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The Roman Empire never fell, not yet anyway. It just put on a full cloak of religion. Calling themselves, "The Holy Roman Empire". Which still exist today. They call themselves Jesuits and control the world within and through the Roman Catholic "church".
I appreciate what you do man, wish I could swing patreon, you deserve it. I didn't get the medical arguments against Rome. Medicine 1000-2000 years ago won't be where it is today. We've had millennia to study, improve, and create cures they couldn't imagine at the time anywhere in the world. In 1000 years we'll seem like barbarians too. Modern western societies lean heavily on Rome's example. The empire may have fallen, but the republic spread like wildfire in ways they couldn't imagine. Even my country, the US, owes a lot to Rome and the examples they set that even we've followed and they didn't even know the Americas existed muchless that a country named the United States would there.
Weapons equalize stone of the strength differences but by far not all. Fighting could get very physical which of course would have favored men. The only exception to me would be when we're talking about archers who usually aren't directly involved in close combat of course.
7:19 "Given a lack of true science..." this is an odd statement. While Raff talks about the differences between magic and religion...how can this person say that Rome had "a lack of true science?" I mean they had math, medicine, astronomy, engineering, metallurgy, botany, husbandry, physics, social engineering, agriculture...where was the lack of science?
@@v0rtexbeater I know what you mean. I'm not disagreeing with you. But I love to challenge modernism and force it to accept that there is nothing new under the sun. For example, we know that the ancient Romans, Greeks, Chinese, Indians...all advanced groups used the modern definition of the scientific method without calling it that. We know because we have their writings, research, notes, diaries, commentaries by others. If we accept the modern definition for the formal scientific method as being basically 1) observation 2) research 3) hypothesis 4) experimentation 5) analysis 6) conclusion 7) review. It's not a modern concept, and the ancients definitely used this methodology in research, design, application, and basic problem solving. They might not have called it science, or the scientific method, but what did Shakespeare say about the smell of roses again? ;o)
@@zzycatch LOL...hmm...well it is true that their knowledge of the quantum realm was limited; however, I would challenge that while their quantum knowledge lacked; their atomic knowledge was on point. Like the Greeks before him, Lucretius understood about the existence of, and interconnectivity of, the atomic realm. In his De Rerum Natura he cleverly hides atomic theory in the form of poetry so well, that he managed to educate, maintain, and preserve advanced atomic theories when they were being actively discriminated against. That's brilliant. And while many split hairs about the "atoms" as described by Lucretius vs our modern definition of atoms...I like to ask people to actually read his work and others like him. Not just De Rerum Natura, there's a few of them. Are his descriptions of atoms and how they work really that different from ours? Sure he didn't know about the particles, but he understood that atoms existed, they were the basis of all matter, and all matter was but a unique mixture of atoms. He even suggests that atoms were actually made of a more basic concept....energy, and said that at the end of the day everything is made of energy.
Or rich and stupid enough to buy pre-torn clothing, which for some reason is a thing in the US. Yes, people will actually shell out money for designer torn clothing@@detective2221
@@detective2221unless they are “deconstructed” in which case you circle back to being “rich-looking” again. Most of the many millionaires in my old home town, just looked raggedy or kinda scruffy, because they work all hours of the day and night. Made gazillions, but still get around in holey jumpers and gumboots
@@oz_jonesIt's funny because the heavily branded clothing such as those made by Gucci and Louis Vuitton aren't generally worn by the ultra wealthy. These same companies actually have alternate ranges of far pricer clothing without the branding, specifically because the ultra-wealthy don't want to wear the brand on their clothes. The branded versions are more often bought by the middle class as a status symbol. Not to say that rich people don't buy them, just generally not the richest of the rich.
Well, now you have people paying $800 for waffle socks, socks with a waffle iron stamped bit of rubber to the sole that will last a week. In 1993 I bought a pair of Doc Martin's that I still wear daily - I paid $60 for them, which I thought was expensive at the time when I only made $5 an hour working after school age 12. But they're still presentable, and wearable. Meanwhile those waffle socks ... eh, talk to me in 31 years about them.
I buy all my shoes off ebay, except my good running shoes. And even for that, spending more than 100 dollars on something on your feet is insane.@@bashkillszombies
I'm so thankful we no longer live in times where the kind of clothing represents your wealth and social background or where some people try to sell you astrology or make up medical nonsense.
Beg to differ. Insisting wolves wear sheep's clothing so they can hide & escape works against the populace. Is it a coincidence that leaders of hard core communist nations dress in same plain blah clothes? Envy can be harnessed when gross greed is in display. People ask questions. 😊
Astrology has merit to it just as the bible or God does to the world, for example the bible is full of astrological and esoteric information, The connection between Jesus and the sign of Pisces is a huge one.
"I can't believe they put led paste on their faces to look more beautiful even though they knew it was poisonous. Anyway, I'm gonna go get botulism injections in my face called botox so that I can remove my wrinkles and look plastic." Presentism at its finest.
Gee, it's not like we can tell people's wealth and status by how they are dressed, how many "servants" they have with them, or what vehicles they utilize. Thankfully we aren't as backward as that terrible place!
2:38 Not often I get to fact check @metatronyt - but the iron is the mordent, the oak galls is the dye. This is how I make ink for my Parker 51 pen.@@metatronyt
Correct me if I'm wrong on this one, but of the biggest modernist myths I hate is the idea that people in antiquity didn't live as long because there was a lower average age of mortality. What most people don't realize is that the age of mortality is an *average* , and includes *infant and early childhood mortality* which *was* significantly higher, skewing the stats lower. In fact, most people who survived childhood in antiquity did live well into old age similar to people now.
One of many examples of how the difference between the word's intended usage in a particular context ("average" in a mathematical/statistical sense) often gets misunderstood by people outside of the field who assume it's referring to a more colloquial usage ("average" as in something normal or typical). It's the same issue you see with terminology like "theory," in which the actual scientific concept of a theory is very, very different than how people often use it in regular conversation without the scientific context, leading to many people misunderstanding what it means in that scientific context (and in turn, plenty of cases denying thoroughly established and generally accepted scientific conclusions as a result of the idea that something is "just a theory").
yeah its the biggest myths out there and ppl dont debunk it. ancient greece ppl lived almost as long as ppl today bcuz hygiene was a priority. same with romans egyptians. the only argument ppl say that "we used to die quicker" exists solely bcuz medieval times fucked up us as humans. medicine was worse, hygiene was worse, food was worse and yes call me delusional but christianity fucked us all when it comes to life style, motivation and existence. so many doctors and herbalists for example got killed for "heresy"
I remember Saturday Day Night Live did a skit on Ancient Romans throwing up after they ate as like a bulimia joke in the late 70s I never knew it was something they actually did
I feel your pain. As someone who understands Classical Japanese to a decent extent and translates very old Japanese texts into English, it's very irritating when people who clearly have only a cursory understanding of Japanese history begin lecturing on a bunch of half truths and stereotypes thus, perpetuating an incorrect narrative about history.
@@E_Proxy Well, I wouldn't use the word "smart." More like "obsessed with a very niche topic to a slightly concerning degree." Also, it doesn't bother me that people are uninformed. No one can know everything. But I get annoyed when people are both uniformed and outspoken about it, as in the case of the guy Metatron is critiquing in this video.
*tired sigh* I’m finding you can swap out “Japanese History” for just about anything and find the same thing happening. Science information is a really bad one for it, for eg. Also mental health and self-diagnosis (that’s my personal bugbear) Feel for you, mate.
Oh gosh, Scary Cherry? the guy who makes those stupid WatchMojo-style videos? I didn't expect him to have an accurate video about the Romans. He's on the bottom-rung of educational content creators alongside Be Amazed and the aforementioned WatchMojo. It's just a top 10 article from a magazine and random crap from a Wikipedia article.
The second I heard him talk I knew exactly where that video was going, don't get me started on the edits. I don't know there is just something about some youtubers when they use that exaggerated voice which many do. It's like they're speaking to kids and to be fair the average mental capacity is probably around that on youtube, no offense to anyone. It's basically clickbait videos that say or do something outrageous because apparently that's what the audience wants these days. The more I think about our society today the more it feels like we're moving toward the movie Idiocracy. What has happened? Especially in the west.
@@huldu Every time i hear this "voice" i just click out. It's such over commercialized BS every time. Wether it's history or astronomy it always comes off as BS. I care not to elaborate further atm. N/M this trend of AI voicing everything, that might be the only thing that's worse.
*I give you my word on this* : That guy just ran his questions through chat gpt or something and without double checking it he took the answers as they came
I'm 90% sure his entire channel is ChatGPT. Most TH-cam content now is just AI generated junk. The quality of TH-cam in the last year has absolutely blown through rock bottom. I've taken to clicking the three dots and clicking 'Don't recommend this channel.' down the entire recommended feed if I am not certain the channel is real but every second there's a new ten thousand AI generated channels out there. See, if you live in India or China, even making a few bucks a day is a good take. So to them it pays to DROWN western media with garbage. Until google stops gobbling third world dong and actually stops corrupted media being pumped into their website all we're going to get is two forms of content, Chinese/Russian propaganda, and badly made AI content. :(
@@bashkillszombies I feel exactly the same like you. Eversince these AI apps and programs are now available, it's an absolute pain in the neck. They let them write their content, let them talk. And they even take pictures created artificially for their Material and use the same lame music over and over. Just for making a few bucks with the least effort they can bring up. And it's just frustrating. It's like every third video you see when you're swiping through TH-cam. Sad
Roman medical practices were so advanced that we still use the concepts today. The Roman military field hospital, anesthesia, the triage system, post operation trauma and recovery, and wound rehabilitation. The Roman field hospital system - where a lot of this originated(along with the gladiatorial schools) - was still being used by armies in Europe up until the 19th century.
i feel like that misinformed dude is a christian who is angry at pagans so he just made up enraged video about ancient romans and greeks using myths and making up lies. most things he attributed to ancient ppl are flaws of medieval times and era of mental darkness (christianization of europe which had long term effects for 600 years)
I mean, clothes are still a status symbol. The other _day_ I saw a kid going to a local school in Lidl trainers... I bet he's going to the prom on his own. (edit: I forgot the word day, so I added it in)
@@vaguelyright6833 No. You see I have my own children, who I take to school. You're apparently a sad loner who thinks about picking up school children though. Maybe turn yourself in, eh?
I always have trouble with people Anglicizing Latin names TBH. Maybe it's because English isn't my mother tongue, but I'll never get used to people calling Marcus Antonius "Mark Antony". That sounds like the name of someone you know from the pub, not a Roman general. It's just weird.
True, how would they like it if they called William Shakespeare Gulielmus Shakespearius instead? I found out Gulielmus was his real name after writing this.🤯
I agree. It is most irritating. The name in Latin is not completely incompatibile with English pronunciation. An English speaker can say "Marcus Antonius" with ease.
Blame Shakespeare. In all seriousness, it was quite common around Shakespeare's day to nativise a name. Septimius Severus became Settimio Severo in Italian, whilst Christoffa Corombo became Cristóbal Colón in spanish
Every country misnames other countries, cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, flora, fauna, historical figures, works of art and literature etc. It is not peculiar to English speakers. Perhaps, some of your pronunciations 'trouble' other people. I would bet my house on it! So, you just have to learn to tut, or roll your eyes and then, get over it.
The notion on not refreshing the water enough is also wrong because most bath's had permanent inflowing fresh water and outflowing dirty water. Romans wanted to smell good and dirty water will just mess that up. Oh and slaves were expensive. Not something to throw away at random.
The bath water was contaminated with microbes even when it came in and didn't flow enough to prevent disease spread. Additionally, people mistreated their slaves like they mistreated their horses.
Regarding the slave part: It is true that in some ancient societies the slave was literally treated as a subhuman (I know that in Sparta a citizen was literally allowed to go out and slay a slave for no reason if he wanted to). But Rome was an exception. Killing a slave was legally considered murder in Rome, unlike in most ancient cultures or even many later ones
I hear you on Incitatus, but it seems to be more pointed than to simply say that Senators are so base as to be at the level of non-human animals, but rather interesting metaphor. Calligula rode Incitatus and Incitatus followed his commands and took him where he wanted to go. It feels to me to be more of a tyrannical demand for the Senate to serve him rather than a base insult.
I am in the UK and we have quite a fascination with the Romans here ,thank you for being a continual source of accurate information in an entertaining package .It is truly wonderful to listen to you sir .
My understanding was that the only people who would be seen wearing a pure white toga were those seeking public office. The only other color that I was under the impression that was exclusive was Phoenician purple or "royal purple" because of the expense of making it, thus it becomes synonymous with the consuls/imperium and exclusive to that office. I didn't know that certain colors were exclusive to bridal veils etc.
Social advancement was probably more likely within Rome, even as a slave than elsewhere... if you applied yourself and were lucky enough to have a half decent and sensible master then you could be taught skills, well clothed and suchlike. Certainly preferable to being at the bottom of the social heirachy in an unsettled area where you may be randomly murdered, eaten or suchlike.
The treatment of slaves in the late Roman period continued to evolve in the Mediterranean area, especially with the Christian and Muslim Corsicans. This evolution will explain the legal difference of slavery between Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Danish and Dutch America.
Many slaves had a higher standard of living than many free people at the time. Also, early Christianity was incubated and initially took off within the slave community.
And if you weren't lucky you might end up in the Iberian gold mines, in which, once you entered them, you'd never come out again, would work to death in about 2 to 3 years in the most horrible conditions.
Let's be real: being a slave in Rome was in 99% of cases a horrible life. Yes, there were the lucky ones that served as house slaves, scribes etc, who might have a benevolent master than treated them well and could reward them their freedom one day, and that's what we usually think when we think of Roman slavery. But the vast majority of slaves did backbreaking and/or dangerous labor on the fields, in the mines etc. They had virtually no opportunity for social movement and their life expectancy was short, especially the miners. Being a slave in Rome was on average less horrible than being a slave in some other parts of the world but it was still really bad
It's nice to see that many of these common myths about antiquity can be debunked. The ancients may not have understood everything we seem to think we know today but they weren't completely ignorant or without the ability to observe cause and effect in the instance of, say, disease contagion or wound care. Also. There are politicians today (on several continents, not just the U.S.) that could be replaced with a horse without diminishing their impact on governance.
I have to admit to avoiding all videos that have Ai and/or pompous "narrator" style voices, they're not always, but so often, pop culture, lazy, pandering and incorrect lowest-common-denominator grift, that it's a very inefficient and misleading way to get real information and overall only worth blocking. This is exactly why I appreciate thoughtful, authentic and intelligent inspections such as your channel provides and only subscribe or contribute to these.
I've always thought the Urine use, more a Roman Propaganda than an actual truth. The attempt to convince the citizens of Rome to justify the Celts needing "Romanized" because they were regarded as Barbarians. Part of that disbelief is because I'm not aware of any corresponding claims from the Greeks, though I confess to not being fully versed in all of the Greek references to the Celts.
Or it might be a half truth. Fermented urine turns into ammonia, which we still use today in cleaning products. Among other things, ammonia lightens hair, maybe teeth too, but I have no idea about that. So maybe they did use it (even if it pains me to admit it, since I'm Portuguese and a direct descendent from them).
I think they did use stale urine to wash their cloths, and to make the color of die stay in fabric, as a fixative, what has been done till not too long ago. 😊
@@frankvandorp2059 I know you meant 'in ancient Rome', and I know you know that Rome is still a city, my question was rhetorical, to make the point that there have been Romans for ~2777 years, so saying "age of the Romans" could refer to any point in that history, including today, where all these top 10 lists live, I was just poking some fun
About the urine to clean the teeth, isn't it possible that this is not a case of the romans ascribing weird practices to their neighbors? Is there any evidence that the celts or the cetibarians actually did this?
IIRC there is evidence of the celts in particular using urine to bleach their hair, apart from that urin has widely been used to bleach fabrics, my hunch is that roman authors are exaggerating just as you suggest, but as ever there is a kernel of truth, potentially
That was my thought as well. It did have 2 different sources mention it from the Roman side which I would think makes it less likely to be slander, but I'm just guessing.
Some times when I look into YT ( or Yt TikTok suggestions) I don’t want to life in our time period either. Back then the often have enough information and try to interpret the world around then. Now the information is available but a lot people decide to believe in the worsed nonsense with sheer excitement. 😭😱
When it comes to the story of the horse in the Senate, people should know that some towns in the US have dogs or cats for mayors, generally it has happened in very small towns where there's not much of anything for a mayor to do.
Thank goodness for the clarity. I was told as a young boy "be careful what you believe, and what people tell you". Everyday something tests that and that statement is shown homage. However, it is still, never easy.
Thank you, Metatron, for your videos. I always learn more from you about ancient and Medieval History than I did 30+ years ago, back when I was an avid reader of history and archaeology books.
That internal rationalisation, trying not to give in to criticisng the channel's Latin made me laugh out loud at the end! The Chronological Snobbery is over 9000!
I really like it when the notion ancient civilizations were completely retrograde and limited in their knowledge is dispelled. We stand in the shoulders of giants, all the scientific progress we have today is only possible because of the accumulated knowledge of old.
Just 1 minute in and I'm howling! The Metatron knows far better than I that clothing restrictions by class were common for many centuries in Europe; no idea when it finally ended.
It seems to me that people tend to attribute ignorance to the people of history as a means to discredit application of historical knowledge to modern society so they may push their own agendas or, at the very least, feel as though they are superior to them. Men and women of the past knew and understood much more than we give them credit for and, in some ways, may have understood more than us. Unfiltered, non-politicized historical accuracy is important… if we don’t know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it. Thank you Metatron for your contributions in providing unbiased and factual historical information!
Our culture is doing a lot of things that have been tried before but taking them further then they have ever gone. So I see why history scares them. But if we pridefully say we are better then those barbarians of the past then we can pretend it will turn out differently this time around. Someday maybe we will learn Chesterton's fence is a warning and not a challenge.
I thought that the piss drinking thing was an insult from Marshall's Invectives. It makes sense to know that he drew on descriptions of foreign behavior.
"How bad can it be?" You'll never learn, will you. Edit: When he talks about magic and oracles, how is that really different from investment bankers, rating agencies and other stuff we have today? Hearing what Tacitus says about them, it sounds like the Romans had the right idea. Let's also not pretend that modern health and beauty products are entirely without risks. We also have fun new things to kill us like micro plastics and carcinogens..
The moment I heard the horse line my mind immediately went to, A: this was political satire to show discontent with leadership or B: it was the leadership spewing a sick insult at the senators.
"Hold up, You're telling me that with nothing but a big piece of fuzzy string and a couple of little pointy metal sticks you're going to cause a comfy sweater to appear? WITCHCRAFT!!"
Sei il migliore. Ad ogni video mi sento un completo ignorante idiota ma è controbilanciato dalla gioia di sentire cose nuove e di vedere che il canale cresce.
This is like someone in the future who will have read _Fifty Shades of Grey_ and deduced, that Earth people from that time period were nuts and thirsty, which would have explained the exploding population growth at the turn of the millenium.
I always enjoy your descriptions of what we ACTUALLY know of life in Ancient Rome, and the differences in various eras, how they changed over time. Your in-depth study certainly beats the wild assumptions of modernists who are blind to later failings of society and "science".... Carry on, good sir!
I made a board game that intends to teach lore and history from different times. I'm realizing I'm not a linguist but more of a past enthusiast lol including other translations was a mistake I wouldn't want people saying the words wrong because of me
I would like for you to make a video about the ancient question: Are the Albanians as old as they claim, and on the other hand, are the serbs as old as they claim? Wow me, you are the most unbiased youtuber I could find for history.
Obligatory 'first' comment... Just wanted to say I really think your content is very interesting and I'm sure this one will be too! Thank you for your work.
"You could tell a person's class just by looking at their clothing!! How horrible!!!" Uhh... someone want to tell this guy about LL Bean? Or Goodwill? 🤦🤦🤦
I wanted to add one more thing - possibly an idea for future videos. Modern people do not understand the price of an educated/trained slave at that time. When I made my crude attempt at comparing the price of a trained gladiator with modern-day prices (to calculate the value of a gladiator) - I ended with something like the price of a car. So, when we read about massive gladiator battles - that means that a LOT of money was thrown away - or that when gladiator was wounded in massive combat - they just stayed low, got treatment, etc. No one would throw away such lots of money.
Anti-biotics is a very recent discover in pharmacology. It was developed in WW2. However, natural cures and anti-biotics products (like silver) and plants were known throughout the world and by ancient peoples.
I think that when we talk about the romans culture we must said in wich period we are doing it, because the romans didn't have the same culture through "their whole history". However, I love your videos Metatron, you are so scientific and accurate. Saluti dall'Italia!
The perfect radio host voice - Check Slightly arrogant tone in the voice of someone who think they are better knowing - Check A new picture or video clip for every sentence spoken - Check If you can check these things off in a video from a history/science channel, then it's clearly unreliable and full of misinformation. Good work debunking this one, Metatron!
I love the internal monologue about not correcting his grammar, very funny! I might have prefered a more dramatic end because it felt like it was building to a break, but you may have done that to undercut that expectation
Between Tide pod challenges, Milk Crate challenges, stupid prank videos, Zodiac signs etc, tik tok "influencers" should not look down on our ancestors with their modernism lenses. Our ancestors were 10x smarter than we ever could be.
Professor Ioanna Sitaridou's plan to save Romeyka, a spoken language facing extinction. It has no writing system but it is spoken, mainly by elderly Muslim women in the Trabzon (Trebizond, historically) region in northern Turkey. This could be an interesting analysis
And then there is the idea that the Romans borrowed quite heavily from the Assyrians, the first great empire, which very few people have heard of outside of Protestant Sunday school.
Clothing colour as a sign of status isn't a roman thing though the same is true throughout history certain dyes and dying techniques were more expensive than others some colours were associated with royalty it wasnt just the romans im not sure why he'd bring this up for his purposes
When visiting the Roman baths in Bath-England, we can learn that the main pool that still exists was fed by a constant source of running water. It wasn’t stagnant. The whole engineering behind the pools in Bath is very well done and explained to visitors. Today’s public swimming pools are tanks of stagnant water being constantly filtered and drenched in chlorine. Any better?
It's been reconstructed to the best of what academia can do. It's not perfect, but the Romans left us clues. I have a dedicated video called lorica segmentata legionari romani
Good rule to remember: if you're ever contemplating history and find yourself thinking "Wow. People in the past were stupid." there's a good chance you're misunderstanding something. People in the past were _not_ stupid. They had the same brains we do, and the same problem-solving abilities. Did they have the same complex understanding of science, chemistry, physics, etc.? No. But they figured out a lot of things through trial and error. They knew things worked, even if they didn't understand exactly how or why. Actually, their problem-solving skills were probably way better than most people today.
As a descendant of barbarians from Hispania Gallaecia, I would like to thank the Romans for civilising my ancestors. I can confirm that I now brush my teeth with toothpaste not urine.
in addition to the hygine portion the original video also claimed that they would not grow old, WHICH is again a grossly misinterpreted average lifespan data which is not accurate but marely says that between 1 year old infants and 90 year old senior dying the average life span is 45 years, WHICH is NOT how lifespans work
the items he showed for Magic - the dodecahedron - has been found to be a device to help making gloves. The varied holes allow for measuring the fingers. A little old lady looked at it, picked up some wool and started working - this was a recent incident.
This is one proposed theory. There are several holes in this theory, no pun intended. Just because someone made it work that way, doesn't mean that was the primary purpose. So is it possible? Yes. Is it universally accepted? Not even close. There is a plenty of evidence against this theory, e.g. these being very intricate, made of bronze etc. They would've been quite expensive, which seems quite excessive for a household tool to make gloves.
@@ottovonbismarck5067Well, maybe? Sewing/needlepoint, etc. was considered to be an appropriate pastime for noble women through much of European history. It's not crazy to think something similar with knitting could have fashionable at some point in Rome. If nobility was involved we would expect elaborate and fancy devices to be made for them, and their higher quality might even make them more likely to survive to present day. I'm not saying this is rock-solid truth, merely that it at least seems plausible. Without surviving records that mention it, I agree with you that we are left with the unsatisfying "nobody really knows."
7:33 dude, this is literally a knitting instrument. Several people proved it already. I understand that it might seem to some people as some kind of dark ritual but... c'mon.
Pineapple on pizza is awesome. 😮 on a serious note... engineering is a science and the fact they built things that still are standing today absolutely refutes the remark of Romans not being scientific. I'd also venture to say slaves in ancient Roma had more rights than slaves in early America...
@@ianmacfarlane1241Well, they were all built by the devil, so you're absolutely right! (It's a joke. Here in Portugal, although I suspect it's not only here, most ancient constructions, like Roman bridges, have an associated legend of having been built by the devil because people in the Middle Ages couldn't imagine such prodigies of architecture being built by humans.)
metatron's obsession with latin pronounciation is sooo relatable, i had latin at my university and whenever i hear "grazia" instead of "grat-i-a" i can feel my blood boiling. and mind you i'm super hypotensive all the time (thanks dad!)
I went on a trip to Italy and visited Pompeii. The tour guide made several mistakes that I wrote a list. One of them was saying the true cause of the fall of the Roman Empire was lead poisoning and Christianity.
Christianity is a reasonable take. It seems to me that Romans had a strong national identity and when that broke so did the Empire. Christianity replaced "Caesar is lord" with "Jesus is lord" and sort of cuts nationalism. The historian Tom Holland talks about those changes a lot. It's also worth noting that the half of the Empire that Christianized at the state level stuck around for a lot longer.
Another thing about women warriors is that women are much more important for population health. In the second Punic War the Roman Republic lost 20% of all adult men and around half it's entire fighting men and yet they not only survived but won. If they had lost half that number in women they would have gone extinct.. That is why women do not go to war.
I believe your point @ 23:49 ("if you're cruel to your slaves you loose them") is not fully backed, because laws on paper often do not represent how they are enforced in reality. We need more evidence than laws to know how hard it would be to get punished for illegally mistreating a slave. A modern example of this would be the US supreme court's 'Brown v. Board of Education' decision to declare racially segregated oublic schools unconstitutional. This did not represent the environment of segregation as it continued by de facto and was not widely enforced in many states
True but we literally fought a war over slavery and the fall out got ported into the race issues. I wouldn't expect Romans to have such strong feelings about it. And I don't think "some people break the law and get away with it" is a very strong counter point either. In most cases it is more of a whataboutism.
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I would love to observe a debate between yourself and some of the people who use historical fallacy. Apologies for my wretched southern grammar.
The Roman Empire never fell, not yet anyway. It just put on a full cloak of religion. Calling themselves, "The Holy Roman Empire". Which still exist today. They call themselves Jesuits and control the world within and through the Roman Catholic "church".
Does the English word lude come from Latin ludeum? There is after all a connection via the brides vale.
I appreciate what you do man, wish I could swing patreon, you deserve it.
I didn't get the medical arguments against Rome. Medicine 1000-2000 years ago won't be where it is today. We've had millennia to study, improve, and create cures they couldn't imagine at the time anywhere in the world. In 1000 years we'll seem like barbarians too.
Modern western societies lean heavily on Rome's example. The empire may have fallen, but the republic spread like wildfire in ways they couldn't imagine. Even my country, the US, owes a lot to Rome and the examples they set that even we've followed and they didn't even know the Americas existed muchless that a country named the United States would there.
Weapons equalize stone of the strength differences but by far not all. Fighting could get very physical which of course would have favored men. The only exception to me would be when we're talking about archers who usually aren't directly involved in close combat of course.
My grandfather once said "I don't care what they tell you at school, the Romans were Phoenicians."
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
If not phonecians they were trojans at LEAST /j@@scottjones7005
My great-aunt's Niece's Boyfriends' Mother once told me, "I don't care what they tell you at school, Pontius Pilate was actually Hitlar."
And mighty MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORBIN!
No no no no no no no no no no the hell they weren't
"Yeah I can't believe that people in the past believed in magic and oracles. By the way I'm an Aquarius, what are you?"
Presentism at its finest.
Make MORE!!!!
The same people who will wet themselves over a stock photo of a woman in a headscarf and labcoat looking into a microscope
And psychics, and aliens, and bigfoot, and...
I'm a Pices, so I didn't get that . . . please and thank you. :))
Empaths.
7:19 "Given a lack of true science..." this is an odd statement. While Raff talks about the differences between magic and religion...how can this person say that Rome had "a lack of true science?" I mean they had math, medicine, astronomy, engineering, metallurgy, botany, husbandry, physics, social engineering, agriculture...where was the lack of science?
hes just a stupid presentist that frowns upon all people that came before him
I guess from the more modern definition of following the scientific method, but yeah that statement is pure nonsense.
@@v0rtexbeater I know what you mean. I'm not disagreeing with you. But I love to challenge modernism and force it to accept that there is nothing new under the sun. For example, we know that the ancient Romans, Greeks, Chinese, Indians...all advanced groups used the modern definition of the scientific method without calling it that. We know because we have their writings, research, notes, diaries, commentaries by others. If we accept the modern definition for the formal scientific method as being basically 1) observation 2) research 3) hypothesis 4) experimentation 5) analysis 6) conclusion 7) review. It's not a modern concept, and the ancients definitely used this methodology in research, design, application, and basic problem solving. They might not have called it science, or the scientific method, but what did Shakespeare say about the smell of roses again? ;o)
Their understanding of quantum electrodynamics was particularly weak.
@@zzycatch LOL...hmm...well it is true that their knowledge of the quantum realm was limited; however, I would challenge that while their quantum knowledge lacked; their atomic knowledge was on point. Like the Greeks before him, Lucretius understood about the existence of, and interconnectivity of, the atomic realm. In his De Rerum Natura he cleverly hides atomic theory in the form of poetry so well, that he managed to educate, maintain, and preserve advanced atomic theories when they were being actively discriminated against. That's brilliant. And while many split hairs about the "atoms" as described by Lucretius vs our modern definition of atoms...I like to ask people to actually read his work and others like him. Not just De Rerum Natura, there's a few of them. Are his descriptions of atoms and how they work really that different from ours? Sure he didn't know about the particles, but he understood that atoms existed, they were the basis of all matter, and all matter was but a unique mixture of atoms. He even suggests that atoms were actually made of a more basic concept....energy, and said that at the end of the day everything is made of energy.
People still use clothing as status and also as ideology/theology indicators.
Yes, this is true, and it'll always be that way. If you're wearing rags and torn pants, people will assume you're poor.
Or rich and stupid enough to buy pre-torn clothing, which for some reason is a thing in the US. Yes, people will actually shell out money for designer torn clothing@@detective2221
@@detective2221also Supreme
@@detective2221unless they are “deconstructed” in which case you circle back to being “rich-looking” again. Most of the many millionaires in my old home town, just looked raggedy or kinda scruffy, because they work all hours of the day and night. Made gazillions, but still get around in holey jumpers and gumboots
@@oz_jonesIt's funny because the heavily branded clothing such as those made by Gucci and Louis Vuitton aren't generally worn by the ultra wealthy. These same companies actually have alternate ranges of far pricer clothing without the branding, specifically because the ultra-wealthy don't want to wear the brand on their clothes.
The branded versions are more often bought by the middle class as a status symbol. Not to say that rich people don't buy them, just generally not the richest of the rich.
2:44 Wow, clothing can indicate someone status in society? Almost like how it is now and throughout history in almost every other society.
Virtually in every society past, present and future
If anything, it seems to be a universal of human social behavior. Easy to codify things when people naturally self-organize that way...
Well, now you have people paying $800 for waffle socks, socks with a waffle iron stamped bit of rubber to the sole that will last a week. In 1993 I bought a pair of Doc Martin's that I still wear daily - I paid $60 for them, which I thought was expensive at the time when I only made $5 an hour working after school age 12. But they're still presentable, and wearable. Meanwhile those waffle socks ... eh, talk to me in 31 years about them.
I buy all my shoes off ebay, except my good running shoes. And even for that, spending more than 100 dollars on something on your feet is insane.@@bashkillszombies
Designer clothes, expensive ass brands and genuine fur and leather clothes would like to have a word with this man.
I'm so thankful we no longer live in times where the kind of clothing represents your wealth and social background or where some people try to sell you astrology or make up medical nonsense.
Imagine living in a world like that XD
Beg to differ. Insisting wolves wear sheep's clothing so they can hide & escape works against the populace. Is it a coincidence that leaders of hard core communist nations dress in same plain blah clothes? Envy can be harnessed when gross greed is in display. People ask questions. 😊
Astrology has merit to it just as the bible or God does to the world, for example the bible is full of astrological and esoteric information, The connection between Jesus and the sign of Pisces is a huge one.
@@Jeremiah-h4uno it does not astrollogy is nonsense and the bible to.
@@Jeremiah-h4u Your into new age aren't you?
"I can't believe they put led paste on their faces to look more beautiful even though they knew it was poisonous. Anyway, I'm gonna go get botulism injections in my face called botox so that I can remove my wrinkles and look plastic."
Presentism at its finest.
some people inject very suspicious needles to death in our days.
Every era has its version of killer looks! 😊
I do think that you win the daily prize with that one! Definitely presentism. I shudder whenever I see botox advertised.
"I don't understand how the germans wanted to kill the jews but feigned ignorance, by the way, from the river to the sea!"
Plus Borox is literally a toxin.
Gee, it's not like we can tell people's wealth and status by how they are dressed, how many "servants" they have with them, or what vehicles they utilize. Thankfully we aren't as backward as that terrible place!
I love your use of primary sources to debunk myths. Well done!
Thanks!
2:38 Not often I get to fact check @metatronyt - but the iron is the mordent, the oak galls is the dye. This is how I make ink for my Parker 51 pen.@@metatronyt
Correct me if I'm wrong on this one, but of the biggest modernist myths I hate is the idea that people in antiquity didn't live as long because there was a lower average age of mortality. What most people don't realize is that the age of mortality is an *average* , and includes *infant and early childhood mortality* which *was* significantly higher, skewing the stats lower. In fact, most people who survived childhood in antiquity did live well into old age similar to people now.
That should be abundantly clear by now and not an issue, it baffles me why, with só much available information, some people still don't get it.
One of many examples of how the difference between the word's intended usage in a particular context ("average" in a mathematical/statistical sense) often gets misunderstood by people outside of the field who assume it's referring to a more colloquial usage ("average" as in something normal or typical). It's the same issue you see with terminology like "theory," in which the actual scientific concept of a theory is very, very different than how people often use it in regular conversation without the scientific context, leading to many people misunderstanding what it means in that scientific context (and in turn, plenty of cases denying thoroughly established and generally accepted scientific conclusions as a result of the idea that something is "just a theory").
yeah its the biggest myths out there and ppl dont debunk it. ancient greece ppl lived almost as long as ppl today bcuz hygiene was a priority. same with romans egyptians. the only argument ppl say that "we used to die quicker" exists solely bcuz medieval times fucked up us as humans. medicine was worse, hygiene was worse, food was worse and yes call me delusional but christianity fucked us all when it comes to life style, motivation and existence. so many doctors and herbalists for example got killed for "heresy"
It’s also because of war. There was a lot more fighting than today and young men would die in wars skewing the stat down.
YES! This is a big pet peeve of mine.
Metatron doing debunks: I'm tired boss
I remember Saturday Day Night Live did a skit on Ancient Romans throwing up after they ate as like a bulimia joke in the late 70s
I never knew it was something they actually did
I feel your pain. As someone who understands Classical Japanese to a decent extent and translates very old Japanese texts into English, it's very irritating when people who clearly have only a cursory understanding of Japanese history begin lecturing on a bunch of half truths and stereotypes thus, perpetuating an incorrect narrative about history.
Yours is the type of channel I enjoy. You just gained a sub.
How does it feel to be Smart?
@@E_Proxy Well, I wouldn't use the word "smart." More like "obsessed with a very niche topic to a slightly concerning degree." Also, it doesn't bother me that people are uninformed. No one can know everything. But I get annoyed when people are both uniformed and outspoken about it, as in the case of the guy Metatron is critiquing in this video.
@@gagamba9198 Much appreciated, friend
*tired sigh* I’m finding you can swap out “Japanese History” for just about anything and find the same thing happening. Science information is a really bad one for it, for eg. Also mental health and self-diagnosis (that’s my personal bugbear)
Feel for you, mate.
Oh gosh, Scary Cherry? the guy who makes those stupid WatchMojo-style videos? I didn't expect him to have an accurate video about the Romans. He's on the bottom-rung of educational content creators alongside Be Amazed and the aforementioned WatchMojo. It's just a top 10 article from a magazine and random crap from a Wikipedia article.
And very bad writing.
Forget his Latin, his English isn't even correct.
The second I heard him talk I knew exactly where that video was going, don't get me started on the edits. I don't know there is just something about some youtubers when they use that exaggerated voice which many do. It's like they're speaking to kids and to be fair the average mental capacity is probably around that on youtube, no offense to anyone. It's basically clickbait videos that say or do something outrageous because apparently that's what the audience wants these days. The more I think about our society today the more it feels like we're moving toward the movie Idiocracy. What has happened? Especially in the west.
@@huldu Every time i hear this "voice" i just click out. It's such over commercialized BS every time. Wether it's history or astronomy it always comes off as BS. I care not to elaborate further atm. N/M this trend of AI voicing everything, that might be the only thing that's worse.
@@hulduHarrison Bergeron.
*I give you my word on this* : That guy just ran his questions through chat gpt or something and without double checking it he took the answers as they came
I'm 90% sure his entire channel is ChatGPT. Most TH-cam content now is just AI generated junk. The quality of TH-cam in the last year has absolutely blown through rock bottom. I've taken to clicking the three dots and clicking 'Don't recommend this channel.' down the entire recommended feed if I am not certain the channel is real but every second there's a new ten thousand AI generated channels out there. See, if you live in India or China, even making a few bucks a day is a good take. So to them it pays to DROWN western media with garbage. Until google stops gobbling third world dong and actually stops corrupted media being pumped into their website all we're going to get is two forms of content, Chinese/Russian propaganda, and badly made AI content. :(
@@bashkillszombies I feel exactly the same like you. Eversince these AI apps and programs are now available, it's an absolute pain in the neck. They let them write their content, let them talk. And they even take pictures created artificially for their Material and use the same lame music over and over. Just for making a few bucks with the least effort they can bring up. And it's just frustrating. It's like every third video you see when you're swiping through TH-cam. Sad
Roman medical practices were so advanced that we still use the concepts today. The Roman military field hospital, anesthesia, the triage system, post operation trauma and recovery, and wound rehabilitation. The Roman field hospital system - where a lot of this originated(along with the gladiatorial schools) - was still being used by armies in Europe up until the 19th century.
i feel like that misinformed dude is a christian who is angry at pagans so he just made up enraged video about ancient romans and greeks using myths and making up lies. most things he attributed to ancient ppl are flaws of medieval times and era of mental darkness (christianization of europe which had long term effects for 600 years)
You forgot obstetrics. Our today's tool for obstetrics (without electricity) are a copy-paste of Roman tools....
@@karldehaut Thanks. I wasn't aware. 👍
@@musashidanmcgrath you're welcome
21:41 I like how he used the picture of the first scoliosis treatment apparatus for slavery. Just shows how much research went into this. XD
Was about to write the same lol...
that's gold
Maybe the person being treated in the image was a slave :P
@@exantiuse497
If so, she was Irish. But we're not allowed to talk about that...
You can see her spine is messed up. WTF
I mean, clothes are still a status symbol. The other _day_ I saw a kid going to a local school in Lidl trainers... I bet he's going to the prom on his own. (edit: I forgot the word day, so I added it in)
Do you pick him up as well?
@@vaguelyright6833 No. You see I have my own children, who I take to school. You're apparently a sad loner who thinks about picking up school children though. Maybe turn yourself in, eh?
@@vaguelyright6833 Get therapy.
@@brick6347 you turned that around pretty well, I think you killed the guy
@@brick6347Most of us who have children try and teach them not to judge people, especially other children based on appearances.
You crack me up. The argument with yourself as to whether or not to correct the narrator's pronunciation had me on the floor.
I know that feel all too well...
People underestimate the Romans a lot.
I think they overestimate them more often.
a lot of people, yes.. but at same time a lot of people are amused how much we afford to the ancient Romans :)
@@emeraldcrusade5016In recent years, absolutely not.
People underestimate all ancient cultures thus
“Aliens”
A consequence of being such a popular period of history, it starts to attract haters.
I always have trouble with people Anglicizing Latin names TBH. Maybe it's because English isn't my mother tongue, but I'll never get used to people calling Marcus Antonius "Mark Antony". That sounds like the name of someone you know from the pub, not a Roman general. It's just weird.
True, how would they like it if they called William Shakespeare Gulielmus Shakespearius instead? I found out Gulielmus was his real name after writing this.🤯
I agree. It is most irritating. The name in Latin is not completely incompatibile with English pronunciation. An English speaker can say "Marcus Antonius" with ease.
Blame Shakespeare.
In all seriousness, it was quite common around Shakespeare's day to nativise a name. Septimius Severus became Settimio Severo in Italian, whilst Christoffa Corombo became Cristóbal Colón in spanish
Every country misnames other countries, cities, rivers, mountains, lakes, flora, fauna, historical figures, works of art and literature etc. It is not peculiar to English speakers. Perhaps, some of your pronunciations 'trouble' other people. I would bet my house on it! So, you just have to learn to tut, or roll your eyes and then, get over it.
I think that adapating names is good in instances and bad in others, Marcus Antonius is an example of a bad one for english.
So much distortion of history out there, thanks for being the real deal.
The notion on not refreshing the water enough is also wrong because most bath's had permanent inflowing fresh water and outflowing dirty water. Romans wanted to smell good and dirty water will just mess that up. Oh and slaves were expensive. Not something to throw away at random.
Unless you were rich, enough.
The bath water was contaminated with microbes even when it came in and didn't flow enough to prevent disease spread.
Additionally, people mistreated their slaves like they mistreated their horses.
@@jackalenterprisesofohio Even then might be pointless. NMew slave has to learn all the house all over, old slave new where everythign was.
Regarding the slave part: It is true that in some ancient societies the slave was literally treated as a subhuman (I know that in Sparta a citizen was literally allowed to go out and slay a slave for no reason if he wanted to). But Rome was an exception. Killing a slave was legally considered murder in Rome, unlike in most ancient cultures or even many later ones
Some slaves were educated, they were used as tutors, some were physicians even.
Metatron is the closest thing to a father I've ever had.
I feel oddly sad and glad for you at the same time.
Lol
@@Ianassa91Yeah. Me too😮
Sad…
Whereas your mother has had hundreds...
I hear you on Incitatus, but it seems to be more pointed than to simply say that Senators are so base as to be at the level of non-human animals, but rather interesting metaphor. Calligula rode Incitatus and Incitatus followed his commands and took him where he wanted to go. It feels to me to be more of a tyrannical demand for the Senate to serve him rather than a base insult.
It could easily have been both.
I mean when I was a kid the thing to have was a LLBean backpack with your initials on it. Fashion does come with a status.
A quite superb insight.
No the USA has a cartoon character running for president
Some cosmetic products still have HIGHLY toxic stuff in them (mercury, lead, etc...).
Read before you apply that stuff, and check the expiration date.
As soon as Metatron said "how bad could it be...", I was like "oh no" ... 😳
I am in the UK and we have quite a fascination with the Romans here ,thank you for being a continual source of accurate information in an entertaining package .It is truly wonderful to listen to you sir .
My understanding was that the only people who would be seen wearing a pure white toga were those seeking public office. The only other color that I was under the impression that was exclusive was Phoenician purple or "royal purple" because of the expense of making it, thus it becomes synonymous with the consuls/imperium and exclusive to that office. I didn't know that certain colors were exclusive to bridal veils etc.
"I have a video channel, I must be an expert" Thank you, Metatron. You are doing great work with your debunking videos.
Social advancement was probably more likely within Rome, even as a slave than elsewhere... if you applied yourself and were lucky enough to have a half decent and sensible master then you could be taught skills, well clothed and suchlike. Certainly preferable to being at the bottom of the social heirachy in an unsettled area where you may be randomly murdered, eaten or suchlike.
Roman slaves were even given weapons to defend their master's property
The treatment of slaves in the late Roman period continued to evolve in the Mediterranean area, especially with the Christian and Muslim Corsicans. This evolution will explain the legal difference of slavery between Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Danish and Dutch America.
Many slaves had a higher standard of living than many free people at the time. Also, early Christianity was incubated and initially took off within the slave community.
And if you weren't lucky you might end up in the Iberian gold mines, in which, once you entered them, you'd never come out again, would work to death in about 2 to 3 years in the most horrible conditions.
Let's be real: being a slave in Rome was in 99% of cases a horrible life. Yes, there were the lucky ones that served as house slaves, scribes etc, who might have a benevolent master than treated them well and could reward them their freedom one day, and that's what we usually think when we think of Roman slavery. But the vast majority of slaves did backbreaking and/or dangerous labor on the fields, in the mines etc. They had virtually no opportunity for social movement and their life expectancy was short, especially the miners. Being a slave in Rome was on average less horrible than being a slave in some other parts of the world but it was still really bad
It's nice to see that many of these common myths about antiquity can be debunked. The ancients may not have understood everything we seem to think we know today but they weren't completely ignorant or without the ability to observe cause and effect in the instance of, say, disease contagion or wound care. Also. There are politicians today (on several continents, not just the U.S.) that could be replaced with a horse without diminishing their impact on governance.
I have to admit to avoiding all videos that have Ai and/or pompous "narrator" style voices, they're not always, but so often, pop culture, lazy, pandering and incorrect lowest-common-denominator grift, that it's a very inefficient and misleading way to get real information and overall only worth blocking. This is exactly why I appreciate thoughtful, authentic and intelligent inspections such as your channel provides and only subscribe or contribute to these.
I've always thought the Urine use, more a Roman Propaganda than an actual truth. The attempt to convince the citizens of Rome to justify the Celts needing "Romanized" because they were regarded as Barbarians. Part of that disbelief is because I'm not aware of any corresponding claims from the Greeks, though I confess to not being fully versed in all of the Greek references to the Celts.
Or it might be a half truth. Fermented urine turns into ammonia, which we still use today in cleaning products. Among other things, ammonia lightens hair, maybe teeth too, but I have no idea about that. So maybe they did use it (even if it pains me to admit it, since I'm Portuguese and a direct descendent from them).
I think they did use stale urine to wash their cloths, and to make the color of die stay in fabric, as a fixative, what has been done till not too long ago. 😊
In the age of the Romans, there were barely any people around making top 10 lists. That alone makes their culture vastly superior to ours.
You know Rome is still around right?
@@groglas You didn't understand what the "age of the Romans" meant in this context?
@@frankvandorp2059 I know you meant 'in ancient Rome', and I know you know that Rome is still a city, my question was rhetorical, to make the point that there have been Romans for ~2777 years, so saying "age of the Romans" could refer to any point in that history, including today, where all these top 10 lists live, I was just poking some fun
About the urine to clean the teeth, isn't it possible that this is not a case of the romans ascribing weird practices to their neighbors? Is there any evidence that the celts or the cetibarians actually did this?
IIRC there is evidence of the celts in particular using urine to bleach their hair, apart from that urin has widely been used to bleach fabrics, my hunch is that roman authors are exaggerating just as you suggest, but as ever there is a kernel of truth, potentially
That was my thought as well. It did have 2 different sources mention it from the Roman side which I would think makes it less likely to be slander, but I'm just guessing.
Great video Metatron. I love watching your response video's.
always make my day!
@@earlymorningtwilight9119 Same.
Some times when I look into YT ( or Yt TikTok suggestions) I don’t want to life in our time period either. Back then the often have enough information and try to interpret the world around then. Now the information is available but a lot people decide to believe in the worsed nonsense with sheer excitement. 😭😱
Metatron: "How bad can it be?"
*Watches 10 seconds*
"Ok, this means war"
:D
I know!! At that point, I paused to grab a snack. LOL!
When it comes to the story of the horse in the Senate, people should know that some towns in the US have dogs or cats for mayors, generally it has happened in very small towns where there's not much of anything for a mayor to do.
Top quality viewing as usual.
Never stop what you do!
Nowhere else am I addressed as a “noble one.” Subscribed. ❤️💙
I like how he misspelled beasts as "BEASTES". Creative.
Shouldn't it be, 'beastioles" my school Latin has degraded somewhat.
Thank goodness for the clarity. I was told as a young boy "be careful what you believe, and what people tell you". Everyday something tests that and that statement is shown homage. However, it is still, never easy.
1:06 I love this moment he has in his head.. It's exactly what I always think!
Thank you, Metatron, for your videos. I always learn more from you about ancient and Medieval History than I did 30+ years ago, back when I was an avid reader of history and archaeology books.
That internal rationalisation, trying not to give in to criticisng the channel's Latin made me laugh out loud at the end!
The Chronological Snobbery is over 9000!
Can we dub it “ChronoSnob Level” and make it a thing?
@@creatrixZBD
You absolutely have my blessing!
It's amazing that so many still underestimate the Romans.
I really like it when the notion ancient civilizations were completely retrograde and limited in their knowledge is dispelled. We stand in the shoulders of giants, all the scientific progress we have today is only possible because of the accumulated knowledge of old.
Just 1 minute in and I'm howling! The Metatron knows far better than I that clothing restrictions by class were common for many centuries in Europe; no idea when it finally ended.
Not to mention Japan, India, China, Zulu, Pacific Islands etc etc
It seems to me that people tend to attribute ignorance to the people of history as a means to discredit application of historical knowledge to modern society so they may push their own agendas or, at the very least, feel as though they are superior to them. Men and women of the past knew and understood much more than we give them credit for and, in some ways, may have understood more than us. Unfiltered, non-politicized historical accuracy is important… if we don’t know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it. Thank you Metatron for your contributions in providing unbiased and factual historical information!
Our culture is doing a lot of things that have been tried before but taking them further then they have ever gone. So I see why history scares them. But if we pridefully say we are better then those barbarians of the past then we can pretend it will turn out differently this time around.
Someday maybe we will learn Chesterton's fence is a warning and not a challenge.
I used to really like Scary Cherry. I'm grateful for finding better channels like yours with historical accuracy. Thank you.
I thought that the piss drinking thing was an insult from Marshall's Invectives. It makes sense to know that he drew on descriptions of foreign behavior.
To quote the great (prolific?) Simon Whistler , "the past was the worst".
"How bad can it be?" You'll never learn, will you.
Edit: When he talks about magic and oracles, how is that really different from investment bankers, rating agencies and other stuff we have today?
Hearing what Tacitus says about them, it sounds like the Romans had the right idea.
Let's also not pretend that modern health and beauty products are entirely without risks. We also have fun new things to kill us like micro plastics and carcinogens..
Or astrology
The moment I heard the horse line my mind immediately went to, A: this was political satire to show discontent with leadership or B: it was the leadership spewing a sick insult at the senators.
I lean more towards B - he really despised the senators. Good joke- even a horse could do your job 😂👏
Why was Cherry using an image of a knitting dodecahedron under magic?
Irony maybe? Gptta admit, after all the mystical guff, it’s hilarious that “experts” got humbled by a woman with practical skills 😂
"Hold up, You're telling me that with nothing but a big piece of fuzzy string and a couple of little pointy metal sticks you're going to cause a comfy sweater to appear? WITCHCRAFT!!"
Sei il migliore. Ad ogni video mi sento un completo ignorante idiota ma è controbilanciato dalla gioia di sentire cose nuove e di vedere che il canale cresce.
This is like someone in the future who will have read _Fifty Shades of Grey_ and deduced, that Earth people from that time period were nuts and thirsty, which would have explained the exploding population growth at the turn of the millenium.
I always enjoy your descriptions of what we ACTUALLY know of life in Ancient Rome, and the differences in various eras, how they changed over time. Your in-depth study certainly beats the wild assumptions of modernists who are blind to later failings of society and "science".... Carry on, good sir!
“How bad can it be?”
Right up there with
“They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”
"Those ancient people believed in all sort of nonsense. BTW, women are just as strong as men!"
Timcast is looking for an expert on Rome!! Would love to see you on his show.
I made a board game that intends to teach lore and history from different times. I'm realizing I'm not a linguist but more of a past enthusiast lol including other translations was a mistake I wouldn't want people saying the words wrong because of me
I would like for you to make a video about the ancient question: Are the Albanians as old as they claim, and on the other hand, are the serbs as old as they claim? Wow me, you are the most unbiased youtuber I could find for history.
Obligatory 'first' comment... Just wanted to say I really think your content is very interesting and I'm sure this one will be too! Thank you for your work.
Jesus was accused of using magic
@@jackiemack8653 Okay?
@@robinrehlinghaus1944 Okay what? If you don't believe it research it.
Anyone remember the "ancient people couldn't see blue" from not too long ago?
How stupid was that!
Oh gods, I feel so sorry Metatron. Look how broken the poor guy looked with that smile at barely 20 seconds in!
"You could tell a person's class just by looking at their clothing!! How horrible!!!"
Uhh... someone want to tell this guy about LL Bean? Or Goodwill? 🤦🤦🤦
Funny, I think ancient Rome would be at the top of my list of places in time to visit
I'd go with Pre-Classic through Colonial Period Mexico. So many civilizations I'd give limbs to see in their heyday...
@@Xbalanque84 Nice. My second choice would probably be the Aztecs when they were at their peak
I wanted to add one more thing - possibly an idea for future videos. Modern people do not understand the price of an educated/trained slave at that time. When I made my crude attempt at comparing the price of a trained gladiator with modern-day prices (to calculate the value of a gladiator) - I ended with something like the price of a car. So, when we read about massive gladiator battles - that means that a LOT of money was thrown away - or that when gladiator was wounded in massive combat - they just stayed low, got treatment, etc. No one would throw away such lots of money.
Anti-biotics is a very recent discover in pharmacology. It was developed in WW2. However, natural cures and anti-biotics products (like silver) and plants were known throughout the world and by ancient peoples.
I think that when we talk about the romans culture we must said in wich period we are doing it, because the romans didn't have the same culture through "their whole history". However, I love your videos Metatron, you are so scientific and accurate.
Saluti dall'Italia!
I love the use of primary sources, perfect for debunking all sorts of nonsense
The perfect radio host voice - Check
Slightly arrogant tone in the voice of someone who think they are better knowing - Check
A new picture or video clip for every sentence spoken - Check
If you can check these things off in a video from a history/science channel, then it's clearly unreliable and full of misinformation.
Good work debunking this one, Metatron!
Ahhh, nothing like people who pontificate about things they have no idea about who then get slapped down by Metatron. Great video, Metatron!
I love the internal monologue about not correcting his grammar, very funny! I might have prefered a more dramatic end because it felt like it was building to a break, but you may have done that to undercut that expectation
How can clothing be an argument against Rome? Colours and fabric have been a show of class or expression in almost every era ever.
Between Tide pod challenges, Milk Crate challenges, stupid prank videos, Zodiac signs etc, tik tok "influencers" should not look down on our ancestors with their modernism lenses. Our ancestors were 10x smarter than we ever could be.
Professor Ioanna Sitaridou's plan to save Romeyka, a spoken language facing extinction. It has no writing system but it is spoken, mainly by elderly Muslim women in the Trabzon (Trebizond, historically) region in northern Turkey. This could be an interesting analysis
And then there is the idea that the Romans borrowed quite heavily from the Assyrians, the first great empire, which very few people have heard of outside of Protestant Sunday school.
Clothing colour as a sign of status isn't a roman thing though the same is true throughout history certain dyes and dying techniques were more expensive than others some colours were associated with royalty it wasnt just the romans im not sure why he'd bring this up for his purposes
When visiting the Roman baths in Bath-England, we can learn that the main pool that still exists was fed by a constant source of running water. It wasn’t stagnant. The whole engineering behind the pools in Bath is very well done and explained to visitors. Today’s public swimming pools are tanks of stagnant water being constantly filtered and drenched in chlorine. Any better?
Hi Meta, I had thought Latin was a dead language and no one really knew how it was pronounced?
It's been reconstructed to the best of what academia can do. It's not perfect, but the Romans left us clues. I have a dedicated video called lorica segmentata legionari romani
@@metatronyt Thanks!
I feel like A lot of people in our time underestimate how smart our ancestors really are. We just assume they are all not smart enough or something
Good rule to remember: if you're ever contemplating history and find yourself thinking "Wow. People in the past were stupid." there's a good chance you're misunderstanding something.
People in the past were _not_ stupid. They had the same brains we do, and the same problem-solving abilities. Did they have the same complex understanding of science, chemistry, physics, etc.? No. But they figured out a lot of things through trial and error. They knew things worked, even if they didn't understand exactly how or why.
Actually, their problem-solving skills were probably way better than most people today.
Man I really hate it when I want to leave a comments and TH-cam is like that's enough comments for you today and they won't let it post
Erin Parsons youtube channel she did a video on lead makeup
As a descendant of barbarians from Hispania Gallaecia, I would like to thank the Romans for civilising my ancestors. I can confirm that I now brush my teeth with toothpaste not urine.
in addition to the hygine portion the original video also claimed that they would not grow old, WHICH is again a grossly misinterpreted average lifespan data which is not accurate but marely says that between 1 year old infants and 90 year old senior dying the average life span is 45 years, WHICH is NOT how lifespans work
the items he showed for Magic - the dodecahedron - has been found to be a device to help making gloves. The varied holes allow for measuring the fingers. A little old lady looked at it, picked up some wool and started working - this was a recent incident.
This is one of my favourite archaeology(history stories
This is one proposed theory. There are several holes in this theory, no pun intended. Just because someone made it work that way, doesn't mean that was the primary purpose. So is it possible? Yes. Is it universally accepted? Not even close. There is a plenty of evidence against this theory, e.g. these being very intricate, made of bronze etc. They would've been quite expensive, which seems quite excessive for a household tool to make gloves.
@@ottovonbismarck5067Well, maybe? Sewing/needlepoint, etc. was considered to be an appropriate pastime for noble women through much of European history. It's not crazy to think something similar with knitting could have fashionable at some point in Rome. If nobility was involved we would expect elaborate and fancy devices to be made for them, and their higher quality might even make them more likely to survive to present day.
I'm not saying this is rock-solid truth, merely that it at least seems plausible. Without surviving records that mention it, I agree with you that we are left with the unsatisfying "nobody really knows."
7:33 dude, this is literally a knitting instrument. Several people proved it already. I understand that it might seem to some people as some kind of dark ritual but... c'mon.
Pineapple on pizza is awesome. 😮 on a serious note... engineering is a science and the fact they built things that still are standing today absolutely refutes the remark of Romans not being scientific. I'd also venture to say slaves in ancient Roma had more rights than slaves in early America...
Or...Roman buildings are still standing because of magic.
@@ianmacfarlane1241Well, they were all built by the devil, so you're absolutely right!
(It's a joke. Here in Portugal, although I suspect it's not only here, most ancient constructions, like Roman bridges, have an associated legend of having been built by the devil because people in the Middle Ages couldn't imagine such prodigies of architecture being built by humans.)
No they were just really lucky how they piled things on top of each other…. Also aliens helped them
😊
Your internal monologue was hilarious. I new, as soon as he pronounced it that way that the wheels in your head would start turning, RAPIDLY!
When Metatryon says “how bad can it be?” You know you’re in for a treat
Laughed out loud at the "you should be more worried about Rome visiting you", great joke!
Also I feel your pain at that guy's Latin 😅
metatron's obsession with latin pronounciation is sooo relatable, i had latin at my university and whenever i hear "grazia" instead of "grat-i-a" i can feel my blood boiling. and mind you i'm super hypotensive all the time (thanks dad!)
I went on a trip to Italy and visited Pompeii. The tour guide made several mistakes that I wrote a list. One of them was saying the true cause of the fall of the Roman Empire was lead poisoning and Christianity.
Lead and Christianity used in conjunction with each other?
Christianity is a reasonable take. It seems to me that Romans had a strong national identity and when that broke so did the Empire. Christianity replaced "Caesar is lord" with "Jesus is lord" and sort of cuts nationalism. The historian Tom Holland talks about those changes a lot. It's also worth noting that the half of the Empire that Christianized at the state level stuck around for a lot longer.
Another thing about women warriors is that women are much more important for population health. In the second Punic War the Roman Republic lost 20% of all adult men and around half it's entire fighting men and yet they not only survived but won. If they had lost half that number in women they would have gone extinct.. That is why women do not go to war.
The internal monologue over the narrator's pronunciation of Latin! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I believe your point @ 23:49 ("if you're cruel to your slaves you loose them") is not fully backed, because laws on paper often do not represent how they are enforced in reality. We need more evidence than laws to know how hard it would be to get punished for illegally mistreating a slave.
A modern example of this would be the US supreme court's 'Brown v. Board of Education' decision to declare racially segregated oublic schools unconstitutional. This did not represent the environment of segregation as it continued by de facto and was not widely enforced in many states
True but we literally fought a war over slavery and the fall out got ported into the race issues. I wouldn't expect Romans to have such strong feelings about it. And I don't think "some people break the law and get away with it" is a very strong counter point either. In most cases it is more of a whataboutism.