I was incredibly fortunate to have Mary Beard as an Art History instructor in Italy many moons ago. She had an extraordinary amount of energy to match her extensive knowledge. Often she would get us into the behind-the-scenes areas where the general public wasn't allowed to show us something amazing. Some of the most awe inspiring moments of my life! Glad to see her still doing her teaching, but for a larger audience. All the best to you Mary!
Very envious of you! The best way to learn history is to have an expert teach you, and also to walk the grounds where it happened. If you can combine the two, it's the next best thing to having a time machine.
Mary Beard is one of the absolute best historians, with an amazing sense of passion for history. The fact that she's also funny is also great! More of her!!!
@@KD400_Sometimes, when you have a wonderful sounding voice to listen to you remember what you're hearing better. In school we read How Green Was My Valley. Written by a Welshman and set in Wales. Our 'English' teacher was from Wales. She was able to give us an in-depth idea of what coal mining towns were like and with the Welsh accent it really came alive. Plus she taught us the correct pronunciation and I used that info for years until unfortunately it faded from my memory.
I couldn't agree more about her. I sleep at night with her videos. She just tells it like it is, without the usual air of superiority that a lot of professors have. She's simply a delight.
I absolutely love Mary Beard ! She makes Roman History so fun and exciting. I wish I’d had Mary teaching me Ancient Rome, Bettany Hughes teaching Ancient Greece and Egypt, and Suzannah Lipscomb teaching English and French history in the 16th century, covering religious, gender, political, social, and psychological history. She could also teach British and European witch trials. Now that would make for an excellent and exciting syllabus !!!
I absolutely love Mary Beard ! She makes Roman History so fun and exciting. I wish I’d had Mary teaching me Ancient Rome, Bettany Hughes teaching Ancient Greece and Egypt, and Suzannah Lipscomb teaching English and French history in the 16th century, covering religious, gender, political, social, and psychological history. She could also teach British and European witch trials. Now that would make for an excellent and exciting syllabus !!!
Even more unbelievable that just a few centuries later everyone had forgotten their was even a Rome and they were looking at Roman architecture like aliens had built it. Crazy!
What I still found incredibly fascinating is the fact that the Romans built bridges thousands of years ago. And we have to renew ours every 20 years or so. The fact that their architecture has stand the test of time truly speaks for their craftsmansship.
One overlooked man in Roman History is Aria. He was the general who had the unenviable task of facing Attila at his most powerful time. He even convinced the Visigoths to side with Rome. He told them that separately, both the Visigoths and Romans would fall. Together, they had a chance. A huge battle took place between the Romans and Visigoths against the Huns. After battling all day, Attila fled. He would never fight again. Soon after he had a wedding. He was found dead in his bed the next morning with no clues as to how he died and the Hunnic Empire faded and never bothered Rome again. It looked like Rome would bounce back strong from this crisis as they did so many times before. But two decades later Rome was destroyed for good. For all his bravery and valor he was awarded by being slain by the emperor. Completely unexplainable. The Visigoths were awarded with land in Gaul. The Franks attacked and they fled to Iberia where they encountered the combined Suavi, Alan, and Vandal tribes. Those tribes were driven out of Iberia. Those tribes ended up in Carthage where they took over the grain silos that fed Rome. Then Rome was forced to pay high prices or starve. The Dark Ages began as Rome fell
@@michaelconnor5378 Fascinating, thank you for this. Much appreciated. A documentary of what you wrote of would be interesting. Let’s hope somebody else in TV sees this and thinks so too!
@@AledPritchard I appreciate the compliment. I’ve always been intrigued on the fall of Rome and how each tribe carved out their own spot. The Franks and Saxons were both from northwestern Germany and had fighting each other well before Rome fell. Then the Franks came into Gaul and pulled the upset on the Visigoths making them flee to Iberia. The Vandals, Alan’s and Suevi were soundly defeated by the Visigoths and fled to Carthage. They actually failed upwards by taking the Roman grain Silos over. Then the Saxons, still up in Northwest Germany, we’re still fighting the Franks and realized it was a fine time to move to England. Of course the Britons invited them after the Romans pulled out and reported back to a weakened Rome. The Britons were being raided by the Irish. The Saxons (Jutes and Angles also) restored order in Britannia. The Britons were quite grateful for the assistance. Unfortunately, The three tribes decided to carve up Britannia and the Britons fled to the west (into Wales). That is where the King Arthur legend began where he fought the Saxons . The Ostrogoths were the tribe that actually sacked and took Rome. Then as the tribes settled in the fifth and sixth centuries, these kingdoms started formulating
I read Mary Beards account of her train ride from Milan many years ago. I say she is a honest and courageous woman to render such an real accounting of her experience then. Remarkable woman and scholar, I admire her. A treasure she is.
@@TheSimidog Hardly an apolitical observation, yet Rome survived Caligula. Nero, Commodus, Caracalla and any number of gruesome emperors. That's resilience! Will we be so fortunate? I recently picked up a copy of Mary Beard's "SPQR" to see how they did it. Ave Roma!
@@TheSimidog I don't know how Mr Trump will be judged in the future . He might become the only president to pull a "Grover Cleveland" and serve two non consecutive terms. I don't think the average Roman Back in 1st or 2nd century Rome had much to say about who the next emperor would be. Rome had its share of nut cases, but Rome also had some damn good emperors during the 2nd century. When it comes to selecting a new leader here in the USA the blood is on our own hands.
Will and Ariel were always a good read, but like Gibbon they may have approached their subject with a certain degree of bias. Gibbon placed much of ancient Rome's woes on its embrace of Christianity and its amnesia toward the "virtues" that made it great, virtues that developed during the very early regal period and the subsequent republic which began in 509BCE according to tradition. That was long ago and I don't have a time machine to check it out.
Given the shocking amount of in-fighting and waste of manpower with the constant civil wars and changes of emperors, I've always been amazed at how long it actually did last.
Ah! How refreshing to see Mary Beard ♥from what I call the 'old guard' in history presenters. Even though this is from 2016, great story telling for a history nerd like me, doesn't get old!
That would be intriguing. I find it especially intriguing that some of the “barbarians”, such as Theodoric thought they were restorers of the Empire not destroyers of it.
From what I have heard and watched life in Rome did not drastically change until the Ostrogoth Kingdom was destroyed. Odoacer and Theodric kept much of the local government structure and the senate and saw to actually restoring many of the buildings. Ironically the constant invasion from the Eastern Empire aiming to recapture Rome weakened it drastically and the population fell to less than 50,000. The city was plagued with famine earthquakes and plague. By the 800s the Forum was being used to farm goats and pigs. One can only imagine what the citizens thought walking through the once grand temples and abandoned buildings.
I took a tour in London of The Rose, The Globe and the Shakespeare museum along with the surrounding areas back in 2011 or 2012, I swear she was our tour guide, and it was amazing.
I cover the "fall" of Rome in the west every semester. There is a lot we can learn about it in our society today. I also have videos on the topic. Including one on the "dark ages"
You say "fall" presumably because various leaders carried the torch of the roman church into the future? But there clearly was a fall of something, of a massive cohesive state that reverted to a jumble of warring factions. So saying "fall" kinda diminishes what actually happened, a center of impressive power was relegated to a backwater with fancy ruins.
@@HistoryfortheAgesI think the Empire ended after the Death of Marcus Aurelius. The Adoptive Emperors were the zenith of Roman power and After that it collapsed Year by year
As I often do, I did background reading while I was watching this video series. I was surprised to learn that Mary Beard was publicly attacked for her appearance. I can’t think of anything more stupid. This woman’s subject matter expertise and her love of the material shines through. I think she’s a very enjoyable host, it would’ve been great to have her as a professor.
I find that intellectually offensive. I can’t believe people would do such a thing. That we live in an era where even the most poorly educated can have on demand access to the work of such brilliant minds as hers makes us one of the most fortunate generations ever to exist. To think that somebody would actually disparage such a person for something as trivial as her outward appearance when she clearly has such a glorious mind and such vast knowledge which she is willing to share with the world is monstrous. The cyber glorification of frivolity is the bane of our era.
I love the conclusions she draws at the end: "Today in the West, we still wonder where our boundaries lie. And what limits should be placed on inclusion. We inherited the ambivalence, too. Questioning, whether the ends ever justify the means. The tears alongside the victory parades." So relevant given world events today, and so sad that how much we can make progress with technology and medicine, the basic human greed never goes away.
It was an informative and thrilled historical coverage video about Roman Empire falls...she labeled to all reasons..that collapsed Roman empire gradually. Free barbarians outside walls 🧱 while domesticated barbarians within walls. Thank you for sharing
7:47 The busts eyes look like a heart. There was an herb now extinct/unknown to exist that had heart shaped pods. I believe it was possibly an Orphic associated plant… could that be why the heart is used in the pupils?
I am not certain as to why the pupils have that shape. The plant you mentioned may be silphium. Reasons for its disappearance range from desertification of the plant's habitat, overharvesting, and that it could not be cultivated.
Why do empires and civilisations decline and "fall" (although the reality is not a complete, apocolyptic annihilation, but a decline into something new, which, in its turn begins the cycle of wax and wane, all over again)? It has happened repeatedly, throughout history, in fact, it is history; the empires of Babylon, and Assyria, the Zhou dynasty of China; Eygpt, which lasted through countless upheavals and interregnums, the particular cultures are no longer around, but new variations of these cultures still exsist. Call them cultural heirs, if you will. I do not include the great civilasations of the New World" in this list, as the devestation (disease, enslavement, etc.) truly was a collapse; traces remain, but buried under the influence of the Spanish and other European invaders. I grew up in the rural South (USA), so from an early age, I was exposed to a steady diet of "we are living in the last days..." thinking. In Jr. High, there was one teacher, a Baptist preacher's wife, who spent more time preaching decline and fall and the second coming of Jesus, than she did history. The fact that she was employed as a teacher was more of a sign of decline than American's love of football. We live in a time of chaos, but then, humans always have; as Ms. Beard points out: causes for decline and fall are multiple and tangled.
Christians destroyed Rome. It’s very simple. They replaced protective gods with a narcissist who demanded fealty or death. Awful stuff and it still threatens us today.
What Mary is talking about is the birth of the Roman Catholic Church which directly evolved from the Roman government bureaucracy even as the empire dissolved into chaos. It is very intriguing story, one which I have wondered about, one that is not taught in any forthright way.
Just to let u know that most women back then got married young. Very young actually and listened to the men in their lives. Most of their time was devoted to their family. That doesn't mean they didn't have other roles but in general they were with the family
I can't comment on the person who said they live in the U.S. I have been studying the fall of empires. We have checked off all of the boxes. However, I DO love this woman as a teacher and a representative of the love of history.
Did the Empire have a wall in the south as well, or did they raise up a wall only in the North of the Roman Empire? I can't remember seeing such a wall anywhere in the south. Also: Why didn't they finish the wall. Did the Empire die before the wall was finished ?
11:18 hehehe this pizza scene what she is doing reminds me of that meatball,tomato sauce ,spaghetti scene where Michael Keaton's Batman was explaining to Flash how time travel/multiverse does work.
Shows how clever and powerful Diocletian was. It went to 💩 the moment he stepped aside. The way they treated each other was just disgusting. Even killing and blinding family members. Just beyond me.
There's no such thing as 4 emperors/ 1 nation. 4 emperors = 4 nations. Splitting the empire was the most land Rome ever lost without a battle, and the many wars that resulted from the split weren't civil wars...they were just wars.
I have studied the rise & fall of Rome for 25 years. If you really want to enjoy it check out Mike Duncans podcast, RUclips videos & books. He is delightful.
I liked your Julius Caesar documentary, except all the references to Donald Trump seems a bit obsessive. Part of the reason why I think a lot of us like to dive into history is to escape all the constant rhetoric of current politics. Maybe that’s why comments were prevented on that video
My very limited understanding is that the empire never really fell, it turned into Christianity and now the pope is the modern day Caesar. Ruling over the treasures and artefacts belonging to the Roman Empire, all from Vatican City which is its own state, with its own laws and law enforcement.
This was nothing more than an infomercial about Christianity. This documentary never mentioned the Battle of Adrianople or their invasions from Germanic tribes.
I'd like to know the relationship between economic decadence of Rome and the convinience of a poverty doctrine in a moment when the empire was in plain decadence
It's an easy answer really, Rome was simply too big to maintain. Like all empires e.g. the British, the Soviet Union, the Ottomans, it becomes too expensive, too difficult, too disparate, just TOO MUCH to handle. That Rome succeeded as long as it did is the marvel and testament that it was exceptional, but ultimately not surprising that it crumbled like all the rest.
You can find a lot of reasons for Rome's decline, but they can all be summarized in two words: Social Entropy. Jist like in the physical world, it happens to every society, though they always think it never will. Look around you, America.
Over the Centuries when their enemies began to understand their military tactics their fist wasn’t made of iron anymore and the Empire was too large to be sustainable.
When Julian died, when many, particularly in the western cities were still pagan the empire died too. It was no longer what Rome began as. It changed completely. Rome was at its most magnificent in the early to mid .4th century as a city. But I’d probably have chosen to live in the time of Antoninus Pius
well, if the last few Western emperors managed to rule/ live a bit longer and together with the East managed to re-conquer Vandal Africa then the Western empire may have survived just as long as the Eastern one and with all the changes caused by both of them being still around, alive and kicking, they could be possibly still around in some shape or form even today. After all if the West managed to survive and integrate Germanic invaders they would get quite a few centuries of relative peace on European front till turn of the millennium and arrival of Viking and Hungarian raiders( Slavs been heading mostly for the East and Balkan)
I was incredibly fortunate to have Mary Beard as an Art History instructor in Italy many moons ago. She had an extraordinary amount of energy to match her extensive knowledge. Often she would get us into the behind-the-scenes areas where the general public wasn't allowed to show us something amazing. Some of the most awe inspiring moments of my life! Glad to see her still doing her teaching, but for a larger audience. All the best to you Mary!
that’s cool
Wow.fortunate indeed.
Very envious of you! The best way to learn history is to have an expert teach you, and also to walk the grounds where it happened. If you can combine the two, it's the next best thing to having a time machine.
Amazing woman
As class philologist, I do envy you. 😊
I love people like Mary who can share their knowledge in an original and relatable way. She makes the Roman world sparkle.
Mary Beard is one of the absolute best historians, with an amazing sense of passion for history. The fact that she's also funny is also great! More of her!!!
she's not funny at all, at the best unintentionally funny
@@OtaBengaBokongo Like you no doubt.
@@baronmeduse 🤣🤣 you're funny
@@OtaBengaBokongo Intentionally.
Mary and Alberto Angela
I could listen to her forever… the utter devotion and love of history is so apparent it’s literally a joy to watch her tell these ancient stories ❤️
Why r u focused on her voice. Aren't u interested in the actual history.
@@KD400_Sometimes, when you have a wonderful sounding voice to listen to you remember what you're hearing better. In school we read How Green Was My Valley. Written by a Welshman and set in Wales. Our 'English' teacher was from Wales. She was able to give us an in-depth idea of what coal mining towns were like and with the Welsh accent it really came alive. Plus she taught us the correct pronunciation and I used that info for years until unfortunately it faded from my memory.
@@KD400_ She never said she wasn't, but that Beard's voice was a good medium for it. Calm down.
Same I love her voice and her passion for the subject ...I listen to her stuff to relax and decompress
I couldn't agree more about her. I sleep at night with her videos. She just tells it like it is, without the usual air of superiority that a lot of professors have. She's simply a delight.
I ❤️ this Woman - She makes learning history fun 👍
Where was she when we were in school?
She’s awesome.
I love her too
I absolutely love Mary Beard ! She makes Roman History so fun and exciting. I wish I’d had Mary teaching me Ancient Rome, Bettany Hughes teaching Ancient Greece and Egypt, and Suzannah Lipscomb teaching English and French history in the 16th century, covering religious, gender, political, social, and psychological history. She could also teach British and European witch trials. Now that would make for an excellent and exciting syllabus !!!
👍.
I never get tired of the amazing journey that is Rome; nor do I get tired of this amazing lady right here. Good to see a lot of others feel the same,
I’ll never understand how people aren’t fascinated by this. Like it’s unbelievable the juggernaut of an empire collapsed
It didn’t really collapse. People just slowly wanted independence
There's intricate detail in the Bible, and overwhelming evidence that the Bible is true and accurate.
I started studying world history/politics/ culture abt 5 years ago. Like the saying "all roads lead to Rome" - it's true.
@@JamesBroadwater Hilarious. Tell me another joke!
Every empire, every great civilisation falls.
I absolutely love Mary Beard ! She makes Roman History so fun and exciting. I wish I’d had Mary teaching me Ancient Rome, Bettany Hughes teaching Ancient Greece and Egypt, and Suzannah Lipscomb teaching English and French history in the 16th century, covering religious, gender, political, social, and psychological history. She could also teach British and European witch trials. Now that would make for an excellent and exciting syllabus !!!
I took an art history course taught by her husband, Robin at the University of London 20 years ago. He is also frighteningly brilliant.
Poor guy.. peace 🙏✌️
Even more unbelievable that just a few centuries later everyone had forgotten their was even a Rome and they were looking at Roman architecture like aliens had built it. Crazy!
What I still found incredibly fascinating is the fact that the Romans built bridges thousands of years ago. And we have to renew ours every 20 years or so.
The fact that their architecture has stand the test of time truly speaks for their craftsmansship.
Roman concrete is superior to the concrete used today. Do a Google search "The Economist Roman concrete".
And that they had amazing water transport system standards...and cement...they were very, very modern.
I don't disagree with you but I wonder if their roads would handle modern vehicles?
They didn’t have 18 wheelers traversing their roads…
Mary Beard - one of the greatu story tellers of our time. I love her
Irvin Finkel is just as good
i reckon shes gotta big bush
and very beautiful (for a British female)
I could watch Mary Beard forever. I love history anyway, but Mary’s passion provides even more enjoyment in the subject matter.
One overlooked man in Roman History is Aria. He was the general who had the unenviable task of facing Attila at his most powerful time. He even convinced the Visigoths to side with Rome. He told them that separately, both the Visigoths and Romans would fall. Together, they had a chance. A huge battle took place between the Romans and Visigoths against the Huns. After battling all day, Attila fled. He would never fight again. Soon after he had a wedding. He was found dead in his bed the next morning with no clues as to how he died and the Hunnic Empire faded and never bothered Rome again. It looked like Rome would bounce back strong from this crisis as they did so many times before. But two decades later Rome was destroyed for good. For all his bravery and valor he was awarded by being slain by the emperor. Completely unexplainable. The Visigoths were awarded with land in Gaul. The Franks attacked and they fled to Iberia where they encountered the combined Suavi, Alan, and Vandal tribes. Those tribes were driven out of Iberia. Those tribes ended up in Carthage where they took over the grain silos that fed Rome. Then Rome was forced to pay high prices or starve. The Dark Ages began as Rome fell
@@michaelconnor5378 Fascinating, thank you for this. Much appreciated. A documentary of what you wrote of would be interesting. Let’s hope somebody else in TV sees this and thinks so too!
@@AledPritchard I appreciate the compliment. I’ve always been intrigued on the fall of Rome and how each tribe carved out their own spot. The Franks and Saxons were both from northwestern Germany and had fighting each other well before Rome fell. Then the Franks came into Gaul and pulled the upset on the Visigoths making them flee to Iberia. The Vandals, Alan’s and Suevi were soundly defeated by the Visigoths and fled to Carthage. They actually failed upwards by taking the Roman grain Silos over. Then the Saxons, still up in Northwest Germany, we’re still fighting the Franks and realized it was a fine time to move to England. Of course the Britons invited them after the Romans pulled out and reported back to a weakened Rome. The Britons were being raided by the Irish. The Saxons (Jutes and Angles also) restored order in Britannia. The Britons were quite grateful for the assistance. Unfortunately, The three tribes decided to carve up Britannia and the Britons fled to the west (into Wales). That is where the King Arthur legend began where he fought the Saxons . The Ostrogoths were the tribe that actually sacked and took Rome. Then as the tribes settled in the fifth and sixth centuries, these kingdoms started formulating
I read Mary Beards account of her train ride from Milan many years ago. I say she is a honest and courageous woman to render such an real accounting of her experience then. Remarkable woman and scholar, I admire her. A treasure she is.
This is an unbelievable series and Mary Beard presents it so well.
Makes an already fascinating subject even more interesting somehow
An hour watching Mary Beard is an hour well spent. ❤️
I love the way she explains things, keeps you interested all the time.. Will watch more from her..
The best documentary on Rome I've ever seen. Thank You Mary Beard
"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." -- Ariel Durant
Imagine being able to leap forward a 1000 years and listening to lecturers teach of the fall of America by one man called Trump.
@@TheSimidog Hardly an apolitical observation, yet Rome survived Caligula. Nero, Commodus, Caracalla and any number of gruesome emperors.
That's resilience!
Will we be so fortunate?
I recently picked up a copy of Mary Beard's "SPQR" to see how they did it.
Ave Roma!
So Trump will go down in history alongside the likes of Calligula and Nero and those who nearly destroyed an empire.
@@TheSimidog I don't know how Mr Trump will be judged in the future . He might become the only president to pull a "Grover Cleveland" and serve two non consecutive terms.
I don't think the average Roman
Back in 1st or 2nd century Rome had much to say about who the next emperor would be.
Rome had its share of nut cases, but Rome also had some damn good emperors during the 2nd century.
When it comes to selecting a new leader here in the USA the blood is on our own hands.
Will and Ariel were always a good read, but like Gibbon they may have approached their subject with a certain degree of bias.
Gibbon placed much of ancient Rome's woes on its embrace of Christianity and its amnesia toward the "virtues" that made it great, virtues that developed during the very early regal period and the subsequent republic which began in 509BCE according to tradition.
That was long ago and I don't have a time machine to check it out.
Given the shocking amount of in-fighting and waste of manpower with the constant civil wars and changes of emperors, I've always been amazed at how long it actually did last.
Yes, it nearly collapsed in the 3rd century.
Dr Beard is such a fascinating story-teller! Thank you.
Ah! How refreshing to see Mary Beard ♥from what I call the 'old guard' in history presenters. Even though this is from 2016, great story telling for a history nerd like me, doesn't get old!
Love Mary s Documentaries ! More Mary B !
You should do a video of Rome after the fall in 476 to 600 AD....
💯
That would be intriguing. I find it especially intriguing that some of the “barbarians”, such as Theodoric thought they were restorers of the Empire not destroyers of it.
There are more videos now on the 'dark ages' in Britain but it would be cool to have more on France, Spain and Italy during this time.
From what I have heard and watched life in Rome did not drastically change until the Ostrogoth Kingdom was destroyed. Odoacer and Theodric kept much of the local government structure and the senate and saw to actually restoring many of the buildings.
Ironically the constant invasion from the Eastern Empire aiming to recapture Rome weakened it drastically and the population fell to less than 50,000. The city was plagued with famine earthquakes and plague.
By the 800s the Forum was being used to farm goats and pigs. One can only imagine what the citizens thought walking through the once grand temples and abandoned buildings.
Loved the tombstone. Great documentary
This documentary & Mary Beard is just brilliant. & Mr Beard appears as a bonus too! 😊❤
I took a tour in London of The Rose, The Globe and the Shakespeare museum along with the surrounding areas back in 2011 or 2012, I swear she was our tour guide, and it was amazing.
I cover the "fall" of Rome in the west every semester. There is a lot we can learn about it in our society today. I also have videos on the topic. Including one on the "dark ages"
You say "fall" presumably because various leaders carried the torch of the roman church into the future? But there clearly was a fall of something, of a massive cohesive state that reverted to a jumble of warring factions. So saying "fall" kinda diminishes what actually happened, a center of impressive power was relegated to a backwater with fancy ruins.
@@stemid85 I say fall in quotes because the Roman Empire did not just end overnight. There was a very long transition
😢❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@@HistoryfortheAgesI think the Empire ended after the Death of Marcus Aurelius. The Adoptive Emperors were the zenith of Roman power and After that it collapsed Year by year
@e.l.b6435 That is where I start the fall. From Commodus. They did have a bit of a recovery after the crisis of the 3rd century but not enough
As I often do, I did background reading while I was watching this video series. I was surprised to learn that Mary Beard was publicly attacked for her appearance. I can’t think of anything more stupid. This woman’s subject matter expertise and her love of the material shines through. I think she’s a very enjoyable host, it would’ve been great to have her as a professor.
People have forgotten what how non social media people look.
I find that intellectually offensive. I can’t believe people would do such a thing. That we live in an era where even the most poorly educated can have on demand access to the work of such brilliant minds as hers makes us one of the most fortunate generations ever to exist. To think that somebody would actually disparage such a person for something as trivial as her outward appearance when she clearly has such a glorious mind and such vast knowledge which she is willing to share with the world is monstrous. The cyber glorification of frivolity is the bane of our era.
I love the conclusions she draws at the end:
"Today in the West, we still wonder where our boundaries lie. And what limits should be placed on inclusion. We inherited the ambivalence, too. Questioning, whether the ends ever justify the means. The tears alongside the victory parades."
So relevant given world events today, and so sad that how much we can make progress with technology and medicine, the basic human greed never goes away.
It was an informative and thrilled historical coverage video about Roman Empire falls...she labeled to all reasons..that collapsed Roman empire gradually. Free barbarians outside walls 🧱 while domesticated barbarians within walls. Thank you for sharing
I love listening to Mary Beard. She makes it interesting - and tells it exactly as it was!
New Mary Beard content is just what I needed today.
Fantastic! What a wonderful teacher!
This is scaring the shi* out of me there are so many similarities between fall of Rome and present time
God, your gullibility is boring.
Outstanding !
7:47 The busts eyes look like a heart. There was an herb now extinct/unknown to exist that had heart shaped pods. I believe it was possibly an Orphic associated plant… could that be why the heart is used in the pupils?
I am not certain as to why the pupils have that shape. The plant you mentioned may be silphium. Reasons for its disappearance range from desertification of the plant's habitat, overharvesting, and that it could not be cultivated.
Why do empires and civilisations decline and "fall" (although the reality is not a complete, apocolyptic annihilation, but a decline into something new, which, in its turn begins the cycle of wax and wane, all over again)? It has happened repeatedly, throughout history, in fact, it is history; the empires of Babylon, and Assyria, the Zhou dynasty of China; Eygpt, which lasted through countless upheavals and interregnums, the particular cultures are no longer around, but new variations of these cultures still exsist. Call them cultural heirs, if you will. I do not include the great civilasations of the New World" in this list, as the devestation (disease, enslavement, etc.) truly was a collapse; traces remain, but buried under the influence of the Spanish and other European invaders. I grew up in the rural South (USA), so from an early age, I was exposed to a steady diet of "we are living in the last days..." thinking. In Jr. High, there was one teacher, a Baptist preacher's wife, who spent more time preaching decline and fall and the second coming of Jesus, than she did history. The fact that she was employed as a teacher was more of a sign of decline than American's love of football. We live in a time of chaos, but then, humans always have; as Ms. Beard points out: causes for decline and fall are multiple and tangled.
Interesting .
The average age of an Empire is 250 years.
Simple reason is that it breaks from within. The men abandon their roles and the women follow aswell.
Christians destroyed Rome. It’s very simple. They replaced protective gods with a narcissist who demanded fealty or death. Awful stuff and it still threatens us today.
Such an insightful perspective on the dichotomy of the religions.
That one Tiktoker gonna be in the comments like: "Ancient Rome didn't exist"
What Mary is talking about is the birth of the Roman Catholic Church which directly evolved from the Roman government bureaucracy even as the empire dissolved into chaos. It is very intriguing story, one which I have wondered about, one that is not taught in any forthright way.
Thank you for this
Gosh! That's an education! Thank you!
I would love to see her do one dedicated to Livia Drucilla and the women of Rome. ❤
The only ones you learn about is the ones related to the life of Ceasar and maybe some intrusive, power hungry mothers.
Just to let u know that most women back then got married young. Very young actually and listened to the men in their lives. Most of their time was devoted to their family. That doesn't mean they didn't have other roles but in general they were with the family
This tickled my little shroom brain. Loved it.
"Poverty a virtue" an idea I might adopt to help me feel better.
I can't comment on the person who said they live in the U.S. I have been studying the fall of empires. We have checked off all of the boxes. However, I DO love this woman as a teacher and a representative of the love of history.
Do we know for sure where Jon Snow was stationed at on Hadrian's Wall?
The wall is in Northern Manitoba in Canada
Her voice to me is like a British granny I never had teaching me history lol I love it.
No one compares to Mary Beard. I should love to find one like her, not younger, but available
Hail Mary
Amazing historian and communicator. ❤
Did the Empire have a wall in the south as well, or did they raise up a wall only in the North of the Roman Empire? I can't remember seeing such a wall anywhere in the south. Also: Why didn't they finish the wall. Did the Empire die before the wall was finished ?
This is amazing❤
Really interesting
So good...thank you
Mary Beard is the most passionate historian… up there with Bethany Hughs.
❤🇨🇦
Awesome ❣️
Thanks a bundle.
Well done
so interesting!
11:18 hehehe this pizza scene what she is doing reminds me of that meatball,tomato sauce ,spaghetti scene where Michael Keaton's Batman was explaining to Flash how time travel/multiverse does work.
Stupendous! So fortunate to have had this amazing woman for Graeco-Roman Studies: "Republic to Empire: How Greece conquer Rome - or did they?"
I think about the fall of the Roman Empire multiple times a week!
She is so cool, funny,and amazing
Mary and her husband would be my dinner guests every weekend lol....dinner conversations would be epic
I need this woman to teach everything ❤❤❤
Is Mary Beard doing any other videos?
Shows how clever and powerful Diocletian was. It went to 💩 the moment he stepped aside. The way they treated each other was just disgusting. Even killing and blinding family members. Just beyond me.
There's no such thing as 4 emperors/ 1 nation. 4 emperors = 4 nations. Splitting the empire was the most land Rome ever lost without a battle, and the many wars that resulted from the split weren't civil wars...they were just wars.
In 395, When Theodosius died, his 2 sons ran the east and west split. Then, there was the British isles, where an additional Caesar was in charge
Yeah that's what I thought. A bit like saying The European Union is one Empire.
She's the best.
I have studied the rise & fall of Rome for 25 years.
If you really want to enjoy it check out Mike Duncans podcast, RUclips videos & books.
He is delightful.
(NO vegetables were harmed in the making of this broadcast) also: that pizza looks gross
I heard the food is nasty gross in Rome no matter what restaurant
@@bonbonvegabon Who told you that? McDonalds?
I never eat McDonalds@@baronmeduse
@@bonbonvegabon Especially McDonalds Rome.
Reminds me of the fall of another Nation we are currently witnessing. As it gets devoured by self-righteous ignoramuses from the inside out.
I just love Mary...!
We love listening to her here in America
I live in US. I fear this is our fate. Our arrogance is horrifying.
It was all of the above.
When an empire stops expanding it inevitably collapses in on itself , happened every time
Could Hadrian's wall be an actual road???
No, it's an actual wall.
Goths and vis Goths was no joke
Rome never controlled the Baltic Seas
It was all of it at ones...the perfect storm
I liked your Julius Caesar documentary, except all the references to Donald Trump seems a bit obsessive. Part of the reason why I think a lot of us like to dive into history is to escape all the constant rhetoric of current politics. Maybe that’s why comments were prevented on that video
So basically Rome wasn't destroyed another city became more popular! Yeah about to happen again
That Pizza did not look appertising ! very dry ! wont be eating there !!!!
My very limited understanding is that the empire never really fell, it turned into Christianity and now the pope is the modern day Caesar.
Ruling over the treasures and artefacts belonging to the Roman Empire, all from Vatican City which is its own state, with its own laws and law enforcement.
Very nice, but... pizza Romana has anchovies and capers 😅
I watched and I still don't know why the Roman Empire fell.
This was nothing more than an infomercial about Christianity. This documentary never mentioned the Battle of Adrianople or their invasions from Germanic tribes.
You mean Catholicism
I'd like to know the relationship between economic decadence of Rome and the convinience of a poverty doctrine in a moment when the empire was in plain decadence
when faced with the facts and the legend... print the legend. Tony Wilson rip
Relationship between Romans and their gods, so much like it still exists in India.
It's an easy answer really, Rome was simply too big to maintain. Like all empires e.g. the British, the Soviet Union, the Ottomans, it becomes too expensive, too difficult, too disparate, just TOO MUCH to handle. That Rome succeeded as long as it did is the marvel and testament that it was exceptional, but ultimately not surprising that it crumbled like all the rest.
You can find a lot of reasons for Rome's decline, but they can all be summarized in two words: Social Entropy. Jist like in the physical world, it happens to every society, though they always think it never will. Look around you, America.
We've been noticing since Trump our disgraceful leader ruined the USA.
Over the Centuries when their enemies began to understand their military tactics their fist wasn’t made of iron anymore and the Empire was too large to be sustainable.
Love her voice =D
What do we call Roman then and now after the Roman Empire fell (or spilt in 2)?
The 2nd most underrated roman emperor Julius Valerius Majorian
watching this instead of doing my math homework
Well done.
Call me crazy, but I'm itching to have this lady host a cooking show.
Look what happened when they stopped honoring their gods. Maybe “made their own religious choices and their own religious world” was a solid idea.
When Julian died, when many, particularly in the western cities were still pagan the empire died too. It was no longer what Rome began as. It changed completely. Rome was at its most magnificent in the early to mid .4th century as a city. But I’d probably have chosen to live in the time of Antoninus Pius
What is with the Period of the 5 god emperors?
@@e.l.b6435 what about it? That was certainly the best time to live in the empire. Well probably prior to the plague hit in the 160s
@@Insectoid_ Because you said, that the 4th Century was the best Period of the Roman Empire? I don‘t think so in my opinion
well, if the last few Western emperors managed to rule/ live a bit longer and together with the East managed to re-conquer Vandal Africa then the Western empire may have survived just as long as the Eastern one and with all the changes caused by both of them being still around, alive and kicking, they could be possibly still around in some shape or form even today.
After all if the West managed to survive and integrate Germanic invaders they would get quite a few centuries of relative peace on European front till turn of the millennium and arrival of Viking and Hungarian raiders( Slavs been heading mostly for the East and Balkan)