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@@taylorfusher2997 On marches the Romans like everyone else used cadence. Metatron has videos of his Roman reenactment group marching and running in formation. They sing or chant cadence, mostly "Roma Invicta". When the British Army proved that "It's a long way to Tipperary " The regiment band marched mostly carrying their instruments. They occasionally played to change the pace. The drummers played every step of the way. In the American Revolution both sides had drums and fifes. The drums were also used for signals but the fifes were only for cadence and morale. The French, Polish, and Prussians did too. The US military sings (chants) responsive cadence in training. I'm sure everyone else does too. The Romans are known to have drums with the Legions. The real answer is what I wrote the first time: Practice. Running in formation like anything else is learned by doing it over and over until you don't have to think about it. Then do it some more. Your origional comment about martial arts. The Roman Legion was the greatest mass infantry unit there ever was or ever will be. They were more mobile than any non mounted units. The tight formation was immune to the cavalry they faced, a horse wont charge a solid shield wall with javelins sticking out and the Testudo made them safe from ranged attack. Until explosives they were invisible in the open field under a good general. The legionnaires trained in the skills they needed to be a legion: holding a shield wall and replacing the front line, sword (Gladius or spatha depending on ere), javelin, pilum, military engineering focusing on encampment and fortification, forraging and other survival skills like cooking uniform maintenance and equipment maintenance. Anything else was secondary. Aside to Metatron: is the root of the word Legion as a military unit a word meaning many? In modern English legion is a synonym for many implying Very many and apparently the Coine Greek word transleted legion was too. A demon says its name is Legion "because we are many".
I love how military unit names stick around through history. Historically, cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") were of course highly mobile combat troops who fought on horseback. Today, we still have cavalry units, but they are fast helicopter and light armor units.
What I'm getting from this is that the military way of thinking has been around for a very long time. "But, sir, why do we call it that way? It makes no sense." "Because shut the hell up or you're on guard duty again." "Yes, sir."
Shaving to emulate Alexander the Great reminds me of how beards became popular in Victorian times. During the Crimean War soldiers grew out their beards due to the cold weather and lack of saving soap. When they returned home having beards became very fashionable as a sign of masculinity.
Moustaches became popular in Britain because they were the fashion in India. It was difficult to work with Indian soldiers if they saw you as a beardless boy
Modern Italians are in many cases Germanics unlike the original Romans. Metatrons seems to be of the original stock, a true Italian. His black hair and light skin and big eyes are Italian features. Brown hair is common to Germanics like Goths who invaded Italy and changed the demographics. Nero was a Celt which is why he was ginger. Celts sacked Rome. But then neo-Nazis come in to claim that the original Romans were identical in appearance to Picts, Vikings and other northern savages.
Side note: my partner is Vietnamese and it is still a tradition in Vietnamese and many Asian families to call their children in numerical order as their 'house name'. Additionally in Vietnamese they start by calling the oldest child 2....... because..... reasons (maybe 1 is reserved for the parents...I don't know).
I've heard that the number names were a legacy from an earlier system, where it was expected that you actually name your children after their birth order, but it fell apart as it became common to essentially have your name be a lie. Think about the case when two strangers come to town - Unus and Decimus. Some bullies are walking around, see these two strangers, and decide to pick on one of them - who are they going to pick? The guy with no older brothers to avenge him, or the guy with nine older brothers? The choice is obvious. This, I heard, is why the number names that stick around in the later period are all very large - Quintus, Septimus, etc (which, remember, imply a family roughly double that size, since daughters weren't counted).
Fun fact: sometimes girls got the numbers too! There's actually a somewhat famous scandal involving Caesar and a woman named Tertia ('Third'). Why was this famous? Because she was the daughter of Brutus' mother - you know, Caesar's most famous lover, save only for Cleopatra - the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt and quite a character in her own right. Some of the more vicious rumours (probably jjust slander) suggested that in doing this, basically Caesar slept with his own daughter, or that effectively the mother had whored her daughter out because she wanted a certain property that was on sale of a dead or exiled Pompeian - Cicero actually joked she got a discount for 'a Third' of the price. So... yeah. That was a thing.
As far as i know romans often named their child after their granparents or other ancestors, especially the well known ones. So if someone named Quintus (literally 5th) becomes famous, a lot of his descendants will take his name, regardless of the order of birth.
@@graziano2308 Yeah, I think that's fairly common across cultures in history. We want to associate ourselves, our families and our children(/heirs) with our examples.
It still amazes me the scope of control people could have in governing vast areas of territory back then...I can't even get five people to be on time for dinner at a restaurant and we have cell phones with instant communication and real time location maps literally in the palm of our hands.
@@GuitarsRockForever No it's because long ago the US was invaded by Super Sayan Horses who had a Horse Power over 9000. The US could never fully recover psychologically, and the scars remain to this day.
I've read that it was generally the custom of the Romans to shave before doing business in the city, but they they rarely shaved when in the countryside. Roman farmers would tend to sport short beards most of the time as they only visited a city every few weeks or months.
@@dr.tafazzi Yes and no. Getting a metal blade sharp and smooth enough for shaving, without requiring extreme caution (including occasionally taking a break to resharpen the blade before finishing the shave) or causing a major bloodbath, was nearly impossible. Even so, there have been razors from copper, bronze, iron, and even gold, almost as old as other use of the metals. However, blades from obsidian, other volcanic glasses, and flint were in common use for shaving, even in the Iron Age. Due to the way it holds internal stresses and breaks, called fast fracture, you won't find steel blades sharper than shards of glass, even today. Sturdier, and even (near enough) as sharp, yes, but sharper, no. Modern razors, scalpels, and box cutters achieve their sharpness through fast fracture, as well. Anyway, the tl;dr is "it was available enough for most people". @TNaizel If you mean the quality of Roman metal production, you're wrong. If you mean the quantity of high quality steel, you're also wrong. The Romans didn't have high quality steel, at all. The quality of steel continued steadily to improve after the collapse of the Roman Empire. The quantity of steel produced also increased. What decreased was the concentration of wealth that the Roman Empire made possible. Major Roman cities were no longer uniquely opulent, as wealth also flowed elsewhere. As a result, few other specific places would have the same opulent supply, for a long time, though I suspect that Constantinople will have periodically exceeded even ancient Rome in its prime.
for the shaving i think the main reason would be to avoid lice infestations. for the confusing names i'm like the hastati i'm also not at all surprised, considering that some units are still called "lancer"-something when nobody uses lances any more.
Long-haired gauls and ancient Greeks were known to spend a good amount of time in extensive grooming. Roman soldiers didn't have time for that: they had trenches to dig
Yup, Lancers that dont carry lances, Grenadiers that started using grenades 200 years after their creation. Tank cavalry regimen and so on and so forth. Then again, we did have holy roman empire of the german nation. which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an actual empire.
@@Cdre_Satori Grenadiers did use grenades in mid/late 17th century. Its was a specialized unit made for assaulting positions with use of grenades and cqc, the reason they were tall is because it would been they were stronger and would fight better in cqc
Yeah, when I heard the hastatii part my mind went to Napolionic cavalry units (cuirassier with no armour, and others who did wear the armour, but not called cuirassier), as well as modern Royal Canadian Dragoons regiment, who are an armoured unit (so essentially do not dismount ever), while the infantry regiments use largely (2 out of 3 battalions) LAVs, riding to the battle field, then dismounting to fight.
Me too . The Migration Period always gets the short end of the stick. Like how the Vandals went to Spain , North Africa \Carthage and then Sicily etc .
I actually did know about the Roman naming convention. In highschool we had a Latin class and one of the things the teacher liked to do near the beginning of the year was for everyone to make their Roman name.
@@ragnarlothbrok7973 Omar sounds like an arab or egyptian first name. By Roman naming convention, your ordinal position among siblings would be the first part. So if you are firstborn, you would be Primus + (last name +us) + nickname/title
I've always had a question about the Century . Is there any evidence of the servants were free men or slaves ? Are their any pay records for them ? How were they paid if at all ? Of they were slaves did they earn their freedom after service like the soldiers ? Were they citizens or something else ?
The servants were, most probably, slaves, but they had the same rights under Roman law as slaves back home. This means that they had to perform services for their masters, but had the right to get paid for services to other soldiers. those soldiers who did not have slaves might pay others men's slaves to do services for them. Thus, a servant might be washing his master's clothes, but for a fee, might add other soldiers clothes in the tub. or soldiers notice that one of their comrades was well shaved and had a more fashionable haircut, so they would pay his slave to shave them and cut their hair. In this way, a slave might earn enough in an extended campaign to buy themselves free. In such a case, although free, they might stay in service to their master in order to continue earning money for a stake when they finally got home. if this was so, the servants would be a mix of slaves and free men paid by the soldiers who used their services. There was probably no official pay roll for servants This is conjecture, so I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has located an actual source of information on the subject.
0:27 You underestimate how much random Roman knowledge I have from years of watching this channel, historia civilis, invicta, and many more random channels and many documentaries
I am just a casual observer of all things but I was delighted to learn that a group of legionaries tromping through France was a group of 20 soldiers. Two groups were 40 and Three groups were 60 etc. When the 4 troops of legionaries were observed by the local French people, they reported back to their leaders that they had seen 4 groups of 20. i.e. Quatre Vingts. Hence the French system of counting was explained to me. It might not be entirely accurate but it is an interesting theory.
#3 is similar to the famous British grenadiers. By the Napoleonic wars, they were no longer specialized grenade-throwing troops, yet they retained the name. They could, if a special situation required, use grenades, but that was no longer their main role and they were not always even equipped with them.
Germany revived the term in the 40s with the term "Panzergrenadier", even though every German soldier had grenades. The term is used still in the Bundesheer for motorised infantry.
@@thhseeking funnily enough the grenade became a central form of combat for the non-machinegunner infantryman over the Second World War so it was hardly a misnomer. The Panzergrenadier wouldn't have been required to use his K98k unless in a real jam, or on the defensive.
Time Traveler: “What are your names?” Roman Soldier: “I am Sextus and this is Quintus.” Time Traveler: “My name is Liv.” Roman Soldier: **Concerned Counting**
I like the numerical naming system, it's kinda like in my culture, Maori, we have less set in stone rules with names, but a common maori name can be "Whetu" (pronounced something like "Fetu"), it means "Seven". But is often actually a shortening of "RaWhetu" meaning something like "the Seventh Sun", which has it's origins and ancient legends.
Additional fact for the Roman naming system: Women did not have a praenomen or cognomen, only a nomen. So all women born into the gens "Cornelia" were just named "Cornelia".
But even some romans thought the system was too unpersonal. Cicero for example called his daughter Tulliola (little Tullia). It's still the nomen gentile but with a personal touch.
Knew or heard of most of that facts, but learned a lot of new stuff nevertheless. As to Alexander the Beardless, some historians call him "Professional Youth". He had all the time to grow his beard, dying at the age of 31, but he himself was playing on the image of the "new Achill", who died very young. And then it of course started a whole new trend in history of shaving.
I knew about the naming convention from a High School history teacher. Modern convention in most Anglophile places is partly derived from i and partly from early European conventions, combining private family name and cognomen in one's first name, middle name from an ancestor (kind of like clan name) while one's last me is sort of a patronymic There's more to it of course.
Family names tended to be derived from trades that the family was once heavily involved in, as those trades tended to be passed down from father to son. At least among the Anglophone side of things. Given that one side of my family is of Irish descent, their family name is derived from their ancestral clan name.
Thanks for your great work first of all. I've just figured out the meaning of the word Metatron, and it's mind-blowing. I think that will be a great suggestion for a future video, to explore the origins and function of the Metatron, the angel.
Make a video about roman cavalry, the recruiting, training, officer ranks, duties, equipment, pay grades and differences with the infantry!!! There's so little about roman cavalry in youtube!!!
Ennius wrote - "Hastati spargunt hastas, fit ferreus imber" ("Hastati hurl hastae, making rain of iron") ... so its kinda implied hastae could be both thrusting spears but also a javelins (or most likely, heavy javelin, that could be used as a spear if needed)... Ennius was a legionary, so he definitely knew his business... much more than any other ancient historian like Polybius or Livy...
Number 1 I knew... Number 2 I sorta knew a bit...Alexander the Great was the ancient version of Patton. He always wanted his soldiers immaculate perhaps as a way to intimidate his enemies (kinda like the Spartans with their hair)? Number 3... I knew what a Hastati was but never thought about the gladiator. Number 4... Knew a lot about the naming conventions but still learned more from this. ☺ Number 5... Knew this from Mary Beard. Thank you, MT. Great vid (as usual).
Nothing new to me but I've been interested in the Roman army since a child (I'm in my seventh decade). Love your videos and how you break things down, a true historian imho
@@jwhippet8313 Yes, but if we include non-uniformed hired help, it's way worse. Most of what we spent in Afghanistan after munitions went to contractors.
They weren´t servants. There no such a thing like servants in Rome era...there were citizerns, non-citizens and slaves. The romans never used slaves in war (they would flee in the chaos) and by law only a citizen could fight for rome. This non-combatant soldiers were non-citizen romans. Sorry, my english is very poor.
@@bierce716 The ratio might have been higher before the Marian reforms when Marius had the soldiers carry most of their own gear so they didn't need a large baggage train
Is it possible that the acceptability of beards to the Romans could have been connected to age and not just your job? Maybe even beard color, such as gray beards being a potential sign of an elder's wisdom, but other shades seeming similar to barbarian practices? We tend to think of poets and philosophers being older, even though many were actually young when they got to be well known.
@@vargenfenrisson1164 Why would I possibly "want it to be" related to age? It has no connection to me, regardless. The video stated that images of some people showed that they did have beards, so maybe it was because of their job... no one knows for sure, so it could have been something else for all we know. Conjecture is fun.
Fascinating to listen to you sir. It makes me wish I were 70 years younger so that I could learn some of this for myself. Being born in Britain we learned very little about Rome in school.
I knew about all of these except for number 1, but I did not know the details and backgrounds very well. It seems following you for all these years paid off. Great video, Metatron!
7:56 Metatron "A lot of ton sores were brought into rome from sicily, why from sicily..." Me "oh yes, because they bring Cassata and Cannoli with them"
Just a thought about Alexander the Great and his army being clean shaven. At a time when armies did not wear uniforms having your soldiers all shaved might make it easier to tell friend from foe. Especially when you have a large army, with units from different regions and ethnicities, having a very simple distinguishing characteristic common to all your soldiers could be very useful. Just a thought.
@Fishy Vagina Maybe they wanted to save time. The kind of hygiene beards require certainly wasn't impossible at the time, but it does take a lot of time to do properly.
I remember hearing that Macedonian soldiers shaved to prevent the enemy from being able to grip their beards while in battle. Whether this is true or whether it's an apocryphal tale like Washington and the cherry tree I don't know. As for ancient soldiers, yes they never wore uniforms. Matching military uniforms didn't really get running until the late 17th century - before then you either wore what was available or what you could afford, or in the case of the Romans you had standardised equipment (the helmet, armour, shield, sword, and pila all Roman legionaries were supposed to be equipped with) but the equipment itself could look different, hence all the varieties of Imperial Gallic( and other types of ) helmets and loricae for instance. When radically different cultures met on the battlefield (such as Romans and Alans) this wouldn't be a problem; but during civil wars Romans would differentiate one faction from the other by the colours/insignia/general's name painted on their shields. I think Tacitus (Don't quote me on this though) mentions that during the Civil War of AD 69 soldiers were able to slip into an enemy camp by exchanging their own shields for the enemy's.
Oh, yes, when I watched that movie in that scne Ijust thougt:"Why thr hell did you guys have to fuck up the order of his names ? Decimus Meridius Maximus would make sense..."
I enjoyed your documentary immensely. And it pleased me greatly that you were spot on regarding the Latin(Roman) military terms, and family names. Great work!
On a side note (centuria), that was the part of Herbert's Starship Troopers. Where he said that the future wars are handled by only a few selected specialists in high end armored suits and that there are no people in the units that do not fight. Everybody fights, from priest to cook to the commander of the unit. And that was a novel idea because usually the support arm of the army is not involved in combat (usually) and quite large.
The fact that they named their children numbers is an interesting sociological indicator. As Shakespeare said, what is in a name. It would seem to indicate that what an individual was called mattered much less than what they were. In this case the children appear to have represented the future of the family, and would earn their own names, or not.
What's interesting is the personal portraits of Romans that were preserved enough typically had men with scruffy beards like Metatron's and short, cropped hair. I imagine most statues and busts were painted with the scruff painted on versus sculpted, leaving the impression the Romans were more cleanshaven probably than they actually were when the paint-worn statuary was discovered. But, I imagine the Neopolitan society that Rome was constantly changed with the times and had a huge variety in fashion as well.
The situation of why the Hastatii are called the Hastatii is very similar to that of why in the Modern day British army there are the Grenadier Guard which there battle field role is not the same as historical British Grenadiers were which was to act as Heavy Elite Infantry during the 18th century but in the present day there role is to act as Light Infantry and the only reason they have the name of "Grenadier" is merely because of tradition or its just that it sounds cool
This was very very well done. As a native English speaker it is a real pleasure to hear you speak the Latin names & words. I studied Latin for two years in high school and English vowels and consonants (and especially the fact that most of our vowels are really diphthongs) simple do not sound right while French, Italian and Greek native speakers make the language come alive. This was very interesting and provided a lot of insight into their culture. We are still living with the consequences their culture and policies. For example Israel, the diaspora and even WWII.
I found your channel by accident and have been hooked ever since. I binge watch whenever I can but one topic I haven’t seen is a discussion about the armorers of the Roman Legions. How and where were all their weapons made? Were there armorers who traveled with the Legions? If you have done a video on this topic could you point me to it? Again I thoroughly enjoy all your videos and hopefully will get to see them all one day.
@@resturz By modern media yes, but the further back you go in time, the more of a mystical figure It becomes, particularly in the Bronze and Iron ages. I'll talk in details about It on the video once I get around to producing It.
@@metatronyt I'll look forward to learning more about this. Here in the US we have a show called Forged In Fire. Perhaps you've seen it. Four competitors compete to forge knives out whatever metals the producers provide. The winners of the preliminary rounds then have four days to recreate an historical weapon at their home forges. I see how difficult it is to forge one weapon and am fascinated to learn how you supply a legion and how you you keep the weapons functioning in the field.
Metatron ,I love your show not only is it informative but you always seem to make it humorous as well. I have often wondered about these points you bring out. I feel great satisfaction when I get that " Oh, that's what that means" feeling within. Thank you for not boring me. That's the problem with schools.
I actually figured out the name/number thing myself back in high school when I first started using my knowledge of Spanish to guess what Latin phrases meant. I have a friend named Octavio and I always picture him as having seven older brothers, even though I know he doesn't. :)
This has as always been an instructive source of information about the glorious Rome. This man really knows how to share his fascination for the subject.
I knew about the naming system from Colleen McCullough's "The First Man in Rome" series of books. I can highly recommend them, even if I cannot vouch for their complete authenticity, but she seems to have done her homework.
I love your videos, you are my favorite historical channel on youtube. PLease keep up your good work :) I am always happy once new video is released :) Salute from Slovakia
I knew 3 and 4. I grew up in Rome Ga. USA. Which has a statue of Romulus, Remus, and the she wolf presented by the sister city of Rome Italy by Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini before the war. WWII
I like your videos but I have to point out one mistake you made in this one. The statue you called Ares (also known as Mars in Roman mythology) is actually representation of god Serapis-Pluto from Heraklion Archaeological Museum on Crete (originally from town Gortyna). Btw, in Greek art Ares was depicted as a young beardless man (so basically mistake n. 2) ;-)
On Roman naming: have you seen the names of the princes in Stardust? I also already knew about the semi short Centuries, and maybe one other as I recall. Great videos as always
Hi, long-time viewer and fellow Roman aficionado here. I wanted to ask for your source for the first fact. It's something that I've come across before but I've had issues tracking down the origin of it. From what I've read it seems to originate from Jonathan P. Roth, 'The Logistics of the Roman Army at War', in which he postulates a 4 to 1 ratio for combatants and non-combatants in a Roman legion. Is this your source, or have there been some new discoveries that I, potatohead that I am, have missed? Great video as always!
Well, huge part of Alexander's campaign after a point was in desert lands. Having a thick beard under the sun plus armor isn't the most comfortable thing.
@Kaiya Raina Slaves also received payment. Sometimes more than their "free" counterparts. "Servus" means servant, there is no word for "slave". Slavery in ancient times was very different from slavery during colonialism...
I have seen many of these "X facts you didn't know about" videos in TH-cam before, always noticing that the video tells many facts I DID know already. This time video was _almost_ an exception, as I did know about the Roman naming system. Still, four out of five is not a bad result, and I still leaned new things about the nature of a Roman _cognomen_. Well done, Metatron.
for fun fact 2: this one in particular I already knew about, because the same thing is the case with many clan-based north indian groups. Singh for example is actually titular. While it is officially my surname, I do also have a gens, a patrilineal family name, based on an individual who allegedly founded this bloodline. very cool video!
Finally a solid answer on roman naming. Now I'm really curious about what "Caesar" stands for. It became synonymous with "Emperor" or "Ruler", but that's after Caesar and Octavian, but at the time o Caesar what did this name stood for
@@matheusmterra If I am not mistaken Caesar is related to _caesaries_ , meaning _hair_ and especially long, flowing, luxuriant hair. Which helps to explain why Caius Iulius Caesar was reportedly somewhat irked by his own baldness.
@@MarzoVarea thank you! I was trying to search this on my own and I only found stuff relating to the meaning of Caesar after the emperors, when the name became synonymous with Emperor or Ruler. Everywhere I looked ir was the only meaning I've found, and some really misguided sources claiming that "Caesar" was his family name
"Etymologically, Caesar is of disputed origin, and is traced back to some Latin terms, such as caesaries ("hair", "mop", therefore "with many hairs") or caesus ("cut", referring to the caesarean birth with which Caesar himself would have been born) or Etruscans, such as aisar ("great", "divine"). It is more probable, however, that his origin is indeed Etruscan, but by now indecipherable." Translated from: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_(nome)#:~:text=Origine%20e%20diffusione,-Si%20tratta%20di&text=Etimologicamente%2C%20Caesar%20%C3%A8%20di%20origine,%22%2C%20%22divino%22).
Thank you for illustrating an important rule for studying history: things change from time period to time period and from place to place. And, its corollary linguistic rule: sometimes names do not change, although the thing itself has changed. Some historians give the feeling like "over this long period and this gigantic area nothing changed and it was the same everywhere." For an exaggerated example, "Throughout the Middle Ages (a 1000-year period) everyone everywhere (the whole earth?) never lived past 35 years old." (Obviously not true, but you still hear people talk like this.)
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Yo
@@taylorfusher2997 Training.
Could Alexander the great have stopped the Romans taking Greece?
@@taylorfusher2997 On marches the Romans like everyone else used cadence. Metatron has videos of his Roman reenactment group marching and running in formation. They sing or chant cadence, mostly "Roma Invicta". When the British Army proved that "It's a long way to Tipperary " The regiment band marched mostly carrying their instruments. They occasionally played to change the pace. The drummers played every step of the way. In the American Revolution both sides had drums and fifes. The drums were also used for signals but the fifes were only for cadence and morale. The French, Polish, and Prussians did too. The US military sings (chants) responsive cadence in training. I'm sure everyone else does too. The Romans are known to have drums with the Legions.
The real answer is what I wrote the first time: Practice. Running in formation like anything else is learned by doing it over and over until you don't have to think about it. Then do it some more.
Your origional comment about martial arts. The Roman Legion was the greatest mass infantry unit there ever was or ever will be. They were more mobile than any non mounted units. The tight formation was immune to the cavalry they faced, a horse wont charge a solid shield wall with javelins sticking out and the Testudo made them safe from ranged attack. Until explosives they were invisible in the open field under a good general. The legionnaires trained in the skills they needed to be a legion: holding a shield wall and replacing the front line, sword (Gladius or spatha depending on ere), javelin, pilum, military engineering focusing on encampment and fortification, forraging and other survival skills like cooking uniform maintenance and equipment maintenance. Anything else was secondary.
Aside to Metatron: is the root of the word Legion as a military unit a word meaning many? In modern English legion is a synonym for many implying Very many and apparently the Coine Greek word transleted legion was too. A demon says its name is Legion "because we are many".
Can you do a video on Indian Armour. Brother.
I love how military unit names stick around through history. Historically, cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") were of course highly mobile combat troops who fought on horseback. Today, we still have cavalry units, but they are fast helicopter and light armor units.
Fast helicopter and light armor units piloted by horses*
@@yellowfellow7246 Airplanes and helicopters pulled by horses in midair.
@@Intranetusa Helicopters and airplanes driven by horses who direct other horses who are pulling them in mid air.
not just military i would say, even civilian, take horse power or HP for a car, it say how much power equivelent in horses the car has
@@Intranetusa Santa Claus is cavalry then
What I'm getting from this is that the military way of thinking has been around for a very long time.
"But, sir, why do we call it that way? It makes no sense."
"Because shut the hell up or you're on guard duty again."
"Yes, sir."
My favorite Roman cognomen was the “Ahenobarbus” meaning bronze beard. I got it stuck in my head as a kid and just always remembered it.
For me it was always Superbus. I can’t say I didn’t imagine a Huge Bus…. look I was a kid when I first heard it
Interetsing. Ahan in persian means iron.
Ermm.. there's a weird roman name, that shows creepy picture if your search it on Google.
Catulus is my favourite, meaning pup
@@niclasjohansson5992 imma memorize that one
Shaving to emulate Alexander the Great reminds me of how beards became popular in Victorian times. During the Crimean War soldiers grew out their beards due to the cold weather and lack of saving soap. When they returned home having beards became very fashionable as a sign of masculinity.
Glad the gay USA left Afghanistan so beards are in vogue again.
But then WWI rolled around and beards had to go cos they prevented gas masks from sealing correctly.
@Jacqueline Davis I heard that was a myth. The real reason for the moustache was he just really liked Charlie Chaplain.
Moustaches became popular in Britain because they were the fashion in India.
It was difficult to work with Indian soldiers if they saw you as a beardless boy
Here's a little known fact...
If you tied a Roman's hands behind his back, they couldn't speak.
Roman's survives as Italians I am one you lose the power of speech if you can't use your hands.
This comment is gold🤣🤣
@@josephpercente8377 I still use them when on the phone. Not sure how they know what I am saying.
Modern Italians are in many cases Germanics unlike the original Romans. Metatrons seems to be of the original stock, a true Italian. His black hair and light skin and big eyes are Italian features. Brown hair is common to Germanics like Goths who invaded Italy and changed the demographics.
Nero was a Celt which is why he was ginger. Celts sacked Rome. But then neo-Nazis come in to claim that the original Romans were identical in appearance to Picts, Vikings and other northern savages.
@@scintillam_dei Historical proof that gingers have no soul.
And the most hidden fact there were no different Romans it was just a bunch of Metatron clones
Clone wars, the original version?
Do tell is about your icon, Keller Blair. That harness looks exquisite.
@@45calibermedic I am a Swan Knight of Dol-Amroth in service to Lord Imrahil.
@@kellerblair2952 thanks, my complements to your lord for his aesthetic sense
Actually Rafael is very dark, and dare i also say short? xD compared to the Ancient romans.
Alexander was the first influencer, got it
Solon
Side note: my partner is Vietnamese and it is still a tradition in Vietnamese and many Asian families to call their children in numerical order as their 'house name'. Additionally in Vietnamese they start by calling the oldest child 2....... because..... reasons (maybe 1 is reserved for the parents...I don't know).
Hence Charlie Chan calling his son's "number one" etc.
I live in Vietnam and I have actually never seen or heard that .
I just asked my wife and she said yes but they use both name too
Only South Vietnamese, 1 is reversed for the ancestral who is in the North
ah yes, the house name. here in Malaysia its along, angah, achik, ateh for the first, second, third and fourth child respectively.
@@tqhung169
Nice to Know Hung . Thank you.
My wife is from SG ,but we live in Danang. Where are you ?
I've heard that the number names were a legacy from an earlier system, where it was expected that you actually name your children after their birth order, but it fell apart as it became common to essentially have your name be a lie. Think about the case when two strangers come to town - Unus and Decimus. Some bullies are walking around, see these two strangers, and decide to pick on one of them - who are they going to pick? The guy with no older brothers to avenge him, or the guy with nine older brothers? The choice is obvious. This, I heard, is why the number names that stick around in the later period are all very large - Quintus, Septimus, etc (which, remember, imply a family roughly double that size, since daughters weren't counted).
Fun fact: sometimes girls got the numbers too! There's actually a somewhat famous scandal involving Caesar and a woman named Tertia ('Third').
Why was this famous? Because she was the daughter of Brutus' mother - you know, Caesar's most famous lover, save only for Cleopatra - the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt and quite a character in her own right. Some of the more vicious rumours (probably jjust slander) suggested that in doing this, basically Caesar slept with his own daughter, or that effectively the mother had whored her daughter out because she wanted a certain property that was on sale of a dead or exiled Pompeian - Cicero actually joked she got a discount for 'a Third' of the price. So... yeah. That was a thing.
Both were really interesting facts, thanks for that 😎
@@JustFlemishMe O.of Cicero was a bit savage eh
As far as i know romans often named their child after their granparents or other ancestors, especially the well known ones.
So if someone named Quintus (literally 5th) becomes famous, a lot of his descendants will take his name, regardless of the order of birth.
@@graziano2308 Yeah, I think that's fairly common across cultures in history. We want to associate ourselves, our families and our children(/heirs) with our examples.
It still amazes me the scope of control people could have in governing vast areas of territory back then...I can't even get five people to be on time for dinner at a restaurant and we have cell phones with instant communication and real time location maps literally in the palm of our hands.
It would help if you could have them flogged for being late
Yeah it's crazy. Especially if something happens and it takes 3 weeks to get news lol
Your word used to be more important in those times.
Excellent video! I shall continue to wear the beard.
Thanks! I approve of your beard, but don't let It get to your belt 🧐
@@kingofnothing2260 But it is quite humorous to see the fuzz peeking out from the mask! 😆
@@AuthorEvaIvonneOlson Eva, where are you from, if i may ask?
Carpe Diem Luke!
@@uglywolf88 did you really shoot your shot in the comments section? Lol
2000 years from now, those with a pedestrian knowledge of history won’t understand why people in our time called tank divisions “cavalry”.
strangest "cavalry" is the US
helicopter mobile Air Cav..😏
It's obviously because said tanks and helicopters are driven and piloted by horses.
@@yellowfellow7246
Is it the reason US uses horse power instead of kW?
@@GuitarsRockForever No it's because long ago the US was invaded by Super Sayan Horses who had a Horse Power over 9000. The US could never fully recover psychologically, and the scars remain to this day.
They may not even know the official name for tank.
I've read that it was generally the custom of the Romans to shave before doing business in the city, but they they rarely shaved when in the countryside. Roman farmers would tend to sport short beards most of the time as they only visited a city every few weeks or months.
That's basically my routine.
I'd guess sharp blades aren't easily available in the roman era countryside...
@@dr.tafazzi they probably were, Roman metal production was reached again only in the 18th century
@@dr.tafazzi Yes and no. Getting a metal blade sharp and smooth enough for shaving, without requiring extreme caution (including occasionally taking a break to resharpen the blade before finishing the shave) or causing a major bloodbath, was nearly impossible. Even so, there have been razors from copper, bronze, iron, and even gold, almost as old as other use of the metals. However, blades from obsidian, other volcanic glasses, and flint were in common use for shaving, even in the Iron Age. Due to the way it holds internal stresses and breaks, called fast fracture, you won't find steel blades sharper than shards of glass, even today. Sturdier, and even (near enough) as sharp, yes, but sharper, no. Modern razors, scalpels, and box cutters achieve their sharpness through fast fracture, as well. Anyway, the tl;dr is "it was available enough for most people".
@TNaizel If you mean the quality of Roman metal production, you're wrong. If you mean the quantity of high quality steel, you're also wrong. The Romans didn't have high quality steel, at all. The quality of steel continued steadily to improve after the collapse of the Roman Empire. The quantity of steel produced also increased. What decreased was the concentration of wealth that the Roman Empire made possible. Major Roman cities were no longer uniquely opulent, as wealth also flowed elsewhere. As a result, few other specific places would have the same opulent supply, for a long time, though I suspect that Constantinople will have periodically exceeded even ancient Rome in its prime.
@@erikjarandson5458 Oh wow that's cool, I'd never heared of glass or obsidian used for shaving but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense.
for the shaving i think the main reason would be to avoid lice infestations.
for the confusing names i'm like the hastati i'm also not at all surprised, considering that some units are still called "lancer"-something when nobody uses lances any more.
Long-haired gauls and ancient Greeks were known to spend a good amount of time in extensive grooming. Roman soldiers didn't have time for that: they had trenches to dig
Yup, Lancers that dont carry lances, Grenadiers that started using grenades 200 years after their creation. Tank cavalry regimen and so on and so forth. Then again, we did have holy roman empire of the german nation. which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an actual empire.
@@Cdre_Satori Grenadiers did use grenades in mid/late 17th century. Its was a specialized unit made for assaulting positions with use of grenades and cqc, the reason they were tall is because it would been they were stronger and would fight better in cqc
@@tomjongman4797 and generally throw grenades further
Yeah, when I heard the hastatii part my mind went to Napolionic cavalry units (cuirassier with no armour, and others who did wear the armour, but not called cuirassier), as well as modern Royal Canadian Dragoons regiment, who are an armoured unit (so essentially do not dismount ever), while the infantry regiments use largely (2 out of 3 battalions) LAVs, riding to the battle field, then dismounting to fight.
I would actually love some videos about Vandals and Ostrogoths in Italy. So fascinating and underrated period of the history!
Me too . The Migration Period always gets the short end of the stick. Like how the Vandals went to Spain , North Africa \Carthage and then Sicily etc .
I actually did know about the Roman naming convention. In highschool we had a Latin class and one of the things the teacher liked to do near the beginning of the year was for everyone to make their Roman name.
So on my father's side, i would be Primus Barreus Maximus
And on my mother's side, i would be Secundus Villadelgadeus Sophicus
Quite nifty.
So u could make a latin name for ur self thats cool as fuck bro i would just use that as my normal name
@@ragnarlothbrok7973 haha whats your ordinal position among siblings, family name, and something that describes you?
@@chrisvb4387 idk everyone calls me by my name which is omar
@@ragnarlothbrok7973 Omar sounds like an arab or egyptian first name. By Roman naming convention, your ordinal position among siblings would be the first part. So if you are firstborn, you would be Primus + (last name +us) + nickname/title
I've always had a question about the Century . Is there any evidence of the servants were free men or slaves ? Are their any pay records for them ? How were they paid if at all ? Of they were slaves did they earn their freedom after service like the soldiers ? Were they citizens or something else ?
The servants were, most probably, slaves, but they had the same rights under Roman law as slaves back home. This means that they had to perform services for their masters, but had the right to get paid for services to other soldiers. those soldiers who did not have slaves might pay others men's slaves to do services for them. Thus, a servant might be washing his master's clothes, but for a fee, might add other soldiers clothes in the tub. or soldiers notice that one of their comrades was well shaved and had a more fashionable haircut, so they would pay his slave to shave them and cut their hair.
In this way, a slave might earn enough in an extended campaign to buy themselves free. In such a case, although free, they might stay in service to their master in order to continue earning money for a stake when they finally got home.
if this was so, the servants would be a mix of slaves and free men paid by the soldiers who used their services. There was probably no official pay roll for servants
This is conjecture, so I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has located an actual source of information on the subject.
0:27
You underestimate how much random Roman knowledge I have from years of watching this channel, historia civilis, invicta, and many more random channels and many documentaries
The first is easy to understand, if you know something about logistics.
The thirt is the same as modern British lancers, (who ride tanks to battle).
Or Grenadiers.
I am just a casual observer of all things but I was delighted to learn that a group of legionaries tromping through France was a group of 20 soldiers. Two groups were 40 and Three groups were 60 etc.
When the 4 troops of legionaries were observed by the local French people, they reported back to their leaders that they had seen 4 groups of 20. i.e. Quatre Vingts. Hence the French system of counting was explained to me. It might not be entirely accurate but it is an interesting theory.
#3 is similar to the famous British grenadiers. By the Napoleonic wars, they were no longer specialized grenade-throwing troops, yet they retained the name. They could, if a special situation required, use grenades, but that was no longer their main role and they were not always even equipped with them.
Germany revived the term in the 40s with the term "Panzergrenadier", even though every German soldier had grenades. The term is used still in the Bundesheer for motorised infantry.
@@thhseeking In 1942, to be precise. I think that was also when Panzer Groups were renamed to Panzer Armies
@@thhseeking funnily enough the grenade became a central form of combat for the non-machinegunner infantryman over the Second World War so it was hardly a misnomer. The Panzergrenadier wouldn't have been required to use his K98k unless in a real jam, or on the defensive.
Time Traveler: “What are your names?”
Roman Soldier: “I am Sextus and this is Quintus.”
Time Traveler: “My name is Liv.”
Roman Soldier: **Concerned Counting**
underrated joke
I like the numerical naming system, it's kinda like in my culture, Maori, we have less set in stone rules with names, but a common maori name can be "Whetu" (pronounced something like "Fetu"), it means "Seven". But is often actually a shortening of "RaWhetu" meaning something like "the Seventh Sun", which has it's origins and ancient legends.
The bit about hastati reminded me of the musketeers who, in the popular imagination, fought with swords.
Good point.
@@1IGG good pun.
That would be a blast from the past
Hey Metatron have you seen the unbiased history of Rome? I'm wondering what your opinion about its historical accuracy is.
What would be the point of that considering it is purposefully being inaccurate and biased for comedy and ironic purposes?
I really enjoy the topics you cover. Thank you.
Additional fact for the Roman naming system: Women did not have a praenomen or cognomen, only a nomen. So all women born into the gens "Cornelia" were just named "Cornelia".
But even some romans thought the system was too unpersonal. Cicero for example called his daughter Tulliola (little Tullia). It's still the nomen gentile but with a personal touch.
That's crazy!
Knew or heard of most of that facts, but learned a lot of new stuff nevertheless.
As to Alexander the Beardless, some historians call him "Professional Youth". He had all the time to grow his beard, dying at the age of 31, but he himself was playing on the image of the "new Achill", who died very young. And then it of course started a whole new trend in history of shaving.
Even though I knew little things about number 2-5, I've learnt so much new stuff to each point.
Thanks a lot.
Keep up with the good work.
My pleasure and thanks for watching and leaving a comment
I knew about the naming convention from a High School history teacher. Modern convention in most Anglophile places is partly derived from i and partly from early European conventions, combining private family name and cognomen in one's first name, middle name from an ancestor (kind of like clan name) while one's last me is sort of a patronymic
There's more to it of course.
Anglophone*
Family names tended to be derived from trades that the family was once heavily involved in, as those trades tended to be passed down from father to son. At least among the Anglophone side of things. Given that one side of my family is of Irish descent, their family name is derived from their ancestral clan name.
Thanks for your great work first of all. I've just figured out the meaning of the word Metatron, and it's mind-blowing. I think that will be a great suggestion for a future video, to explore the origins and function of the Metatron, the angel.
Make a video about roman cavalry, the recruiting, training, officer ranks, duties, equipment, pay grades and differences with the infantry!!! There's so little about roman cavalry in youtube!!!
This made me smile. My grandfather from Mistretta was a barber.
I am officially a proud subscriber of this Chanel
Good to have you
As a Christian, and minister,and teacher i find your videos very valuable.love your stuff. Your a very educated person thank you.
Ennius wrote - "Hastati spargunt hastas, fit ferreus imber" ("Hastati hurl hastae, making rain of iron") ... so its kinda implied hastae could be both thrusting spears but also a javelins (or most likely, heavy javelin, that could be used as a spear if needed)... Ennius was a legionary, so he definitely knew his business... much more than any other ancient historian like Polybius or Livy...
Number 1 I knew...
Number 2 I sorta knew a bit...Alexander the Great was the ancient version of Patton. He always wanted his soldiers immaculate perhaps as a way to intimidate his enemies (kinda like the Spartans with their hair)?
Number 3... I knew what a Hastati was but never thought about the gladiator.
Number 4... Knew a lot about the naming conventions but still learned more from this. ☺
Number 5... Knew this from Mary Beard.
Thank you, MT. Great vid (as usual).
Nothing new to me but I've been interested in the Roman army since a child (I'm in my seventh decade). Love your videos and how you break things down, a true historian imho
My biggest surprise is how few servants there were in the army. 8/2? Today it would be like 1/9, if you count all the logistics.
Before the introduction of all the DOD civilians, the US ideal was 1 combat soldier for every 3 support soldiers.
@@jwhippet8313 Yes, but if we include non-uniformed hired help, it's way worse. Most of what we spent in Afghanistan after munitions went to contractors.
They weren´t servants. There no such a thing like servants in Rome era...there were citizerns, non-citizens and slaves. The romans never used slaves in war (they would flee in the chaos) and by law only a citizen could fight for rome. This non-combatant soldiers were non-citizen romans. Sorry, my english is very poor.
@@tunencio7288 Your English is fine by me! Thanks for the explanation.
@@bierce716 The ratio might have been higher before the Marian reforms when Marius had the soldiers carry most of their own gear so they didn't need a large baggage train
When Metatron talks about the Romans, I'm always eager to listen. I've always been fascinated by the Romans and their military.
Is it possible that the acceptability of beards to the Romans could have been connected to age and not just your job? Maybe even beard color, such as gray beards being a potential sign of an elder's wisdom, but other shades seeming similar to barbarian practices? We tend to think of poets and philosophers being older, even though many were actually young when they got to be well known.
No. that is just how you would want it to be.
@@vargenfenrisson1164 Why would I possibly "want it to be" related to age? It has no connection to me, regardless. The video stated that images of some people showed that they did have beards, so maybe it was because of their job... no one knows for sure, so it could have been something else for all we know. Conjecture is fun.
Fascinating to listen to you sir. It makes me wish I were 70 years younger so that I could learn some of this for myself. Being born in Britain we learned very little about Rome in school.
I'd really dig an episode focused on the Roman naming system.
I knew about all of these except for number 1, but I did not know the details and backgrounds very well.
It seems following you for all these years paid off. Great video, Metatron!
Glad to hear!
7:56
Metatron "A lot of ton sores were brought into rome from sicily, why from sicily..."
Me "oh yes, because they bring Cassata and Cannoli with them"
Love your videos. They are very informative and engaging. This is now one of my top channels to watch. Thank you.
I knew of number 3 from a very reliable source. This fantastic channel called Metatron had made a video about it a while ago. ;)
Just a thought about Alexander the Great and his army being clean shaven. At a time when armies did not wear uniforms having your soldiers all shaved might make it easier to tell friend from foe. Especially when you have a large army, with units from different regions and ethnicities, having a very simple distinguishing characteristic common to all your soldiers could be very useful. Just a thought.
It was also to prevent lice.
@Fishy Vagina Maybe they wanted to save time. The kind of hygiene beards require certainly wasn't impossible at the time, but it does take a lot of time to do properly.
I remember hearing that Macedonian soldiers shaved to prevent the enemy from being able to grip their beards while in battle. Whether this is true or whether it's an apocryphal tale like Washington and the cherry tree I don't know.
As for ancient soldiers, yes they never wore uniforms. Matching military uniforms didn't really get running until the late 17th century - before then you either wore what was available or what you could afford, or in the case of the Romans you had standardised equipment (the helmet, armour, shield, sword, and pila all Roman legionaries were supposed to be equipped with) but the equipment itself could look different, hence all the varieties of Imperial Gallic( and other types of ) helmets and loricae for instance.
When radically different cultures met on the battlefield (such as Romans and Alans) this wouldn't be a problem; but during civil wars Romans would differentiate one faction from the other by the colours/insignia/general's name painted on their shields.
I think Tacitus (Don't quote me on this though) mentions that during the Civil War of AD 69 soldiers were able to slip into an enemy camp by exchanging their own shields for the enemy's.
"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius"
Uhm... what?!
Maximus from the 10th clan. They call me "Average".
🤣🤣😂🤣🤣 maybe it's because he's provincial and even though he's a great general still cannot shake his backwater roots in the eyes of true Romans.
Oh, yes, when I watched that movie in that scne Ijust thougt:"Why thr hell did you guys have to fuck up the order of his names ? Decimus Meridius Maximus would make sense..."
I enjoyed your documentary immensely. And it pleased me greatly that you were spot on regarding
the Latin(Roman) military terms, and family names. Great work!
I watched the video twice so then I WOULD already know all the facts, therefore proving Metatron wrong
On a side note (centuria), that was the part of Herbert's Starship Troopers. Where he said that the future wars are handled by only a few selected specialists in high end armored suits and that there are no people in the units that do not fight. Everybody fights, from priest to cook to the commander of the unit. And that was a novel idea because usually the support arm of the army is not involved in combat (usually) and quite large.
The fact that they named their children numbers is an interesting sociological indicator. As Shakespeare said, what is in a name. It would seem to indicate that what an individual was called mattered much less than what they were. In this case the children appear to have represented the future of the family, and would earn their own names, or not.
What's interesting is the personal portraits of Romans that were preserved enough typically had men with scruffy beards like Metatron's and short, cropped hair. I imagine most statues and busts were painted with the scruff painted on versus sculpted, leaving the impression the Romans were more cleanshaven probably than they actually were when the paint-worn statuary was discovered. But, I imagine the Neopolitan society that Rome was constantly changed with the times and had a huge variety in fashion as well.
The situation of why the Hastatii are called the Hastatii is very similar to that of why in the Modern day British army there are the Grenadier Guard which there battle field role is not the same as historical British Grenadiers were which was to act as Heavy Elite Infantry during the 18th century but in the present day there role is to act as Light Infantry and the only reason they have the name of "Grenadier" is merely because of tradition or its just that it sounds cool
@Metatron You ever going to do a review of the total war games? Lots of roman related topics in this.
This was very very well done. As a native English speaker it is a real pleasure to hear you speak the Latin names & words. I studied Latin for two years in high school and English vowels and consonants (and especially the fact that most of our vowels are really diphthongs) simple do not sound right while French, Italian and Greek native speakers make the language come alive.
This was very interesting and provided a lot of insight into their culture.
We are still living with the consequences their culture and policies. For example Israel, the diaspora and even WWII.
I found your channel by accident and have been hooked ever since. I binge watch whenever I can but one topic I haven’t seen is a discussion about the armorers of the Roman Legions. How and where were all their weapons made? Were there armorers who traveled with the Legions? If you have done a video on this topic could you point me to it? Again I thoroughly enjoy all your videos and hopefully will get to see them all one day.
Very good idea, I'll make a video about that in the near future. Thanks for the idea and for watching
@@metatronyt Oh great! Thank you very much. Perhaps the armorer is the unsung hero. An army without weapons isn't an army.
@@resturz By modern media yes, but the further back you go in time, the more of a mystical figure It becomes, particularly in the Bronze and Iron ages. I'll talk in details about It on the video once I get around to producing It.
@@metatronyt I'll look forward to learning more about this. Here in the US we have a show called Forged In Fire. Perhaps you've seen it. Four competitors compete to forge knives out whatever metals the producers provide. The winners of the preliminary rounds then have four days to recreate an historical weapon at their home forges. I see how difficult it is to forge one weapon and am fascinated to learn how you supply a legion and how you you keep the weapons functioning in the field.
Very good collection of not so well known facts. I knew about it, but one should promote a complete knowledge. Thank you for doing that.
Metatron ,I love your show not only is it informative but you always seem to make it humorous as well. I have often wondered about these points you bring out. I feel great satisfaction when I get that " Oh, that's what that means" feeling within. Thank you for not boring me. That's the problem with schools.
Great video, love your cultural examinations.
Legitimately enjoyable content 👌
Romans called Fabius "Cunctator", but the Carthaginians shortened it to "Cunct"
HAHAHA brilliant
Great explanation on roman names, i wonder if you will make one explaining the complex arabic names and surnames
I actually figured out the name/number thing myself back in high school when I first started using my knowledge of Spanish to guess what Latin phrases meant. I have a friend named Octavio and I always picture him as having seven older brothers, even though I know he doesn't. :)
This has as always been an instructive source of information about the glorious Rome. This man really knows how to share his fascination for the subject.
I love listening to your videos while drawing. I actually get stuff done for once. XD
I knew about the naming system from Colleen McCullough's "The First Man in Rome" series of books. I can highly recommend them, even if I cannot vouch for their complete authenticity, but she seems to have done her homework.
Knew about 5, 2 and 1, but didn't know about the Hastati or shaving ones. Fun little video!
I love your videos, you are my favorite historical channel on youtube. PLease keep up your good work :) I am always happy once new video is released :) Salute from Slovakia
I knew 3 and 4. I grew up in Rome Ga. USA. Which has a statue of Romulus, Remus, and the she wolf presented by the sister city of Rome Italy by Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini before the war. WWII
Les go upload on my birthday
So u born in same day of Octavian August
Happy Birthday !
@@jefferynelson thanks man!
This was an awesome video! 👌 the only fact i already knew was the one about the Hastati
Well 96 Men, 1 Centurio, 1 signiver, 1Optio and 1 Tesserarius makes a 100 men.
I knew all those facts because I've been (binge) watching your channel for a while. :)
I like your videos but I have to point out one mistake you made in this one. The statue you called Ares (also known as Mars in Roman mythology) is actually representation of god Serapis-Pluto from Heraklion Archaeological Museum on Crete (originally from town Gortyna). Btw, in Greek art Ares was depicted as a young beardless man (so basically mistake n. 2) ;-)
Nice video as always, great work.
But I shall suggest you take a diferent camera angle? You look like the Red Queen
Grazie Mille!! always fun to watch!
On Roman naming: have you seen the names of the princes in Stardust?
I also already knew about the semi short Centuries, and maybe one other as I recall.
Great videos as always
This was so interesting, great video
I'm glad I subscribed to this channel.
Fascinating. Thanks yet again.
Yay, another video to add to the library of Chadness.
Always a good day ahead after learning something from Metatron.
So , it is really interesting top of facts ! Thank you for this video !
Hi, long-time viewer and fellow Roman aficionado here.
I wanted to ask for your source for the first fact. It's something that I've come across before but I've had issues tracking down the origin of it. From what I've read it seems to originate from Jonathan P. Roth, 'The Logistics of the Roman Army at War', in which he postulates a 4 to 1 ratio for combatants and non-combatants in a Roman legion. Is this your source, or have there been some new discoveries that I, potatohead that I am, have missed?
Great video as always!
The thing with The namens was The only thing I Knew, we die it at school in Latin, the Other Things were new to me, verry interesting.
Well, huge part of Alexander's campaign after a point was in desert lands. Having a thick beard under the sun plus armor isn't the most comfortable thing.
and mountains. and jungle.
@Kaiya Raina Slaves also received payment. Sometimes more than their "free" counterparts.
"Servus" means servant, there is no word for "slave".
Slavery in ancient times was very different from slavery during colonialism...
7:22 - now I have an image I can't get out of my head of a metal band singing in Latin.
I have seen many of these "X facts you didn't know about" videos in TH-cam before, always noticing that the video tells many facts I DID know already. This time video was _almost_ an exception, as I did know about the Roman naming system. Still, four out of five is not a bad result, and I still leaned new things about the nature of a Roman _cognomen_. Well done, Metatron.
for fun fact 2: this one in particular I already knew about, because the same thing is the case with many clan-based north indian groups. Singh for example is actually titular. While it is officially my surname, I do also have a gens, a patrilineal family name, based on an individual who allegedly founded this bloodline. very cool video!
Finally a solid answer on roman naming.
Now I'm really curious about what "Caesar" stands for. It became synonymous with "Emperor" or "Ruler", but that's after Caesar and Octavian, but at the time o Caesar what did this name stood for
Just to be specific on my question:
Gaius - His personal name
Julius - Family name, the gens Julia
Caesar - ???????
@@matheusmterra If I am not mistaken Caesar is related to _caesaries_ , meaning _hair_ and especially long, flowing, luxuriant hair. Which helps to explain why Caius Iulius Caesar was reportedly somewhat irked by his own baldness.
@@MarzoVarea thank you! I was trying to search this on my own and I only found stuff relating to the meaning of Caesar after the emperors, when the name became synonymous with Emperor or Ruler. Everywhere I looked ir was the only meaning I've found, and some really misguided sources claiming that "Caesar" was his family name
"Etymologically, Caesar is of disputed origin, and is traced back to some Latin terms, such as caesaries ("hair", "mop", therefore "with many hairs") or caesus ("cut", referring to the caesarean birth with which Caesar himself would have been born) or Etruscans, such as aisar ("great", "divine"). It is more probable, however, that his origin is indeed Etruscan, but by now indecipherable."
Translated from: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_(nome)#:~:text=Origine%20e%20diffusione,-Si%20tratta%20di&text=Etimologicamente%2C%20Caesar%20%C3%A8%20di%20origine,%22%2C%20%22divino%22).
@@borealis8uno this is great! Thanks a lot
Great once again. I find learning more about the ancient world of the Romans fascinating.
Thank you for illustrating an important rule for studying history: things change from time period to time period and from place to place. And, its corollary linguistic rule: sometimes names do not change, although the thing itself has changed. Some historians give the feeling like "over this long period and this gigantic area nothing changed and it was the same everywhere." For an exaggerated example, "Throughout the Middle Ages (a 1000-year period) everyone everywhere (the whole earth?) never lived past 35 years old." (Obviously not true, but you still hear people talk like this.)
I didn't know all but I knew several about the Military designation according to the weapon ... Nice Video ...
Hey Metatron, can we get a video on wine through history one day? I'd like your take on it
All new information to me. Thank you!!
Thanks for the great info. By the way, I love your shirt. Do you have any in your store?
I don't understand people who give dislikes to such videos. Raph is doing a great job educating people on history.