What to do if Romans capture your city
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:34 Progress of a siege
1:55 Looting and violence
3:42 Recorded atrocities
4:45 Captives
5:27 BetterHelp
6:36 Surviving a Roman sack
7:13 Where to hide
8:27 What to do if you're captured
9:20 Advice for women
10:09 The fate of captives
Finally! My city has been sacked by the Roman 3 times during the last decade. I finally know what to do the next! Thanks, toldinstone!
It’s Vikings for my city. They show up any time someone says “Spam.”
“Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam!”
SHADDAP! Bloody Vikings!
RIP Baghdad
xddddd@@ThatGuy182545
FYI, if your city so happens to also be attacked by Scythians, just build a wall around it, they won’t know what to do
If you've survived 3 sacks, I'm not sure there's much more for you to learn on how to survive them, you must already be the world expert.
"oh, no, i'm not with them. i was just passing through" - works every time, 60% of the time.
😂
On latin, please! Otherwise you will be just a barbarian to them.
@@chris-lk4ml "Oh, non, non sum cum illis. i iustus pertranseundo" there you go, that should definitely work.
@@chris-lk4mldepends on whether youre dealing with the 1/3+ of the legions who were socii or auxiliaries, at which point Latin sounds like any language :)
@@Rynewulf R̶o̶m̶a̶n̶e̶s̶ ̶e̶u̶n̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶m̶u̶s̶ Romani ite domum
It's a sad state of affairs when local councils/law enforcement are so bad that videos like this have to exist. Thank you for your help.
Our local tax dollars are wasted on schools and roads with no thought to protecting against Rome.
How about protecting from the barbarians from south of our border?!?
Or perhaps having a wall with troops to guard against the invading barbarian hordes that come to bring chaos?!
What the fuck does this even mean…
@Justsomeguyyuyu ironic! bcuz it doesn't look like they're paying much care to the roads either 😋
@@kurtschmidt5005oh no, not the low income workers who are explicitly brought in by the conservative politicians to do our cleaning and cooking and construction for less than minimum wage
Currently watching this from inside a cistern. I can still hear the Roman soldiers looting above me, but thankfully I know roughly how much longer I have to stay down here, thanks to you, toldinstone. Will keep you guys updated if you guys are curious!
I'm sorry but a heavy rain is expected and the cistern may be flooded soon. Good luck to you. 😌
@@Kenan-Z That is not good to hear. The rain has arrived and washed away half of my family already. But thankfully I am holding onto a statue of fat gladiator so I may still survive. Will continue to keep you posted!
praying for you friend 🙏 why not make sure you're subscribed to TiS while you wait things out
oh & make sure to ring that bell! *NO NOT **_THAT_** BELL! OH GODS!! QUICK HIDE!*
@@the_birthday_skeleton after you rung the bell, I was immediately forced deeper into hiding. I cannot explain to you the grief and anguish you have caused me with this tomfoolery. That being said, I am a loyal follower of TiS and will be until the day these soldiers find me.
@@the_birthday_skeleton also I will report you to the emperor for praying.
This video came out just in time. My city was just sacked and I had no idea what to do!
Your president must be removed from office, as its his fault.
@cuddles1767🫵🏽🤡
First thing I would do if my city was sacked by Romans would be to look for the time machine they traveled in.
Martius, we must go back to the future!
@spinocus and here i thought the op's was funny af.
🤣 bravo, doc 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Rome still exists and people there are still Romans, outside of their home country they live in tabors and sing pretty cool songs, though a lot of locals discriminate against them, in part because they refuse to assimilate.
@@KasumiRINA - but they haven't sacked a city in a few years. So if my city was sacked, I would look for a time machine.
they were simply biding their time
A fascinating topic! It's important to note that Roman siegecraft was not constant, it evolved with the centuries. In the early and mid republic they had little-to-no knowledge of siege engines or advanced siege tactics, and could do no more than starve cities with strong stone walls into submission. With the conquest of Sicily, and then encounters with the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the East, Roman proficiency grew rapidly, and quickly overtook that of the Greeks. By the time of Julius Caesar, it had reached its pinnacle; when applied in force to Gallic or Britannic _oppida_ (well fortified, but primitive in design compared to the great Eastern cities) the result was virtually pre-ordained. In the latter Imperial period, the requisite skill and knowledge might have regressed somewhat, simply because fewer wars than before involved capturing strong fortified settlements. Hatra, for example, in Mesopotamia resisted many Roman sieges, and it's tempting to think that an Amelianus or Sulla would have found a way in (although this is naturally just conjecture).
Roman history was long and varied, while it is necessary to generalise to fit the core ideas in a short video, going beyond that to explore its subtleties and evolutions is well worth the effort.
A lot of people would disagree with your opinion Roman sieges were planned and sophisticated by the standards of their time.
@@johndorilag4129 Roman sieges in which period? The fact that you don't mention which part of Roman history you're talking about makes it look like you completely missed the point of the comment.
@@QuantumHistorian You said during parts of the Republican era they don't have any knowledge of sieges. Which Roman sieges do you have in mind?
@@johndorilag4129 The Siege of Syracuse comes to mind: they could do nothing but attempt to starve the city out, being barely able to even blockade the city. Their eventual success relied on first waiting for the Syracusans to get drunk to take the outer walls, and then take 8 more months just to capture the inner citadel. The Siege of Capua was similarly no more sophisticated than "encircle and wait". Going further back than that, the 1st Punic war is full of examples of the Romans being unable to take fortified cities if subterfuge (aka, someone opening the gates from the inside) or blockading didn't work. It took the Romans 8+ years of siege to _not_ capture Lilybaeum, although that was admittedly a tough nut to crack. Going back even further, there's the Siege of Neapolis, where both assault and blockade failed to work for the Romans whose eventual success came down to treachery. The same story holds back in the earlier republic in the Etruscan wars: sieges come down either to treachery or a negotiated outcome.
All that to say that, before 200 BC, there's little evidence of the use of large scale siege works or artillery in Roman sieges, something which had been happening in the Hellenistic world since the days of Philip II and Alexander. Or even of the siege towers that the Assyrians had used half a millennia before that. A comparison between, say, the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC and Jerusalem in 70 AD shows just how much Roman siege knowledge and technology had evolved.
Earlier Roman success before that mostly came down to either: being able to garner sympathisers on the inside, or using their superior logistical system to maintain the siege for years. Often those were very effective, but they're not the sophisticated siegecraft of the late Republic and Imperial period for which they are famous.
@@QuantumHistorian but they had siege engines at syracuse. only reason syracuse lasted that long was because of genius of pythagoras
I've actually always wondered about what it was really like when a city got sacked and what people did
Google "Mariupol" tho that's closer to Mongol invasion.
I was just thinking about the Roman Empire today.
Most of us do
And here I thought, "Take your pants off and act casual." was going to be tip #1.
-Run.
-Run faster.
Garrett, I just returned to the US from Italy today after having toured 7 cities in 8 days. I was also in Portugal and Spain in November. Needless to say, my interest in the history of the ancient Mediterranean has skyrocketed thanks to these trips, and your work has been very helpful for my understanding of the Greco-Roman world. You are by far my favorite Classicist on CZcams!
Which city or site was your favourite from all those countries?
I think it would be a toss up between Genoa and Florence--both in Italy. These cities have some of the most amazing architecture, art, and history I've ever experienced. But the south of Portugal was also really nice for its little Mediterranean towns along the coast. @@zxera9702
Could be worse, could be British tourists.
I can't think to any Roman history topic that would jive well with online therapy advertisements. Cleverly though, many in the audience of Roman history would benefit from said therapy. Well played.
I love how you personalize the topics, makes me feel like I could be there!
Can we have a tutorial on what to do if the Huns and Germans sack our cities?
Run away if they’re German. Pray if they’re Huns
@turcopolo What if your city is sacked by urban actors?
Ask Mallorca
@@MasterMalrubius shout out "Mobster! Wedding! Starbucks!" and watch their improv skit
Mongels? I guess watch out for your land.
Thanks for the heads up!
Your voice helps me concentrate :) keep up the great work
Keep up the awesome work, Garrett 👍
Great video topic. I really enjoyed this one. Thank you for all the hard work and deep thinking. 🤔 ⚔️
You're very welcome, and your generosity is deeply appreciated!
What I find fascinating is how we idolize the Roman army and its conquests. This videos does something very important, I believe, in providing a reality check in showing how brutal, violent, vicious and downright inhumane - to our 21st century eyes - that conquest was.
Let's imagine for a second that your city is taken, you take refuge inside your home with your wife and daughters, a group of soliders breaks in and... you know the rest.
You are left to bleed out there and there while you hear the cries of your family taken away; they all become slaves in Roman brothels, even your youngest who's barely 11 years old.
And then, centuries later, your descendants think of the Roman army as being super cool, and their era of conquest being totally awesomesauce.
Isn't that weird? Ironic, at least.
No not at all. Romans did not Invent sacking cities. Sacking cities was going on for hundreds of years before Rome existed.. You think the "Fall of Troy" was not a Sacking of Troy?
The "Bronze Age Collapse" had Sacking Galore.
What about Cyrus and Babylon?
What about Alexander and Thebes?
Sacking cities is not a "Dark Side" of Romans warfare, it was part of warfare for EVERYONE.
What is weird is people who sacked cities crying like babies when their city gets sacked. THAT is weird.
Lets not even get into China and what they did to Cities. Or a few centuries after the Romans and what the Mongols did. Mongols, Now there is a perfect example. Mongols learn how to Sack cities from China. And then they perfected it.
Rome only conquered places that tried to conquer them. Same with Alexander who only responded to Greek invasions.
@@Art-is-craft america only goes to war when its attacked too isnt that just pleasntly convienient
@@grabowski5348
America has everything it needs all by it self. Americans are not interested in resources elsewhere.
That’s because we’re the descendants of the Romans and their conquests, and look well at them and not say the Muslims or Mongols.
What perfect timing professor! I’m about halfway thru your “Naked Statues” book, cleared all those quality of life issues that make reading it such a pleasure (perhaps not equal to roasted dormice dunked in honey) but now I’m on to guts and glory! Human sacrifice! Fortified cities fall to Roman ballista, spies and the secret police! What can I say except thank you for this one! I’ve kept myself on a rigid leash: no more than one chapter a day! That is unless you can manage a few more books I need more podcasts!
Ps the footnotes and anecdotes are the best - but do you find that they engender more questions than you anticipated???
he's not a professor
Would love to see annotations of the artwork used in videos! The pieces are always stunning and it'd be nice to be able to find more based on title.
You are the only intro audio I like... Great video as always
A title that speaks to the hearts of all men
Hahahaha
I never clicked so fast
*See’s Romans about to attack my City.* *Sends messenger to them saying I gladly surrender because I’m not a fool.*
Modern Roman soccer hooligans are just as bad as the British ones. So if they have the opportunity they might sack your city in the near future.
You joke, but civilians inside the wall making behind the back deals with the invaders to open the doors and surrender the city are well attested to in history. Most famously, Constantinople is said to ultimately have fallen this way.
Great topic 🔥
Hey mate, I missed you at that book signing You did down at city lit lit in Chicago.
I was able to get a signed copy though!
Love it so far, and love the series. If ya do another I'll come and grab another mate
Found your channel from the colab with general Sam. Love your content and ma fav forehead fables guest
A centurion just stopped by my city,l with some info. We have about 30 minutes before the assault so Im gonna watch this.
This stunts me. My mind is a whirlwind of probable outcomes as a woman, and there aren’t many outcomes 😢
well you live in the 2020s. lucky your ancestors had the skills of self preservation bc you’re here today to type your comments.
Fascinating as always, thanks. I always thought that the takeover of Maiden Castle was a peaceful one?
Hey speaking of gold losing value due to mass amounts coming from Jerusalem, would you mind making a video on how basic economic goods fluctuated in value? Like gold to wood to marble to clay, imports and exports, wine and such? I'm trying to formulate a fantasy economy but don't really have a clear foundation on how to value each resource in comparison to one another. Modern economic value doesn't help and neither does playing too much Civ VI lol
Well this was cheery. 😊🎉
Watching this omw to a convention in Japan I doubt I'll need this anytime soon
rome was so unbelievably cruel
Hey I would like to request you give a guide on how to sack a city well next, thank you.
The Brutti of Petelia are not worried about Rome. The other Brutti tribes and Himilco have been besieging my home for a while now.... PLEASE HELP US!
Lovely the coins of the Brutti. I was in Xativa , Spain , where Himilce gave birth to Hannibal's son. Velia and Paestum were sublime.
I love these videos! Have you made one about how you would befriend Roman elites and aristocrats yet?
Even though it shows my age with how long it’s been around, I always love me some “All your base are belong to us” memes.
"Hail, Caesar! 🙋" always worked for me
At the very first whiff of the Romans being interested in the place of my birth, I'm off to go volunteer for the legions. I'll be well away from the siege when it happens, or at the very least on the winning side of the walls! Principles are for dead men.
Better dead than Red.
sweet new told in stone on a friday!
Better save this just in case.
3:20 Javelinist hit the bullseye 🎯
Hi!! Love your channel
I remember watching the All Your Base Are Belong to Us back in college when it first came out.
We get signal.
What happen?
Good times
Hi Garrett, I love your videos and really enjoy when you use neoclassical art in them, but sometimes I want to look up a painting you've used.
Would it be possible to include a small notation in the corner including the title of the artwork you show?
Worth noting is speculation that Roman practices in regards of warfare were very often considered "civilised ". Practices pre- dating Rome were far worse and there is some archeological evidence for that .
Can you share some of that evidence? The Greeks seemed to think that the Roman practices during/after a sack where more brutal than their own.
Citations please
I dread the thought of Romans screaming “Bogor delenda est” 😭
I wonder what differences there are if any between Roman sacks and Gothic Hunnic or Gallic sacks
well despite your advice i got myself captured, again :(, but thanks to betterhelp my time in captivity will now be mighty productive!
At moments like this it would appropriate to ponder on the great Kenny Rogers "know when to hold'em know when to skedaddle"
Josephus: one of the few leaders of Rome’s enemies who survived a siege by them
Sound advice, I’ll try and remember this for future reference …
After watching your old tios on time travelling, I unfortunately stumbled upon a city in illyricum that was sacked the romans. I was able to fend one of the legionaries off and steal his lorica and gladius.
I am now pretending to be a Lucius.
I must go, lest my cohort be decimated for abandoning sentry duty
The cistern cave was one of the best ideas !!!
I’m sure everyone made a lot of new friends :)
I love how aware of your audience you are. Most academics are boring nerds with no sense of humor unless it's considered high brow. You know... Poindexters.
Keep up the good work and passing along this important information. The best time to prepare for disaster is yesterday
You could have praised him without bashing academics, but hey, whatever it takes to feel superior to others.
I haven laughed that hard in awhile. Bravo
This tutorial will save millions in the next big Roman campaigns.
humans never change
I usually just flee to the hills and set up a campfire as a distraction. Meanwhile, with the Romans in hot pursuit I quietly slip into one of the aqueducts and slide back down the hill again unseen. I don't know why they keep falling for this cheap trick, but hey, joke's on them because I get to exercise and have fun at the same time!
You are a time traveller? Take me with you next time.
I love your videos, but would you please reconsider the over-use of brief pauses everywhere (in-between punctuation) when reading to us? I know it adds a nice dramatic effect but I have to speed up the audio at least 1.25x to 1.5x to try and make it sound more like the usual rhythm of a person speaking to another person (or else I can't focus on what is being actually said).
That image looks so much like a Peter Dennis illustration.
For your new book are you going to be doing any book signings? I live in Milwaukee and it wouldnt be a far drive down to Chicago.
Omniman in Legionnaire Attire:
*That's the neat thing, you don't.*
Can someone tell me the name/artist of the painting at 5:10 ? It’s gorgeous and I’ve never seen something like it before.
David Roberts - The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70
Imagine if Romans sacked a modern city...
They would go in IKEA
to loot...😂
What an interesting question to ask...
🤔😏
4:45 I did not expect that
Great video. It is always good to appreciate the glories of Rome, while being disgusted and keeping in mind the countless horrors they committed along the way to reach that point.
if your city is about to be sacked by romans, you can try to get a therapist through betterhelp
Have Apollonius of tyna go talk to the seiger commander to talk him done 😉
How can soldiers be that brutal towards random people? I will never understand it.
Because life was brutal in that world. It was a dog eat dog world. Those soldier or in Rome’s case legionaries would have had friends die in the sacking of the city and by the time they got to the streets they would be in a blood frenzy.
They were illiterate idiots who didn’t care about anyone else
Soldiers have been brutal towards random people since the beginning of time. Always have and always will. Once you train a man to be a killing machine, it's sometimes difficult to prevent this bloodlust from getting out of control. This is especially the case after the soldiers have experienced intense, psychological brutality, eg. seeing their comrades killed, living in abysmal conditions.
Question as a black smith and leathermen do I still get to pratice my trade for the Legion now!?
Blacksmiths were very valuable back then.
Legions did include slaves but mostly for dumb manual labor. I'm not sure about blacksmiths. Those would probably be specialist rank legionnaires, but you could possibly serve as a blacksmith's slave assistant.
Basically, if you survive the sack and manage to become a slave with specialist skills, you have high chance of being treated well, and maybe even gain freedom and citizenship one day.
I've never thought about until this video but if you consider the fall of Troy to be the beginning of Rome and the fall of Constantinople its end then geographically they are a lot closer than if you start in Italy.
Did the Romans have any idea of where Troy was located when they conquered Anatolia?
No.
That story does sound like a great way to help appease the people of Anatolia. We are not conquerors; we are descendants. Look, our calendar lines up, possibly with the fall of Troy
@@MarkVrem It was often of the other way around. The locals used their shared mythological connection with the Romans in order to get their help in local conflicts.
@@QuantumHistorian@QuantumHistorian Yeah, I was thinking a bit about a similar angle to that also. As a way to connect to the rulers. LIke all those Greek historians during Roman times.
@@MarkVrem Indeed, a lot of Greek diplomacy was based on shared mythological ancestry, it was a way of justifying friendships and of belonging to the same community. There's several cases during the Hellenistic era of ancient cities in the near East (founded far before Greek influence), inventing themselves foundation stories that involved heroes from the Greek epics in order to make themselves more palatable to the Greeks. Corinth and Argos ended up becoming the mother-city of cities that were far older than themselves! How much anyone really believed any of this, or if simply playing the game was enough to show you were sufficiently Greek, is a mystery I've never got to the bottom of.
Hod hill, cool mention.
Depart by secret passageway, by boat, or by clever disguise, or camoflage.
I truly need to know
You are doing sacred work
Cesar had a big heart, I wouldn't suffer those Gaelians
They weren't innocent, they were enemies of the empire.
Caesar is fortunate when he invaded Gaul that the little Corporal with the big hat wasn’t yet waiting for him.
the corsican?
Oui
Or Godzilla.
"Little"?!?!
Little Corporal was a nickname he held.
All your base, base, base, all your base, are belong to us!
Really hate it when this kind of shit happens smh
Toldinstone would you consider a long term partnership/sponsorship with the ancient warfare magazine?
Face down. Bottoms up.
Call in German chieftain Odoacer.
Uh... say "I´m proud to be a Roman"? ;)
Could you please add the names of the paintings in the video's description? ✌
Especially since they are copyright and it's not cool to make money on the back of other folk's work.
@@CGM_68 Which are copyrighted?
@@arekkusu888 which would you suggest were created by this youtuber with a History PhD?
I walk around work listening to these in my pocket
I'd dig a secret underground room beneath my house with a very well-concealed entrance, stocked up with food, to hide out in during a sack. At least I'd like to think I would. I wonder if anyone in history ever tried that. You'd think someone would have. But obviously that's not viable for everyone; if everyone was doing it, the Romans would figure it out pretty quick.
Next: What to do if the Mongols sack your city
Answer: Probably nothing because you're already dead lol
@@markmuller7962 If you were artisan, mongols probably let you live, just become slave and be sent to another part of the world whereever they would have use of you
10:40-10:48 did it? Or did it give us ALL the future we call present?
How helpful would playing dead be?
Caesar was definitely one of the most merciful of Roman Generals, at least so in the Gallic Wars before the siege of Alesia. I remember the first time I read my Penguin Classics copy of The Conquest of Gaul, and it was always like, "we subdued this tribe and moved on, and then they revolted so we had to go back and re-subdue them" and it was almost like the Gallic tribes were a group of misbehaved children that after you disciplined them they still didn't take you seriously until you came back and showed them that you meant really business and then they acquiesced.
Tell that to the Celtic Gaul Chieftain Vercingetorix
It was how the Romans framed their expansion to make it look like a series of purely defensive wars. It broadly followed the same few series of steps:
1) Two tribes / cities on the border of Rome squabble with each other.
2) One of them asks the Romans for an alliance in order to get their help.
3) The Romans agree, intervene on their new allies side, and win sooner or later.
4) The ally discover that "alliance" for the Romans is not an equal relationship, but involves doing what the Romans tell you to do when they ask you for something (albeit, they don't ask very often).
5) The ally eventually realises they don't like this and when they assert the independence they thought they had, the Romans call them rebels and crush them.
Rinse and repeat at the new border. You see this clearly in the Gallic wars, with the Allobroges asking for help against the Helvetii, then the Aedui asking for help against the Avernii, etc...
Really a very clever way of making everything self defence by aggressively expanding the notion of self.
You talk as if Roman Preeminence was a bad thing !.@@QuantumHistorian
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 I didn't intend to, I have no interest in making moral judgements. Certainly the Romans were keen on their pre-eminence, but their rivals were not; there's no sense in which something so subjective can have a "true" answer. All we ought to do 2000 years later is to try and understand how this supremacy came about.
Sorry, I should have added a smiley, I was being funny.
Or trying to be. :)@@QuantumHistorian
Two words, tunnel bears!
Historia Civilis ❤
This message was approved by Tribune Aquilas
i think like last week this happened near my town
Snivelry! The ram has touched the wall. No mercy.