29:06 Firat emperor takes Rome from a city of Brick, and leaves it a city of Marble. Domitian inherited a city of Ashes, and sought to leave it a city of Concrete.
Domitian was a great administrator but his style of just getting it done really raised the curtains on how useless the Senate had really become. Its a shame no emperor tried to make the Senate a place that could breed strong future emperors, a sort of symbiosis, but the obvious fear was the stronger the Senate, the more likely Rome is gonna fall into endless war with so many who think they can run it all themselves, but since that happened anyways, they might have snuffed that out.
@@robertgiles9124 yeah but he was the only Emperor who did what no emperor including Augustus never did . He cracked the code of curing inflation and his administration and government was the cleanest and most honest of any ruler in history .
@@robertgiles9124 everyone in those days were a killer get over it. It was the way of the world. Now look at men soft wanting to be women it's disgusting and pathetic. I rather live with a bunch of killers then what's happened now. 100%
Dear sir, I have read alot of your comments, do NOT pay any attention to the ones criticizing you on the quality of the recordings...yes, their right, but don't take it to heart. My wife gave money to you last night. We LOVE you!! Very educational!! My wife wears the pants, I will say that, never seen her give money to anyone. She did you...
Trajan made it all the way to the Persians gulf?!... It was never gonna work, but The idea of having a Roman-Parthian Empire, was so insane and ambitious, that only 3 people had ever planned on doing it. Crassus, Caesar and Trajan. And I can't believe Trajan (if only for a brief moment in time) got it done.
Domitian made me think of "what if" Stannis Baratheon from Game of Thrones became King. Thank you for uploading these. I listen to them while I am running in the gym. Very interesting and very easy to pass time.
It's interesting to see how Rome transitioned from its Republican model of governance to the now familiar feudal models of governance we see later on. The moving courts of kings, 'the holy touch' of kings, and let's not forget the myriad other ways in which successors in Europe strove to emulate their Roman fore-bearers.
What's striking to me is how far ahead the Romans were when it came to logistics. The Arabs and Vikings did a pretty great job themselves but you don't see it centralized again until the Mongols explode onto the geopolitical scene.
In Romania the former Dacia we still consider ourselfes true romans on account of our language beeing the closest to latin in the world. Some tho believe to ba dacians 😂😂
Romanian is not the closest to latin. Sardinian is, then italian. Romanian is the least similar. The influence of slavic is what made the vulgar latin speakers of Dacia Felix depart so much from their linguistical brethren....it doesn't stop us from thinking of ourselves as true romans, though :))))
@@deathsheadknight2137 Basically, yes! XD Well... You know.. it would have been a matter of time before the Romans found an excuse like : "Oh!!! A dacian merchant stepped on soldier's caligae! WAAAAAARRRR!!!"
The Divine Comedy is a brilliant piece of literature and Dante pretty much single handedly created Italian literature. As I recall he also had one of the Popes in hell but I forget which one, and Virgil, who was his guide through the Inferno and Purgatorio, could not enter Paradiso, so Beatrice had to guide him from there.
- Timaeus - I can't believe you just ruined the ending to inferno! I was going to finally get around to reading that next week... or maybe the week after 🙄
Pope Francisco said that this year or last year plus slot of other weird things. Many Boniface and Francis will be chilling together in the 8th circle.
When Domitiian is shuffled off, an emperor, immediately after Titus’s death, I imagine a movie scene with mr blue sky playing and domitian galavanting around the massive palace complex just smiling his ass off. All with titus on the floor in the background with women crying and the praetorian guard kneeling next to their new emperor.
Trajan was known all across the land for his 'champion cucumbers' but it was his 'marra's (marrows) that received critical acclaim. It's not known to this day how he took on his thick Yorkshire accent.
I actually think he was a fantastic emperor and was ahead of his time. The best emperors to come after the bad times all didnt give a shit about the senate and some like diocletian didnt even go to rome for years. the senate was nothing but rich power hungry men fighting like it is now and always will be when the government is made up that way.
I feel he is in the top 20 fore sure. Feel he did Just as much good as bad so it's difficult to place him. Over all he's. Meh. compared to others. I feel Titus still would have done better and extended the Flavian influence and dynastic rule nicely. But then Trajan would have never happened and he's my favorite monarch from the gentiles after only Cyrus the Great.
@Snaggle Toothed Hard to forgive Hadrian for having Lucius Quietus put to death. Quietus performed brilliantly in Trajan's stupid Parthian War, and deserved a better fate.
It's amazing that Rome was able to adapt to inclusion of its provincial citizens into the highest levels of office. Whereas the Papacy and its attendant College of Cardinals,- that Gibbon tended to think of as the extension of the line of emperors and the senate, barely included anyone not of the Roman or Italian aristocracy. There was one German Pope in the late middle ages and the Borgia Pope Alexander 4, of a transplanted Spanish noble family. Those are the only two I can think of until the middle of the 20th century. The Este's, of Villa fame, were French -but I don't think the Villa ever got the cardinal the triple crown he wanted. But that villa is still wonderful and still spewing part of a diverted river. BTW - I've tried online to find out something about them, but I don't think the Government of Italy really knows how the plumbing works for all those fountains. The Itailns were sate of the art fountain makers and even Louis XIV imported some Florentines to advise on Versailles. I'm surprised that Mike Duncan didn't mention that Domitian was responsible for the Palatine Palace. All the senators had lavish villas and town houses but when an Emperor built them they were considered mad? Being strict, no welfare except for bread and circuses, and that still meant the grain went to the great houses too and you had to be allied with one of them - there was no other way to spread more of the wealth that tended always to go to the top and never return. Money spent on the civic improvements tended to build things that lasted hundreds of years and required exquisite care and attention, whereas the money - so much more - was eaten up by the military for much flimsier construction that was not nearly as refined - except for some fortified walls, and was of little use except to destroy productive capacity. If you weren't a merchant or shop keeper or workmen or slave - there wasn't much else you could do to pay your bills. Rome was still basically an agriculturally based economy. Or you spent you spare sons on the gamble of the military and hope the terms of service weren't changed on you in mid career and you actually got a plot of farm land to call your own. The Romans were so bipolar but so has been the 20th century. The 21st isn't looking much different so far either. When it came to sanity in civil administration - who could really call the kettle coo coo?
Dude, when Trajan invaded Dacia he was in comand of 14 legions not 4.and in the winter of 101/102 the dacians retreated from Moesia after the battle of Adamclisi when the emperors guard had to enter the battle and at the end it is said that Trajan had to tear his mantle to make bandages for the wounded such was the intensity of the battle.also the fact that the roxolanii cavalry appeared on the scene showed Trajan that first he needed time to isolate Diurpaneus a.k.a Decebalus so he accepted a temporary peace
Even 15 legions. But most of them were not complete legions but so called "vexillationes", so detachments. They counted about one or two cohorts, so at best 1200 soldiers, although they contained battle-tested veterans. The idea of using only small units instead of whole legions has to do with logistics and security of other frontiers in the empire. Yes, you are right, Trajan noticed that he had to isolate Decebalus from his Sarmatian allies, which he accomplished during the peace between his first and second Dacian campaign. One thing I have to correct is your identification of Decebalus with Diurpaneus. Latter was a separate person, a Dacian chief. If he was a king, he reigned merely over a realm along the Olt river and resided in the Dacian city Buridava (nowadays Ocnita in Romania).
@@TheTrajanator Diurpaneus is Decebalus.During the battle of Tapae of 87 , Diurpaneus was was a local chieftain under king Duras and he was responsible for the ambush that wiped out the Legio V Alaudae.after the battle he replaced king Duras under unknown circumstances, at least that is the general consensus among romanian historians and what is taught in school.Decebalus is clearly stipulated to be a nickname meaning strong as 10 by a roman historian, Cassius Dio i think, not very sure.also the roman historians mentioned that the army mobilized by Trajan was around 120 000 men.unfortunately since De bello dacico, Tranjans book a out the wars is lost, alot is still speculation
@@mirceapintelie361 Yes, I heard from that identification. New researches although decline it. Diurpaneus was the initiator of the first Dacian war during the reign of Domitian. If I remember correctly Diurpaneus invaded the province Moesia 82 or maby 83 CE and gained a victory over the provincial army and the provincial governeur, who was killed by the invaders. Then Domitian arrived with troops and managed to repel Diurpaneus over the Danube. Then Domitian ordered Cornelius Fuscus to cross the Danube and fully subdue Diurpaneus, which failed - but as far as I know, not a whole legion was crushed, because there is one source, I think its Cassius Dio who tells it, that surviving soldiers asked the emperor to lead them against the Dacians, so that they can redeem their disgrace. This second Roman offensive under the command of Marcus Cornelius Nigrinus was successfull and even Diurpaneus was killed. Domitians 13th imperator acclamtion on the coins, minted in the year 86 CE, is a good indicator for that. Decebalus was proclaimed king of all Dacians after the defeat and death of Diurpaneus, which led to the next Roman offensive commanded by Tettius Iulianus in the year 88 - why there has been a one year break? Mostly for troop rallying and administrating the two new Moesian provinces. The battle of Tapae 88 was a Roman victory though the Romans retreated due to the upcoming winter. In the year 89 Decebalus became a vassal king of the Roman Empire due to the peace treaty between him and Domitian. So sorry, for the very long comment.
Antoninus is generally believed to have had sons of his own, but respected Hadrian's wishes in the matter of the imperial succession (he was a pious man as we know from his name). One of my many beefs with Trajan is that he did not name any successor, a dereliction of duty which led to the death of Lucius Quietus, put to death by a nervous Hadrian.
I can excuse it since Hadrian was also a fantastic emperor, but really Hadrian and Augustus were the only ones who thought hard about succession. The others either neglected it, had poor choices, or had some half baked scheme that ended badly almost immediately (think the Tetrarchy or Constantine and Theodosius's succession plans)
The first part of Rome's peak, covered with admirable thoroughness here. Trajan, of course, belongs in everyone's S Tier of Roman emperors. It's instructive to see that Trajan remained the ultimate model in later Roman eras for an emperor to try to emulate, even more so than Augustus himself. Btw, my own S Tier is short and sweet: Augustus, who invented the whole thing, followed by Trajan, then Hadrian (probably the most individually brilliant of them all), followed by Diocletian. Domitian, incidentally, remains underrated (though Jones' thorough and scholarly book has helped change that) - I'd put him in A Tier, despite his (frankly justified) paranoia and his megalomania. I'm not sure Trajan's splendid successes occur without the dour competence from the spindly-legged "lord and god" who came before.
@@TheCaesarion No! Because of Commodus, and because he knew better. I'd put him low A or even B. It's great that our culture still engages with his famous little book on philosophy, but he dropped the "merit system" that he and his brother benefitted from, and set the stage for permanent monarchy.
I believe Trajan's bridge was disassembled by Hadrian. Trajan's bridge had a stone and morter substructure, with a timber superstructure. It was 3,724 feet long(1,135 m). Hadrian disassembled the timber superstructure. Aurelian demolished the stone substructure to prevent the Goths from building a new bridge atop it. Constantine built a much longer bridge east of Trajan's, near Nicopolis. It was 7,995 feet long(2,437 m), with 3,730 feet(1137 m) actually crossing the river. It was similar, with masonry piers, and a timber superstructure. It was likewise demolished shortly thereafter.
@@ThexVaultxTech WRONG. Timaeus is the person posting these here, because the real podcast is fricking impossible to find nowadays! I actually tried to buy the damn thing, couldn't even find a working link except iTunes (who the fuck even has an iTunes account I am not a time traveller from 2007)! Mike Duncan, if you see this hidden RU-vid comment replying to another guys crouching comment beneath a years old reupload of your work, please fix this shit so I can hand you my money!
@@doublem1975x That's cool, I didn't want to found easily for free (already *did* found easily for free, after all), I would have preferred to found easily a way to pay Mike Duncan as my post said, but since he has some strange outdated setup for selling his podcasts, couldn't found easily a storefront that works for me.
@@slavemonkey5063 Just made a typo, no need to be a prick about it. Just cos you had trouble finding a very easily accessible podcast and rightfully feel dumb doesn’t mean you should take it out on me.
Considering that this was the fourth emperor that was assassinated (there was Caligula, Galba, and Vitellius, but Claudius was probably poisoned, so this might be the fifth - and there are more unnatural deaths considering the suicides of Nero and Otho - Vespasian got dysentery, but he was 69), I decided to pause the video for when Professor Duncan announced Domitian's death with the playing of the rather unceremonious "Another One Bites the Dust" (1980) by Queen. Only 11 emperors thusfar, and at least 4 have been murdered already. Goodness gracious me.
Have been listening this series now and then from the start and have to admit, that I'm getting pretty hyped about the "five good emperors" still coming. (Writing this while Domitian is getting to hustle.)
Also does He have the Republic's history and the Kingdom cutie state history and when they were under Etrurian rule I want to clear that whole history up it's foggy for me. Did Rome descend from Troy I hope so that would mean that in the end Troy conquered Greece😀. Also do you have another civilization's history?
First emperor from the Roman province hispania. I have been to his place in Spain where he was born and raised. Italica right near Seville. Awesome ruins.
If only the Han Imperial Ambassador reached Rome in AD97 during the 1st year of Traianvs's Reign the achievements the Hans and Romans would have done is a wonder to think about. I do know the matter that the Ham ambassador was sent was to gain more land influence and dominance over central Asia. They wanted Rome's help hearing that their was a Powerful Empire in the far west that rivaled the Hans in size and influence in AD74. They just had to make contact with "Great China" as they called Rome in ancient Manderin. This being said the Partisans and the empire situated in Afghanistan at that time forgot the name would have been divided by the Han and Roman Empires It would have been so Interesting. The ambassador made it as far as the Persian Gulf and was obviously not able to speak Greek, Persian or Latin so he was given misinterpreted info on how to sail to Rome. One sailor offered to sail him to Roman Egypt which he declined intent to get straight to the Capital of Great China the City of Roma. Another sailor offered to Sail him all the way around the Arabian peninsula and Africa but warned it could take 3 months to 2 years depending on the seas. Not aware that Rome and Parthia shared a boarder in the northern Euphrates region and not aware of the Arabian peninsula, Africa and the Geography of the west he concluded on the banks of the Persian Gulf that Great China they had been studying for over 20 years was across a vast ocean to far to be any help to Han affairs in central Asia. The ambassador got home sick stuck far from home in a foreign land that spoke a weird language. He went back to the Han provinces just north west of Afghanistan. And the Han never tried to make contact with this Empire of Marble and fair trade in the far west they called Great China. Only a mere 40 days walk or 10 to 15 day sail up the Euphrates River he would have reached Syria and could have sailed from their. But he was not aware of this geographical short cut. Trajan and the Emperor of the Han would have been good friends I assume.
Only 1 to 2 weeks sail away from Roman Egypt as well the ambassador was not aware of the peninsula of Arabia this probably misinterpreting this as well he was not aware of just how vast Rome really was. A pity with the help of the Han. Trajan would have had major help pushing to India. Look up the video of this could this could have been historical event on RU-vid. Just use some of the info I've given above you should find it. The guy talks a bit slow so you could up the vid speed a bit if you like absorb it nice and slow.
I heard the Parthians purposely misled this diplomatic group because it was not at all in their best interests to be cut out of their middle man position in the silk road trade network. It would've been most interesting to see what could've happened if the Han had accomplished their mission.
@@hailalexander93 I think it was specifically the merchants of Charax, who stood to lose their middleman position if direct Chinese/ Roman contact was established.
What Roma? If so, it is. But it's only roughly the 17th largest Empire in history. Darius's Iranian Empire is about 13th France 8th Spain is 4th Mongols are about 2nd British are 1st Hitler get 19th if you include Italy into his domain.
as a romanian its hard to listen to the way how you pronounce Dacia or dacians, ”c” in the name is pronounced as in name Claudius or Caligula, i understand its the english pronounciation. if you look at all mesages here in coments, can you try to use the proper name as their descendants say it? your chanel is the best and i like it, dont stop only on roman history, do other histories of other nations!
You are right. Caesar should be pronounced with a "hard" "C" too and "ae" should be pronounced like "eye". So Caesar should be pronounced like"Kaiser", although no one does this in English. That is what happens when Classical Latin and Church Latin start to be interchanged with each other.Alas, there is no "K" in the Latin alphabet which causes more confusion with English pronouncement of Latin words. The pronouncement of plural words is even worse. Octopus/Octopi should pronounced like "Octo-pee". The plural of Alumnus is written as Alumnae. It should be written Alumni, although it never is. Alumnus is a masculine noun. The plural of a masculine noun ends in "i". The plural of a feminine noun ends in "ae". It should be written as Alumnus/Alumni for men and Alumna/Alumnae for women. Universities, of all institutions, should know better.
Hey... if you ever want a new musical intro I’d love to write something for you... I’m a huge fan of the series and I’m sure you’re on to other things. But if you need original music I could write you anything you want. Just sayin. It’d be cool to be a part of something I’m super down with...
Ben Mills yeah, I know it’s Mike Duncan’s podcast. I’ve listened to all episodes many times. It’s fantastic. But maybe Timeaus could use music. Or maybe Mr Duncan will see it. Or someone else. Doesn’t hurt to throw it out there. Lol.
Dark Souls 2 anyone? I think Trajan would be the kind of King that retires to Majula :), over looking Heides Tower of Flame and the brilliant Sea, his sprit ever vigilant of ships that may sail with Attacking Giants.....and Ichigo from Bleach will be there too..... here's the Majula Music because I know you want to hear it again: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D8ShsHeYkeI.html
Mike did just that as his series got up and running with a loyal and growing fan base. A beautiful evolution from personal hobby for self satisfaction to a tremendous public listening hit. Personally I really enjoy that raw, personal presentation.👍😊
Incredible modern revision. And by that I mean on a religious basis you've decided you know better than people who actually knew and lived during the life of. Either you are parroting your Jesuit education or you have an agenda.
Just like a liberal to say something like that....enjoy his take on the time he put into studying this part of history for what it is, it's his OPINION, keep yours to yourself. You don't have to watch it. Or make a video yourself..
Trump is more like Vespasian. He defeated a crowded field of combatants and came to power after a terrible leader who had greatly weakend the cohesion and strength of the nation he inherited( Referencing Nero, not really Vitellus).
To be fair, the Washington swamp is too deep and too toxic and too extensive to drain fully. Virtually no President, namely Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama, and now Trump, has ever been able to do this, and sadly that’s not likely to change in the near future.
