Walls of Constantinople: The Last Great Ancient Fortification
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 มิ.ย. 2024
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I'd love to, but you didn't mention SurfShark even once in the video?
Jeraco in modern day ISRAEL!!!! Palistine never existed
Yeah, you’d think he’d talk about it for two minutes in videos of this length, but not a peep. If he’s not convinced how good the product is …
😃
@@Jimmy_in_Mexico Wow, where to start. Jericho is in Palestine. Most of the world has accepted that Palestine exists. The English offered the first two state solution in 1919.
Palestinians are known in Arabic as “philistines”, which is a name you would recognise if you had ever been anywhere near a Bible. The Palestinians have been there just as long as the Habiru and longer than the people of El
(Hebrews & Israelites aren’t the same thing, you see)
I have the impression simon was drunk
Fun fact: when the Ottomans sieged the city in 1453 and fired their comically massive guns at the Theodosian Walls, they did manage to break it on the first shot, but the walls were so massive that they had to bomb the spot for several days just to clear the rubble, which did a better job at absorbing the blows than when it was a solid structure.
The walls proved to be extremely effective during that siege. But the defenders were doomed against such a large army and with little hope of being relieved.
Good reference!
Similar thing happened at Monte Casino during WWII. Some of the rubble there made better fighting for the Nazis. Some of the Allied Forces there took many casualties taking the old Monastery.
@@wills2140 it s not nearly the same lol.
The walls were always rebuilt in the evening!
Everybody is forgetting that this was not the first time that Constantinople was attacked by Muslims. Much earlier (674-678), the Arab empire put a siege of over 20,000 strong to force the city into surrender. The defenses, however, were too strong and the Byzantine Empire still had immense power in its hands. The army had to leave their positions due to Byzantine Fire and just the shear strength of the force inside, not including the advanced walls and innovative technique.
I can't tell whether Simon's building up to a Blaze or coming down from one.
The white blaze powder ;)
He was in a good mood. Maybe he got a chew and a strong coffee
I was going to put this, normally the blaze is subdued in non-blaze channels, only just seeping in.
This one is verging on YA BOI territory
I was gonna say... he's pretty amped up about them walls.
Blaze always gets recorded first. It requires to most energy :)
Did Simon just quote the Anchorman with that “I love lamp” in the intro? 🤣
I couldn't tell if he said lamp or lamb but thought the same thing lol
Must have 😂😂
I had to rewind it to make sure I heard it right 🤣🤣
Finger on the cultural pulse.
Simon has seen a movie?!
I was lucky enough to visit the walls a couple of years ago. It’s amazing how much of it survives, even if it is mostly crumbling ruins. Our group was allowed to check out the interior of one section and a very pissed off homeless man was furious that we decided to invade his living room. And by living room I mean the 5th century fortified tower he called home.
I walked those walls back in 2005 and since then I always made the joke that all of Istanbuls homeless are living in those walls.
@@ClassicFormulaOne1 Them and the street dogs and cats.
Same as italy lmao
@@ClassicFormulaOne1 to think before the ottoman turks it was held by former eastern romans.
@@mrnobody6447 they were greeks keeping the roman culture and empire alive. That is why the city should be returned to Greece
Walls, tall walls, short walls, thick walls, thin walls, double and triple walls. We like our walls.
ALRIGHT WE GOT WHITE WALLS, BLACK WALLS, SPANISH WALLS, YELLOW WALLS. WE GOT HOT WALLS, COLD WALLS. WE GOT WET WALLS. WE GOT SMELLY WALLS. WE GOT HAIRY WALLS, BLOODY WALLS. WE GOT SNAPPING WALLS. WE GOT SILK WALLS, VELVET WALLS, NAUGAHYDE WALLS. WE EVEN GOT HORSE WALLS, DOG WALLS, CHICKEN WALLS.
#BuildThatWall
@@BabySkinCondom Dusk to Dawn ? Pretty cool roundabout reference.🤔🇺🇸😎
Sugar walls?
@@c.blakerockhart1128 omfg I didn't notice that till you said that 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I love that movie
I visited the Constantinople walls today and I could not help but admire and mourn the fall of this great civilization.
I often wonder how the world would have been if the Byzantines had survived long enough to partake in European colonialism. They practiced slavery but unlike most of Europe they had greater respect for human rights and were far more tolerant of other races and other religions. They usually had a more collaborationist policy, preferring to co-opt local leaders and bring them into the empire rather than outright conquest and pillage. I can picture them building more of a mercantile empire similar to the Italian maritime republics using colonies rather than the European model of rape, pillage, and enslave.
Their civilizations downfall was one of the darkest moments in history and we can see how advanced they were just by looking at the renaissance. Part of the reason it happened in Europe was due to Byzantine artists and scholars fleeing the Turks westward and their arrival changed the course of European culture and eventually lead to the enlightenment. The Ottomans went through a similar change after taking the empire, but they were more like children playing with an adults toys: they didnt really appreciate what they had and were more squatters than anything, once they'd copied many ideas and innovations of the Byzantines they didnt really change much after that and didnt innovate much themselves and soon they went from more advanced than Europe, Africa, or most of Asia to being on the same level as Europe and before long they were the "sick man of Europe".
I feel like someone challenged Simon to make a video about walls interesting, and after a good dose of Colombian motivational powder, we got this gem.
Columbian motivational powder, I will have to use that 🤣😂
Which powder? Colombia is famous for a brown one and a white one...
@@catjudo1 I’m pretty sure it’s both!
Well played!
This commentator is definitely high.
I had long known about the Great Walls protecting Constantinople. Still, when I visited Istanbul I was still stunned at the scope & size of the Wall fragments that still exist…
That cannon was no joke. I remember sidelining my college professor for nearly a whole class session when he mentioned it. He found a big, giant, ancient gun as fascinating as I do.
I've read that one term for these early cannons was a "bombard" and that they shot round stones. I also read that engineers soon realized that a smaller iron ball could reach a considerably higher velocity and consequently do more damage. The cannons could also be made as effectively with far less metal. Impressive stuff.
1:45 - Chapter 1 - Ancient walls
3:25 - Chapter 2 - Constantinople
5:35 - Chapter 3 - The earliest walls
7:00 - Mid roll ads
8:40 - Chapter 4 - Theodosian walls
11:25 - Chapter 5 - Sea walls
12:30 - Chapter 6 - Evolution of the walls
13:20 - Chapter 7 - A target
15:50 - Chapter 8 - The fall of constantinople
16:45 - Chapter 9 - The last of the ancient walls
Akshually, the Emperor Diocletian had moved the Capital/s before Constantine when he was setting up the Tetrachy system. The West's capital was moved from Rome to Mediolanum (Milan) in 286, and Nicomedia was made the East's capital at the same time.
His good mood made my bad mood vanish... thanks, Simon!
He's definitely a mood changer! He'd get great results I'd he was a teacher.
This episode is extra chaotic, and I like that.
Have you watched Business Blaze?
Spoilers dude, i like to be suprised as to where will we end up. I like to think that Simon is like horde from "Split, Glass" and Danny and other script and editing team work when he sleeps.
Indeed
The SWCU (Simon Whistler Cinematic Universe) is slowly merging and I love it.
If you want to learn more about these walls and their role in history, read Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453 by Roger Crowley. There's enough smiting, sabring and sacking in that book for all of history, let alone one city. Crowley wrote a series of books that address the struggle for dominance in the Med and control of the trade routes that delivered fabulous wealth to those savage enough to make them their own. You probably skimmed over this in grade school and understood about ten per cent of it. Crowley gives you the other 90 per cent, and it's worth every penny.
Simon losin’ it over all the walls, and I’m _loving_ it.
Fun fact: The lettuce 🥬 and artichokes from the orchards in between the walls is really famous among gourmets, (renowned to be the best in the world, and have eventually developed into their own species / cultivar over time) and you can clearly see these well groomed mini gardens / yards / orchards in many of the shots.
The lore says that the lettuce, and artichoke cultivation in yards between the walls dates back to the Roman times.
The highly appreciated lettuce cultivar is called “Yedikule Marulu” in Turkish and the yards / orchards, “Yedikule Bostanları” in Turkish.
The Heirloom Yedikule lettuce today, is an atypical oblong cultivar that is extra crispy and tasty, and is part of the local cultural heritage.
Can we get an episode on this please! That sounds fascinating!
What a coincidence. I've never been the SECOND viewer of a video of a humongously popular channel. Love and appreciate Simon and all of the other people who put the work into researching and presenting these videos.
You weren't
Might as well do a video on the Berlin Wall to wrap all these "Wall" videos.
He could do one on the Inner German border as well.
@@Darkwizzrobe did he already do the seigfriend line?
I love the energy in this video, it makes me think that you'r actually not being held hostage and are being kept to pump out content!
Simon,
If you haven't already, do a video on that massive cannon.
It's an amazing piece of work.
Is that the neo armstrong cyclone jet armstrong? It has a great finish!
A little known fact about walls is their excellent ability to hold up roofs.. No wonder they are so popular.
This was an episode of pure brilliance, is going to be on my rewatch list forever. In a first, I wanted Simon to carry on singing, break into a little elbow gig he looked like he was having so much fun😍😍😍
Is that a reference to Marcus Brody in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Because if not it should be.
I feel like Simon is much more energetic than usual.
Fan base is growing so I bet its a boost
An RPG during the fall of the Roman Empire in Constantinople would be sweet!!
Keeping to the walls theme I think a video on all of the different walls/defenses that surrounded the city of Rome throughout its history would be interesting. Anybody else agree?
Yep
I'm shocked that Simon, who knows next to nothing pop culture, knows the song 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)'
I was looking for the comment about the song lol
@@Joe_Potts ditto… how does a TMBG reference get overlooked?
Simon has gotten much more eccentric these past few years
The Greeks have such incredible architectures throughout the ages. It's truly incredible
This is Roman building
@KIKA P2 if you would've asked the byzantines, they would,ve called themselves romans, not greeks.
@KIKA P2 those were Romans architecture not greek
@@selimsahkulu78 It's pretty much the same thing man.
@@waltroskoh8650 It's not the same, the Byzantines are Anatolian. And they call themselves Romans, and the Greeks are invaders in Anatolia. Anatolia has always belonged to the Hittites and Trojans.
I always enjoy your presentations and this one was highly entertaining and you made what could have been a rather boring topic lively and amusing it was obvious you enjoyed yourself thanks
Love this! So relaxed and rather snarky. Great channel, Simon.
While we're on walls do Pink Floyd: The Wall. That tour was a megaproject too.
Hello, is there anybody in there?
Hi Simon, Talking of walls that stood for nearly 1000 years, then please consider doing the Tower of London. Plenty to talk about, very interesting place and the White Tower at the centre is nearly 1000 years old.
Great show, love all the channels SideProjects, Biographics, Geographics, Casual Criminalist, TopTenz, & oddly funniest of all Business Blaze. You guys make the best content. I would like to see a "How its Made" type show. Where you take something basic, an everyday item that has an incredible story behind it. Thank you for all the episods.
For business blaze, simply lock Danny in the basement and feed Simon cocaine 😂
Awesome work you guys. A great offering to the masses. And we thank you.
Is it me or did Simon recorded this after a Business Blaze? It seems all other Simon’s channels are catching up with “The Blaze”. I love it!!
i love how as simon evolves as a content creator you can tell business blaze is his love child as it slowly bleeds over into his other channels, and i love it.
I think this is my favourite video you've done. Had a massive smile on my face for the whole thing!
Brilliant video. 📹
Thank you very much, Simon. 😁
I have a wall around my estate to keep out the riff raff. Last week someone jumped over it and yelled "I breached your wall" and I yelled back "No you fool you are now locked in here with me!"
Think I'll wait for the film.
Also covered is the effect of 5 double espressos on Simon.
Simon you're a great host and I love your spirit behind the knowledge.
you still give the best interpretations of history i have yet heard or seen keep it up
The greatest wall keeps my crush away from me.
The great restraining order keeps me away from mine 😭
What would have elicited an aww five years ago now gets an eeeek.
Even from me.
Better to keep your "crush" away, than keeping your "kush" away. lol
@@seanbrazell6147 Don't ever let them change you
What wall is this,?
Listened to this half-asleep and thought Simon was talking about wool.
The line "as time progressed, wools grew bigger, stronger, and far more expansive!" got me laughing.
Why? Lost unshaven sheep happen all the time.
Simon, thank you for this!!!
Thank you Simon for singing the song in my head. I needed that!
Ancient fortifications, emperors, societal decay, plague, strange new religions, lost technologies, barbarian invaders, sounds like Warhammer 40k right there.
You just know there was some guy during the ottomon siege shouting; 'for the emperor!' taking out a last few Ottomans before the whole thing came crashing down.
Simon please could you cover the building of the two amazing Warwickshire Castles - Warwick & Kenilworth
Thanks for constantly entertaining me in what I remember as being incredibly boring history lessons at school 👌
A most splendid though brief presentation. You are to be complimented most highly. Your dates were impeccable.
You should check out the State Barrier Fence in Australia, a fence that is 1170 km long!
"I love lamp"... I'm honestly surprised Simon has even seen that movie.
Anchorman is the single greatest cinematic event of all time...
@@johnathandavis3693 oh please I'm totally not prepared for this, I wasn't expecting it at all *pulls flute from sleeve*
@@MajesticSkywhale -he should have gotten an Oscar for that scene....
Great video!
Simon, your blaze is showing🥁🥁🥁
Enemies watching great walls being built: “We’re just gonna have to wait it out boys, this here’s a war of attrition, just let them tucker out”
And a thousand years later they did!
Many of those who waited didnt get to see the end of it wow.
Problem for the besieger is that with a city like Constantinople is that if you do not control the sea and generally the invaders of Constantinople did not, the city can get food in indefinitely. And the city has the infrastructure to receive, store and distribute food for tens of thousands of people and has the housing to boot. While the army outside the walls has not got any of that luxury. So the living conditions of the besiegers will most likely deteriorate faster than those of the besieged.
@@barthoving2053 Drinking water was the biggest problem, so they built cisterns to store it. One of them, the Basilica Cistern, is so large they used to give tours of it in boats. Now it has walkways -- more convenient, but not as impressive. The cisterns were filled by aqueducts, and there are still traces of those around today.
"Walls of houses!" Thank you. You saved me from having to point out the bleeding obvious.
Simon having fun is fun
I love the humor in this. Keep it up.
Simon got stoned before this one, he nearly pissed himself when he said rhat we don't build walls around cities anymore
i climbed a section of the propontis walls. it was an amazing experience. i dont think i was technically allowed to, but homeless people were sleeping at the base of them so i dont think my climbing was much of an issue.
I know someone says it every video but the blaze is shining through in his other videos and I dig it
The boy with the blaze is starting to take over other channels... and I find it to be fantastic!
I was hiking around all these walls 6 years ago. I had a map with over 100 ancient sights with me and checked every gate. Was so impressed about its size. Especially at the northern part close to where the last palace was. It's so high. And the Golden gate was also impressive watching it from the cemetery below it. It’s so sad that the Byzantine empire collapsed.
Do Pink Floyds wall next. We don't need no education. We don't need no thought control
All alone, or in twos, some stagger and fall. After all, it's not easy, banging your head against some mad bugger's wall.
Thank you
Loved that Simon was singing They Might be Giants.
Just remember ✅:
If you have a date in Constantinople, she’ll be waiting in Istanbul
Share and support their content and I imagine just using the link to add traffic there. This is a legit production stuff thats properly researched and people need this kind of stuff to get your head a break with the astoundingly eclectic channels
Thanks
Just found your channels, and I have been binging for a couple days. I hear about all these walls, but I wanna hear about Offa's Dyke.
OGBB Simon is showing from under Serious Simon's mask... Nice... Soon All Simons will Blaze
The Simon clones are changing .....
Oh thx Simon, only half payed attention to the vid because I started singing They Might Be Giants in my head😁😎
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
That's nobody's business but the Turks'
At about 18hours after release there is ~50,000 people in world with the Istanbul/Constantinople song stuck in their head.
Thanks Simon 😕
Thank you Simon, glad to know I am not the only one singing when someone says Istanbul
Lol 😂
I lovw how you can add excitement to a video about a wall 👏
Yess love the constantanople song!! It goes hand in hand with " Its a long way to tiparrary"
Bravo Simon!! You do SUCH a great job. 😎💎💎💎👍
Another video about Walls? YES FINALLY!
Surprised he didn’t mention that the infamous year 536 was in the early mix of the history of this
5:31
"So crassus decided to lead his army into Parthia..."
Iconic music
Simon, either sleep deprived or high on coffee.
Either way, i love this episode. So much enthusiasm.
Vikings travelled to Constantinopel or Miklagård as they called it to trade and to enter the emperors bodyguard. The emperor Basileios II (year 976-1025) saw the northmen as the finest fighting men and the word spread by the northmen that you could earn alot of silver if you joined the Varingaguard.
does he have a video about the roman limes wall build on the europeen mainland to protect the roman empire from ancient barbaric german tribes?
Can you do a video on the Walls of Benin?
It was supposed to have been longer than the Great Wall of China and contain a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
the true 2nd and other longest stone-brick wall is in India and Indonesia, build by local Ruler, 2nd longest city/fort wall is Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India, 36km, China Great wall 100x more longest about 3k Km, other Fort in India like Daulatabad fort, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, Chittor Fort, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. India have alot fort and castle thousand of it, just like Japan because each province have own ruler. Red Fort and Agra fort build by Mughal Emperor also famous. In Indonesia the longest is Buton Palace Fortress, Baubau, Southeast Sulawesi, 16th century fort. Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia have many city wall, except in Philippine and timor all build by Colonial European, fort and palace wall, but just average. example in thailand, chang mai city wall, bangkok city wall, and southernmost peninsular local near Malaysia, build by Malay sultan of Singgora, Songkhla fort or Sultan Sulaiman fort and Songkhla[Malay;Singgora] city wall. Benin wall are rampart not true wall. In Indonesia, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Bali many of city wall are gone or demolish by Dutch but some survive, In Java, city gate/gateway are most to survive called Gapura or candi bentar. many wall condition in bad condition even some people take the brick to build road and houses. In Myammar, Royal Palace Mandalay is the best preserve palace and city wall. Northeast India like Manipur, Assam city wall are similar to Burmese archiecture and style. included roof style.
I would love to hear about this.
Omg yes!!!
It would be awesome if you could do a more detailed video on the walls
Simon’s surf shark ad plays:🔥🤖✨🤌👄 Me: “I’ll have what he’s having.”
"Brick...where did you get a grenade?" ... "I DON'T KNOW"
I got a grenade!
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
I thought I’d try a drinking game where I take a shot every time Simon says wall... 6 hours later and I’ve just woke up with a stone cold half eaten Doner Kebab next to me and the headache from hell!
Welcome to another episode of Megaprojects, I’m Brick Tamland and I love lamp.
Simon was on top form there!
When Byzantine officials needed their city walls to get rebuilt quickly, they got the reds, the blues the greens and the yellows (fan bases of chariot racing teams) to complete with each other over who can build walls the fastest.
The timing is adequate. May is the month where Muhammad Al-Fatih (also known as Mehmet II) successfully conquered Constantinople.
A biography on Mehmet II would complement this nicely. He was a respected ruler.
Simon with the They Might Be Giants reference! Two of my favorite personalities, Simon and TMBG. :)
That was almost a Linus Tech Tips level segue to your sponsor there Simon. Top-notch work.
Walls of Constantinople, probably one of main reasons why Eastern Roman empire, survived and for a lot of it thrived for the next 1000 years while Western one died with a whimper.
No matter what was the invader of the day in front of whoom all quaked, unless there was trechery and walls were manned properly, sorry son, you are NOT getting in. This allowed Eastern Romans something their Western brethren never had. They could weather whatever hurricane was at that time blowing, be it Goth, Hun, Avar, Saracen, Arab and many more, wait it out to calm down, for the conqueror to die, and then crawl out and reunify the Empire that remained. Eeastern Rome was therefore invulnerable to quick strikes on captol to capture the country. Even in all Roman civil wars all armies knew they couldn't take the city properly they had to get the populace inside on their side.
From what I hear even the final siege was not really a certain thing for Turks. The bombardment did make holes in the wall but the rate of fire was abysmal and Romans could just fix it all up. It was more the combination of finding the solution to the question how to invade the Golden Horn inlet (DRAG YOUR NAVY OVER GROUND) and confusion at critical moment that caused mercenary I think force guarding it to retreat that finally allowed Ottomans to scale one part of the wall.
It was a big problem that Giustiniani died by accident.
Brian Blessed as Richard the 4th defending the walls with a trusty fruit knife...😁
This felt remarkably like a Business Blaze episode.
This channel is awesome