In my videos, I always try my best to explain the lifestyle in ancient Rome, and in this video, we decided to go to the next level! I'm glad to say that the team I put together to make this video decided to make this a full series, so you can expect a lot of fort/castle recreations from various locations and periods! (We just started the next one, which will be in a desert!) This one took a lot of sleepless nights, but we have no regrets for how it turned out. I would like to hear some recommendations from your side, as to which ancient/medieval site to model next!
Really great channel! I subscribed months ago after watching just one of your videos, and I’ve very much enjoyed the content you’ve put out. Keep up the great work!! Also, any way we could get some info on pre-Marion reform Roman armies/legions, or some of the minutiae of e.g. equipment, enemy formations, etc?
You might not even believe this but my great grandfather started excavations on this site, his name was Eric Birley and his two sons Robin and Anthony (my grandfather) carried on the work after he died. Today my cousin Andy runs and oversees excavation. Very proud moment to see such a good video about Vindolanda released online! 😎
Thank you for the compliment! Its very nice to hear this from a member of your family. This video would not be possible without their dedication and well-made excavation records! Cheers to you all!
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank your family for its dedicated, groundbreaking work at Vindolanda over the past decades. The painstaking excavation of the site has brought some truly breathtaking artifacts to light, in particular the Vindolanda Papers, showing life at the fort in the 1st century AD at its most human level. We are all in debt to your family for their hard work.
Thats awesome. I never heard of Birley. According to Paramount Picture's historical archives, the first excavator was Archibald Witwicky, grandfather to the famous Sam played by Shia Labeouf in the historical biography. 😜 PS. Have you been able to fix Bumblebees' voice box? I would really love to talk to him about those old dig sites🙂
@@theromanorder The only thing greater than the arrogance in this statement is the irony. You’ve clearly not managed to learn proof reading nor widened your vocabulary. I very much agree the internet as a whole is a great tool for additional education. However you’ve only attained greater understanding on topics you’ve chosen to further study in your own time so of course you can demonstrate a higher knowledge on them. You also might want to develop some critical thinking which you appear to be lacking. How do you know any of the information these content creators are telling you is accurate? Careful you don’t get too excited by outsmarting fools you don’t suddenly become one yourself when an actual academic on the subject corrects you on your myths. Still at least you’ve got a thirst for knowledge and a drive to educate yourself that’s better than most these days.
There is so much material left that it could be worth another couple of videos at least. The fort is truly a blessed site when it comes to the tiniest details
People should note that, just as you show in this excellent video, public roads were made in the same way that the internal fort roads were, and in England there are still quite a few of these roads still being used today, albeit with modern tarmac over the top of the old roman road underneath. This includes the main Londinium to Eboracum (London to York) road. You might also be interested in taking a look at the remaining available ruins of the Roman town Verulamium (Ave Verulamium - my home town) which are open to be seen - below the hill with the Cathedral standing on it, and also contains the countries oldest pub still in use - including the remains of a hypercaust and some lovely mosaic and tiled floors. Well worth a visit. And would love to see a 3D rendition of how Verulamium might have looked at the end of the 1st century/into the 2nd century.
Had the pleasure of visiting Vindolanda when I was in the UK, such an amazing place, one of the better preserved Roman fortifications in the UK. What an awesome video
The greatest empire in world history. Rome turned straw villages into cement and brick cities. At the height of the Roman Empire, there were over 1 million people living in Rome (!!). You’d have to wait until 19th century Victorian London to get a city of that size again. Unreal.
@@kevinbrown5093 the Mongol empire is great and all but not like the Romans, Abbasid...etc sadly they destroyed a lot of empires and kingdoms sure they were tolerance (not always) and they maintained the already existed silk road, but they don't have that many contributions.
@@coke8077 Well, technically the Mongols did contribute a lot to various sciences, language, and social logistics in a variety of ways after the dust settled from their main conquests if what I read is true.
@TheSanFrancisco SeaHorse it is very much true. But the mongols collapsed within 200 years. The romans even set the borders of modern nations. Mongols were amazing people with amazing accomplishments, but Rome was on an another level. And the mongols destroyed at least as much as they added to the development of humanity as a whole
What a fabulous recreation of a Roman fort! I used to teach Latin, and I wish I could have shown this to my second-year students who read Caesar. They would have loved it. What's particularly appealing is the description of life around the fort and its complexity and humanity. Filaxim, te saluto!
This was absolutely amazing! I was at Vindolanda a couple of years ago as it's only a couple of hours from me, and it's one of the best museums/historical sites I've ever been to! Interestingly, they have the largest collection of preserved Roman leather shoes anywhere. Some of them even have the initials or signets of their owners who can be traced back through the book keeping ledgers, which is incredible! If you are ever in the UK visiting the North of England you must go there, and this video really helps to get a real vision of what it must have looked like. The only thing it doesn't portray is the sheer scale of the site - it's absolutely huge!
@@HistoriaMilitum it's definitely worth visiting. A lot of hikers walk the whole of Hadrian's wall over several days and there are dozens of ruins along the way. Mostly small ones but there are a few really big ones like Vindolanda and Vercovicium that are really well preserved. You should definitely come to England to see them! 👍
I visited this wonderful place in Dec 23 and loved every minute of the guided tour. The tour operator was very knowledgeable and answered many questions. I personally would like to thank her for she had a coffee with me at the cafe after the visit and answered more questions that I had thought to ask. And this guide is done voluntary. Would highly recommend a visit to this wonderful site and a beautiful place to stay is Laingley Castle. The castle is near Hexam
Thank you so much for doing this, everything is perfect! the explanation, animation,etc. I really value the effort and heart that your team puts into this videos. I can't wait to see more from you all! ❤️
This was so cool to see. Way under appreciated, this givves you such an in depth look at daily life of Romans and the soldiers and how they operated. I love this kinda stuff too.
All viewers please note…Vindolanda is a Roman fort, built sometime around AD 85 to guard the major road known as the Stanegate, which stretched roughly east to west across the top of Roman Britannia from the Solway to the mouth of the Tyne. This means that Vindolanda was in place roughly 40 years before the building of Hadrian's Wall. AD122. Yours, a local to Vindo and The Wall.
Excellent and informative video, as always! Yours is one of the few channels where I can hit the "Like" button at the start of the video. As a soon-to-graduate engineer, whenever I see anything about Roman engineering and construction I can't help but be disgusted at how almost nothing is built to last these days. The idea of "planned obsolescence" especially drives me insane. The West today may be the most technologically advanced civilization in known history, but as far as I am concerned the Roman Empire remains the pinnacle of human civilization in many ways.
I can't even imagine how much work it took to make all the 3d models for the visual reconstruction, but it helped so much to better understand how everything was build. This is with no doubt the best video you made yet!
Thank you! The problem with history is that it's a very demmanding lover, it requires you to sit down and read books on a regular basis to acquire a good understanding. That's a great deterrent for people because it implies a serious effort. Also, history teachers don't help either because they dumb down all information in order to be make themselves understood. That's how you end up like today, a lot of stuff around the same repetitive topics which barely scratch the surface. As a historian, I confess that it is something we have brought upon ourselves :( . We hope that with this channel we can show history is truly engaging and inspire the interest of the public who seek to know more than the minimum
It's a little bit spooky how detailed this recreation of Roman fort is. I can already imagine the inhabitants and how they would go about their day after watching this.
I'm an ex-squaddie(BAOR NATO 1977-86) I visited Vindolanda a couple of years back, on my recce of the Wall, being a bucket list box to tick, I couldn't believe the tactical faux pas the Romans made, by putting their main base in the valley overlooked by high terrain, We Brits learnt a hard lesson in Afghanistan 1838 -42 and again in S. Africa against the Boers About holding the high ground
Thank you I enjoyed this video very much. I recall a book I read by Adrian Goldsworthy which was inspired by the birthday invitation found at this fort. The invitation was the first discovered written document by a woman. As I recall it was a wax tablet and the writing was found using technology to read the impression left by the stylist on the wood. Anyone that enjoys historical fiction is that time period I recommend the three book series by Goldsworthy based in the late 1st century so a few feet deeper than your reconstruction. I respect Goldsworthy as an historian and he is in my view a very enjoyable read of historical fiction.
The ‘letter’ was probably written by a servant but the signature at the end was in different writing and therefore obviously signed by the lady whose birthday was going to be celebrated.
I have visited the vindolanda several times since the late 1970s. this is an excellent presentation of the archeology to be found there. a remarkably well preserved place.
I have seen video on Vindolanda Fort earlier but the additional information @11:30 is most interesting. Kind of insight into Roman Cohort operation. With 6 Centurions, 5 were away. The 2 at Coria were on military duty, the 1 in Londinium was either on leave or medical treatment. The 2 at unknown places were probably on scouting mission or special duty. Kind of over reliance on Centurion IMO, and a bit short on staffing (no. of Centurion) as well.
The previous cohort were lacking centurions. They were a double-strength cohort so there should have been 12 in theory. People working with these tablets think that the unit was in the process of expansion and that it momentarily lacked centurions while the new troop enlisments had already been carried out
@@JonEtxebeberriaRodriguez There should have been 10+ Centurions and 10+ Optio. 20+ officers that could be trusted with various duties, hence my original thought on over reliance on Centurions. May be they have promoted all the Optio into Centurions already. For whatever reasons this Cohort was seriously short on Centurions, could they not locally promote some senior Legionaire into Optio to share some duty? They must went through a rigorous selection process to promote a Centurion (e.g. over 30 years old, can read/write) hence need to recruit Centurion from other units?
It is very interesting and fascinating to see a model of this fort as I got to visit it in person a few years ago. A great experience, both there and watching this video. Thank you.
Excellent teamwork - CONGRATULATIONS to you and your team for this great work! I enjoyed learning research findings of the excavations through your lively, well-presented 3D video. It reveals the finest architecture and engineering expertise that were in use in infrastructure development at that time, with full of interesting discoveries.
I believe: The north east corner of the officer's home should be enclosed. That corner was a private stables and had further rooms linking it up with the rest of the building. I suppose this might have been a later addition, but it seems strange that the building would have ever been left unencircled. The horses for the cavalry lived IN the cavalry barracks. Cavalry barracks had front and back rooms, the back rooms are for the soldiers and the front rooms are where their horses lived (each soldier being responsible for the care of their own horse, plus it allows easy access in event of an emergency mobilization, it gave heating benefits, blah blah blah). There has been a long standing mystery as to where Roman military horses were housed, but concensus is coming down on this method due to large pits in the front rooms believed to collect the urine of the horses for gathering. This was the building style found for cavalry barracks at Vindolanda and other nearby forts. The southern half of the site is currently under excavation, has been for a year or two now (slow progress due to corona), as of two months ago there was no evidence at all of a hospital (which is not to say that it is impossible it ever existed in this specific fort, but I'm not aware of any evidence for it. And even if it were not in this fort there still might be one excavated on the site from one of the earlier larger forts). I would guess that these were origianlly just more cavalry barracks (during the early days of the fort). As Vindolanda went on the number of cavalry stationed there were reduced repeatedly, moving from a strong military force to a surgical strike team. The number of cavalry barracks goes down and the buildings became more spread out. A quartermaster's quarters has been found in that southern half as well I recall, though when that was added I couldn't say, I seem to recall it being on the western side, so in the area where the hospital here was placed.
The problem we found is that the last information we have about the officer's home in this period comes from the reports of 1999. They just stated that the wall on the north west was impossible to know if something previous to that existed because the IVth century home left no trace of previous buildings. If something has changed about it there is no notice nor reports we could access. The problem with the cavalry barracks as you said is that we lacked sources about how they were arranged. Birley was not sure about the role of those buildings for the IIIrd century so we just took the plan and made an educated guess and we clearly state it a such. Finally, the thing with the hospital is that the fort is attested to have a medical staff as you know but there was no building. Once again, that place is not excavated or at least they have not produced any report nor academic paper about it. So we just took an educated guess because the nearby forts like Housesteads had one and were similar in size. The problem we have been facing with these parts of the fort is that archaeology has a serious lag between discovery, publication and consolidation of the interpretation. I'm aware of that and we took the decision of stating that we are not sure and also to take it with a grain of salt
I've been to Hardknott fort in England when I was a kid. It sucked walking up there as a 7yr old. But it made me love Roman history that's for sure. I remember that they had a line in the walls that denoted what was original and which was restored to give people a better idea of visualizing what it would have been like
I’ve ‘posted myself’ to Hadrians wall several times over the years. It a very cold, wet, bleak place in winter. You wouldn’t want to be on guard duty on nights in February. Brrrr!
@@HistoriaMilitum Brilliant. I've just squeezed the time in to watch it. I'm not too far from the ruins of Letocetum, Enhlish Heritage have published a visual or two but it's rather speculative, still it's interesting to look at.
If you are ever in the UK this site is well worth a visit as is Horstead Fort on the wall, which is nearby. The wife and I are going up for another visit next may. I recommend staying at nearby HEXHAM, really nice place and people, also full of post Roman history which will give you an idea just how rugged and wild this part of Britian was for more than a millennia.
Enjoy your visit! I would really like to visit the place because the amount of information about Houseteads and Vindolanda is simply overwhelming. Not only that, the access to the records and archives of excavations is an example of a well managed heritage service. The British Archaeological Service does a really good job. Thank you for the advice, I will truly take note of it.
I dream everyday of being part of a roman legion and prove my worth, but life is unfair so im just a developer lol atleast this video helps visualize the dream
So I live very close, about 3 miles from the site of Vindolanda. Northumberland is very much worth a visit if you like Roman history, as is Cumbria. We also have amazing beaches, fells and beautiful towns and cities. Cumbria has the Lake District too. Well worth more than one visit.
@@glennmeade2390 no I work for myself pal 😉 as much as I love the Lakes, I live on the Tyne and Wear/Northumbrian border. I am a Geordie living just outside of Gateshead, very close to Wylam (if you know the area). Canny spot to be fair.
I clicked on your channel thinking I would take a casual look at what you presented but OMG I was riveted. You really had me when at 7:10 you gave the calculations for water usage. I would like to see more details on road building in that some Roman roads are still existent today. It would be interesting to speculate as to the economic changes wrought by the needs of this military community. For example the demands of this fort would completely change the agricultural focus of the surrounding environment. Farmers would change what and how much they grew to meet the ready market of the inhabitants of the fort. How big a change was there in the general population to meet this increased labor need? Further, many more wagons and wagon builders would be needed (along with more lumber), more draft animals would be needed to pull them. Horse traders would gravitate to the fort to sell replacement cavalry animals. And coopers would be in demand, along with better roads and bridges for ease of commercial flow, and ladies, shall we say, for the more "imaginative men". Not to mention that the entire area would be policed and a safer environment. A greater amount of money would flow into the pockets of the surrounding community. What effect did that have; more children, more "luxury goods"? Also, when you have several hundred men of military age you have to address their morale, other wise "idle hands... " and all that. You can train them hard but life can't just be eat, sleep and training. There would have to be festivals every couple of months... running, wrestling, singing, etc, with the locals invited. The establishment of any such fort would create a local economic and cultural revolution in everything
Glad you liked the video :). Means a lot for us. And now to what you say, you are totally right, the effects of the roman garrisons on the local economies were considerable. Trading, agriculture, industry, it made a great impact on that. Also, bear in mind the army brought with it several highly skilled specialists such as clerks, doctors, engineers, vets, armourers, builders and soldiers accustomed to hard work. The roman army tried to be as self sufficient as possible, they tried to produce all they could locally and the supplement it with supply shipments. In the meantime they also helped with the local administration if there were no civilian specialists for such jobs. You may find interesting the video we released about the staff and administration posts of the roman army 😉 Also we have written prove of the trading businesses done inside the forts. For example we know how the purchased horses and how this then were recorded in the paperwork adding a brief description of the animal along with the cost of the transaction. In the video you will find a document detailing the shipments of grain. Finally, about the festivala and such we know that such things existed thanks to the archives of the XXth Cohort of Palmyrenes where there is a whole list detailing festivities and holydays
Excellent work, am really looking forward to future reconstructions of Roman military forts and fortresses. Have you considered attempting to reconstruct any major Roman fortresses such as Eboracum (York) or Moguntiacum (Mainz) ? Thanks so much for your presentation.
I've been there a couple of times in my 4os I'm 67. I always wanted to go to Hadrians wall. It was a great experience. I've been too a couple of other forts along the wall housteads is very good it was overrun by picks when you stand in the streets you realise there was no where to run you stood your ground and fought till you dropped its a sobering thought.
That's only the tip of the iceberg, because due to time constraints we had to discard a lot of them. We hope to include more documents in the second part of the video
Been there a couple of times great place to visit, it's on my doorstep. There are also Housesteds and Chesters which are also Roman forts along the wall. Northumberland is absolutely fantastic.
Thank you. Great film. I walked (most of) Hadrian's Wall when i was about 8 years old. 🇬🇧👍 Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort ( castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it originally pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Vindolanda means white lawn/field.
@@alisonsmith4801 Sunderland was just a geographic reference of the location. Context. Equal distance from both, very roughly, was why I said that. It's not really near anywhere people unfamiliar with the area would know. This channel has an international audience. I appreciate references if in USA people say it's near a certain city even if not close to it.
In my videos, I always try my best to explain the lifestyle in ancient Rome, and in this video, we decided to go to the next level! I'm glad to say that the team I put together to make this video decided to make this a full series, so you can expect a lot of fort/castle recreations from various locations and periods! (We just started the next one, which will be in a desert!) This one took a lot of sleepless nights, but we have no regrets for how it turned out.
I would like to hear some recommendations from your side, as to which ancient/medieval site to model next!
Awesome video TY 👌
Alesia
Really great channel! I subscribed months ago after watching just one of your videos, and I’ve very much enjoyed the content you’ve put out. Keep up the great work!!
Also, any way we could get some info on pre-Marion reform Roman armies/legions, or some of the minutiae of e.g. equipment, enemy formations, etc?
Extraordinary ! Great job, I am diehard Roman fan and this is new and excrptional. Romans civilized the world and centralized knowledge and wealth !
Is that Skyrim background music I hear
@@randomname1251 Thank you for the kind words! We definitely have some pre-marian videos planned for the future.
You might not even believe this but my great grandfather started excavations on this site, his name was Eric Birley and his two sons Robin and Anthony (my grandfather) carried on the work after he died. Today my cousin Andy runs and oversees excavation. Very proud moment to see such a good video about Vindolanda released online! 😎
Thank you for the compliment! Its very nice to hear this from a member of your family. This video would not be possible without their dedication and well-made excavation records! Cheers to you all!
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank your family for its dedicated, groundbreaking work at Vindolanda over the past decades. The painstaking excavation of the site has brought some truly breathtaking artifacts to light, in particular the Vindolanda Papers, showing life at the fort in the 1st century AD at its most human level. We are all in debt to your family for their hard work.
This is really cool!
Thats awesome. I never heard of Birley. According to Paramount Picture's historical archives, the first excavator was Archibald Witwicky, grandfather to the famous Sam played by Shia Labeouf in the historical biography. 😜
PS. Have you been able to fix Bumblebees' voice box? I would really love to talk to him about those old dig sites🙂
If I had a time machine that could only go backwards in time and not into the future, this would definitely be one of the places to visit.
I will be showing this video in class at the nearest possible opportunity. Your presentation is fantastic. Thanks you all for this.
YES show the world how useless school is!!!
Except maybe primary school.
We should get reparation from Italy for our enslavement.
You are very welcome. I am honoured to help your students get more engaged with history! Will be releasing more like it.
@@HistoriaMilitum yea its because of you and 40 other creatures ive out smarted school in year 9 thank you
@@theromanorder The only thing greater than the arrogance in this statement is the irony. You’ve clearly not managed to learn proof reading nor widened your vocabulary.
I very much agree the internet as a whole is a great tool for additional education. However you’ve only attained greater understanding on topics you’ve chosen to further study in your own time so of course you can demonstrate a higher knowledge on them. You also might want to develop some critical thinking which you appear to be lacking. How do you know any of the information these content creators are telling you is accurate? Careful you don’t get too excited by outsmarting fools you don’t suddenly become one yourself when an actual academic on the subject corrects you on your myths.
Still at least you’ve got a thirst for knowledge and a drive to educate yourself that’s better than most these days.
The amount of knowledge from all the details and their implications are enormous.
There is so much material left that it could be worth another couple of videos at least. The fort is truly a blessed site when it comes to the tiniest details
People should note that, just as you show in this excellent video, public roads were made in the same way that the internal fort roads were, and in England there are still quite a few of these roads still being used today, albeit with modern tarmac over the top of the old roman road underneath. This includes the main Londinium to Eboracum (London to York) road. You might also be interested in taking a look at the remaining available ruins of the Roman town Verulamium (Ave Verulamium - my home town) which are open to be seen - below the hill with the Cathedral standing on it, and also contains the countries oldest pub still in use - including the remains of a hypercaust and some lovely mosaic and tiled floors. Well worth a visit. And would love to see a 3D rendition of how Verulamium might have looked at the end of the 1st century/into the 2nd century.
Had the pleasure of visiting Vindolanda when I was in the UK, such an amazing place, one of the better preserved Roman fortifications in the UK. What an awesome video
Extraordinary ! Great job, I am diehard Roman fan and this is new and excrptional. Romans civilized the world and centralized knowledge and wealth !
The greatest empire in world history. Rome turned straw villages into cement and brick cities. At the height of the Roman Empire, there were over 1 million people living in Rome (!!). You’d have to wait until 19th century Victorian London to get a city of that size again. Unreal.
The mongol empire has entered the chat .. 🐎🐎🐎🏹🏹🏹🏹
@@kevinbrown5093 The Mongols did almost nothing to contribute positively to society what are you talking about 😂
@@kevinbrown5093 the Mongol empire is great and all but not like the Romans, Abbasid...etc sadly they destroyed a lot of empires and kingdoms sure they were tolerance (not always) and they maintained the already existed silk road, but they don't have that many contributions.
@@coke8077 Well, technically the Mongols did contribute a lot to various sciences, language, and social logistics in a variety of ways after the dust settled from their main conquests if what I read is true.
@TheSanFrancisco SeaHorse it is very much true. But the mongols collapsed within 200 years. The romans even set the borders of modern nations. Mongols were amazing people with amazing accomplishments, but Rome was on an another level. And the mongols destroyed at least as much as they added to the development of humanity as a whole
What a fabulous recreation of a Roman fort! I used to teach Latin, and I wish I could have shown this to my second-year students who read Caesar. They would have loved it. What's particularly appealing is the description of life around the fort and its complexity and humanity. Filaxim, te saluto!
Thank you for your comment, thanks very pleasant to hear!
This was absolutely amazing! I was at Vindolanda a couple of years ago as it's only a couple of hours from me, and it's one of the best museums/historical sites I've ever been to! Interestingly, they have the largest collection of preserved Roman leather shoes anywhere. Some of them even have the initials or signets of their owners who can be traced back through the book keeping ledgers, which is incredible! If you are ever in the UK visiting the North of England you must go there, and this video really helps to get a real vision of what it must have looked like. The only thing it doesn't portray is the sheer scale of the site - it's absolutely huge!
Wow, thats awesome that you have been there! I also heard they have one of the best museums, and I would love to visit the site one day!
@@HistoriaMilitum it's definitely worth visiting. A lot of hikers walk the whole of Hadrian's wall over several days and there are dozens of ruins along the way. Mostly small ones but there are a few really big ones like Vindolanda and Vercovicium that are really well preserved. You should definitely come to England to see them! 👍
I visited this wonderful place in Dec 23 and loved every minute of the guided tour. The tour operator was very knowledgeable and answered many questions. I personally would like to thank her for she had a coffee with me at the cafe after the visit and answered more questions that I had thought to ask. And this guide is done voluntary. Would highly recommend a visit to this wonderful site and a beautiful place to stay is Laingley Castle. The castle is near Hexam
Thank you so much for doing this, everything is perfect! the explanation, animation,etc. I really value the effort and heart that your team puts into this videos. I can't wait to see more from you all! ❤️
Thank you for your support and kind words! I will keep making them for fans of history such as yourself!
Diana Hernan.
Perfect is the perfect word.
Chang'an no real
This was so cool to see. Way under appreciated, this givves you such an in depth look at daily life of Romans and the soldiers and how they operated. I love this kinda stuff too.
Yet another masterpiece!
Thank you for your high opinion!
Thank you for putting so much effort into this video! I didn’t want it to end. Hope to see more in the future!
It makes me very glad that you enjoyed it!
Filaxim Historia yes I loved this! Not to mention your beautiful narrative voice!
@@parchment543
no homo?
😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆
All viewers please note…Vindolanda is a Roman fort, built sometime around AD 85 to guard the major road known as the Stanegate, which stretched roughly east to west across the top of Roman Britannia from the Solway to the mouth of the Tyne. This means that Vindolanda was in place roughly 40 years before the building of Hadrian's Wall. AD122.
Yours, a local to Vindo and The Wall.
Appreciate it bro, really helps put the many stories of humanity in perspective.
I hear that 'From Past to Present' in the background during the start. Love it.
Was here today, my 3rd time here and as fascinating and enchanting as ever.
Love the skyrim background music. Love you filaxim historia
pretty sure the music is from stronghold
@@CaliforniaSolder the intro portion is classic skyrim 😭😭😭😭 I will never forget that sexy tune 😭
9:54 “The granary is empty, sire”
'' My Lord ''
I'm so glad someone else noticed the Stronghold 2 music
can't place that there, my lord!
Best history chanel on RUclips
Thank you for your kind comments in every video ;)
@@HistoriaMilitum thank you man
Thank you for bringing the Roman wall to life.Great work.
Excellent and informative video, as always! Yours is one of the few channels where I can hit the "Like" button at the start of the video. As a soon-to-graduate engineer, whenever I see anything about Roman engineering and construction I can't help but be disgusted at how almost nothing is built to last these days. The idea of "planned obsolescence" especially drives me insane. The West today may be the most technologically advanced civilization in known history, but as far as I am concerned the Roman Empire remains the pinnacle of human civilization in many ways.
I believe the Pantheon is still the largest concrete dome in the world.
Is there one bigger??
I've been there many times, don't live that far from it and Hadrian's wall, both fascinating places to visit.
Fascinating, to say the least. Very well done. Can’t wait for part 2…cheers.
Makes lot of sens, modern deployed army units use same basecamp and outposts rotations system of the soldiers! Great video.
That Stronghold OST really made my day. Epic. Thank you
Man I heard it and went 😱😱😱 so many memories
I was a huge Stronghold gamer back in the day, haha! I couldn't resist but add it. I was sure some viewers would recognize it ;)
@@HistoriaMilitum yeah I understand you. The video in general is very good. Its content like this that keep me on RUclips.
@@sudetenrider-pili6637 Facts
Outstanding as always!
I can't even imagine how much work it took to make all the 3d models for the visual reconstruction, but it helped so much to better understand how everything was build. This is with no doubt the best video you made yet!
Thank you, I am of the same opinion. We had a very patient and talented animator to make the models, I think he did great!
Excellent video! It's only about 30 minutes away from me and it's great seeing it in this format!
If videos like this don’t inspire interest in the history, not only of Rome but history in general, then its hard to see what would. Excellent!
Thank you! The problem with history is that it's a very demmanding lover, it requires you to sit down and read books on a regular basis to acquire a good understanding. That's a great deterrent for people because it implies a serious effort.
Also, history teachers don't help either because they dumb down all information in order to be make themselves understood. That's how you end up like today, a lot of stuff around the same repetitive topics which barely scratch the surface. As a historian, I confess that it is something we have brought upon ourselves :( . We hope that with this channel we can show history is truly engaging and inspire the interest of the public who seek to know more than the minimum
It's a little bit spooky how detailed this recreation of Roman fort is. I can already imagine the inhabitants and how they would go about their day after watching this.
Absolutely amazing! Thanks so much for the great work, and I look forward to seeing other models in the future.
I'm an ex-squaddie(BAOR NATO 1977-86) I visited Vindolanda a couple of years back, on my recce of the Wall, being a bucket list box to tick, I couldn't believe the tactical faux pas the Romans made, by putting their main base in the valley overlooked by high terrain, We Brits learnt a hard lesson in Afghanistan 1838 -42 and again in S. Africa against the Boers About holding the high ground
Absolutely..
The stronghold sound track was a very nice touch.
Thank you I enjoyed this video very much. I recall a book I read by Adrian Goldsworthy which was inspired by the birthday invitation found at this fort. The invitation was the first discovered written document by a woman. As I recall it was a wax tablet and the writing was found using technology to read the impression left by the stylist on the wood. Anyone that enjoys historical fiction is that time period I recommend the three book series by Goldsworthy based in the late 1st century so a few feet deeper than your reconstruction. I respect Goldsworthy as an historian and he is in my view a very enjoyable read of historical fiction.
The ‘letter’ was probably written by a servant but the signature at the end was in different writing and therefore obviously signed by the lady whose birthday was going to be celebrated.
I just love that 2000 years ago people were like: Hey friends, I'm having my birthday party on Saturday, can you bring the wine?
That was beautiful to look at, the films never make it look like that.
Speechless !. Excellent thank you so much you made me feel much better as a human. Once more. Thank you GOD BLESS. X
I have dug here a couple of times - what a fantastic reconstruction.
I have visited the vindolanda several times since the late 1970s.
this is an excellent presentation of the archeology to be found there.
a remarkably well preserved place.
I have seen video on Vindolanda Fort earlier but the additional information @11:30 is most interesting. Kind of insight into Roman Cohort operation. With 6 Centurions, 5 were away. The 2 at Coria were on military duty, the 1 in Londinium was either on leave or medical treatment. The 2 at unknown places were probably on scouting mission or special duty. Kind of over reliance on Centurion IMO, and a bit short on staffing (no. of Centurion) as well.
The previous cohort were lacking centurions. They were a double-strength cohort so there should have been 12 in theory. People working with these tablets think that the unit was in the process of expansion and that it momentarily lacked centurions while the new troop enlisments had already been carried out
@@JonEtxebeberriaRodriguez There should have been 10+ Centurions and 10+ Optio. 20+ officers that could be trusted with various duties, hence my original thought on over reliance on Centurions. May be they have promoted all the Optio into Centurions already. For whatever reasons this Cohort was seriously short on Centurions, could they not locally promote some senior Legionaire into Optio to share some duty? They must went through a rigorous selection process to promote a Centurion (e.g. over 30 years old, can read/write) hence need to recruit Centurion from other units?
Another terrific video Filaxim! Keep up the great work!
Thanks, will do!
It is very interesting and fascinating to see a model of this fort as I got to visit it in person a few years ago. A great experience, both there and watching this video. Thank you.
Amazing channel thank you so much Sir!
Thanks for watching!
Excellent teamwork - CONGRATULATIONS to you and your team for this great work! I enjoyed learning research findings of the excavations through your lively, well-presented 3D video. It reveals the finest architecture and engineering expertise that were in use in infrastructure development at that time, with full of interesting discoveries.
I believe:
The north east corner of the officer's home should be enclosed. That corner was a private stables and had further rooms linking it up with the rest of the building. I suppose this might have been a later addition, but it seems strange that the building would have ever been left unencircled.
The horses for the cavalry lived IN the cavalry barracks. Cavalry barracks had front and back rooms, the back rooms are for the soldiers and the front rooms are where their horses lived (each soldier being responsible for the care of their own horse, plus it allows easy access in event of an emergency mobilization, it gave heating benefits, blah blah blah). There has been a long standing mystery as to where Roman military horses were housed, but concensus is coming down on this method due to large pits in the front rooms believed to collect the urine of the horses for gathering. This was the building style found for cavalry barracks at Vindolanda and other nearby forts.
The southern half of the site is currently under excavation, has been for a year or two now (slow progress due to corona), as of two months ago there was no evidence at all of a hospital (which is not to say that it is impossible it ever existed in this specific fort, but I'm not aware of any evidence for it. And even if it were not in this fort there still might be one excavated on the site from one of the earlier larger forts). I would guess that these were origianlly just more cavalry barracks (during the early days of the fort). As Vindolanda went on the number of cavalry stationed there were reduced repeatedly, moving from a strong military force to a surgical strike team. The number of cavalry barracks goes down and the buildings became more spread out.
A quartermaster's quarters has been found in that southern half as well I recall, though when that was added I couldn't say, I seem to recall it being on the western side, so in the area where the hospital here was placed.
The problem we found is that the last information we have about the officer's home in this period comes from the reports of 1999. They just stated that the wall on the north west was impossible to know if something previous to that existed because the IVth century home left no trace of previous buildings. If something has changed about it there is no notice nor reports we could access.
The problem with the cavalry barracks as you said is that we lacked sources about how they were arranged. Birley was not sure about the role of those buildings for the IIIrd century so we just took the plan and made an educated guess and we clearly state it a such.
Finally, the thing with the hospital is that the fort is attested to have a medical staff as you know but there was no building. Once again, that place is not excavated or at least they have not produced any report nor academic paper about it. So we just took an educated guess because the nearby forts like Housesteads had one and were similar in size. The problem we have been facing with these parts of the fort is that archaeology has a serious lag between discovery, publication and consolidation of the interpretation. I'm aware of that and we took the decision of stating that we are not sure and also to take it with a grain of salt
You should write a little book for the tourists to buy..
Incredible! It still boggles me to hear of just how much is still preserved and intact (mostly)! Capital job sir. Capital
Love the use of the Stronghold soundtrack
All of this history fascinates me, since I try to know more and more of the Roman and British history. Amazing video and excellent content.
Why would you want to know about british history???
Amazing video the effort you put into these videos are just amazing
Thank you so much!
Well done, great detail
Another extraordinary video
AWESOME AWESOME VID. The the information was well-thought-out and informative
Great vid. Really enjoyed all of it.
Keep up the great work. Thanks.
I've been to Hardknott fort in England when I was a kid. It sucked walking up there as a 7yr old. But it made me love Roman history that's for sure. I remember that they had a line in the walls that denoted what was original and which was restored to give people a better idea of visualizing what it would have been like
Excellent video!! Makes me yearn for simpler times when I could make a living as a Roman soldier, simply for being tall and in good shape
I’ve ‘posted myself’ to Hadrians wall several times over the years. It a very cold, wet, bleak place in winter. You wouldn’t want to be on guard duty on nights in February. Brrrr!
wow crazy how sophisticated it all is.. you can tell it would be a decent play to live. that bath house is amazing
Quick question. Is the scale correct too? Thanks.
Yes! The scale or the fort and all buildings inside is correct and to scale.
@@HistoriaMilitum Brilliant. I've just squeezed the time in to watch it. I'm not too far from the ruins of Letocetum, Enhlish Heritage have published a visual or two but it's rather speculative, still it's interesting to look at.
this was an awesome video
I have the great opportunity to visit this last November 2023. YES it was cold and rainy then. Now I wish I had seen this before I went.
Awesome video. Love learning about the daily life of soldiers in the Roman Empire. They're very cozy.
i like your voice its more joyfull. then the tipical historic tone.
new the year comming closer to its end. how did the romans celebrate new year?
Incredible job 👌👍
Glad you have adverts you deserve it mate!
Very informative, thanks.
They have excavated so much more since I was there in 1990! Amazing.
If you are ever in the UK this site is well worth a visit as is Horstead Fort on the wall, which is nearby. The wife and I are going up for another visit next may. I recommend staying at nearby HEXHAM, really nice place and people, also full of post Roman history which will give you an idea just how rugged and wild this part of Britian was for more than a millennia.
Enjoy your visit! I would really like to visit the place because the amount of information about Houseteads and Vindolanda is simply overwhelming. Not only that, the access to the records and archives of excavations is an example of a well managed heritage service. The British Archaeological Service does a really good job.
Thank you for the advice, I will truly take note of it.
I dream everyday of being part of a roman legion and prove my worth, but life is unfair so im just a developer lol atleast this video helps visualize the dream
that's a pretty good job tho. Software devs make quite a decent.
Enjoy legion until your commander decimates you
we all do my dear Legionnaire , we all do ...
If you find a legion than please tell me maybe I can join too
And you are thousand years late
What impressive work. Godspeed
Most excellent information.
Thanks great video. looking forward to the next one.
More to come!
Thoroughly enjoyed this content. Hope you make more like this.
So I live very close, about 3 miles from the site of Vindolanda. Northumberland is very much worth a visit if you like Roman history, as is Cumbria. We also have amazing beaches, fells and beautiful towns and cities. Cumbria has the Lake District too. Well worth more than one visit.
Do ye work for the cumbria tourist board?
@@glennmeade2390 no I work for myself pal 😉 as much as I love the Lakes, I live on the Tyne and Wear/Northumbrian border. I am a Geordie living just outside of Gateshead, very close to Wylam (if you know the area). Canny spot to be fair.
I do knaa the area I'm from sooth shields marra .I was aanly joking aboor the tourist board
@@glennmeade2390 yeah I realised that pal 😝 was a fair comment in reflection!
This is brilliant and beautiful, thank you 👍
Super quality vid. Kudos, thx.
Stronghold music? Love it!
I clicked on your channel thinking I would take a casual look at what you presented but OMG I was riveted. You really had me when at 7:10 you gave the calculations for water usage.
I would like to see more details on road building in that some Roman roads are still existent today.
It would be interesting to speculate as to the economic changes wrought by the needs of this military community. For example the demands of this fort would completely change the agricultural focus of the surrounding environment. Farmers would change what and how much they grew to meet the ready market of the inhabitants of the fort. How big a change was there in the general population to meet this increased labor need?
Further, many more wagons and wagon builders would be needed (along with more lumber), more draft animals would be needed to pull them. Horse traders would gravitate to the fort to sell replacement cavalry animals. And coopers would be in demand, along with better roads and bridges for ease of commercial flow, and ladies, shall we say, for the more "imaginative men". Not to mention that the entire area would be policed and a safer environment.
A greater amount of money would flow into the pockets of the surrounding community. What effect did that have; more children, more "luxury goods"?
Also, when you have several hundred men of military age you have to address their morale, other wise "idle hands... " and all that. You can train them hard but life can't just be eat, sleep and training. There would have to be festivals every couple of months... running, wrestling, singing, etc, with the locals invited.
The establishment of any such fort would create a local economic and cultural revolution in everything
Glad you liked the video :). Means a lot for us. And now to what you say, you are totally right, the effects of the roman garrisons on the local economies were considerable. Trading, agriculture, industry, it made a great impact on that. Also, bear in mind the army brought with it several highly skilled specialists such as clerks, doctors, engineers, vets, armourers, builders and soldiers accustomed to hard work. The roman army tried to be as self sufficient as possible, they tried to produce all they could locally and the supplement it with supply shipments. In the meantime they also helped with the local administration if there were no civilian specialists for such jobs. You may find interesting the video we released about the staff and administration posts of the roman army 😉
Also we have written prove of the trading businesses done inside the forts. For example we know how the purchased horses and how this then were recorded in the paperwork adding a brief description of the animal along with the cost of the transaction. In the video you will find a document detailing the shipments of grain. Finally, about the festivala and such we know that such things existed thanks to the archives of the XXth Cohort of Palmyrenes where there is a whole list detailing festivities and holydays
Subscribe well deserved, amazing video!
Amazing content. Keep it up 👍
I've seen like 3 or 4 of your bids and they've all been really good so I'm throwing a sub
Vindolanda is a great place to visit and this video should be watched either before or after the visit.
Fantastic work mate. Please do another one on an Roman built port if possible 👌👌👍
Or the Roman building that resided in Rome itself 😍👌
Great video
Excellent work, am really looking forward to future reconstructions of Roman military forts and fortresses. Have you considered attempting to reconstruct any major Roman fortresses such as Eboracum (York) or Moguntiacum (Mainz) ? Thanks so much for your presentation.
I've been there a couple of times in my 4os I'm 67. I always wanted to go to Hadrians wall. It was a great experience. I've been too a couple of other forts along the wall housteads is very good it was overrun by picks when you stand in the streets you realise there was no where to run you stood your ground and fought till you dropped its a sobering thought.
Thanks for sharing! I look forward to visiting too one day.
Excellent video. Congratulations on a job well done
I enjoy your work and how impartial you're in your presentation.
Very well done. Fascinating.
Lovely video!
Those documents are really cool and give a huge amount of incidental information.
That's only the tip of the iceberg, because due to time constraints we had to discard a lot of them. We hope to include more documents in the second part of the video
brilliant video, The Romans were the absolute best
Military bases then: cramped and uncomfortable ( for the actual soldiers at least)
Military bases today: same conditions different countries
Absolutely brilliant. Cheers !
Been there a couple of times great place to visit, it's on my doorstep. There are also Housesteds and Chesters which are also Roman forts along the wall. Northumberland is absolutely fantastic.
Superb effort, thank you. 👏🏻
Thank you. Great film. I walked (most of) Hadrian's Wall when i was about 8 years old. 🇬🇧👍
Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort ( castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it originally pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD.
Vindolanda means white lawn/field.
Near Hexham, mid way between Carlisle (west) and Sunderland (east).
Northern England to those overseas!
@@Surv1ve_Thrive thinking you mean " Wallsend", Sunderland has nowt to do with Hadrian's Wall.
@@alisonsmith4801 Sunderland was just a geographic reference of the location. Context. Equal distance from both, very roughly, was why I said that. It's not really near anywhere people unfamiliar with the area would know. This channel has an international audience. I appreciate references if in USA people say it's near a certain city even if not close to it.
Had to watch with the sound off but it was still super interesting.
My Like and Comment for this video, i would very much like to see more
A new episode is being prepared but this time it will be at another place of the Empire. We hope to release it in the following months
"NEED MORE MOAR-TAUR!!!!!"