Ranking Roman Provinces from Worst to Best
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- čas přidán 23. 06. 2024
- THE ANCIENT ROMAN CHALLENGE: Take a shot every time a province produced wine.
Wow, I cannot believe I finally managed to pull this video out, it took me weeks of research to finish it.
There might be some discrepancies about regions/provinces. Why are some listed provinces merged (Gaul, Hispania...) and others are not? Isn't that unfair??
Given the historical situation the borders of the provinces changed over time (look at Diocletian reforms, Balkans suddenly becomes like 30 provinces) I needed to make some cuts (or merges rather) in order to make the video interesting as well as historical. The best solution I came up with are those 18 provinces/regions you see in the vid.
Here you can find the map I used: forums.totalwar.com/discussio...
Soundtrack used:
Imperator Rome OST
Age of Mythology
Total War Rome 2
Attila Total War
Gothic Old Mine
Spoiler alert:
I am not Balkanian
#ancient #ancienthistory #ancientrome #romanempire #history #historical #britain #anatolian #hispanic #gaules #africa #egypt #syria #balkan #arabic #dacia
0:00 Introduction
0:51 Britannia
2:23 Dacia
4:16 Sardinia and Corsica
5:52 Raetia and Noricum
7:08 Mauretania
8:22 Sicily
9:18 Cyrenaica and Crete
10:32 Gaul
12:37 Judea and Arabia
14:15 Thrace and Macedon
15:43 Achaia and Epirus
17:11 Hispania
18:26 Anatolia
20:09 Syria
21:40 Africa and Tripolitana
23:12 Egypt
24:40 Italia
26:40 Illyria
28:46 Final score (bonus)
Imagine being a roman citizen from Britannia and hearing that your homeland province has less economic value than literal islands under a quarter your homeland's size. Just shows how much a burden Britannia was.
Just to have your small island become the largest empire ever in history
Well, swimming in mud naked, and sleeping with pigs was not very profitable at the time.
You forget the tin mines.
@@w0lfgm Many other provinces had more important trade goods like silver, dyes, and wine. By the way, wines (and other alcoholic beverages) were typically the only way to drink water without risking illness. Wine was also used to produce vinegar which was used in preserving. Compare this to tin, which was used either to make bronze and pewter.
@@the_mariocrafter "These rustics are so inept, it nearly takes the honour of of victory. Nearly"
*Laughs in British*
In conclusion: If the province produced wine, it was worth it.
Dacia:
@@ent1ty_ryd3r_ Dacia is always an exception and an aberation.
Take a shot everytime province produced wine.
Sardina, decía
Douro 🇵🇹
I think Hispania would have been the place to live. Not only the stability and safety for centuries (you and your family and descendants would have a good chance at a full and healthy life) but the climate would have been incredibly easy to live in. And the economy was good.
As hispanian I agree
No doubt. It was a peaceful and quiet region until the caliphates arrived
@@RAAM855 Iberia literally boomed under the caliphate and it was the most developed part of Europe at the time
RAAM855 no Hispania went into chaos before the caliphate when the European Barbarians ( the wisigoths and the vandals and the alanni) who make part of the Spanish population of today came to destroy the Roman provinces and practically extinguished the local Celtic population and the Roman culture, and also don't forget that Spain became the most bigot place in Europe after the reconquista and a horrible place to live in if you are not a Catholic bigot who support the inquisition that's why Spain was a retarded country after the Renaissance and lost to the Netherlands, France and Great Britain who became the leaders of civilization advancement in Europe
@@RAAM855 It was the Germans who ruined peace in the region
Gaul is considerably underrated. Gaul had a competitive economy due to its network of rivers and it had the most influential faction of senators next to Italy.
Gaul had massive population, super important strategic position and vast resources. But he considers Judea more important lol
Yet another reason why the French are as prickly as they are.
@@bdleo300 Yes, a very strange ranking. If you asked Roman emperors whether they'd rather give up Gaul or Judea+Arabia, it would take them all of a microsecond to opt for keeping Gaul.
@@bdleo300 religious biased
Because judea are birthplace of Christianity.
@@Unknown-jt1jo Are you crazy do you want them to abandon civilizations in the Middle East and to keep the gall
I believe giving 0 at Italia for recruitment is pretty unfair, yes, during the late empire legionaries were rarely from Italy, but the legions who created the empire itself and expanded it for at least one century were basically only from Italy (excluding auxiliaries). We should not forget that to become a legionary you had to be a roman citizen, and the biggest pool of people with roman citizenship until Caracalla was Italia, which gave birth to many legions that fought until the fifth century
Agreed, without the legions from Italia, there was no Roman empire.
Exactly this.
@@AlphaOmegaXIII
Yep, a logical conclusion
Italia should be ranked the first, it’s literally the cradle, the founder, and the center of Roman Empire
It was impressive how quickly Rome bounced back from loosing thousands of soldiers to Hannibal's expedition and within a few years resupplied soldiers for Scipio's expedition into Carthage.
Gaul might deserve a small bonus for sometimes defending itself. During the Crisis of the 3rd Century, the reason why the Empire of the Gauls seceded was mainly to defend the Rhine frontier without interference from Rome, as the situation was too chaotic there. Gaul returned to the Empire once Aurelian solved the situation in the East.
That's a noteworthy point that I haven't ever thought about! Most of the "Gallic" army surrendered without a fight and their officers were successfully reintegrated by Aurelian.
Well Zenobia declared independence with the same narrative - I am just protecting my country against Sassanids. And as cold hearted as it may sound, barbarians sacking provinces was a much smaller threat to the Roman state than provinces declaring independence and setting a new "it is okay to leave" precedent.
most interesting
@@Progamermove_2003 "Gaelic"
Why was this put in quotation marks and where did the ae even come from.
@@GAMER123GAMING Because by that time, Gaul was somewhat Romanised and their leadership was mostly Roman. And what do you mean by, "where did ae even come from"?
Hispania 220 BC. The oldest after Sicily. Provided 4 of 5 great emperors. Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Theodosius.
the Spanish royal family held the title for the both eastern and western roman empire for a while, not under one person but still, i forget if they still hold them
romans born in hispania were not hispanic, thomas jefferson wasnt Iroquois
@@jaif7327true they were ethnically italian..also i reached malta were you at??
@@TheMorallySuperior get out of my walls
@@jaif7327 bro what about the maltese experience,the apocalypse
Italia rated 2nd is an insult to the Roman Empire itself
Lol we knew Illyrians carried the Roman Empire!!
@@marcoluppo5783 Yugoslavia strong 💪
@@rebeli-argum lol Slavs were not even in the region during Roman Empire.They came 500 years after the fall of Rome.
@@marcoluppo5783 that was a joke, i know about Illyrians
Dacia might've been hard to defend and poor but in the end it was the only province whose people managed to expand and spread a Romance language outside the Roman borders during the Middle Ages whereas richer and more romanized provinces like Illyria and the whole of North Africa lost their Romance speaking populations.
Absolutely agree, the Romanian language is allegedly closer to Latin than any other Romance language. I didn´t base the video on how I like the province/country or how much I want the country to succeed.
@@TominusMaximus Well, Sardu is the closest to be fair, it's almost unchanged 7th century Vulgar Latin! But people tend to dismiss it as some Italian dialect...
Of the "major" Romance languages, Romanian has the closest grammar(maybe even closer than Sardu, as it kept some of the case system) and Italian the closest vocabulary. In the end however all Romance languages are closer to one another than they to Classical Latin.
Not really. Roman population was evacuated from Dacia by Aurelianus and replaced by barbarians. It was later re-settled in middle ages by Romanians from Illiria and Thracia. It's an outdated idea that they lived there since Roman times till now. Meanwhile those who stayed south from Danube did not lost their language entirely for many centuries (check Aromanian and Dalmatian languages). So you should rather praise Illiria and Thracia for this achievement rather than Dacia.
@@marysia5365Not really true. The Aromanians are mentioned continuously from the 8th century from the modern day, but there is no evidence of any movement of Vlachs north. The most popular theory today is that Aurelian didn't evacuate the population and a Romance population from between the Balkan mountains and the north of Transylvania survived and became the Romanians. So I guess Thracia deserves some credit but Dacia remaining the heart of the population
@@marysia5365 That's the hungarian propaganda which their ultranationalists have used in the 19th and 20th century. The presence of tribes which spoke a form of roman is even written in the Gesta Hunnorum, which the far-right hungarians deny.
Have barely started video but I'm already offended.
I disagree I think his ratings were pretty good
@@Thedogeofveniceron lol I do agree, from the points he gave for his reasoning I will say it was pretty good aswell.
You’re British I assume
@@givemeawand thank god I'm not.
@@oligultonn
I am from Hispania yeeey
You forgot the tin mines in Britannia, tin was extremely valuable, the only other place which had tin readily available was Anatolia
Metatron’s video?
Not just tin, but bucketloads of other metals - lead, gold, silver, copper, iron, even coal. And what's not often appreciated is that Londinium was a thriving trade hub and financial centre even back then, and was for a time the largest city in Northern Europe.
@@thealmightyaku-4153 I know even before the Romans arrived in Britain, pots and jars from Celtic Britain have been found in archeological sites in north Africa, that means there must have been trade links between the two
Tin was very important in the Bronze Age (when Britain was indeed a major producer), but its importance declined over time. By the era of the Roman Empire, it was important, but not nearly as crucial.
Nice try, tin comes from the magical lands of Tinland
I think you’re getting the terms “Romanized” and “Latinized” confused. While almost all of the Greek speaking east was never Latinized, they were certainly very Roman. Greek was a second language of the empire and was only seen as slightly lower than Latin, compared to the frowned upon “barbarian” languages. Arguably the Greeks out Roman-ed the Latins with the continuation of the Imperial political unit via the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire lol
Roman aristocratic seven preferred speaking Greek over Latin to each other.
Eventually in the East, in the 600’s Greek became the official language over Latin.
The east empire , byzantinum was not ruled always from greeks , the first of it , Constantine the great was illyrian , and also later Byzantinum was ruled even from serbs and bulgars . Obviously greeks had the main part there as they were the ancestors of the old population on contsandinople also the greek language and church .
@@besnikillyrian8520 Yeah, people like to exclude Illyrian Emperors like Aurelian "The restorer of the world" and 28 other Illyrian Emperors.
Illyria also had the best soldiers, along with Gaul and Syria.
Many of the Romanized Illyrians also had Greek in them too.
@@besnikillyrian8520his father was Illyrian but his mother Helena was very much Greek
How should "Greece" ever been having romanized where the roman culture itself is so strongly influenced by greek culture. From my central european perspective Italy and Greece are like twins.
It is said Trajan moved carts full of gold & silver out of Dacia for 2 weeks straight after capture of capital, like hitting the lottery. Gave Rome a massive boost for the following years.
The last hurrah,it's downhill from there
For centuries I may say. It gave Rome what all the other 17 provinces combined couldn't ever.
At the time, Rome was suffering from economic difficulties largely brought on by military invasions throughout Europe and in part due to a low gold content in Roman money as directed by Emperor Nero.
That Dacia was considered a substantial threat can be seen by the fact that Trajan withdrew troops from other borders leaving them dangerously undermanned.
Dacia's rich gold mines were secured and it is estimated that Dacia then contributed 700 million Denarii per annum to the Roman economy, providing finance for Rome's future campaigns and assisting with the rapid expansion of Roman towns throughout Europe.
After the war, large programs of civil contructions and of infrastructure (in the whole Empire) were started.
Dacia is the province that gave the empire a new breath of life for the next 300 years up to its Fall. Without taking Dacia, the Empire was about to fall in that very reign of Trajan. That's why all the exhilarating parading, all the festivities, the joy in Rome, post-bellum😂 Trajan knew what just happened.
Also the “gold mines quickly depleted” is full bs and this guy is clearly uneducated on the subject, even today romanians mine some roman found gold mines
Also the Romans partied more than 120 days with no interruption after conquering Dacia and stealing Dacians' gold and silver. Dacia was far from being "poor". It had (and possibly still has) the most gold and silver in Europe.
Exactly! All that was said about Dacia in this video proves the author doesn't no a thing about Ancient Rome and its provinces! The conquest of Dacia provided Roman treasury for an entire century of funding!
I love how frequently the find of a single mine in Spain(among hundreds, maybe thousands) that was shut down in the 3rd century has been translated to every mine in Spain, or as seen here _every mine in the empire._
Mining for gold, silver, tin, copper, iron, etc did not stop in the 3rd century. It's a myth.
It's somehow connected to the fact that second and third century emperors debased their money by reducing the amount of gold imho
@@fabioconvertini1492 so what could had the emperors did in third century to avoided the inflation crisis?
Except there's a lot else we can point to to show that mining basically did shut down, or at least occurred on a vastly, _vastly_ smaller scale, across the Empire. You can find numbers that show, for example, that the Roman Empire was the world largest producer of copper until the _Industrial Revolution,_ or that its stock of silver was 5-10 times larger than that of Europe and the Islamic Caliphate in 800 AD _combined!_
Mining may not have stopped absolutely - but it was basically nothing compared to what the Romans did, and engaged in with far more primitive methods and technology compared to the Empire. People vastly underestimate just how incredibly capable the Empire was, and just how much worse off Europe and further afield were after it fell.
@@thealmightyaku-4153 do you think that the Roman Empire suffered inflation during severan dynasty?
@@alessandrogini5283 We know it did, what's your point?
What an amazing video! I didn't know the Roman Empire could get even cooler, but with you detailing the importance of every province and speaking about some of their history, i learned a ton of stuff!!
feel like Raetia and Noricum ought to at least get the "buffer zone" bonus, as it completed the Danube - Rhine defensive line, and shielded Italy.
Yeah, 'defensiveness' is a bad criteria the way he used it. It's a perfect defensive borderprovince due to it's position, terrain and low population. It should get a 10.
No, because the Alps protected the empire there not the province.
Yeah, it's missing the bonus for the same reason Brittania & Dacia are missing it. Sure, it's a territory between the heartlands and barbarians, but it's on the other side of the geographic defenses, so it's position is a drain rather than a boon.
Probably the main reason why Italia didn't manage to recruit many legionaries after the 2nd century is because of its wealth and urbanisation rate. To have good soldiers you need people accustomed to hardship, well built and willing to serve in the legions to increase their social status. Italic citizens were less accustomed to hardship because of their life in the cities or in the well connected and wealthy farmlands, and were probably not very willing to advance their social status through service in the legions.
Not to mention they can't. Most of the Original legions were literal scums of the earth, the poorest of the poor who offered their loyalty to the General who pays. Add a couple of centuries, declare everyone a Roman and shift the perception of social climbing from Legionaire to Bureaucrat and you have a province with zero recruitment retention.
Tf are you talking about most people living in cities were poor labourers and most people on the countryside were serfs.
@@marypusineri6291 I'm talking about citizens, not slaves, Roman citizens aren't as poor, even though they certainly had to work hard. It was preferable for them to work in the cities as artisans, merchants, construction workers etc., and as private farmers and agricultural workers rather than serve 16 years in the legions. At the same time, people from Illyria and Gaul were pretty much constantly raided by barbarians(this is what I mean by mean accustomed to hardship) and also wanted to own land (as was promised at the end of the 16 year service) so they found the legionary work more rewarding. In fact both of these regions were the main recruiting pools for the Legions from the 2nd century onwards.
It’s not that Italians became less accustomed to the martial values of Rome, scared or sloppy. It’s that there was no incentive for them to join a frontier job when your work was tied to the land to begin with, with the historical trends and even what the emperors decreed. Going to war for another people, at the boundaries of Europe, wouldn’t get you a place in a rich farming Roman colony anymore. We forget that there was no national sense between Romans, widely speaking, at the time. Rome was a colonial empire with the Latins and its Italian socii at its centre.
The idea that then everybody became Roman didn’t mean that that’s comparable to our modern nations and why we would risk our lives for someone living on the other side of the same state.
That’s the historical process that mimics the end of the empire: it slowly shifted to local centres of power and identity, with most retaining Roman identity somehow.
@@marypusineri6291 They we're richer than lots of African countries are today, 2000 years ago..
Gaul was much more important than Lybia etc. It literally protected Italy from being super exposed to Barbarian invasions for its whole history, Italy was only invaded, since Caesar, by non-Romans, during the reing of Marcus Aurelius. Only because of Gaul. Same thing for Raetia and Noricum compared with Mauretania, which was a nest for rebellious Berbers.
Idk a lot about specific events but I would've thought the Italian alps provided a natural border against all tribes seeking to conquer Italy. Not that its impossible to cross, just extremely difficult.
@@Irazarra Yet the gauls still migrated through and sacked Rome.
So lol
@@Irazarra the germans started moving into Gaul (a big reason why Caesar could dive and rule them) a long time ago, not controling Gaul might have led to a germanic presence and a threat from the region
This post was made by a Frenchman
Although I agree with some aspects of your comment, please do not try to spin the narrative of my ranking - I didn't rank Lybia/Tripolitania ALONE as you suggest. I ranked Africa + Tripolitania TOGETHER. And Africa was much more important than Gaul.
This is really a creative topic , you came you with , in future more such contents will be made regarding the provinces which for oft remains untouched
Very interesting and a great additional approach to look at things.
"Lets start with number 18"
Me: "Its gotta be Britannia."
*it is Britannia*
Liked. 😄
Interesting how the literal crappiest province turned into the greatest empire in the world during it's time.
Be careful who you call ugly in school I guess...
@@Anonymous07192 And the origin of language we are speaking right now
@@Anonymous07192 I think you confusing Britannia with Hispania
@@cristianiiv6418 Spanish empire at its peak was very great but no empire was bigger than the British empire
I really appreciate the Imperator soundtrack. Greetings from Hispania!
Very informative, thank you. Some points in your essay are debatable, but that is inevitable, given the scope of the subject matter.
Dacia at 17 ironically became THE province that retained the name of Rome into modern times. Romania.
And by "retained" you mean named itself that in the 19th century?
@@kingkefa7130 vlachs even during hungarian vassalship called the danubian principalities "Romanie" or "Romania"
@@kingkefa7130 Not true, it bore that name as the people called themselves "Romans" and had no other ethnic name for themselves ever since their beginnings. When Romania united, the country officially adopted the endonym which up until that point had also been used in Wallachia. This time around, it was also recognized by the foreigners. The word Vlach or Wallach reffered also to this Roman character, as it derived from the word for stranger, and evolved into the word Walloon and Welsh respectively, both *EXONYMS^.
Name means little when there is no substance to back it up.
@@kingkefa7130 The endonym of the Vlachs was always "român", it was only finally used by others in the 19th century. Look shit up before typing bruh
26:23 did he just put Domitian and Tiberius in the same basket with Caligula, Commodus and Vitellius as bad emperors 😱?!
Vitellius's only crime was being morbidly obese
@@duxromanorum9861 agreed.
@@duxromanorum9861 Yeah I mean, for all of Domitian's fly stabbing tendencies, he was the ONLY Roman Emperor to temporarily fix the issue of inflation!
İmagine mentioning Domitian together with Caligula and Nero
@@duxromanorum9861 Fucking normies
Really, really well-presented!
Amazing work, thanks for it!
Imagine how surprised the Antonine and Severian emperors were when they discovered the history of the British Empire. Britannia? That worthless underdeveloped rainy province managed to create an empire bigger than ours? and sail to places so far away that they would have made Hanno the Navigator's voyages look like nothing? How is it possible?
Its all connected to the agricultural revolution. When you suddenly get time to do other stuff than care what you gonna eat the next day then miracles can happen. Miracles like Britannia conquering the World.
Meanwhile, they look at a region like wealthy Syria, and wonder where all that wealth went
@@Onezy05 to politicians pockets
@@TominusMaximus I’d say it was to do with the synergy of the Agricultural, Scientific and Industrial Revolutions as well as our political system. We had coal which the Romans generously didn’t deplete.
Although easily surpassed today in effectiveness, in the 18th and 19th centuries people marvelled at how we’d combined the best elements of aristocracy, monarchy and democracy into a system with unparalleled stability. Honourable mention for competition with Hispania and Gaul as a motive.
@@Onezy05 Syria was part of the French Empire, not British. The fact that your comment got so many likes with no one calling this out makes me seriously doubt the historical literacy of this channels viewers.
Bavarian here, my great grandmother was from a village near me that had a history of roman settlement, there was even a Villa rustica in her village, my grandfather says she was so dark that during the 40s she always had to carry identification so she wouldnt be confused for a roma/sinti
Typical Nazi German Bavarians lol. Also I could only imagine the mental gymnastics: they admired and glorified the Romans that had brown hair and olive, tan skin and love the Aryans of India but wanted and were successful in genociding tan skin Sinti and Roma there were Indo-Aryans lol.
Do you resemble the inhabitants of the Mediterranean?
@@user-cg2tw8pw7j i have brown curly hair and a more prominent mustache than others, also i tan p easily, but not much else
@@user-cg2tw8pw7j though my grandpa looks incredibly greek with a moustache
@@schnitzel6852 Greece is considered part of the Middle East according to its history
What the heck! Good to know that our region was so highly appreciated. Greetings from Campona, Pannonia!
absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much
Romans in second century AD: Fuckin Sardinians amirite?
Sardinians in the 1870s AD: Fuckin Romans amirite?
"this ranking will be based"
That's what I heard at least lmao 👌
I was expecting Egypt in top and Britannia in bottom, I was not disappoint.
Amazing video, thanks!!
With regards to Hispania shouldn't the recruitment be ranked much higher? Not only the number of legions but the fact the skills of fighting with elite swordsmen and slingers came from Spain to the Legions. Also the quality of Emperors is amazing and should be ranked much higher. And also the resources especially food and wine quality should be higher. Also Hispania kept the Latin literature alive towards the end (that's inclusion). Also they were part of Renovatio as Spania. I think it should be ranked higher.
Plus, they also produced Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix legions, servant of the TRUE emperor Marcus Aerelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.
@@MrSkeltal268 :-) Is there a sequel really coming?
no
Yeah Hispania produced a lot of legions and also a lot of the best ones. Definitely deserves a better score on recruitment.
most food / wine / knighst and calvary came from north africa stop changing history
I do agree with most of the rankings, particularly those of Ilyria, Egypt and North Africa. I do, however, think that some provinces like Hispania and Raetia Noricum should rank a little higher as (for Hispania) it provided us with Trajan and Hadrian, who are some of the best Roman emperors ever. While Raetia and Noricum acted as a buffer zone between Rome/Italia and the invading Germanic tribes and remained loyal unlike Gaul.
Well, there was one big army rebellion in Poetovio (Ptuj) in Pannonia. Otherwise true.
Good job, well researched
This was fun, thanks.
Ah I noticed you used the Greek theme from Age of Mythology and Roman theme from Rome 2 Total War, in your video, a man of culture!
I also noticed that and informed the group dedicated to Age of Mythology!
I expected the brits to atleast be ahead of dacia 💀
Dacia gave birth to glorious Romania. (It also had gold mines and marble quarries.)
you thought
Kinda based we were basically just freeloading off of the Romans while they gave us better technology.
@@Irazarra cope angloid
@@user_____M Nah, we Romanians are probably Thraco-Romans taking in consideration that 4 Roman sources attested that the provincials of Dacia were resettled South of the Danube
Thank you very much, very clever and clever work
You did a pretty good job!
I do not agree but I respect you for taking the time to make this
We got Voltaire here
@@TominusMaximus ha! That's a good one. Tell me, how difficult was it to make this? Part of me wants to make my own CZcams channel about history/stories. What's the best way to approach?
Love your take and your methodology. It's something I had never really thought of and it brings perspective on each region, through the lens of historical distance. Of course, ultimately, the importance of each province would fluctuate depending on which reign we're talkiing about. Great vid! Cheers ! !
Excellent. I never knew Illyria was Romes most important recruiting ground . Amazing
Illyricum was never an important recruiting ground. You would have heard about a Legion called Illyrica. Well there was Legio I Illyricorum deployed in Arabia but it is from 272 Aurelian's time. Dalmatia itself was colonized with legions from other provinces. Just like all the provinces.
@@LobotimirMerkanski All I know, working in the serbian museum for 5 years is that we have huge number of garrisons and forts and soldier houses and Hospitals all over the country. On many of those fortress bases we built monasteries in medieval times, and Byzantines before us
@@LobotimirMerkanski ...and turks raised everything to the ground
@@LobotimirMerkanskiwhat do you know about illyrians ?? If illyria woudl used its efforts and manpower for itself , slavics would not been here in balcan
@@besnikillyrian8520 yugoslavs and iliryans are the same
Dacia was not poor at all, the amount of gold that was mined out of the mines of Dacia increased the treasury of Rome by a lot....
Yes but it is to believed that the veins went dry in the 3rd century.
@@d.cirovic1695 there still is a lot of gold even today.. so this part with going dry is a lie...
For the Roman technology the mines of Dacia became dry. The mining was revigorated when the Hungarian kings brought Germans with more developed mining technologies.
@@dickwinters9117 For Roman technology Dacian mines were dry. Mining in Dacia only restarted in middle ages.
@@dickwinters9117 It's not just a matter of there being resources there, it was how effectively the Romans could extract it and get it where they needed it. Even if their technology level allowed them to keep mining it wasn't at the levels they mined when first conquering the territory. Then you have the cost of keeping the mines up and running in a territory which was incredibly hostile. Dacia increased the border of the Empire while being much harder to man than the river, so it was raided (and a raiding point for deeper into the Empire) which meant those mines wouldn't have been able to be running properly all the time. The amount the Romans could effectively get compared to the costs is the issue, not strictly whether resources actually physically existed there. Factor in the constant warring Rome was undertaking, plus the plagues it's really no surprise Rome wasn't getting the benefits from Dacia.
I knew Illyria was gonna be number one! Great assessment!
Calling Domitian and Tiberius bad emperors, damn man can't disagree more.
Tiberius, it is true, was an emperor who lacked popularity and was not well-liked by the people of Rome. However, he was an excellent administrator who left the empire in a better position than he found it. Despite having strong republican influences, he did not allow what Augustus had built to fall because he knew it was the best for Rome. True hero.
Yeah the Tiberius slander was actually crazy, even my history teacher was a big fan lol
Feel like 'Roman province slander' would make a good template lol
I did not expect Illyricum to be in the top 3, maybe the top 5 at best, but your analysis makes perfect sense
Cool vid ,i’d like to see one on how the provinces evolved over time
The number of emperors really feels like a stretch to push up Italy and dump on Spain which makes little sense when assessing the provinces
Hispania is not spain, it's hispania.
@@bernardo8136🤓 ☝️ " Hispania is not Spain"
Spain may be above where it is but Italy is not pushed up, this video puts in second place, which is nuts, it was the homeland of the Roman empire!
@Bernardo grow up... Americans are still glorified British migrants. Guess what? We all moved on and use half a brain cell to know what was intended
@@InfoRome the homeland of the Roman empire was Rome born from the fusion of the Latin tribes the Romans and the inhabitants of the Alba Longa called the Alban people (populi albenses)
The only time the Balkans gets praised. LOL!
Loving the Age of Mythology music in the background!!!
Me too ❤
Gaul single-handedly changed the trade practices in the Mediterranean, when the Romans abandoned the clay amphora for the Gaulish innovation that was the oak barrel. Unlike amphora, barrels are shock absorbing, reusable, buoyant, and can even serve as a source of emergency firewood.
Exact
I agree with the ranking for the most part. However, ranking Italia as the second feels a little bit off, like 0 recruitment. But overall the video is well put together, and the list's reasoning is good.
The fact that most of the officers, especially senior leadership were _almost_ exclusively Italian, it deserves at least 5 in the recruitment.
And the Alpine mountains, combined with Gaul, Raetia et Noricum and Illyria acting as buffer provides it with additional defensiveness points. Not to forget that the security of Italia was prioritised as it was the heartland of the empire. All this combines grants it an easy 10 points.
Taking above points in consideration Italia is undoubtedly number 1.
@@Progamermove_2003 Without Illyria, Rome would have fallen much earlier, best soldiers and soldier Emperors who continued with Eastern Rome for another 1,000 years. Rome fell in 476 AD, Constantinople in 1453.
@@Vntihero most of Illyria(west of Sirmium) was not under Constantinople's control most of the time. The eastern empire's power base was in Anatolia for most of its history.
@@ntonisa6636 I am Greek and Illyrian, and many Illyrians were both in the west and East……..
@@VntiheroIllyrians are not albanians! Cut the BS
Damn missed you bro. Hope you’re doing better
There should be cultural importance in the category. Greece had so much importance to the Roman culture. Also, Italy not being the number due to the recruitment is dubious. Without the original Italian legions before the 1st century A.D., there is no Roman Empire at all.
Excellent work
Bro Gaul is indescribably underrated, really, same points as hecking Cyrenaica and Crete? Below Lybia and Tripolitania?
Don't say this to a Cretan archer
He gave Gaul a 3 for Inclusion and Judea and Arabia got a 7............ WHY?!?!??!!HOW?!!??!? Is he using some kind of alternative definition for 'Inclusion'?! It was one of the first provinces outside Italia that was granted full citizenship (by Claudius I believe) in order to start fully integrating territory outside the Italian peninsula, it had senators and politicians as far back as Ceasar, it had culture, society and architecture barely distinguishable from Italy after a while. HOW IS THAT A 3 FOR INCLUSION!?!?! Even worse is how Judea got anything above a 2 for inclusion because near genocidal rebellion crushing doesn't exactly scream 7 for inclusion. Arabia was much more loyal but arguably even less inclusive because the Roman way of living would be near impossible in that area so the way of life and culture could never take root the way the Mediterranean provinces could, and their loyalty made it unnecessary to force the Roman way on them. It was basically just trajan taking Petra and everyone else just went along with being told they're roman now. Unless you're the biggest Philip the arab Stan on earth or you see crushing the great Jewish revolt as a benevolent peacekeeping mission, giving those provinces a 7 is stone cold INDEFENSIBLE.
What’s up with the French so triggered over Libya and Africa in general? Yes, below them. Look at the GDP of the empire and you’ll find the economic outputs of Libyan provinces far outclassing Gaul’s.
@@A.Severan maybe because the French Empire ruled over Tunisia and Algeria, so they don't want to admit that these lands were once more wealthy than Gaul.
@@A.Severan Lybuan provinces weren't rich. Neither Mauritania or Cyrenaica. Carthage (Africa), roughly today's Tubisia was the important province. Of course it surpassed Gaul, but Gaul should be way above all those other minor provinces
I like this. It's an ancient version of "Best States You Need to Move To".
It didnt age well
Nah, in terms of quality of life it's not well ordered.
ES NATURAL QUE NO ESTÉIS DE SCUERDO.
CÓMO TODOS VOSOTROS VIVIAIS Y ESTABAIS PRESENTES Y VIVOS EN AQUELLOS SIGLOS, LO CONOCISTEIS PERSONALMENTE Y SABÍAIS LO QUE PASABA EN CADA PROVINCIA ROMANA AL PIÉ DE LA LETRA.!!!
SI DISCUTÍS LO QUE NO CONOCISTEIS NI SABEIS NADA, ES TERRIBLE HABLAR DEL TIEMPO PRESENTE, SOBRE MILLONES DE COSAS QUE NO CONOCEIS Y QUE DEFENDEIS CÓMO EN UNA BATALLA.
ASÍ ESTAMOS CÓMO ESTAMOS.!!
MIRANDO CON ODIO A NUESTROS VECINOS DEL MAPA.!!
NO HAY ARREGLO PARA LA HUMANIDAD.
ES LA HISTORIA DE GUERRAS PERMANENTES
HASTA EL SIGLO XXI Y LO QUE QUEDA TODAVÍA!!!
SI
age of mythology music in the background
great one!!
I also noticed that pal!
I am a Brit and agree hard to say why the Romans didn`t let it go earlier, the Channel makes it incredibly difficult to use its Legions on the continent.
Why am I not surprised about the worst one ?
Video was great, but I think Italia should be #1 due roman civilization as a whole being produced out of it, and the other provinces being created by armies sent out of Italia.
Was it's economy as good as the east though? -a serious question.
@@hazeshi6779 It wasn't, or at least it was until the 3 century, by that time Italy was basically dried up by the roman aristocracy and the fact that the focus of the empire was switched elsewere
He does seem to weigh late empire things over early republic stuff. I'm sure he explained somewhere in the video why, but I can't recall lol. ... Rome obviously did raise a ton of armies fighting off Hanibal etc, but not many brownie points for that, because later on apparently they were soft.
@@laserrv5978 The capital and military centres were still in Italy. Illyria was more important in a defensive sense: if you can fend off enemies there, Italy's safe. The three army centres were Gaul, Italy and Illyria in the West, though decisions were taken in Ravenna mostly, which is in Northern Italy. The Italian aristocracy and senate remained relevant and in activity.
@@hazeshi6779 It was the most economically prosperous province in the empire
Spain is much too low on the recruitment score (and in general)-- Spanish legions were the core of the early Roman imperial army, providing far more troops than it took to garrison the region.
This isn't about Spain. It's about Hispania.
@@jeanlundi2141 ...see, this is why no one likes you.
@@jeanlundi2141 Well, Spain its the continuation name for Hispania, so we still have the same name but modern.
@@BicornioSPA But Hispania is today modern Portugal and Spain. So Spain is not the same as Hispania, Hispania was the name for all of the Iberian peninsula.
It’s nice to know something’s never change. Like the Balkans having always been a hotzone for conflict😂
Well the barbarians are still the reason
@@labki69who are the barbarians now?
@@dren521 who do you think
Well most of those province e.g Hispania Gallia and Italia are peninsulas. The Balkans were a peninsula itself, and its own Praetorian Prefecturate, and it provided with the best Emperor's as well such as Aurelian, Diocletian, Constantine the Great, Probus, Claudius Gothicus, Licinius, Maximinus, Galerius, Justinian the Great and generals such as Flavius Belisarius and Aetius. The Balkans were much more peaceful before the invasions of the Slavs
@@dren521фашисти као и увек!
Obviously italy is the most important province, since thats where rome literally began
Not really. It was the most important in the Republican period (say, in 100 BC), but by 200 AD most of the action had moved elsewhere.
@Unkown, uhm no, in the 3d and 4th centuries the effective centre moved from Rome to Milan and Ravenna, at least for the West, but it's still Italy. Also, Roman civilization began much earlier than 100 BC. In any case, Italy was the homeland of the Romans and must be first.
@@InfoRome If you watch the video, he specifically says that he is focusing on the 1st to 5th centuries CE. So you can't count anything that happened before 1 CE.
happy to see illyria this high on the list would have thought top 3 at best but, first is a pleasant surprise
Why u care about Illyria?
@@jajajederweis2716 why do you care for what i care?
@@negan3417 cuz ur passy gets mashed up boy
@@jajajederweis2716Because he's Albanian as I am, and we're the descendants of the ancient Illyrians, so we do care about them.
I have to say that Italy still produced a ton of soldiers, just fewer as time went by. It still averages out to a larger number than most of these "provinces" shown on the map, as most areas you put down weren't official provinces at all.
Right, and provincial borders shifted over time. Early in the empire, there were fewer but larger provinces; later, emperors wanted to diminish the power of would-be usurpers, so they started chopping up provinces into smaller and smaller pieces.
This is an amazing idea. Someone should make videos on this for British colonies, Spanish colonies, Han provinces etc
Spain did not have colonies. They were territories that were an integral part of the Spanish state.
@@Athmoneus they were still separate in terms of their administration. Spain itself wasn’t even one jurisdiction until the Bourbon reforms. It was the Spains, which was a combination of the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon and other small entities with their own Cortes and laws.
@@Athmoneus oh yeah Spain didn't had colonies? Small isolated island in pacific ocean called phillippines enter the chat
@@trollpenguin6713The Philippines was not small or an island, it was an archipelago under New Spain administration most of the time.
In Spain they should be viceroyalties, not colonies, and compare each Kingdom, many viceroyalties also had differences over time, The general captaincy of Caracas and Chile should also be included if someone does it
I don’t understand how Italia got 0 for recruitment. From looking at the population numbers, 2nd century Italia had 14 million people and would increase overtime. Big population had to have a few thousand that volunteered to fight plus the praetorian guard was in Rome.
Italia had nowhere near 14 million. Most estimates put it at 6-7 million at the high point.
actual provinces were more than that shown there.
I had the same thought. It seems he grouped several provinces into regions, so this is more of a ranking of regions than provinces.
Weren't there tons of revisions of provinces? I reckon he's trying to combine a large history of provinces rather than focusing on one specific year with specific provincial borders.
@@Irazarra There were quite a few revisions, yes. The general tendency was that as we go forward in years the provinces - especially on the borders of the Empire - were divided first in two, then into four provinces. A great example could be Pannonia. Pannonia -> P. Superior, P. Inferior -> P. Prima, P. Secunda, P. Savia, P. Valeria. Diocletianus also introduced larger administrative units such as the Diocese.
Very interesting and useful video
Kudos to you for mentioning silphium, that most elusive condiment, cheers! 🌻
TBH, I think it depends on the time whether you can put a province or another above or below in the ranking.
This video is so gooooood. PLEASE make follow-up videos like how valuable the provinces were overtime and which ones got better and which ones got worse. Like you mention that certain provinces had gold and other mined resources that were used up. Please do one for each century and make it a series. Please more. Thank you and have a nice day
No it's not. Purely subjective video full of errors and very debatable claims (including even borders of these "provinces"). Typical CZcams Mickey Mouse "history".
In conclusion: The author is an Illyrian
great work!!!!
Great vid as always! But wasn’t Maximinus Thrax well… a Thracian from province of Thrace? That would add another point to the province
He's also missing Leo I the Thracian
@@rock8384 and Alexander severus from Syria
The thracians' war ability didn't disappear under roman rule. They just switched styles from their native one to the roman one and few remained that still practiced their native fighting style.
They remained very martial people
Up to 40k soldiers in the entire roman army (which was between 400-600k) were supposedly of thracian origin. That's not a small percentage for what was at the time not a very heavily populated region.
Thrace was one of the main recruitment grounds of the legions throughout the empire's history.
Even the invading barbarian armies took thracians into their service at times, so prised was their reputation.
The romans considered them one of the most martial and dangerous or violent peoples they had ever faced, up there with the Gauls.
Some of the thracian tribes like the bessoi kept their traditions and remained in existence until late into the middle ages even, around the 10th century or so if not later .
In the late empire Adrianople was one of the main hubs for recruitment, and after the fall of the west doubbly so. In the late empire many foederati went to Thrace to get recruited. It was crucial in the defence of the Limes Moesiae.
Thracians were hellenized and latinized. Their native culture gradually extinguished.
@@Michael_the_Drunkard same with Ilyrian
@@Michael_the_Drunkard Highly debatable given some theories. For example how un-"greeking" known Thracian words (from greek authors) turn to suspiciously Bulgarian sounding words. Or how genetic studies show unbroken similarity between native Thracian populations and modern Bulgarians/Macedonians/some Romanians
@@its_dey_mateStop stealing, seriously. Its well know fact what the Philosopher said!
Good video!
Good video. I wish you had pointed out more of the modern-day countries of these Roman provinces.
Seems like Britannia's been trying to get back to it's roots recently.
Was recruitment from Hispania that bad? I mean they were famous for their iberian light cavalry...
Hispania tenía de los mejores máquinas de reclutamiento, después de tantos años de guerra contra los celtíberos y iberos, pompeyo le dio la ciudadanía romana a pueblos enteros de Iberia ( para acabar por una vez por todas con las rebeliones constantes y aprovechar su fuerza en la máquina de guerra) la mayoría de legiones que se usaron en la Galia eran de Hispania por ejemplo,
No, but this person is not very well informed in some aspects, complete legions came out of Hispania and one of the best, if not the best.
I don't know where he got the data from but it is not very correct.
good content brother
Very good. Thank you!
I think Raetia et Noricum should have got some bufferzone points aswell since it was in the way of any direct attacks on italy.
So Galerius was from Dacia Ripensis which wasn't the Dacia you're thinking of. It was a part of Moesia separated out by Aurelian to say "we didn't abandon Dacia we just moved it"
Therefore the Romanized Dacian natives were moved South of the Danube but that doesn't mean they didn't use to live North of the Danube. Also they had interactions with non Romanized Northern Dacians. Thus the whole Hungarian propaganda of Romanians been Albanians migrants is debunked. Romanians are a mix of moved Romanized Daco-Romans, independent Northern Dacians, Macedonians, Slavic people and also various Byzantine populations that spoke Latin. Also, Thracians and their sub-group, the Dacians had close relations with their neighbours, the Illyrians, the ancestors of today Croatians, Albanians and Serbians. So it's no wonder there are some shared words and history.
@@RhiannonSenpai I really don't care what hungarian propaganda say, if were true what they pretend, they are just Dacians that picked up a turcik language and never fought a day.
But dont confuse the periods, slavic were not here yet :)
And you know this history is wrong when Dacian capital, Sarmisegetusa show a strong link with Sarmatians, so Dacia was over all northen Black Sea. And included Panonia
Anatolia was one of the top highest valued provinces. Helena, the mother of Constantine, the Great was Anatolian. (You forgot this conveniently.) Very ancient, highly sophisticated civilizations flourished in this land. Very different than so called "barbarian waste lands" .Anatolia was rich in culture, minerals, forests, grains, wine, livestock, etc. It has a mild, pleasant climate, some places were snowy in the winter though. Romans traced their origins to Troy in Anatolia. Culturally, they were very influenced by Anatolia. Iliad and Odyssey were written by Homer or myth collectors in Anatolia. These mythical collections influenced the cultural, architectural and spiritual sphere of Rome totally! Anatolia had many famous philosophers.Thales, the father of mathematics, Homer, the father of literature, Herodotus, the father of history, Diogenes, Anaxogoras, Galen, Heraclitus, on and on...... Anatolians also migrated to ancient Italy and today's southern France in ancient times and established sophisticated cities with theaters, temples, roads etc, prior to existence of Roman Empire! Anatolia and Italia have thousands of years very long connection in so many ways!
Constantine the great was illyrian
@@besnikillyrian8520His father was Illyrian, and the mother was from very ancient high cultured Anatolia!
I agree that anatolia was quite important, tho I`d argue especially later with the byzantines. but aside from massilia I`m a bit confused what kind of migration you`re talking about, I`m rather thinking of galatians and volcae
Aside from that sure it was culturally developed, tho shadowed by mainland greece wich most of these philosophers traced their lineage to and you cant really give em points for a little origin story
Say the word Greek! It won’t kill you! Its important to note that turks have NOTHING to do with any of that History! They are embarrassed of their actual saudi moggolian goat thief history & have recently begun to Larp like EMPTY goofballs & pretend to be Greco-Romioi n Shiet, but can’t use the word Greek, because it would be pathetic to want to claim your Enemy’s Legacy! 🤣
@@besnikillyrian8520Constantine the Great’s mother was Helena. He said: En Touto Nika & made the sign of the XP Chi-Rho! Learn some actual History!
albanians are NOT Illyrians also! 👍🏻
Excellent video...
Egypt should be definitely in 2nd place, especially after Rome reorganized the trade system within the country they contributed a shocking amount of the empire's budget. I agree tho on how we were never integrated, its impossible to find an Egyptian who views the Roman Empire in a positive light. Although I'm pretty sure Egyptian legions did exist(Theban legion) could be wrong tho. gr8 video tho!
It was literally the wheat heart of the Roman Empire
Egypt's negative opinion of ancient Rome is mostly due to religious indoctrination (Islam vs. Christianity). It has nothing to do with the views of the average Egyptian under Roman rule.
There are several question marks on this rating...seems to focus on quite peripheral factors at some stage and also bases its timeline quite loosely towards the latter stages of the Roman Empire. But good work.
LOOOOOOLLLLZ - as a Brit I saw the title and clicked. I thought - I wonder what's going to be 18th. Surely we are in contention. You did not disappoint.
I recall Sardinians were famous for their skill with the sling and were well regarded for this on the advance line of the Roman Army. Very interesting video, all in all. Thanks!
As far as i have read it was not the Sardinians, the best slingers were from the Balearic Islands.
@@timetosee9251 Ahh, yes it was the Balerics.
sardinians never worked for romans
I'm dissatisfied with every single placement. Have my subscription
HISPANIA should be higher. I would place it 3 from the top.
Inclusion should be a 9 (retired soldiers always had Hispania as their first choice to live) and recruitment should be at least a 5.
That´s right. #1 in Europe and 1-3 overall ranking over 400 years.
I see you are an erudite and perceptive gentleman and have thus earned a sub.
This is completely unrelated to me being from the West Balkans.
A little correction: Italia was NEVER a province, because it was considered a urban extension of Rome. It never had a governor, hence not a province (aside Cisalpine Italy before the last century BC)
Uniquement après la polémique entre patriciens et plèbéiens.