@@decimusausoniusmagnus5719 There was some religious and economic reasons for some crusades though. Think once or twice it was for empire building as well. That's quite in the interest of say the clerical class, who aren't volunteering to fight, don't have kids to send to fight, and have servants who can build or rebuild facilities for them to make money on their newly acquired property. So... how much could a peasant get out of the most recent pope having a new war?
I know comparisons between Rome and modern America have been overdone to death, but the turbulent Roman 50s sounds a lot like the lead up and course of January 6th... lmao
I’d say the most interesting discussion is: when did the late Republic really start? When was it a certainty that the system was doomed to collapse in one way or another? Was it when Caesar was named Dictator for life, or his initial 10 year appointment as dictator? Was it when Pompey was appointed as Rome’s sole consul only 3 years after having prior served? Was it when Clodius had turned the streets of Rome into a blood bath? Was it when Caesar got himself elected to Pontifex Maximus and thus consolidated enough power to simply play with Rome’s legal system? Was it back during the Marius and Sulla civil wars? Was it the Grachi Brother’s bribery scandal and their subsequent assassination at the hands of Sulla’s conservatives? You could even go back to when Scipio Africanus was falsely accused of bribery by war hawk Cato the Elder after he had saved the republic from Hannibal of Carthage and Rome’s own incompetent leadership.
I think most would say it starts with the murder of the Gracchi brothers since that was really the first incident of political violence in the republican period. From that point on, the violence got worse and worse and culminated in the civil wars of Marius/Sulla and Pompey/Caesar, and it was really the introduction and legitimization of political violence that led the republican system to become corrupted and to decline. False accusations although not necessarily healthy are always going to be a thing in any republic/democratic system, but the violence was the thing that began to rot the system from the inside-out.
I think it's when they killed tiberius grachus. This showed that political issues could be solved with violence/assaination. It only got more violent from there
@@tylerblomker3633I agree this was the straw that broke the camel's back. The epitome of violence is war and murder, and one of Rome's famous warriors, Gaius Marius, used proscriptions to enforce his will in Rome. Basically, what was done to the Gracchi brothers but on an exponentially mass level. Marius justified his butchery by marketing himself as a champion of the Gracchi cause. This pattern continually repeated itself for the remainder of the Republic under Sulla, Julius Caesar and finally, the second Triumvirate. It's really sick to think the Triumvirs, Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus were each required to kill a close friend/relative as a means of "sealing their partnership." Execution without trial had become such a normal, matter-of-fact way of life. ⚔️🤦🏻♂️
Thank you Thersites! The Grachi' brothers are one of my favorite chapters of Roman History. They both dedicated their lives to bettering their fellow citizens lives, & thus were cruelly slain in the forum. A blasphemy to every God the Roman prayed to
43:51 You say that the calendar reform was merely a technocratic reform instead of a deeper political one. I would disagree with that, because the regulation of the calendar was the prerogative of the "pontifex maximus", one of the highest priesthoods in Rome. Since atleast around the time of the Gracchi this was used to lengthen consul years of political friends and shorten those of enemies by choosing the insertion of the intercalary month that was added to the regular (lunar) months, as well as political implementation of festive days in the calendar. Ceasar was pontifex maximus from 63 B.C.E until his death in 44.He himself used the political functions of this office extensively between 63 and 59 (the year he was consul) for political purposes, and even disregarded (already previously broken) traditions when he didn't give up the office with the start of his governourship in Gaul (the pontifex maximus wasn't supposed to leave Italy). So what might seem now as merely technical calendar reforms was both a political and religious decision to regulate an important function of an office he himself abused.
We already are repeating it. I'm pretty convinced of the parallels to the fall of the Republic and to modern politics in the US today. We have do-nothing conservatives whose only goal is to not move forward one inch and we have those on the other side trying to do what they can for ALL citizens and not just the wealthy. Which is right? I don't know, it's not my place to judge either way on that. Only history will be in a position to judge who was right, who was wrong, and how much overlap there was between.
@@LauraS1 The majority of politicians in the United States (Republicans AND Democrats) are originated from political 'dinasties that are in power for many generations. Both groups are already rich for a long time (except for some outsider politicians, but they're minority in both parties) and the only difference between the democrats and republicans aristocrats is that the first have a liberal and urban electorate and the later have a conservative and rural electorate. The American Bureaucracy (democrat AND republican) actually concurs in most things, like China and Middle East. Both Obama and Trump ("outsiders"?) tried to get out of Afganistan, for example. Were they successful? Anyways, the comparison between Rome and America is very shallow and, besides both being rigged for the rich, the US is more bourgeous while Rome were Aristocratic. I'm not socialist, by the way. It's just the way the world is, although there are some places a little bit more democratic in the true sense of the word (ex: switzerland or some places in scandinavia). English is not my native language, so I beg you pardon if I've commited any mistake in my writing. I hope this message finds you well, and I hope to cause some reflexion in your part. There are not good guys or bad guys in history, only confluence or conflict of interests. Democrats and Republicans will always be in a conaspirational situation if The People start to get too conscient of their real situation.
Very interesting and enlightening. One can easily draw comparisons to today's American society. Some things never change, and history repeats itself. Buckle up, hunker down.
Its like concentrating wealth, power and influence into fewer and fewer hands would lead to one person seizing total control. Maybe selectively enforcing laws may give people the idea that the law doesnt apply to them if they win or have enough resources leading to civil war? I know hind sight is 20/20 but I always worry about the precedent my actions or the actions of others set and the slippery slope it can be . I guess its my love of history and time as a leader in the military that makes me contemplate the primary, secondary and tertiary effects of my actions.
You’d think at least some society before toilets would figure out a better place to throw their chamber pots out than right outside the front of their house, but no it seems they all did that.
Yeah I'm pretty sure that was on purpose. I'd imagine anyone who wanted to have a party or run an inn would always put it behind the house or in a hole in the ground.
@@ThersitestheHistorian We think we are descended from these great civilizations, but really we are descended from a bunch poop throwers. That sure explains A LOT.
@@bitcoinbeavis7742 Have you ever watched monkeys in the primate house at the zoo? Monkeys and apes (and we really are part of the great ape family whether we like that or not) routinely throw their poo at other monkeys either in anger, frustration, or sometimes play. I guess it's a trait that runs in the family, so to speak. 😂
Lepidus would have been a much stronger triumvir if not for Marcus Agrippa. While Octavian (Augustus) was a cunning and ruthless politician, he had none of the military prowess of Lepidus or even Mark Antony. It's worth noting Lepidus was Julius Caesar's master of horse, and thus theoretically, the most high ranking Roman official under Caesar, until the Ides of March. Augustus' cherished friend and trusted lieutenant, Agrippa is probably one of the most underrated generals in the history of the Roman Republic. That's saying something, considering he existed in the same era as Publius Ventidius, the only Roman general to notch a triumph for victories over Parthia in history, up to that point. ⚔️
Ventidius was a nice surprise. Dude just came out of nowhere, saved one of the triumphverates, didn't get a massive ego, lived a long happy life after... Ma man!
An enjoyable read about the Roman republic are the series of books written by the Australian author Colleen McCullough. Read the appendices first for the background mores of Roman society. You'll laugh out loud at the explanation of the naming conventions. She even discovered the true shape of the toga!
Yeah, her books are surprisingly factual even though the dialogue and inner workings are totally fictional except where verifiably documented by contemporary historians. She does play fast and loose with a few things just as an expedient to telling a good story but for the most part, she really did her homework before (and while) writing the book series. As far as the timeline of the Late Republic and how she dealt with that, she didn't change any facts that I could find (not that I'm any great shakes as a historian as I am still amateur at it) but embroidered her stories with speculation about what a person was thinking or what their motives were at any given moment over any given subject; things no one today could know for certain. Like, I think Sulla was fairly interesting just based on what we already know about him and his life so her embroidering the tale with the fictions she produced gave him a more human face beyond the evil dictator he is recorded as becoming later in life.
All of your videos are great. I watch some many times over. Caught your live stream last night- very informative. Always learn something even the live chat was informative. Great channel. 🤓
I've heard it said that if you were to compare the current state of the US to any period of Roman history, then the late republic is the one. Some of the resemblances are easy to see: Growing inequality, a small upper class that is getting absurdly rich, a sufficiently large portion of the legislature devoted to pure obstructionism and preventing any sort of reform despite it becomming more and more necessary. another trend is the breakdown of the gentleman's agreements that have kept the state going. for instance how Obama's supreme court nomination was stolen, or jan.6 seeing how that path resulted in civil war and dictatorship in Rome you'd hope people in the US would be able to not go too far down that path.
Maybe, but the prime difference is that the US has vigorous institutions of a type and stability much of the world admires or admired (historically, even in Europe). Meanwhile, the players (the parties, the politician case, and the fully captured and de-mobilized youth base, as well as unions if you want to count them as para-political players) are moribund. With Rome, the opposite was true: institutions, the corresponding services, and the trust therein have eroded, state functions now being taken over by private strongmen with thugs distributing their gains from questionably gotten plantations and loot from campaigns, seldom started by a deliberated state measure, all of which completely evading any civil society or political oversight, removing this element from the equation. The Roman state survived because its political class was not moribund, on the contrary, it was brilliant in the good 200 years. The US is the antithesis of it. There's no brilliance among the visible captains of politics, industry and military to be had there, no one that you could envision as a king and swear fealty to (not a metaphor). The US currently is not in the Late Republican era, but the mid 300s, because a more pertinent element of the current political-cultural climate of the US is the awakening by a new religious movement with a rather militant (non-physically) and subsuming saviour complex that currently tries to muscle into any venue, and corrode various aspects (among some, load-bearing) in the prospects. If you read "The Final Pagan Generation", it becomes clear those subscribing to "woke" are yet another permutation of this typology of person, which also had produced the early Christians for example. Shit like rising inequality has applied to every single nation that headed for world standing/power/economical contraction -- please man. You don't need Rome for this.
Hey Thersites. When discussing the Marian reforms, you mentioned a “Gallic threat” in northern Italy. However, the threat you’re referencing is primarily Germanic, not Gallic, in origin (Cimbrian War), although some Celts would later join them against Rome.
Hey great videos. Ive been binge watching them. One small annoyance though. I don't know if there is a dog barking in the background or you're wiping a really clean window. Either way it was fairly annoying. Other than that, great video
Oh my, perfectly timed for my thesis. What do you think about the comitia centuriata by the end of the republic? My opinion is that because of marian reforms and other legislation before and after it, by the time of Caesar centuriata was just a place to elect high officials and not much else. Manipular system and that whole dividing the population by centuries according to their property thing was completely busted after all. It just slightly favored the aristocracy so they kept it until Augustus completely done away with it. Do you agree with this assesment? That whole three(two?) assemblies thing is hard to wrap my head around, especially with the lack of early sources to see how exactly they worked.
Good question. I don't know. It could have had something to do with the rise of mass-scale slave labor, which might have made a secession of the plebs a rather empty threat.
Thersities do you think that if the land reforms passed and without the Marian reforms would Sulla and eventually Cesar rise to the point he did. Seems like if reforms did happen the republic would have lasted longer. Maybe eventually a dictator like Sulla would arise but not until much later. Curious what your thoughts are on it. Also could you do a video on Sartorious.
It is possible that the professional legions would have still come into being even with land reform, but it would have taken far longer. Without professional legions looking to be settled with cash and land, it is unlikely that the followers of Sulla, Caesar, and the like would have been nearly as willing to march on Rome. Sertorius is someone I plan to cover this year in my Romans of Renown series.
It seems that republics only work well when there is a small, participating population. As soon as the population and territory expands, the government tends to become more and more autocratic, with the participatory section of the population becoming out numbered by new comers, who always seem more than happy to support a demagogue who will give them what they want.
Clodius is by far the most “baller” of ancient Romans. I wish someone would make a tv series about the assassination of Caesar from the point of view of Clodius. That could be incredible. That guy was incredible in very entertaining ways.
I absolutely love these overviews of the Roman republic and your generally cynical view of the most powerful amongst us across all ages and cultures. That being said, the barking dog in the background really put me out.
My neighbor's dog barks at people and animals who commit the crime of being outside. He barks at me every time I go on my porch to read even though he can't physically see me.
Most of them were men who defaulted on their loans while off on campaign. The wars Rome was engaging in now were so far away and long, that they would go bankrupt while away. Once they lost their land, they had to sell it to somebody to still make do, and the people they sold it to were usually wealthy aristocrats, who were also a part of the Senate. These same men would then conglomerate these properties into massive plantations with slaves that further put poor Romans out of work, leading to many poor Italians to move into Rome itself. I'm sure you can see how this quickly became a self-fulfilling, highly damaging cycle.
idk man given your level of knowledge in the subject I thought these videos would be more in depth and advanced but the contents of the video are no different than any generic history podcast made by people reading off wikipedia
Hi! I made a video inspired by this one about the late Roman Republic. Its called rome.jpeg4 on my TH-cam channel. I really enjoy your channel and I often listen to your videos on the way to or from my lectures on campus and enjoy yours way more than my real classes
The amount of consistently great videos you release is incredible.
The Senate was simply interested in protecting their own privilege, not building a civilization. I'm certain your kitty agrees with me.
Class interest always supersedes national and even economic interest
Were it up to them, Rome would've never left the Seven Hills.
It was the soldiers and overachievers of the Republic who made it all grow.
@@jackcharlton1375 If that is the case, explain WW1 where millions volunteered despite their interests?
@@Mitch93 Or the Crusades.
@@decimusausoniusmagnus5719
There was some religious and economic reasons for some crusades though. Think once or twice it was for empire building as well. That's quite in the interest of say the clerical class, who aren't volunteering to fight, don't have kids to send to fight, and have servants who can build or rebuild facilities for them to make money on their newly acquired property.
So... how much could a peasant get out of the most recent pope having a new war?
I really liked this video. My wife and I had multiple discussions spawned from it contents.
Damn, my biggest wish in life is to find a (good) wife I can talk history with. Good fortunes onto you.
You lucky vastard...! 😁👍🍻
Wow do you play lotto
Man. Can't imagine living in a country like this
Also to add to the chorus: great lecture 😃
You àre living in a country like this, I bet :)
That was his point bud
That's the joke @@dimitarmitev7176
I know comparisons between Rome and modern America have been overdone to death, but the turbulent Roman 50s sounds a lot like the lead up and course of January 6th... lmao
You're right the comparison has been made so many times and it is so true
40:38 Slip of the tongue, Sulla's golden boy* is what you meant
I’d say the most interesting discussion is: when did the late Republic really start? When was it a certainty that the system was doomed to collapse in one way or another? Was it when Caesar was named Dictator for life, or his initial 10 year appointment as dictator? Was it when Pompey was appointed as Rome’s sole consul only 3 years after having prior served? Was it when Clodius had turned the streets of Rome into a blood bath? Was it when Caesar got himself elected to Pontifex Maximus and thus consolidated enough power to simply play with Rome’s legal system? Was it back during the Marius and Sulla civil wars? Was it the Grachi Brother’s bribery scandal and their subsequent assassination at the hands of Sulla’s conservatives? You could even go back to when Scipio Africanus was falsely accused of bribery by war hawk Cato the Elder after he had saved the republic from Hannibal of Carthage and Rome’s own incompetent leadership.
I think most would say it starts with the murder of the Gracchi brothers since that was really the first incident of political violence in the republican period. From that point on, the violence got worse and worse and culminated in the civil wars of Marius/Sulla and Pompey/Caesar, and it was really the introduction and legitimization of political violence that led the republican system to become corrupted and to decline. False accusations although not necessarily healthy are always going to be a thing in any republic/democratic system, but the violence was the thing that began to rot the system from the inside-out.
Listen to “Death throes of the Republic” by Dan Carlin
I think it's when they killed tiberius grachus. This showed that political issues could be solved with violence/assaination. It only got more violent from there
@@tylerblomker3633 I think you’re quite right. Currently studying for a degree in classics👍🏼
@@tylerblomker3633I agree this was the straw that broke the camel's back. The epitome of violence is war and murder, and one of Rome's famous warriors, Gaius Marius, used proscriptions to enforce his will in Rome.
Basically, what was done to the Gracchi brothers but on an exponentially mass level. Marius justified his butchery by marketing himself as a champion of the Gracchi cause.
This pattern continually repeated itself for the remainder of the Republic under Sulla, Julius Caesar and finally, the second Triumvirate. It's really sick to think the Triumvirs, Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus were each required to kill a close friend/relative as a means of "sealing their partnership."
Execution without trial had become such a normal, matter-of-fact way of life. ⚔️🤦🏻♂️
Thank you Thersites! The Grachi' brothers are one of my favorite chapters of Roman History. They both dedicated their lives to bettering their fellow citizens lives, & thus were cruelly slain in the forum. A blasphemy to every God the Roman prayed to
As always appreciate the uploads 🙏👍.
Thank you for such informative well researched videos with such excellent presentation.
Our calendar is the Julio-Gregorian calendar.
I will name my first daughter Thersitia.
43:51 You say that the calendar reform was merely a technocratic reform instead of a deeper political one. I would disagree with that, because the regulation of the calendar was the prerogative of the "pontifex maximus", one of the highest priesthoods in Rome. Since atleast around the time of the Gracchi this was used to lengthen consul years of political friends and shorten those of enemies by choosing the insertion of the intercalary month that was added to the regular (lunar) months, as well as political implementation of festive days in the calendar.
Ceasar was pontifex maximus from 63 B.C.E until his death in 44.He himself used the political functions of this office extensively between 63 and 59 (the year he was consul) for political purposes, and even disregarded (already previously broken) traditions when he didn't give up the office with the start of his governourship in Gaul (the pontifex maximus wasn't supposed to leave Italy).
So what might seem now as merely technical calendar reforms was both a political and religious decision to regulate an important function of an office he himself abused.
I can dig it
You are truly spoiling us sir!
US Citizens must study this history lest we repeat it.
We already are repeating it. I'm pretty convinced of the parallels to the fall of the Republic and to modern politics in the US today. We have do-nothing conservatives whose only goal is to not move forward one inch and we have those on the other side trying to do what they can for ALL citizens and not just the wealthy. Which is right? I don't know, it's not my place to judge either way on that. Only history will be in a position to judge who was right, who was wrong, and how much overlap there was between.
@@LauraS1 The majority of politicians in the United States (Republicans AND Democrats) are originated from political 'dinasties that are in power for many generations. Both groups are already rich for a long time (except for some outsider politicians, but they're minority in both parties) and the only difference between the democrats and republicans aristocrats is that the first have a liberal and urban electorate and the later have a conservative and rural electorate. The American Bureaucracy (democrat AND republican) actually concurs in most things, like China and Middle East. Both Obama and Trump ("outsiders"?) tried to get out of Afganistan, for example. Were they successful? Anyways, the comparison between Rome and America is very shallow and, besides both being rigged for the rich, the US is more bourgeous while Rome were Aristocratic. I'm not socialist, by the way. It's just the way the world is, although there are some places a little bit more democratic in the true sense of the word (ex: switzerland or some places in scandinavia). English is not my native language, so I beg you pardon if I've commited any mistake in my writing. I hope this message finds you well, and I hope to cause some reflexion in your part. There are not good guys or bad guys in history, only confluence or conflict of interests. Democrats and Republicans will always be in a conaspirational situation if The People start to get too conscient of their real situation.
Instead of land redistribution as in the republic the US is spiraling the drain because of a lack of capital redistribution
I love these lectures!!!
31:00
That delivery is why these videos are so great - gonna be laughing about that one for a while.
I love your cat, I want to hear more about her
Me too. More cat content😊
Moral of the story. History repeats
Indeed and we never learn from it, not ever. We think we do but we don't, not as a species, not as individuals.
Augustus: I AM The Senate.
Brutus: NOT yet.
I can hear a kitty. ❤
Thanks for all you do, Thersites. I can't get enuff!
Damn dude. That dog is relentless. Haha
Very interesting and enlightening. One can easily draw comparisons to today's American society. Some things never change, and history repeats itself. Buckle up, hunker down.
So true
Excellent knowlodge of roman history like very few people could have done on youtube👏👏👏👏👏
Its like concentrating wealth, power and influence into fewer and fewer hands would lead to one person seizing total control. Maybe selectively enforcing laws may give people the idea that the law doesnt apply to them if they win or have enough resources leading to civil war? I know hind sight is 20/20 but I always worry about the precedent my actions or the actions of others set and the slippery slope it can be . I guess its my love of history and time as a leader in the military that makes me contemplate the primary, secondary and tertiary effects of my actions.
Great lecture, as always
You’d think at least some society before toilets would figure out a better place to throw their chamber pots out than right outside the front of their house, but no it seems they all did that.
On the other hand, it might be fun to have a daily chance to pelt a member of the ruling class with a turd or two.
Yeah I'm pretty sure that was on purpose. I'd imagine anyone who wanted to have a party or run an inn would always put it behind the house or in a hole in the ground.
@@ThersitestheHistorian We think we are descended from these great civilizations, but really we are descended from a bunch poop throwers. That sure explains A LOT.
@@bitcoinbeavis7742 Have you ever watched monkeys in the primate house at the zoo? Monkeys and apes (and we really are part of the great ape family whether we like that or not) routinely throw their poo at other monkeys either in anger, frustration, or sometimes play. I guess it's a trait that runs in the family, so to speak. 😂
Lepidus would have been a much stronger triumvir if not for Marcus Agrippa. While Octavian (Augustus) was a cunning and ruthless politician, he had none of the military prowess of Lepidus or even Mark Antony.
It's worth noting Lepidus was Julius Caesar's master of horse, and thus theoretically, the most high ranking Roman official under Caesar, until the Ides of March.
Augustus' cherished friend and trusted lieutenant, Agrippa is probably one of the most underrated generals in the history of the Roman Republic. That's saying something, considering he existed in the same era as Publius Ventidius, the only Roman general to notch a triumph for victories over Parthia in history, up to that point. ⚔️
Ventidius was a nice surprise. Dude just came out of nowhere, saved one of the triumphverates, didn't get a massive ego, lived a long happy life after... Ma man!
An enjoyable read about the Roman republic are the series of books written by the Australian author Colleen McCullough.
Read the appendices first for the background mores of Roman society.
You'll laugh out loud at the explanation of the naming conventions.
She even discovered the true shape of the toga!
Yeah, her books are surprisingly factual even though the dialogue and inner workings are totally fictional except where verifiably documented by contemporary historians. She does play fast and loose with a few things just as an expedient to telling a good story but for the most part, she really did her homework before (and while) writing the book series. As far as the timeline of the Late Republic and how she dealt with that, she didn't change any facts that I could find (not that I'm any great shakes as a historian as I am still amateur at it) but embroidered her stories with speculation about what a person was thinking or what their motives were at any given moment over any given subject; things no one today could know for certain. Like, I think Sulla was fairly interesting just based on what we already know about him and his life so her embroidering the tale with the fictions she produced gave him a more human face beyond the evil dictator he is recorded as becoming later in life.
Great stuff. Keep it going!
All of your videos are great. I watch some many times over. Caught your live stream last night- very informative. Always learn something even the live chat was informative. Great channel. 🤓
A few incremental compromises around the Gracchi era could have ensured that the Republic made this transition so much more smoothly.
I've heard it said that if you were to compare the current state of the US to any period of Roman history, then the late republic is the one.
Some of the resemblances are easy to see:
Growing inequality, a small upper class that is getting absurdly rich, a sufficiently large portion of the legislature devoted to pure obstructionism and preventing any sort of reform despite it becomming more and more necessary.
another trend is the breakdown of the gentleman's agreements that have kept the state going. for instance how Obama's supreme court nomination was stolen, or jan.6
seeing how that path resulted in civil war and dictatorship in Rome you'd hope people in the US would be able to not go too far down that path.
Maybe, but the prime difference is that the US has vigorous institutions of a type and stability much of the world admires or admired (historically, even in Europe). Meanwhile, the players (the parties, the politician case, and the fully captured and de-mobilized youth base, as well as unions if you want to count them as para-political players)
are moribund. With Rome, the opposite was true: institutions, the corresponding services, and the trust therein have eroded, state functions now being taken over by private strongmen with thugs distributing their gains from questionably gotten plantations and loot from campaigns, seldom started by a deliberated state measure, all of which completely evading any civil society or political oversight, removing this element from the equation.
The Roman state survived because its political class was not moribund, on the contrary, it was brilliant in the good 200 years.
The US is the antithesis of it. There's no brilliance among the visible captains of politics, industry and military to be had there, no one that you could envision as a king and swear fealty to (not a metaphor). The US currently is not in the Late Republican era, but the mid 300s, because a more pertinent element of the current political-cultural climate of the US is the awakening by a new religious movement with a rather militant (non-physically) and subsuming saviour complex that currently tries to muscle into any venue, and corrode various aspects (among some, load-bearing) in the prospects. If you read "The Final Pagan Generation", it becomes clear those subscribing to "woke" are yet another permutation of this typology of person, which also had produced the early Christians for example.
Shit like rising inequality has applied to every single nation that headed for world standing/power/economical contraction -- please man. You don't need Rome for this.
Outstanding!!!
Thank you so much for the video. This really helped me! Thank you!
Awww yea. Most interesting time in history.
Thanks bud
Kitty!
Hey Thersites. When discussing the Marian reforms, you mentioned a “Gallic threat” in northern Italy. However, the threat you’re referencing is primarily Germanic, not Gallic, in origin (Cimbrian War), although some Celts would later join them against Rome.
Hey great videos. Ive been binge watching them. One small annoyance though. I don't know if there is a dog barking in the background or you're wiping a really clean window. Either way it was fairly annoying. Other than that, great video
It is probably a dog, although I usually record rather late in order to avoid picking up barking, lawnmowers, etc.
Oh my, perfectly timed for my thesis. What do you think about the comitia centuriata by the end of the republic? My opinion is that because of marian reforms and other legislation before and after it, by the time of Caesar centuriata was just a place to elect high officials and not much else. Manipular system and that whole dividing the population by centuries according to their property thing was completely busted after all. It just slightly favored the aristocracy so they kept it until Augustus completely done away with it. Do you agree with this assesment? That whole three(two?) assemblies thing is hard to wrap my head around, especially with the lack of early sources to see how exactly they worked.
amazing
Sounds like America
despite it being a history related channel, very few comments in this video have made the comparison.
keep bringing rome videos, they the only ones who get good views anyway
reminds me of a situation in certain first world countries today……..
Why didn’t the people just secede from Rome again?
Good question. I don't know. It could have had something to do with the rise of mass-scale slave labor, which might have made a secession of the plebs a rather empty threat.
I like your channel because of quality sound
Good stuff 😊
Thersities do you think that if the land reforms passed and without the Marian reforms would Sulla and eventually Cesar rise to the point he did. Seems like if reforms did happen the republic would have lasted longer. Maybe eventually a dictator like Sulla would arise but not until much later. Curious what your thoughts are on it. Also could you do a video on Sartorious.
It is possible that the professional legions would have still come into being even with land reform, but it would have taken far longer. Without professional legions looking to be settled with cash and land, it is unlikely that the followers of Sulla, Caesar, and the like would have been nearly as willing to march on Rome. Sertorius is someone I plan to cover this year in my Romans of Renown series.
@@ThersitestheHistorian, now that is a story. Great general but fighting against overwhelming odds.
It seems that republics only work well when there is a small, participating population. As soon as the population and territory expands, the government tends to become more and more autocratic, with the participatory section of the population becoming out numbered by new comers, who always seem more than happy to support a demagogue who will give them what they want.
Clodius is by far the most “baller” of ancient Romans. I wish someone would make a tv series about the assassination of Caesar from the point of view of Clodius. That could be incredible. That guy was incredible in very entertaining ways.
@Charlie Mercado you’re right my idea was so stupid. I’m a dumb idiot.
I mean, Publius Clodius Pulcher died before Caesar did, so....
Clodius was a murderous demagogue, only lowly boot lickers think he was a person worth memorializing or imitating
The brothers Gracchi ❤
Good video!
I absolutely love these overviews of the Roman republic and your generally cynical view of the most powerful amongst us across all ages and cultures.
That being said, the barking dog in the background really put me out.
0:39 - #ExponentiallyRichard
sick
What’s the channel’s Venmo account?
I almost don't want to say anything, but does anybody else occasionally hear barking?
It's what dogs do
My neighbor's dog barks at people and animals who commit the crime of being outside. He barks at me every time I go on my porch to read even though he can't physically see me.
@@ThersitestheHistorian that's ruf ruf.
My like and comment
❤
why were people "losing their land" to begin with to the rich people?
Most of them were men who defaulted on their loans while off on campaign. The wars Rome was engaging in now were so far away and long, that they would go bankrupt while away. Once they lost their land, they had to sell it to somebody to still make do, and the people they sold it to were usually wealthy aristocrats, who were also a part of the Senate. These same men would then conglomerate these properties into massive plantations with slaves that further put poor Romans out of work, leading to many poor Italians to move into Rome itself. I'm sure you can see how this quickly became a self-fulfilling, highly damaging cycle.
@@thoranevans4832 So essentially ancient Blackrock
Debt and taxes
Fourth. Ave Roma.
bark bark bark
idk man given your level of knowledge in the subject I thought these videos would be more in depth and advanced but the contents of the video are no different than any generic history podcast made by people reading off wikipedia
This is an introductory lecture in a 1000-level course I am teaching.
@@ThersitestheHistorian I've learned so much from your Channel and its content captivates me. I think the subject-matter and delivery are right on.
YOOO
Jesus. One wonders about re-incarnation. Or re-considers every idiot utopian notion of human "progress"
BCE 🤣🤣🤣
second
Hi! I made a video inspired by this one about the late Roman Republic. Its called rome.jpeg4 on my TH-cam channel. I really enjoy your channel and I often listen to your videos on the way to or from my lectures on campus and enjoy yours way more than my real classes