on the Appian Way during Nero's reign just because one of them murdered his master is clogging our ears" Romans: "F*ck..."
It is quite poetic that the slave system endep up damaging the Empire during the barbarian invasions, since Romulus founded the city as a refuge where all those outcasts and persecuted by the other tribes would live with equality and dignity, only for the complete opposite to happen as the city expanded over the centuries. Rome ended up paying for not fulfilling its promise.
Almost biblical. It's so true, I say this all the time. They went from helping people to separating people and treating them as they are animals. (Kinda makes you think of the US and how they treat immigrants now vs when it was established and built by immigrants. It's basically immigrants saying new immigrants aren't allowed.) Super sad how history is repeating itself still.
@@zackerymeltonturdle5648 By that definition, colonists are also immigrants. So no one should ever criticise colonialism, since it was just immigrstion.
@@magivkmeister6166no colonists rule foreign countries without being invited. You trying to say India, Ireland etc should have embraced their British colonists?!
There is a whole staff for their network of channels, simon just reads the scripts. Has kind of turned to cheeky money grabs compared to what TIFO used to be
Slavery, which is a nasty part of the human experience. Also something that’s been around, all of recorded human history and even today. Where their are more slaves today, than ever in human history. While it’s an interesting topic in how each of civilizations treats its slaves. Given it probably doesn’t differ much from each civilization.
Hello Michael Koehler, Your theory ( that the treatment of slaves barely differs in different societies) is not valid. The helots in Sparta for example had a very rough deal: without any chance of education, social mobility or freedom. This is quite different to Roman slavery, were training or education, higher living standards and sometimes even manumission were real possibilities. Another example: In Islam law, several rights for slaves are granted (though not always enforced), They should not be sold with consent, it is illegal to sell mothers and their children, and if a slave has given birth to the children of her master, she must not be sold at all. Her children were free, especially if she converted to islam. It was illegal to enslave fellow muslims. It was illegal to castrate males. So it was a good buisness opportunity to enslave "infidels", castrate them, and then import them to muslim countries, to sell as eunuchs. Pirates of the Barbary coast developed a buisness model of taking Christian captives for ransom, and sell them only if no ransom could be obtained. Christian boys who were enslaved in Turkey by the state ("Devshirme") were forced to give up their faith and were never allowed to marry. But they had acces to a great education and an excepional career and accumulation of wealth. They could gain political influence, they could have extra-marital sex, but they could never have a family. Even in US history, the living conditions of slaves differed in different states. Supposedly working in the Sugar and Indigo industries was worst, cotton not much better, house slaves had it a little better than field slaves and a higher chance at feedom. In Chinese history, mostly females were sold into slavery, usually into domestic service or prostitution. If boys were sold at all, they would often be castrated and work in the forbidden city. There they had access to learning, high careers and incredible wealth., even political influence. So you see, a lot of different situations for slaves in different societies, in just a few examples.
@@michaelripley9507 I am not so sure, the Austrians send their children until 1920 over the mountains in slavery to make sure they survive, the Osman empire filled their janitshars with blood tax, children they train to become soldiers, the debt slavery (the oldest form) still exist, very common in Asia and India, dont forget we have today more slaves in the world like at the time of the US slave trades
@@evelinharmannfan7191How does that take away from what I said? If anything you sound like you are answering my question more than anything. Also you are listing exceptions and not the rule, considering no one is willingly a slave and also doesn’t change the fact you are a slave. Also China used slavery to do much of the same peasants did, hell they were used to build the Great Wall and many other things. You can use an semantic argument to say they were convicts or prisoners of war. Given they weren’t an heavily slave based society like they are now.
There are different kinds of slavery. In the “barbaric” society slaves were often house servants of people that helped farm owners with their work. In the “civilised” societies slaves were like the black folk in the USA. They were cattle worked to death and then replaced. They were raped and forced to kill each other for the amusement of others.
Really depends on your luck on who buys you, and also any preexisting skills you have. If you get assigned to be say a household slave in a rich family, at least you have the chance of cultivating a good relationship with your master and possibly eventually getting freed (maumission). If you have preexisting skills like being an artisan or such, you'll probably be made to work in the owners' business, and eventually possibly be allowed to set up your own enterprise where you run the whole thing but your owner takes a cut, and you might eventually be able to buy your own freedom. If you end up working in the fields, mines, or arena, good luck.
It is a bit dangerous to flatten all these kinds of slavery in Rome, as if one was equally likely to end up in any of these situations, and as if all these kinds of slavery were as prevalent as each other at any given time. The truth is that after the initial development (accumulation of wealth) of the farms, most slave work became the kind of brutal slavery we would all imagine. Slavery in the mines was always brutal and the most ancient form of slavery, slavery in the household was the main mode of production for a short amount of time (relatively speaking) and got crushed by the birth of bigger and bigger owned farmlands, which for purely economic reasons would employ more field slaves. And of course court slaves were rare by virtue of demographics. Aka in the great amount of cases you’re unlucky. The “tenable” slavery you mention does not constitute the bulk of slave work in ancient Rome
The New Testament book of Philemon is a very short epistle from the Apostle Paul, appealing to Philemon on behalf of his slave named Onesimus. Both Onesimus and his owner, Philemon had become Christians, and so Paul appealed to Philemon's Christian conscience to forgive Onesimus for running away...which as Simon pointed out in the video, was a serious offense. It is an interesting read and a sort of _pulling back of the curtain_ on Roman life in the first century.
Onesimus was also the name of a black slave in Boston owned by Puritan minister Cotton Mather, who told Mather that he was protected from smallpox by a common procedure in his homeland whereby the pus from a smallpox boil was rubbed into an open wound on an uninfected person, giving them a milder form of the disease and future immunity. Mather told a doctor and tried to get people to try the procedure but he 2as ridiculed and even firebombed. A couple years later during an outbreak Mather and the doctor were able to carry out the procedure on 242 people, of whom 40 contracted the disease and died, a higher survival rate than without the procedure
Why are there not more views of this video?! It's amazing!! Dude, buddy, you really need to shout out this channel more on your other channels. I binge watch them all 😉
Laws pertaining to the treatment of slaves changed over time. They did eventually gain rights and protections even though they were still slaves. I cannot recall when this came to pass but I believe it was late in the Western Roman Empires history.
Studied Latin and Greek back in "the day" when studying classics in secondary school was a serious "thing" - and enjoyed this video a lot. Example: I was familiar with the writings of Epectitus and something of his history but I did not make the connection between his thought and his history as you did - a connection with which I agree entirely! The video does a nice job presenting both the broader picture as context for individual stories here and there. Nice.....thank you.
Roman slaves were generally way better treated than many other cultures- eg., slaves of the Vikings. The Latin word "familia" includes one's spouse and children as well as the slaves of the household, who were _literally_ "part of the family". Considering these people lived under the same roof it would've been impractical to rely solely on fear and coercion, and the gravestones of freedmen and women show that it was entirely possible for former slaves to acquire their freedom and subsequently become wealthy in their own right. The obscenely wealthy (and vulgar) Trimalchio in Satyricon was a former slave and the emperor Diocletian was the son of a former slave named Diocles. Freed slaves became the clients of their patron as their loyalty was proven - the chief advisors of emperor Claudius were his former slaves,
Just like today: each has their own relationships. These people were proorty. Most sucked. There's not a lot of volunteers for slavery. Dress it up all you want, but these people had NO CHOICE. It wasn't "oh my boss doesn't pay me enough" it was "I will get beaten when boss has a bad day". People do whatever they can get away with. Don't Disney-fi because it makes you comfortable.
This is actually a lie since slaves were treated very poorly in the Roman empire compared to for example the Vikings. In the Roman empire slaves were worked to death and forced to kill each other for amusement. They were raped as prostitutes (male and female). There has never been a people so evil as the barbaric Romans until they were civilised by the word of Jehovah. The first Christians in the Roman empire were all slaves.
There is a story that most historians agreed of a Roman senator who discovered his eldest son was at it with a slave girl. Now that would be usually unforgiveable, but the senator decided to free the slave so they could marry. So it wasn't all bad.
-Eh...freedom for me. They said I hadn't done anything, so I could go free and live on an island somewhere. -Oh. Oh, well, that's jolly good. Well, off you go, then. -Nah, I'm only pulling y'leg. It's crucifixion really.
You are a former soldier/mercenary of a conquered state: "You're going to the mines, the arena, or the galleys, son" You are a well-educated Greek: "You'll be teaching philosophy and mathematics for the rest of your life; it will be fun, and you'll be highly respected; interesting sexual life, too" You are a random person: "construction for males, house servitude for females".
I have heard that 30 % of Roman slaves were released eventually during their live. Unlike slaves in Greece, who usually remained slaves . On the other hand, those Roman slaves who were put into the mines or galleys other extreme working conditions were sometimes just worked to death. I also heard that the "Southern Gentlemen" in the 18th century who studied the classics often self-identified with the Roman tradition. So they reconciled slave-owning and democracy by referring to Roman precedence. Many even gave Roman names to their African and African -American slaves. Of course, the American Revolutionaries could have tried to emulate the Swiss instead. The Swiss managed to erect a democracy without slavery, but I guess Rome and slavery were more appealing.
They did indeed see themselves in that light and while the actual Roman laws were far worse than in America, the elite plantation owners often were nowhere near as bad as modern politicians make them out to be, especially since they also modeled themselves on the lords of Europe
@@hdudidi I’m talking about those who are saying that every slave owner was Hitler and that violence to in the name of ending slavery was a good thing, even when it involved mass murder of women and children, simply based on the color of their skin. I am talking about those who use slavery to vilify the founding fathers of America, even Washington, as well as to demonize all opposition to absolute federal power, or to use it to say black people should be above the law, though the latter is generally said by rabble rousers that are not looking for elected office for themselves.
Slavery was implemented in the colonies by the British long before the colonies rebelled and became a nation so blaming the US for slavery is really disingenuous. It only took the fledgling nation 80-odd years (and 400,000 dead soldiers) to pioneer the unheard of standard of abolishing slavery. It's easy for pseudo-intellectuals with only a rudimentary knowledge and understanding of history to throw mud on that which they do not understand.....
You know, the fact is, this is fundamentally not so different from living as a low-wage worker in America. The only real distinctions are A) One is legally allowed to quit their job; B) One must procure their own means of personal survival. Being paid money for work does not fundamentally separate one from being a slave. All things being equal, if Roman slaves had been paid in currency, but only enough to pay for bare bones shelter and food, is that really so different than slaves being provided food and shelter for their services? The distinction of slavery is personal freedom. I believe we can all agree on this. Well, as a low-wage worker you might have legal rights, but no actual freedom to quit a job. There are a multitude of reasons why quitting a job can be a literal death sentence. Even when the work is inhumane and unsustainable, like driving a delivery truck without AC in Phoenix when it's 120F and sunny, because the company policy doesn't permit AC in their vehicles. If missing one paycheck would mean homelessness, as it often does, then your employer owns you. You do not have the freedom to quit. But before anyone tries to point out the potentially daily physical punishment, torture, and threat of death for actual slaves; I believe you should reconsider. Plenty of workers to this day literally cripple themselves because of they are literally forced to perform daily tasks which cause them constant pain until the day their body finally can't continue. And you might not have risk of actual physical beatings or death for transgressions, but don't you sit there and tell me we do not imbue the law with the power to enforce immediate lethal 'justice' to anyone who steps too far out of line if only for a brief moment after being pushed to a mental breaking point. And those who only step a little out of line are put into a prison system where you will be starved, live in abject squalor, under the potentially constant threat of physical abuse, torture, and even death.
No one in western society is forced to do anything. Except pay taxes… Especially working a low paying, physically demanding job. If you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck, then make yourself an asset instead of a liability. Learn or create something that is worth paying for. If you don’t like your job, find a new job. If you live near or below the poverty line you are BY DEFINITION taking more from society than you are putting in. Literally a leech. No one is forcing you to live like that. You choose to because you have the luxury of a “social safety net” that allows you to. A safety net funded by people who do actually pay taxes, who are forced to do so. Slaves do not have that option.
No one in western society is forced to do anything. Except pay taxes… Especially working a low paying, physically demanding job. If you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck, then make yourself an asset instead of a liability. Learn or create something that is worth paying for. If you don’t like your job, find a new job. If you live near or below the poverty line you are BY DEFINITION taking more from society than you are putting in. No one is forcing you to live like that. You choose to because you have the luxury of a “social safety net” that allows you to. A safety net funded by people who do actually pay taxes, who are forced to do so. Slaves do not have that option.
It probagbly has to do with TH-cam rules more than any prudishness on the producers's part. I'm pretty sure that if the kept the nudity in, TH-cam would have flagged the video and demonetized it. This in turn would result in this channel going back and editing the video to blur the "offensive" parts and re-release it to get the video relisted and monetized.
@@mp6814 I guess so but you can still praise pyramid scemes, teach conspiracy theories, drive extreme religious Agendas or negate genocides. That s obviously not as harmful as a nipple. Lovely Times we live in. Im thankful TH-cam is looking out for us.
Chuckled when they clipped the shot of him taking a sip of the sponsor drink thing. I’m guessing he wasn’t a fan or that he didn’t actually take a sip 😂🤷♀️
Well...comparatively speaking, being a slave in ancient Roman times doesn't sound too bad, particularly if the master was benevolent. And then again I'm reminded of the star trek episode I, Mudd where kirk says look around, you're living in a cage. It may be a cage filled with everything you want, but it's still a cage.
I would imagine for those with skills it wouldnt be too bad as they are the most valuable. An owner wouldnt want to risk harming that as its the highest rate of return. Unskilled slaves however... that's just commodity labor and is the cheapest.
It’s interesting that Racism and specifically using black people as slaves is actually a fairly modern/recent thing. Before colonisation of Africa, slaves were taken regardless of their race, usually from conquered territories or POW’s. Or in some cases (like Sparta) slaves were a class of people that you were born into. Again, using Africans as slaves only started after colonialism, and that’s because many African kingdoms sold people they conquered to the coloniser’s in exchange for privileges and wealth. And it was this association of Africans are slaves which led to the Racism we see today. Obviously racism was a thing before colonialism, but it wasn’t “race” that people hated on, it was generally towards any outsiders, but even then to a limited extent, because even in Medieval and Ancient times, travelling merchants from all over the world were a fairly common sight. It was colonialism and the rise of Nationalism and the modern form of countries coming into existence that served to fuel Racism as we know it today.
So, not only are you blaming Africans for the racism that we Black people experience today, but you’re also trying to justify our enslavement and the racism we face lol. Good to know people like you exist…
The Romans were way more racist as the people in the southern USA. The confederates didn’t build stadiums were they watched African slaves fight cougars for fun. They didn’t have mass rape brothels. They didn’t crucify their slaves for looking at their owner. I mean every form of slavery is in essence bad. There is no such thing as a “good slave owner” and the confederates were arguably much worse that African slavers or serfs but the Romans were really the worst followed closely by the muslims/arabs (they castrated every male and female slave)
Humans are a funny lot when it comes to ownership of another. When we own an animal pet they are cherished members of the family and laws exist to protect them. When we own a human in such a way from antiquity, to the 1500's-1900's period, and even today as those in prison are effectively the same, there seems to be a penchant for abusing those in a lesser or servile station. Where does it come from in the human mind that they love their dog, but a human reduced to a similar status is to be abused?
Because the slave is a person that naturally wants to be free, and slave owners must abuse the humanity out of them to maintain the situation to their benefit. Most pets and farm animals are distinct species or sub-species from the animals they originally descended from and their temperment and behavior has adapted to cooperate with humans for mutual benefit (that is a gross generalization though).
@@olanmills64 I'd disagree with that. Freedom is an illusion in the first place. That aside, I know of many who are not well suited to a life of wake up, go to a job and make money, pay bills, etc. While one might argue that this is its own form of slavery, there are certainly those who would prefer to simply have their needs met, and happiness is more about feeling safe, comfortable, and well fed rather than worrying about a mortgage and climbing the ladders of success. We've completely eliminated any form of servile class as opposed to having the vile and oppressive ones of the past. I find the human need to attach to polar ends of an issue rather than finding a balance ever fascinating. While it is perhaps idealistic as I can already see the abuses, I would nevertheless love to see a well functioning meritocracy. Conceptually it serves all needs, putting strict guide rails on those who are happy with, or are best suited with a more controlled, but also more duty free station in life, while allowing others who have earned their "libertarian dream," regardless of race, creed, etc., to live it. I know it chafes against the "all are created equal" adage, but unfortunately this notion is obviously fundamentally untrue. Of course, anyone in a modern servile class wouldn't be a slave. They would typically have some degree of control regarding entering it, there would be a path to leave it, there would be no insane discrimination basis for being in the class, and such people would enjoy most of the basic human rights than anyone else does.
Animals are abused as well. The protection of animals by law is arecent development in western societies. India has a much longer history of animal protection laws, since King Ashoka. And the Bible contains some laws for the protection of animals as well. ("Dont tie the thrashing oxen´s mouth!") And by the way, there are laws in the bible (old testament) that say you must release any slaves after a certain period of time (every 50 years, see Leviticus 25,8-55) Some people are cruel, some are kind, and some are thoughtless. Thats why we need laws, to make sure every living being is treated kindly.
In a trade-off between speed and accuracy, I prefer the latter anytime. Similarly, for quantity and quality. But there's more to effective communication, and more to history than a stream of 'facts' uttered as fast as possible.
Several of your videos lately have had such weak audio that I've wound up not watching much because I couldn't hear enough of what's being said. You might want to fix this to keep view times up. I like your content, but if I can't watch it through wat's the point?
@@amishzomby I have several different output options for sound. Yes some of them do suck (the built-ins on the three monitors) but when it's just some of his videos and everything else is fine I have to assume it's the video. I suppose it could be you-tube screwing up something, that wouldn't be unheard of either. Just don't know why it'd be only a few of his videos and rarely something else on a small channel in that case.
A video taking a historic look at slavery in Ancient Rome, and YT makes you blur out breasts and butts from 1000 year old oil paintings... Glad to see priorities are set right /s
Runaway slaves had the right to seek sanctuary, for example when the runaway slave Onesimus took refuge in the home of a man on house arrest, the apostle Paul
Being a slave would be horrible. Being worked to death in a mine, farming in the hot sun all day, being a brothel worker, rowing boats, cleaning up in pre sewer times, etc. Most slaves were performing back breaking labor, relatively few were educated enough to do easier work like writing, accounting, etc.
And yet people are buying electric cars which are not only much more damaging to the environment, but involve child slave labour in Africa. Children are dying. But they get the virtue signaling points.
I always watch your videos on this channel, but I had to stop this one early. You were talking way too fast for me to keep up with even with captions, LOL. I'm an old fart and my brain and ears don't work that fast. Love your channel and info!
@@xx133 actually I didn't learn that much about Africa in school beyond Egypt and the transatlantic. This is what I've learned on my own as an adult, it's a fact. No Sub Saharan Africans never developed written language, most didn't have the wheel, and most kings lived in dirt and poop homes in the 1700-1800s. I also keep a 2nd home in an African country. And my wife is from an African country. Sub Saharan Africa was basically the stone age before European colonization; with exception to Somali, Ethiopia, and the Muslim west Africans.
@@kevinsuggs1 it’s funny how you skipped the parts where Europeans destroyed and plundered much of the continent. If there was nothing there there wouldn’t be anything to plunder. Where do you think all of the artifacts in French museums came from? It’s amazing that we have access to the same search engine, but you seem unable to find any evidence of civilizations in sub Saharan Africa. Western Africa was developed long before the Arab conquest. What you suffer from is confirmation bias driven by your deep seeded racist ideals.
Do this but with the African Dahomey tribe. They were apparently quite brutal, blood thirsty, and they were not as advanced as the Romans so life would have been very hard for everyone.
@@xx133 Self report? Idk what that means. I mentioned the Dahomey because they made a movie about them being heros when they were actually harsh slave raiders who mass murdered their slaves. The British freed the slaves and forced the Dahomey king to stop it. People are celebrating the slavers and ignoring the European emancipators.
@X X obscure? Remote? Weird to assume just because they were African that they were obscure and remote. They were one of, if not the major player in the transatlantic slave trade. It might not have existed if not for their eagerness to capture people across the African continent and sell them for profit. The ones they didn't keep for themselves anyway. Self report? 🙄
@@NG-VQ37VHR yes, self report. You center 7000+ years African history around a tribe that happened to be involved somehow in the slave trade. It’s completely out of context, as you know slavery, practiced by the tribe was completely different than the way Romans conducted slavery. They had no idea what absolute hell they were selling people into, until it was too late.
@@kevinsuggs1 not how history played out. The British ended THEIR slave trade due to the threat of slave revolts compromising their global empire. Specifically, the slave revolt in Haiti sent shockwaves throughout Europe-they leapt to contain (force Haiti to pay reparations to the French and economically isolate them, ensuring that no other slave colony repeats their uprising), they then ended formal slavery while maintaining the colonies and managing their economies, inhibiting industrialization, forcing them to pay colonial taxes up until recently (~one to two decades ago) among many other strategies. That’s just a snippet of a much wider, nuanced, interwoven and honest history you failed to learn.
How were slaves identified though? Presumably, anyone trusted to run errands could in months or years learn the local language and customs, find some decent clothes, pocket some money, and go somewhere else. I'm pretty sure they didn't use brands/scars outside of specific exceptions or particularly horrible households. Was any stranger who looked overworked and underdressed assumed to be a slave?
Well we're talking about practices that span centuries and large geographic regions, so there is bound to be variation, but slaves were in fact often tattooed (in particular, state-owned slaves were tattooed on the forehead), and some were fitted with permanent metal collars. Branding was also a thing, but aside from that, the clothing could also identify you as a slave.
I don't know if it was Rome, but in one area slaves had to wear a specific armband of sorts around their forearm when away from their master's property. Being caught in public without it would result in the arm being cut off.
What was it like? That really depends a lot on when, and what kind of slave you were. Sold your self into slavery or were captured in war would have very different experiences.
it was not so easy, slaves had free days and holidays, and this was when the Christians build their catacombs, which is mentioned when you visit Rome, also many families send their children in slavery, the life as a free farmer was also not really so much fun at the time, and I remember my Latin lesson when one of the senators complained that its cheaper to kill a slave when they are punished like to injure them because an injured slave must let go and paid a pension (same you find in the bible, so it looks it was a quite common law) slaves has the right for peculium, many of this rules came from the root of the slavery, the Rome slaves was not fed from the war (this came later and war prisoners were not so good slaves, even when the Rome soldiers complained that after the lost battle against the Samnites, they were sent home not even worthy to became slaves) the word slave comes later, the Latin word is servus, the word service comes from it the most slaves was free people who fall in debt, so it was clear that this people neede some kind of protection. other things we see today differently, slaves was seen as part of familia and the slave children got an education, yes the children belong to the owner, another side, when a man divorce his wife, the children belong to the father and the exwife was sent home to her family, a family owner could have sex with a slave any time he want, rape was long time not considered between owner and slave, but also not between husband and wife, i tried to find something for England but only found the Istanbul convention from 2003, in Germany I know rape in marriage is a crime since 1997 so not so long ago, the dominus (owner) was the only one who has the right to punish the slaves, if a slave's das killed or damaged from a 3rd party they had to pay, slaves were free from military services or arranged relationships or bad live situations, work on fields was hard, but you work for your own farm on a small field or with 50 others on a big field and get food, shelter, and medical care are not so different, peoples in the salt mines was not slaves, this was prisoners, on the ships free man, I remember the report about the last battle of the Cimbri. where the slaves begged to be free so they can fight and die with the rest of the tribes, the ones who not was killed in battle (little children, sick and old ones, woman who was not fighting) killed each other or made suicide to prevent becomes prisoners, the point here is that the slaves needed to be freed to join the battle and die on the way they preferred, its not all the time like hollywood show us
Did Simon just say that Romans practiced "Chattel" slavery? You were a slave if you were born to a slave and had no guarantee of freedom in the future?
@@iapetusmccool When I was in school (eons ago) they taught us that America was the first place to do chattel slavery. That and basing it on skin color was what made our slavery much worse. I learned later in life that the Carabian, central and south America also practiced chattel slavery and the slave trade. And they did it bigger. I am NOT making any excuse for slavery. I'm only surprised that someone finally admitted that it was present before the America(s) slave trade.
@@Erichev it's not really "someone finally admitting it" though. I've never encountered any one who _didn't_ know that the Romans were vying and selling slaves. You must have been to a very bad school.
Volume is very low. I've noticed large differences especially between channels. Decoding the Unknown videos are significantly louder than Today I found out.
The fact is that any people that lived in the times of the romans had slaves,from the germanic tribes to persians and others far away.But tge roman slaves,on average had better social mobility and better chances of a good life,certainly better then a poor free person. But there were jobs that were considered a death sentence like mining,expecialy in lead mines,rowing on ships or agriculture who usually had a more brutal existence then city slaves. But after the empire stop conquering new lands,the tratament of slaves improved simply bc with a smaller pool of avaible slaves,their prices increased so it has better to treat your slave like a worker then a pice of property.
What? He definitely mentioned this, though technically, under Roman law, everything the slave owned was actually owned by their master. Some were just given the privilege to manage small amounts of money and possessions as if it were their own. Legally, the slave owner could still do whatever they wanted
"Ancient Rome built it's empire on the back of slaves." I wouldn't really agree with that statement (mainly because everyone had slaves and Rome did well where others didn't,) but as far as it's accurate sure, they did, just like everyone else.
@@timothypeterson4781 exactly like I said, you don’t understand nuance or distinction. If slavery across the world is and has always been the same without distinction this video would be pointless. I think this is your desperate attempt to whitewash/defend/deflect from all things related “western civilization”
The difference is now the slaves not only sign up for their chains but set an alarm to wake up early and drive themselves to the "fields" every day. One of the best things I ever did was not go to college and not borrow money to buy a house or anything else, for that matter.
@@itsmatt2105 top man, you understood the implied point and expanded on it. And even though much could be said, I do not feel the need to say anything else.
Love how slavery is still practiced today... only the rich call them house keepers... in developed countries, but not in arabe, indon/asia and africa... if you have money, you can aford a house keeper or 3.
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The book "A Fatal Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome" by Emma Southon says that if any Roman was murdered by one of his slaves, *all* his slaves were executed, including children, and describes (chapter 5) Lucius Pedanius Secundus, murdered in AD 61 by one of his slaves, and all four hundred of his current *and former* slaves were put to death, which apparently shocked even other slave owners. (The book itself, I have mixed feelings about. I did learn a lot, but (a) she judges ancient Rome by modern standards, and (b) she's woke enough to use "enslave" and "enslaved worker" too much for my taste.
@@brindlebucker4741 No, your reaction to it shows your own wokeness. When I recommend a book, I report both the good and the bad so potential buyers have some idea of what it is. Would you have me report only the good? By your lights, being so sensitive to wokeness, would you only comment on that and not the rest? No thank you! I believe in reporting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If that's too much for you, then don't pay attention to my review.
because " clutches pearls tightly" think of the children, how would they be able to grow up knowing they saw a naked person, that image will haunt them forever
So if a slave tried to run away or raise his hand to his master all of the slaves were killed, why risk the seed of insurrection. But, during the Servile War so many slaves took part in the escape, riot whatever you wanted to call it. That if they had followed that particular law, there would have been no slaves left in Rome
We who live in modern comfort look back and say, "How vile, our ancestors!" but did the Romans view their forefathers the same way? No, they didn't have history lesson videos.
Thanks to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this video. Click the link to get a 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D3K2 & 5 travel packs FREE with your first purchase! - athleticgreens.com/brainfood
Ten seconds into the video and my brain says "Wait, so Athletic Greens makes nourishing my body both simple AND easy? What sorcery is this?"
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with Simon, but I don't associate him with athleticism. His mates down the rugby club may think he's a legend, but we never see that. I associate Simon with lists, snark, and history. Is there a History and Sarcasm Greens brand??
Do you take requests? Could you do a video on Spartacus? He fascinates me
@@Pucknuckle I
"600 of us were crucified as a warning to any slave dreaming of rising against Rome, but the Romans never found Spartacus' body. I like to think he's still out there. Of one thing I am sure. When the centuries pass, few will remember the name of Marcus Licinius Crassus...but Spartacus' will live on forever. Because he showed us something we never knew before: that a slave didn't have to just take it. He could be free..."
*Oenomaus*
It was 6000 (not 600), right?
no one cares
@@newjones1754 and yet... You did enough to post. Hehe
We definitely know Spartacus but we also remember the name Marcus Licinius Crassus very well too.
@@DedMan516 But Crassus is a name only those interested in History know, while EVERYONE in the World knows who Spartacus is
Some tidbits that are worth mentioning:
1) Over the course of the imperial period especially, slaves received greater protections by law, for example wanton punishment became illegal.
2) Again imperial times, many state officials were slaves of the emperor and thus they were arguably higher in status than the majority of the free population.
3) On the perspective on slaves: in many comedic plays clever slaves are the protagonists who run circles around their dumb masters.
4) Slaves could only testify in court under torture, otherwise their testimony was not considered valid.
Romans: "HOW DID YOU DARE TO JOIN THE BARBARIANS AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE FOR YOU?!"
Slaves: "Sorry, but the blood of all those hundreds of men, women, old people and children who were crucified on the Appian Way during Nero's reign just because one of them murdered his master is clogging our ears"
Romans: "F*ck..."
It is quite poetic that the slave system endep up damaging the Empire during the barbarian invasions, since Romulus founded the city as a refuge where all those outcasts and persecuted by the other tribes would live with equality and dignity, only for the complete opposite to happen as the city expanded over the centuries. Rome ended up paying for not fulfilling its promise.
Almost biblical. It's so true, I say this all the time. They went from helping people to separating people and treating them as they are animals. (Kinda makes you think of the US and how they treat immigrants now vs when it was established and built by immigrants. It's basically immigrants saying new immigrants aren't allowed.) Super sad how history is repeating itself still.
@@zackerymeltonturdle5648 By that definition, colonists are also immigrants. So no one should ever criticise colonialism, since it was just immigrstion.
@@magivkmeister6166no colonists rule foreign countries without being invited. You trying to say India, Ireland etc should have embraced their British colonists?!
Real
@@magivkmeister6166 no you’re conflating moving in with genocide or bondage as a goal for the current tenant
I am absolutely amazed how these guys manage to make so many videos on so many different topics in such a short time
There is a whole staff for their network of channels, simon just reads the scripts. Has kind of turned to cheeky money grabs compared to what TIFO used to be
They do a piss poor job of it like this example right here.
Another famous slave is Marcus Tullius Tiro, the slave secretary of Cicero. What a tale his life would be.
Terence, Josephus . . . this is a long list. Augustus had some very important slave advisors as well as Claudius.
He was owned by another man. His life was horrible.
Slavery, which is a nasty part of the human experience. Also something that’s been around, all of recorded human history and even today. Where their are more slaves today, than ever in human history.
While it’s an interesting topic in how each of civilizations treats its slaves. Given it probably doesn’t differ much from each civilization.
It is a good motivation to fight to the death, and fight well.
Hello Michael Koehler,
Your theory ( that the treatment of slaves barely differs in different societies) is not valid. The helots in Sparta for example had a very rough deal: without any chance of education, social mobility or freedom. This is quite different to Roman slavery, were training or education, higher living standards and sometimes even manumission were real possibilities.
Another example: In Islam law, several rights for slaves are granted (though not always enforced), They should not be sold with consent, it is illegal to sell mothers and their children, and if a slave has given birth to the children of her master, she must not be sold at all. Her children were free, especially if she converted to islam. It was illegal to enslave fellow muslims. It was illegal to castrate males. So it was a good buisness opportunity to enslave "infidels", castrate them, and then import them to muslim countries, to sell as eunuchs.
Pirates of the Barbary coast developed a buisness model of taking Christian captives for ransom, and sell them only if no ransom could be obtained.
Christian boys who were enslaved in Turkey by the state ("Devshirme") were forced to give up their faith and were never allowed to marry. But they had acces to a great education and an excepional career and accumulation of wealth. They could gain political influence, they could have extra-marital sex, but they could never have a family.
Even in US history, the living conditions of slaves differed in different states. Supposedly working in the Sugar and Indigo industries was worst, cotton not much better, house slaves had it a little better than field slaves and a higher chance at feedom.
In Chinese history, mostly females were sold into slavery, usually into domestic service or prostitution. If boys were sold at all, they would often be castrated and work in the forbidden city. There they had access to learning, high careers and incredible wealth., even political influence.
So you see, a lot of different situations for slaves in different societies, in just a few examples.
@@michaelripley9507 I am not so sure, the Austrians send their children until 1920 over the mountains in slavery to make sure they survive, the Osman empire filled their janitshars with blood tax, children they train to become soldiers, the debt slavery (the oldest form) still exist, very common in Asia and India, dont forget we have today more slaves in the world like at the time of the US slave trades
@@evelinharmannfan7191How does that take away from what I said? If anything you sound like you are answering my question more than anything. Also you are listing exceptions and not the rule, considering no one is willingly a slave and also doesn’t change the fact you are a slave. Also China used slavery to do much of the same peasants did, hell they were used to build the Great Wall and many other things. You can use an semantic argument to say they were convicts or prisoners of war. Given they weren’t an heavily slave based society like they are now.
There are different kinds of slavery. In the “barbaric” society slaves were often house servants of people that helped farm owners with their work. In the “civilised” societies slaves were like the black folk in the USA. They were cattle worked to death and then replaced. They were raped and forced to kill each other for the amusement of others.
Really depends on your luck on who buys you, and also any preexisting skills you have. If you get assigned to be say a household slave in a rich family, at least you have the chance of cultivating a good relationship with your master and possibly eventually getting freed (maumission). If you have preexisting skills like being an artisan or such, you'll probably be made to work in the owners' business, and eventually possibly be allowed to set up your own enterprise where you run the whole thing but your owner takes a cut, and you might eventually be able to buy your own freedom. If you end up working in the fields, mines, or arena, good luck.
It is a bit dangerous to flatten all these kinds of slavery in Rome, as if one was equally likely to end up in any of these situations, and as if all these kinds of slavery were as prevalent as each other at any given time.
The truth is that after the initial development (accumulation of wealth) of the farms, most slave work became the kind of brutal slavery we would all imagine.
Slavery in the mines was always brutal and the most ancient form of slavery, slavery in the household was the main mode of production for a short amount of time (relatively speaking) and got crushed by the birth of bigger and bigger owned farmlands, which for purely economic reasons would employ more field slaves. And of course court slaves were rare by virtue of demographics.
Aka in the great amount of cases you’re unlucky. The “tenable” slavery you mention does not constitute the bulk of slave work in ancient Rome
How many channels do you want?
Simon : Yes
I giggled out loud to this
legit! i need a spreadsheet to keep up with his channels
He is selling channels
🎶 Always look on the bright side of life 🎶
At least I wasn't born a slave am I right
The New Testament book of Philemon is a very short epistle from the Apostle Paul, appealing to Philemon on behalf of his slave named Onesimus. Both Onesimus and his owner, Philemon had become Christians, and so Paul appealed to Philemon's Christian conscience to forgive Onesimus for running away...which as Simon pointed out in the video, was a serious offense. It is an interesting read and a sort of _pulling back of the curtain_ on Roman life in the first century.
Onesimus was also the name of a black slave in Boston owned by Puritan minister Cotton Mather, who told Mather that he was protected from smallpox by a common procedure in his homeland whereby the pus from a smallpox boil was rubbed into an open wound on an uninfected person, giving them a milder form of the disease and future immunity. Mather told a doctor and tried to get people to try the procedure but he 2as ridiculed and even firebombed. A couple years later during an outbreak Mather and the doctor were able to carry out the procedure on 242 people, of whom 40 contracted the disease and died, a higher survival rate than without the procedure
@@curtisthomas2670
Hmm...never heard that before to my recollection.
@@curtisthomas2670 Interesting, can you give the source? Thanks
Onesimus became a Christian after running away
Philemon would treat Onesimus better and eventually free him
@@jonathanwilliams1065
Where did you source that information?
Is "polishing the master's trophy" a euphemism of which I'm unaware?
It's pretty obvious...
Consider yourself unaware no longer.
And if you're lucky, your master doesnt have a freakishly large "trophy".
@@wile-e-coyote8371 And if you're REALLY lucky, he does.
@@perniciouspete4986 I would say they're not lucky regardless.
Could you do a video about the long con that is "health supplements in drink form"
Why are there not more views of this video?! It's amazing!! Dude, buddy, you really need to shout out this channel more on your other channels. I binge watch them all 😉
Curious that gladiator slaves weren't mentioned at all... he probably has a separate video on them.
He has several.
Stay tuned. 😘
In the Basement.
At least Simon doesnt have to eat so much sticky sweet kids breakfast cereal, he just has to choke down green slime.
Laws pertaining to the treatment of slaves changed over time. They did eventually gain rights and protections even though they were still slaves. I cannot recall when this came to pass but I believe it was late in the Western Roman Empires history.
It was under Antoninus Pius
Nice. Cheers@@tomasrocha6139
Studied Latin and Greek back in "the day" when studying classics in secondary school was a serious "thing" - and enjoyed this video a lot. Example: I was familiar with the writings of Epectitus and something of his history but I did not make the connection between his thought and his history as you did - a connection with which I agree entirely! The video does a nice job presenting both the broader picture as context for individual stories here and there. Nice.....thank you.
Wait, so you're telling me that the slaves that were freed by their masters would go on to buy slaves themselves???
Damn bro, shit's wild...
Roman slaves were generally way better treated than many other cultures- eg., slaves of the Vikings. The Latin word "familia" includes one's spouse and children as well as the slaves of the household, who were _literally_ "part of the family". Considering these people lived under the same roof it would've been impractical to rely solely on fear and coercion, and the gravestones of freedmen and women show that it was entirely possible for former slaves to acquire their freedom and subsequently become wealthy in their own right. The obscenely wealthy (and vulgar) Trimalchio in Satyricon was a former slave and the emperor Diocletian was the son of a former slave named Diocles. Freed slaves became the clients of their patron as their loyalty was proven - the chief advisors of emperor Claudius were his former slaves,
Just like today: each has their own relationships. These people were proorty. Most sucked. There's not a lot of volunteers for slavery. Dress it up all you want, but these people had NO CHOICE. It wasn't "oh my boss doesn't pay me enough" it was "I will get beaten when boss has a bad day".
People do whatever they can get away with. Don't Disney-fi because it makes you comfortable.
This is actually a lie since slaves were treated very poorly in the Roman empire compared to for example the Vikings. In the Roman empire slaves were worked to death and forced to kill each other for amusement. They were raped as prostitutes (male and female). There has never been a people so evil as the barbaric Romans until they were civilised by the word of Jehovah. The first Christians in the Roman empire were all slaves.
Video starts @1:15
Yeah, I hovered my mouse over the timeline to discover that. Works like a charm.
There is a story that most historians agreed of a Roman senator who discovered his eldest son was at it with a slave girl. Now that would be usually unforgiveable, but the senator decided to free the slave so they could marry. So it wasn't all bad.
She may have traded 1 type of slavery for another.
-Eh...freedom for me. They said I hadn't done anything, so I could go free and live on an island somewhere.
-Oh. Oh, well, that's jolly good. Well, off you go, then.
-Nah, I'm only pulling y'leg. It's crucifixion really.
Great reference 😂
You are a former soldier/mercenary of a conquered state: "You're going to the mines, the arena, or the galleys, son"
You are a well-educated Greek: "You'll be teaching philosophy and mathematics for the rest of your life; it will be fun, and you'll be highly respected; interesting sexual life, too"
You are a random person: "construction for males, house servitude for females".
I have heard that 30 % of Roman slaves were released eventually during their live. Unlike slaves in Greece, who usually remained slaves . On the other hand, those Roman slaves who were put into the mines or galleys other extreme working conditions were sometimes just worked to death. I also heard that the "Southern Gentlemen" in the 18th century who studied the classics often self-identified with the Roman tradition. So they reconciled slave-owning and democracy by referring to Roman precedence. Many even gave Roman names to their African and African -American slaves. Of course, the American Revolutionaries could have tried to emulate the Swiss instead. The Swiss managed to erect a democracy without slavery, but I guess Rome and slavery were more appealing.
They did indeed see themselves in that light and while the actual Roman laws were far worse than in America, the elite plantation owners often were nowhere near as bad as modern politicians make them out to be, especially since they also modeled themselves on the lords of Europe
@@jonathanwilliams1065 modern politicians? wym
@@hdudidi I’m talking about those who are saying that every slave owner was Hitler and that violence to in the name of ending slavery was a good thing, even when it involved mass murder of women and children, simply based on the color of their skin. I am talking about those who use slavery to vilify the founding fathers of America, even Washington, as well as to demonize all opposition to absolute federal power, or to use it to say black people should be above the law, though the latter is generally said by rabble rousers that are not looking for elected office for themselves.
Slavery was implemented in the colonies by the British long before the colonies rebelled and became a nation so blaming the US for slavery is really disingenuous. It only took the fledgling nation 80-odd years (and 400,000 dead soldiers) to pioneer the unheard of standard of abolishing slavery. It's easy for pseudo-intellectuals with only a rudimentary knowledge and understanding of history to throw mud on that which they do not understand.....
0:41 taste so good I had to cut the video
You know, the fact is, this is fundamentally not so different from living as a low-wage worker in America. The only real distinctions are A) One is legally allowed to quit their job; B) One must procure their own means of personal survival.
Being paid money for work does not fundamentally separate one from being a slave. All things being equal, if Roman slaves had been paid in currency, but only enough to pay for bare bones shelter and food, is that really so different than slaves being provided food and shelter for their services?
The distinction of slavery is personal freedom. I believe we can all agree on this. Well, as a low-wage worker you might have legal rights, but no actual freedom to quit a job. There are a multitude of reasons why quitting a job can be a literal death sentence. Even when the work is inhumane and unsustainable, like driving a delivery truck without AC in Phoenix when it's 120F and sunny, because the company policy doesn't permit AC in their vehicles. If missing one paycheck would mean homelessness, as it often does, then your employer owns you. You do not have the freedom to quit.
But before anyone tries to point out the potentially daily physical punishment, torture, and threat of death for actual slaves; I believe you should reconsider. Plenty of workers to this day literally cripple themselves because of they are literally forced to perform daily tasks which cause them constant pain until the day their body finally can't continue. And you might not have risk of actual physical beatings or death for transgressions, but don't you sit there and tell me we do not imbue the law with the power to enforce immediate lethal 'justice' to anyone who steps too far out of line if only for a brief moment after being pushed to a mental breaking point. And those who only step a little out of line are put into a prison system where you will be starved, live in abject squalor, under the potentially constant threat of physical abuse, torture, and even death.
Are you seriously trying to bring up the wage slave myth
No one in western society is forced to do anything. Except pay taxes… Especially working a low paying, physically demanding job.
If you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck, then make yourself an asset instead of a liability. Learn or create something that is worth paying for. If you don’t like your job, find a new job.
If you live near or below the poverty line you are BY DEFINITION taking more from society than you are putting in. Literally a leech.
No one is forcing you to live like that. You choose to because you have the luxury of a “social safety net” that allows you to. A safety net funded by people who do actually pay taxes, who are forced to do so.
Slaves do not have that option.
No one in western society is forced to do anything. Except pay taxes… Especially working a low paying, physically demanding job.
If you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck, then make yourself an asset instead of a liability. Learn or create something that is worth paying for. If you don’t like your job, find a new job.
If you live near or below the poverty line you are BY DEFINITION taking more from society than you are putting in.
No one is forcing you to live like that. You choose to because you have the luxury of a “social safety net” that allows you to. A safety net funded by people who do actually pay taxes, who are forced to do so.
Slaves do not have that option.
Really thankful for the blurring o some parts of presented art. So mart and open-minded.
It probagbly has to do with TH-cam rules more than any prudishness on the producers's part. I'm pretty sure that if the kept the nudity in, TH-cam would have flagged the video and demonetized it. This in turn would result in this channel going back and editing the video to blur the "offensive" parts and re-release it to get the video relisted and monetized.
Showing art is now considered porn??
@@mp6814 I guess so but you can still praise pyramid scemes, teach conspiracy theories, drive extreme religious Agendas or negate genocides. That s obviously not as harmful as a nipple. Lovely Times we live in. Im thankful TH-cam is looking out for us.
Impressed Simon resisted the temptation to not make a Danny in the cellar joke.
It is evident that the product tastes bad but Simon loves it. 😅😄😃😀
@todayifoundout Is there a way to get a glimpse of your source references? Writing a paper on the subject and could use the help :)
Chuckled when they clipped the shot of him taking a sip of the sponsor drink thing. I’m guessing he wasn’t a fan or that he didn’t actually take a sip 😂🤷♀️
I wondered about that too! That was a quick sip 😏
I never noticed before.
Fact bot is the first to ever drink it besides the paid actors c
Thank you for sharing this. Awesome Vid and neat info 🤗👍😁❤✌🤗
Well...comparatively speaking, being a slave in ancient Roman times doesn't sound too bad, particularly if the master was benevolent. And then again I'm reminded of the star trek episode I, Mudd where kirk says look around, you're living in a cage. It may be a cage filled with everything you want, but it's still a cage.
I would imagine for those with skills it wouldnt be too bad as they are the most valuable. An owner wouldnt want to risk harming that as its the highest rate of return. Unskilled slaves however... that's just commodity labor and is the cheapest.
I think more of the episode "Bread and Circuses"
I did think of that episode too....maybe some gamsters of triskelion as well
Like many societies it depended
But it’s definitely worse than slavery in the new world, especially for lower status slaves
@@jasonjuneau2948 The episode Plato's Stepchildren also deserves a mention.
It’s interesting that Racism and specifically using black people as slaves is actually a fairly modern/recent thing. Before colonisation of Africa, slaves were taken regardless of their race, usually from conquered territories or POW’s. Or in some cases (like Sparta) slaves were a class of people that you were born into.
Again, using Africans as slaves only started after colonialism, and that’s because many African kingdoms sold people they conquered to the coloniser’s in exchange for privileges and wealth. And it was this association of Africans are slaves which led to the Racism we see today.
Obviously racism was a thing before colonialism, but it wasn’t “race” that people hated on, it was generally towards any outsiders, but even then to a limited extent, because even in Medieval and Ancient times, travelling merchants from all over the world were a fairly common sight. It was colonialism and the rise of Nationalism and the modern form of countries coming into existence that served to fuel Racism as we know it today.
They just had a different idea of what "race" was. They considered any non-Roman, be they African or Germanic, to be a barbarian and inferior to them.
So, not only are you blaming Africans for the racism that we Black people experience today, but you’re also trying to justify our enslavement and the racism we face lol. Good to know people like you exist…
Trans atlantic slave trade started way before the colonisation of africa.
The Romans were way more racist as the people in the southern USA. The confederates didn’t build stadiums were they watched African slaves fight cougars for fun. They didn’t have mass rape brothels. They didn’t crucify their slaves for looking at their owner. I mean every form of slavery is in essence bad. There is no such thing as a “good slave owner” and the confederates were arguably much worse that African slavers or serfs but the Romans were really the worst followed closely by the muslims/arabs (they castrated every male and female slave)
thanks for the knowledge Simon
Humans are a funny lot when it comes to ownership of another. When we own an animal pet they are cherished members of the family and laws exist to protect them. When we own a human in such a way from antiquity, to the 1500's-1900's period, and even today as those in prison are effectively the same, there seems to be a penchant for abusing those in a lesser or servile station. Where does it come from in the human mind that they love their dog, but a human reduced to a similar status is to be abused?
Depends if the slave is considered a pet or cattle.
Because the slave is a person that naturally wants to be free, and slave owners must abuse the humanity out of them to maintain the situation to their benefit. Most pets and farm animals are distinct species or sub-species from the animals they originally descended from and their temperment and behavior has adapted to cooperate with humans for mutual benefit (that is a gross generalization though).
@@olanmills64 I'd disagree with that. Freedom is an illusion in the first place. That aside, I know of many who are not well suited to a life of wake up, go to a job and make money, pay bills, etc. While one might argue that this is its own form of slavery, there are certainly those who would prefer to simply have their needs met, and happiness is more about feeling safe, comfortable, and well fed rather than worrying about a mortgage and climbing the ladders of success. We've completely eliminated any form of servile class as opposed to having the vile and oppressive ones of the past. I find the human need to attach to polar ends of an issue rather than finding a balance ever fascinating.
While it is perhaps idealistic as I can already see the abuses, I would nevertheless love to see a well functioning meritocracy. Conceptually it serves all needs, putting strict guide rails on those who are happy with, or are best suited with a more controlled, but also more duty free station in life, while allowing others who have earned their "libertarian dream," regardless of race, creed, etc., to live it. I know it chafes against the "all are created equal" adage, but unfortunately this notion is obviously fundamentally untrue.
Of course, anyone in a modern servile class wouldn't be a slave. They would typically have some degree of control regarding entering it, there would be a path to leave it, there would be no insane discrimination basis for being in the class, and such people would enjoy most of the basic human rights than anyone else does.
Animals are abused as well. The protection of animals by law is arecent development in western societies. India has a much longer history of animal protection laws, since King Ashoka. And the Bible contains some laws for the protection of animals as well. ("Dont tie the thrashing oxen´s mouth!") And by the way, there are laws in the bible (old testament) that say you must release any slaves after a certain period of time (every 50 years, see Leviticus 25,8-55)
Some people are cruel, some are kind, and some are thoughtless. Thats why we need laws, to make sure every living being is treated kindly.
I dont go to school, so i consider Simon to bring my lectures.. and i can never get enough!
Sorry to hear that. I hope you get more access to education soon.
Great stuff!
You should do something similar regarding Gone with the Wind.
Simon, I'm not sure "I didn't know what it tasted like until they told me in the copy" is quite the selling point you may have thought.
In a trade-off between speed and accuracy, I prefer the latter anytime.
Similarly, for quantity and quality.
But there's more to effective communication, and more to history than a stream of 'facts' uttered as fast as possible.
Thank you for this.
Rome probably didn't know about the old time saying, "What goes around, comes around."
Love this channel.
Thankyou 🖤🖤
Thank you!
Several of your videos lately have had such weak audio that I've wound up not watching much because I couldn't hear enough of what's being said. You might want to fix this to keep view times up. I like your content, but if I can't watch it through wat's the point?
Sounds good to me
Your speakers suck
@@amishzomby I have several different output options for sound. Yes some of them do suck (the built-ins on the three monitors) but when it's just some of his videos and everything else is fine I have to assume it's the video. I suppose it could be you-tube screwing up something, that wouldn't be unheard of either. Just don't know why it'd be only a few of his videos and rarely something else on a small channel in that case.
A video taking a historic look at slavery in Ancient Rome, and YT makes you blur out breasts and butts from 1000 year old oil paintings... Glad to see priorities are set right /s
Actually most of those paintings are much more recent, like, 1800-1900s
Modern Career path today, should be the title of this video
I have seen Up Pompeii, That was exactly what it was like, Salu-te
simon.....no post-credit scenes?! @15:00
A video from you guys finally, been a long time.
Any word on reparations from rome for this terrible injustice? I bet the Roman slaves would've seen a southern plantation as a summer camp.
REFORMED THEOLOGY :
Thank you for clearly explaining Christianity!
😳😬😣😰✝️
Runaway slaves had the right to seek sanctuary, for example when the runaway slave Onesimus took refuge in the home of a man on house arrest, the apostle Paul
Being a slave would be horrible. Being worked to death in a mine, farming in the hot sun all day, being a brothel worker, rowing boats, cleaning up in pre sewer times, etc. Most slaves were performing back breaking labor, relatively few were educated enough to do easier work like writing, accounting, etc.
Those are all jobs free people have done, too. Being a slave is horrible because you don't have any choices.
And yet people are buying electric cars which are not only much more damaging to the environment, but involve child slave labour in Africa. Children are dying. But they get the virtue signaling points.
You can tell that Marianne never owned a farm.
How badass is the name EPIC TEETUS
I always watch your videos on this channel, but I had to stop this one early. You were talking way too fast for me to keep up with even with captions, LOL. I'm an old fart and my brain and ears don't work that fast. Love your channel and info!
try to adjust the playback speed i the settings, hope it helps.
Adjust your playback speed.
Rome was amazing and a pivotal point in human history and advancement
The Romans were more advanced 2000 years ago than most of Africa was 100 years ago or even today in some places.
@@kevinsuggs1 of course you would have this opinion when you learn history from a Western European vantage point.
🤦♂️, no… you have a very narrow and ignorant historical perspective.
@@xx133 actually I didn't learn that much about Africa in school beyond Egypt and the transatlantic. This is what I've learned on my own as an adult, it's a fact. No Sub Saharan Africans never developed written language, most didn't have the wheel, and most kings lived in dirt and poop homes in the 1700-1800s. I also keep a 2nd home in an African country. And my wife is from an African country. Sub Saharan Africa was basically the stone age before European colonization; with exception to Somali, Ethiopia, and the Muslim west Africans.
@@kevinsuggs1 it’s funny how you skipped the parts where Europeans destroyed and plundered much of the continent. If there was nothing there there wouldn’t be anything to plunder. Where do you think all of the artifacts in French museums came from? It’s amazing that we have access to the same search engine, but you seem unable to find any evidence of civilizations in sub Saharan Africa. Western Africa was developed long before the Arab conquest. What you suffer from is confirmation bias driven by your deep seeded racist ideals.
Lurcio in Up Pompeii with his mini vesuvius.
It cut awfully fast after that sip of AG1.
"Make me a grilled cheese sandwich, you peasant!"
Many don't like the word slave and obediently denying it ever existing.
👋 Simon
Abrupt ending. KEKW
Do this but with the African Dahomey tribe. They were apparently quite brutal, blood thirsty, and they were not as advanced as the Romans so life would have been very hard for everyone.
Why the deflection to some obscure remote tribe in Africa? Self-report?
@@xx133 Self report? Idk what that means. I mentioned the Dahomey because they made a movie about them being heros when they were actually harsh slave raiders who mass murdered their slaves. The British freed the slaves and forced the Dahomey king to stop it. People are celebrating the slavers and ignoring the European emancipators.
@X X obscure? Remote? Weird to assume just because they were African that they were obscure and remote. They were one of, if not the major player in the transatlantic slave trade. It might not have existed if not for their eagerness to capture people across the African continent and sell them for profit. The ones they didn't keep for themselves anyway.
Self report? 🙄
@@NG-VQ37VHR yes, self report. You center 7000+ years African history around a tribe that happened to be involved somehow in the slave trade. It’s completely out of context, as you know slavery, practiced by the tribe was completely different than the way Romans conducted slavery. They had no idea what absolute hell they were selling people into, until it was too late.
@@kevinsuggs1 not how history played out. The British ended THEIR slave trade due to the threat of slave revolts compromising their global empire. Specifically, the slave revolt in Haiti sent shockwaves throughout Europe-they leapt to contain (force Haiti to pay reparations to the French and economically isolate them, ensuring that no other slave colony repeats their uprising), they then ended formal slavery while maintaining the colonies and managing their economies, inhibiting industrialization, forcing them to pay colonial taxes up until recently (~one to two decades ago) among many other strategies. That’s just a snippet of a much wider, nuanced, interwoven and honest history you failed to learn.
Do you ever feel like you should have been born 2000 years ago somewhere on the frindges of the Roman empire even though you would never make it.
It would be great to explain the roots o the word 'slave' itself. Thanks.
How were slaves identified though? Presumably, anyone trusted to run errands could in months or years learn the local language and customs, find some decent clothes, pocket some money, and go somewhere else. I'm pretty sure they didn't use brands/scars outside of specific exceptions or particularly horrible households. Was any stranger who looked overworked and underdressed assumed to be a slave?
Well we're talking about practices that span centuries and large geographic regions, so there is bound to be variation, but slaves were in fact often tattooed (in particular, state-owned slaves were tattooed on the forehead), and some were fitted with permanent metal collars. Branding was also a thing, but aside from that, the clothing could also identify you as a slave.
Depending on the region tattoos or branding was used if not just collars or some sort of bindings that couldn't be easily removed were worn
I don't know if it was Rome, but in one area slaves had to wear a specific armband of sorts around their forearm when away from their master's property. Being caught in public without it would result in the arm being cut off.
Collars and special garments usually
Wow! Simon's beard has really gotten long. I realize that's off-topic but just wondering how long let it get before his wife says "Cut it!"
AG1 puts hair on your chin, allegedly.
@@wile-e-coyote8371 What's AG1?
Be careful, Simon. I've heard that AG1 stuff makes your hair grow back!
😂
If you call cookies “biscuits”-wtf do you call biscuits???!! 🤨
Scones... complete anarchy over there
All of us are probably descended by slaves. This was the fate of our ancestors, not the one of the few kings and generals.
What was it like?
That really depends a lot on when, and what kind of slave you were. Sold your self into slavery or were captured in war would have very different experiences.
Yes. Your skill set also dramatically effected who might buy you and what your standing of life would be as a slave.
was that guy's name Epic Titus?
Free people that owned slaves are not as bad as those that were once slaves, and then took on slaves of their own.
it was not so easy, slaves had free days and holidays, and this was when the Christians build their catacombs, which is mentioned when you visit Rome, also many families send their children in slavery, the life as a free farmer was also not really so much fun at the time, and I remember my Latin lesson when one of the senators complained that its cheaper to kill a slave when they are punished like to injure them because an injured slave must let go and paid a pension (same you find in the bible, so it looks it was a quite common law) slaves has the right for peculium, many of this rules came from the root of the slavery, the Rome slaves was not fed from the war (this came later and war prisoners were not so good slaves, even when the Rome soldiers complained that after the lost battle against the Samnites, they were sent home not even worthy to became slaves) the word slave comes later, the Latin word is servus, the word service comes from it the most slaves was free people who fall in debt, so it was clear that this people neede some kind of protection. other things we see today differently, slaves was seen as part of familia and the slave children got an education, yes the children belong to the owner, another side, when a man divorce his wife, the children belong to the father and the exwife was sent home to her family, a family owner could have sex with a slave any time he want, rape was long time not considered between owner and slave, but also not between husband and wife, i tried to find something for England but only found the Istanbul convention from 2003, in Germany I know rape in marriage is a crime since 1997 so not so long ago, the dominus (owner) was the only one who has the right to punish the slaves, if a slave's das killed or damaged from a 3rd party they had to pay, slaves were free from military services or arranged relationships or bad live situations, work on fields was hard, but you work for your own farm on a small field or with 50 others on a big field and get food, shelter, and medical care are not so different, peoples in the salt mines was not slaves, this was prisoners, on the ships free man, I remember the report about the last battle of the Cimbri. where the slaves begged to be free so they can fight and die with the rest of the tribes, the ones who not was killed in battle (little children, sick and old ones, woman who was not fighting) killed each other or made suicide to prevent becomes prisoners, the point here is that the slaves needed to be freed to join the battle and die on the way they preferred, its not all the time like hollywood show us
Did Simon just say that Romans practiced "Chattel" slavery? You were a slave if you were born to a slave and had no guarantee of freedom in the future?
Yes. Does anyone doubt this?
@@iapetusmccool When I was in school (eons ago) they taught us that America was the first place to do chattel slavery. That and basing it on skin color was what made our slavery much worse. I learned later in life that the Carabian, central and south America also practiced chattel slavery and the slave trade. And they did it bigger.
I am NOT making any excuse for slavery. I'm only surprised that someone finally admitted that it was present before the America(s) slave trade.
@@Erichev it's not really "someone finally admitting it" though. I've never encountered any one who _didn't_ know that the Romans were vying and selling slaves. You must have been to a very bad school.
Volume is very low. I've noticed large differences especially between channels. Decoding the Unknown videos are significantly louder than Today I found out.
The fact is that any people that lived in the times of the romans had slaves,from the germanic tribes to persians and others far away.But tge roman slaves,on average had better social mobility and better chances of a good life,certainly better then a poor free person.
But there were jobs that were considered a death sentence like mining,expecialy in lead mines,rowing on ships or agriculture who usually had a more brutal existence then city slaves.
But after the empire stop conquering new lands,the tratament of slaves improved simply bc with a smaller pool of avaible slaves,their prices increased so it has better to treat your slave like a worker then a pice of property.
Some slaves were tutors and could discipline the master’s children
You missed out that slaves could own their own property and other slaves, while being enslaved
What? He definitely mentioned this, though technically, under Roman law, everything the slave owned was actually owned by their master. Some were just given the privilege to manage small amounts of money and possessions as if it were their own. Legally, the slave owner could still do whatever they wanted
I don't think it's a good idea to let a person cook for you while one day you made him hold garbage
Your sponsor's product does not cure balones.
"Ancient Rome built it's empire on the back of slaves." I wouldn't really agree with that statement (mainly because everyone had slaves and Rome did well where others didn't,) but as far as it's accurate sure, they did, just like everyone else.
How they treated slaves were different than other cultures. He literally drew this distinction in the video you’re commenting on.
@@xx133 You don't know much about most other cultures it seems.
@@timothypeterson4781 you don’t understand nuance nor distinction it seems.
@@xx133 There is no nuance. In most cultures slaves were purely property that could just be killed by their owners.
@@timothypeterson4781 exactly like I said, you don’t understand nuance or distinction. If slavery across the world is and has always been the same without distinction this video would be pointless. I think this is your desperate attempt to whitewash/defend/deflect from all things related “western civilization”
I thought they were pondering, rather than mocking, the delivery?
1:13
We might think of ourselves as free nowadays, but we're still enslaved.
The difference is now the slaves not only sign up for their chains but set an alarm to wake up early and drive themselves to the "fields" every day. One of the best things I ever did was not go to college and not borrow money to buy a house or anything else, for that matter.
@@itsmatt2105 top man, you understood the implied point and expanded on it.
And even though much could be said, I do not feel the need to say anything else.
Love how slavery is still practiced today... only the rich call them house keepers... in developed countries, but not in arabe, indon/asia and africa... if you have money, you can aford a house keeper or 3.
Is there a place besides antarctic that didn't have slaves? What was it like being a white slave in Africa?
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Why'd you cut the sip though?
The book "A Fatal Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome" by Emma Southon says that if any Roman was murdered by one of his slaves, *all* his slaves were executed, including children, and describes (chapter 5) Lucius Pedanius Secundus, murdered in AD 61 by one of his slaves, and all four hundred of his current *and former* slaves were put to death, which apparently shocked even other slave owners.
(The book itself, I have mixed feelings about. I did learn a lot, but (a) she judges ancient Rome by modern standards, and (b) she's woke enough to use "enslave" and "enslaved worker" too much for my taste.
The parenthetical in your post only detracts from what you wanted to say.
@@brindlebucker4741 No, your reaction to it shows your own wokeness. When I recommend a book, I report both the good and the bad so potential buyers have some idea of what it is. Would you have me report only the good? By your lights, being so sensitive to wokeness, would you only comment on that and not the rest?
No thank you! I believe in reporting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If that's too much for you, then don't pay attention to my review.
Please time stamp so we can skip the Sponsorship stuff
Then you start paying the guy. This is his job
No. Thats how he makes money. Jees
@@donaldsalkovick396 that's what the adverts are for, I would just like the option not to watch the sponsorship nonsense
Why are bits blurred out? We all know what human bits look like.
Almost always related to money. Could be a request of the sponsor.
because " clutches pearls tightly" think of the children, how would they be able to grow up knowing they saw a naked person, that image will haunt them forever
So if a slave tried to run away or raise his hand to his master all of the slaves were killed, why risk the seed of insurrection. But, during the Servile War so many slaves took part in the escape, riot whatever you wanted to call it. That if they had followed that particular law, there would have been no slaves left in Rome
KID: Can you tell a similarity of slavery and forced labor, dad?
DAD: Yeah...forced marriage.
Damn. Humans have really been terrible since the beginning...
We who live in modern comfort look back and say, "How vile, our ancestors!" but did the Romans view their forefathers the same way? No, they didn't have history lesson videos.
Simon! Ffs, have you not seen Troll 2? What are you doing man?!?
😘