The Mystery of the Last Roman Pagans

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  • Опубликовано: 24 янв 2025

Комментарии • 755

  • @toldinstone
    @toldinstone  2 года назад +34

    Get a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale at www.stamps.com/toldinstone. Thanks to Stamps.com for sponsoring the show!

  • @Game_Hero
    @Game_Hero 2 года назад +776

    The fact there were still roman pagans in Harran in the 11th century is mind-blowing to me, like that Ancient Egyptian believer in the 7th century.

    • @sauravnarayan2294
      @sauravnarayan2294 2 года назад +45

      There are still many left in the world

    • @1funnygame
      @1funnygame 2 года назад +244

      @@sauravnarayan2294 I've only ever seen atheists larping as pagans for some kind of ideological reason, never someone who actually believes in European pagan gods directly. As far as I can tell it's just new age religions without the beliefs and traditions of the past. Do you have any good examples of what you're talking about?

    • @trevornapier4373
      @trevornapier4373 2 года назад +162

      @@1funnygameThere’s a Greek pagan group in Greece that consists of about 40-50 thousand people, that goes by the name of Labrys. Been around for about 3 decades or so. I don’t think one can call them larpers. They have managed to recreate the rites and traditions of Hellenism using archeological and written records. They even won a case in the Greek Supreme Court that recognized them as a religion in Greece, the first time any religion other than Christianity has been legally recognized in Greece

    • @1funnygame
      @1funnygame 2 года назад +47

      @@trevornapier4373 Thanks. Tough for me to tell whether or not it's just a new religion, duplicating the rites of an older religion with new perspectives. I've often seen pagan nationalists in Scandinavia for example, who seem to follow a new age norse religion and view christianity as a weak and foreign religion. It would be very interesting if you're right though. Maybe I'm just being arbitrary

    • @holdingpattern245
      @holdingpattern245 2 года назад +94

      ​@@trevornapier4373that's a new religion though, not continuous with the old religion

  • @phoule76
    @phoule76 2 года назад +392

    I helped out at a Roman temple dig in Evreux, Normandy, and one of the archeologists said there was a text that told of a "crazy" Roman priest still hanging out at the temple when Evreux had a bishop already. Imagine a pagan hermit, like an anachronism.

    • @Game_Hero
      @Game_Hero 2 года назад +6

      Where can we look at the text?

    • @bonesapart8210
      @bonesapart8210 2 года назад +4

      Got a reference?

    • @phoule76
      @phoule76 2 года назад +7

      @@Game_Hero I'll try to find it!

    • @bonesapart8210
      @bonesapart8210 2 года назад +5

      @@phoule76 thanks

    • @mustafaemrecnar4221
      @mustafaemrecnar4221 Год назад +2

      Have you managed to find the text? İ would love to be able to read it

  • @janegardener1662
    @janegardener1662 2 года назад +193

    Temples operating "under new divine management"--in spite of your deadpan delivery, you have a great sense of humor and fun.

    • @johnladuke6475
      @johnladuke6475 2 года назад +21

      Meet the new god, same as the old god.

    • @sweeeetteeeeth
      @sweeeetteeeeth 2 года назад +1

      great line

    • @garrettholtz5358
      @garrettholtz5358 2 года назад

      The Greeks steal from the Minoans. The Romans steal from the Greeks. The Christians steal from the Romans. But it never has been "stealing". Just adapting to circumstances. Love your videos

    • @Pavlos_Charalambous
      @Pavlos_Charalambous 2 года назад +8

      It actually reminded me an old animated comedy series from Greece known as " ouk an lavis Para to mi echontos"
      "You won't get from those who don't have "
      The ancient Greek quote was used as a pun in the series meaning " you won't get money from the broke one ''
      According to the series premise it's time for
      The old Gods to retire and give the administration to the Christian God
      Charon is one of them but there is a problem, he can't close his" business books " because Menippus the cynic owns him money ( one coin for the passage to the other world) and Judas the.. Newly appointed tax collector won't allow him to get retired until the dept is settled 😁
      As you can imagine playing around with philosophy religion and politics, the series didn't lasted long

  • @ivanmp3e48
    @ivanmp3e48 2 года назад +292

    Here in northern Spain is very common to find churches and chapels built near trees that the Celts thought sacred. The one in my village is from the 18th century and the tree from the 16th

    • @lmonk9517
      @lmonk9517 2 года назад +16

      surely the celts were gone by the 16th century

    • @carlosfrancisco1003
      @carlosfrancisco1003 2 года назад +29

      @@lmonk9517 They are still there, just not called Celts anymore. And, in any event, the legacy persists.

    • @The_InfantMalePollockFrancis
      @The_InfantMalePollockFrancis 2 года назад +8

      Celts were LONG GONE in the 16th.

    • @The_InfantMalePollockFrancis
      @The_InfantMalePollockFrancis 2 года назад +10

      @carlosfrancisco1003 No they aren't, no it doesn't. Galicia is a sad example of Celtic culture. There is more suebi blood and customs than Celtic.

    • @jontalbot1
      @jontalbot1 2 года назад +23

      The same is true in Britain. There is a tradition of having yew trees in churchyards. There is one near me estimated to be 1300 years old. In the pre Christian Era they were regarded as symbols of eternal life. It is also common to see Pagan symbols in churches. Winchester cathedral for example has a carving of the Green Man, a pagan deity of woodland. There are also wells and springs venerated by Christians but which were previously significant for pagans. Even the concept of Christmas is pagan rather than Christian. They needed a birthday for Christ and people were not about to give up on mid winter revels

  • @thomash8079
    @thomash8079 2 года назад +102

    I remember reading somewhere that the ancient Mesopotamian religion survived until around 400 AD. Crazy to think that people had practiced it for over 3000 years by that point.

    • @qboxer
      @qboxer 2 года назад +19

      I wonder, do people feel the same way about Christianity, which is a 2,000 year old religion draped on top of another 1,000 year old one?

    • @bobbyhill1110
      @bobbyhill1110 2 года назад +11

      @@qboxer its all based on pagan middle eastern beliefs as long as sumeria so technically older.

    • @qboxer
      @qboxer 2 года назад +4

      @@bobbyhill1110 a matter of interpretation, but there are certainly aspects which evolved from that.

    • @bobbyhill1110
      @bobbyhill1110 2 года назад +12

      @@qboxer a matter of facts, not interpretation. Considering most elements of abrahamic religions have been adopted from the older religions in the area.

  • @the_demiurg
    @the_demiurg 2 года назад +126

    Speaking of Sardinian pagans, we can talk about the rites of Maimon, the ancient god of rain that was invoked fro the last time by a small town in western Sardinia during the harsh drought of 2000. The local kids would parade through the streets carrying a wreath made out of periwinkle branches. The elderly people, then, would spray some water over the wreath as it was carried by the kids. The garland was eventually symbolically drowned in a creek to call for the rain. It actually did rain a couple of days lot after the ceremony 😂

    • @georgeoldsterd8994
      @georgeoldsterd8994 2 года назад +11

      Coincidence? I think NOT! Checkmate, nonbelievers!

    • @LeoJackson98
      @LeoJackson98 Год назад

      Thank you, I've found the video of the ritual in Sardinian. It's a shame noone does it anymore

    • @JP-zz7en
      @JP-zz7en Год назад +1

      It's so similar to another ritual that was practiced in the balkans, called Dodola Perperuna, was practiced in greece, North macedonia, bulgaria and romania, the ritual was a type of rain dance, the last ritual was ejecuted in 1850's.

    • @JP-zz7en
      @JP-zz7en Год назад

      ​@@LeoJackson98Where is the vídeo? I can't found it.

    • @LeoJackson98
      @LeoJackson98 Год назад

      @@JP-zz7en search: Su Maimone Aidomaggiore

  • @alioshax7797
    @alioshax7797 Год назад +124

    Fun fact: Sin, the moon-god of Harran, was actually an insanely old deity, already venerated by the Akkadians in 2300 BCE (Sin was the main god of the ancient city of Ur). And technically, under an older, sumerian name, Nanna (just like one could say Zeus became Jupiter, although syncretism is not that simple, but still), the same moon-god was a major divinity of the Sumerian pantheon and we have evidences of it being venerated as early as 2800 BCE and probably even earlier.
    That would make Sin's cult one of the longest lasting religions in known history, with 4,000 years of attested cult, much longer than Islam (1400 years) Chirstianity (2000 years), Judaism (2800 to 3000 years) or even Hinduism (2800 to 3500 years) and Shinto (only attested since 700 BCE). All the dates I give are the ealiest attested proofs of the said cult, religions could be much older without us knowing it.

    • @syahran1518
      @syahran1518 11 месяцев назад +1

      damn... people really saw anything and think "they could give me stuff" ever since the dawn of time

    • @DangerB0ne
      @DangerB0ne 2 месяца назад

      ​@@syahran1518Some chimpanzees are known to slam and throw rocks at a specific hollow tree stump for unknown reasons. It isn't for food, shelter, warmth, territory, or mates yet they do it and pass that practice to their offspring. One could argue that this is a ritualistic behavior, though that may be anthropomorphizing a behavior we don't yet understand.
      If that's truly a chimp ritual, then it would stand to reason that humans, their closest relatives, probably have an innate drive for faith as well. All faiths share a common vision of hope, where be it the appeasement of a fickle nature spirit to the veneration of a monotheistic god that promises paradise after death or even the path to remove oneself from reincarnation and thus suffering, all faiths deal in hope.
      Maybe hope is a result of abstract thought, and the ability to visualize a better future.
      Regardless, people will find something to worship, given enough time.

  • @johnlemon8581
    @johnlemon8581 2 года назад +20

    in Serbia we have a tradition called "slava" (glorification). Every house has its own patron saint and one date of the year is celebrated in his name. There is a big celebration with lots of food and music. Not many people know that the old Slavs in this area believed that every house had its own patron god and when their ancestors were forced to convert to christianity, they changed the names of their patron gods in christian saints but left them with the same characteristics. The most famous example is Saint Ilija who is identically described as the god Perun.
    Also we have many old slavic rituals for christmas, easter and other hollidays.

    • @georgeoldsterd8994
      @georgeoldsterd8994 2 года назад +7

      Yeah, Roman pagan tradition also featured gods of homes and other buildings (like warehouses, etc.). These were called Penates and Lares, and they later also became patrons of families and even cities. In the folklore of some parts of Romania (namely Transylvania and northern Moldavia) such entities still exist, but they're not gods, but rather spirits. One is called Știma Casei (the House Spirit) and has the shape of a snake. It is believed to live under the homes themselves, or under roofs, and when you hear a "mundane" knocking sound in the house, it's believed that the Știma is making it. Some traditional homes in Transylvania still have snake-shaped doorknobs as tribute to the Știma, believing that they ward off evil and people bearing evil intentions. A being called Știma Apelor (the Spirit or Goddess of Waters) is said to govern bodies of water, especially rivers, but takes the shape of a maiden, similar to the Greek naiads. This one is obviously different, just included her for general knowledge. In Slav tradition you have house spirits such as Domać or Domovoj (not sure what you call them in Serbia), and these were apparently gods too, originally.

  • @arvidwahl
    @arvidwahl 2 года назад +98

    Just received your book in the mail yesterday. So far I’ve only read some of the “very short history” in the back, but I really enjoy your witty way of writing. Looking forward to reading the rest.
    Cheers and happy holidays!

  • @tribunateSPQR
    @tribunateSPQR 2 года назад +28

    This is excellent - I'd love to see more content on this religious shift, like when the last Vestal Virgin abandoned their post or the last Flamen Dialis finally put on a belt with knots

  • @nathanielokkonen643
    @nathanielokkonen643 2 года назад +58

    I love your channel, it teaches me so much

  • @M_Hoodh
    @M_Hoodh 2 года назад +62

    Your channel is the reason I am a walking library of amazingly interesting ancient info. Love your humor. Learning should be this fun always

  • @thetruekhanofkhans
    @thetruekhanofkhans 2 года назад +29

    Been to both Harran and Urfa. Really cool to hear about their histories.

  • @forcelightningcable9639
    @forcelightningcable9639 2 года назад +25

    I’m Czech and up into my early teens, we would still celebrate šmigrust. Check out some photos because it’s practically Lupercalia with clothes.

  • @jpmojo
    @jpmojo 2 года назад +11

    Saw the title and it felt familiar… I purchased the book this summer ‘22, meanwhile I was subscribed to the channel for over six months … this book is entertaining, informative, allows you to dive further If so desired with tons of footnotes. Highly recommend reading for Roman history buffs, casual fans, or anyone that likes quirky stories of antiquity.

  • @WelcomeToDERPLAND
    @WelcomeToDERPLAND 2 года назад +37

    I read somewhere years ago- either in a book or an article (not on wikipedia, but some obscure history site) that the last Roman/Greek Pagans survived in Greek enclaves either high up in the mountains or in secluded communities on the myriad islands of the Aegean- all the way up to the fall of the Byzantine empire- when they were finally snuffed out by Ottoman genocides after being found accidently.

    • @communistcuphead2901
      @communistcuphead2901 2 года назад

      Oh man I by any chance you remember where you read this I'd be interested on reading it too a link would be appreciated

    • @Matt67012
      @Matt67012 2 года назад +25

      Ah, the Turks, such a lovely and purposefully forgotten, brutal colonial history

    • @ambiorixdeseburons4939
      @ambiorixdeseburons4939 2 года назад +5

      “Ottoman genocides” lol
      As if the Romans didn’t destroy their own tradition

    • @camj4253
      @camj4253 2 года назад +8

      @@ambiorixdeseburons4939@Matt67012 look at this guy forgetting

  • @widsof7862
    @widsof7862 Год назад +2

    ‘maruading bands of monks’ is so different to how i would have pictured monks behaving. great video, thanks.

  • @TaeSunWoo
    @TaeSunWoo 2 года назад +8

    I’m bout to watch this on my lunch break. Let’s goooo

  • @flamencoprof
    @flamencoprof 2 года назад +6

    Around 1997 I visited Cyprus and found there were still "holy trees" with cloth tokens tied to the branches for "luck" or "blessing" in many places. I have since learned they can be seen across Europe and do predate christianity.

  • @polarmouse3943
    @polarmouse3943 2 года назад +4

    Great topic, that's exactly what i was wondering about not a long time ago, i want your book now)

  • @WelcomeToDERPLAND
    @WelcomeToDERPLAND 2 года назад +648

    It truly is one of the greatest crimes against the heritage of all of humanity that many thousands of ancient masterpieces were destroyed simply due to being crafted by Pagans... always hurts to think about.

    • @adrien5568
      @adrien5568 2 года назад +86

      And it still continues in some parts of the word...

    • @Zveebo
      @Zveebo 2 года назад +88

      We are very fortunate that when items and buildings were re-discovered in the Renaissance, people (and even the papacy) were wise enough mostly to appreciate them as valuable historic artefacts and preserve them in some form - we could easily have lost a whole lot more!

    • @r0ky_M
      @r0ky_M 2 года назад

      Such is the ignorance and arrogance of Xtians,.

    • @Diogenes_43
      @Diogenes_43 2 года назад +51

      The destruction of the library of Alexandria still makes me upset when I think about it.

    • @r0ky_M
      @r0ky_M 2 года назад +42

      @@Diogenes_43
      The 48 BC library fire may not have been intentional..but simply a result of battle, however the fire of the 4th century was likely started by Xtians who stormed the library then tortured and kill pagan philosophers.

  • @MKdross
    @MKdross 2 года назад +25

    I bought a copy of the history written by Zosimus (I think, now I'm uncertain lol) because I'm super interested in how paganism fell out of fashion and how that affected Roman society! Thank you for this and all that you do🙏

    • @plasmapanasonic4741
      @plasmapanasonic4741 Год назад

      Cos of jews

    • @missmorla1339
      @missmorla1339 Год назад

      Paganism didn't fall out of fashion its still very much alive and well surviving the slaughtering of christians because their arrogance and ignorance of the multitude of pagans in the world far out numbered the immoral detrimental genocidal sheep and their psychotic deity.

  • @izyadamson2815
    @izyadamson2815 2 года назад +2

    Thank you for all the work you do on this channel and your other two. I've convinced a couple of friends to buy your book and they both loved it. I told my brother about it so many times that I finally loaned it to him. He blazed through it in a matter of days. Your content is always so accessible while staying novel and true to the sources

  • @garyfrancis6193
    @garyfrancis6193 2 года назад +40

    I lived in Northern Greece for nearly nine years. Certain cities still revered certain goddesss and you were not to say anything bad about them. One was Demeter when I lived in Thrace. Her image is on the logo fi the Trapesa Agrotiki the Agricultural Bank. In Greece Macedonia it was Athena and Hera even though the Biblecrecords that 2000 years ago Diana was revered there. The old gods have not completely disappeared. I still have a kind of souvenir left in a forest grove near the ruins of a temple of Pan. I still call it thr gift of Pan.

    • @abbasalchemist
      @abbasalchemist Год назад +5

      Beautiful!

    • @kornelszecsi6512
      @kornelszecsi6512 10 месяцев назад

      ​How are you here Abbas, your comments are everywhere.@@abbasalchemist

    • @abbasalchemist
      @abbasalchemist 10 месяцев назад

      We travel in similar circles, friend. I seek to help reveal and foster the energeia of the gods, wherever praise of them may be (including where they are not favourably received or maligned). A hunter of sacred shadows on the eternal hills.

    • @kornelszecsi6512
      @kornelszecsi6512 10 месяцев назад +2

      @@abbasalchemist I agree, do you view the gods in the Neoplatonic sense, because if yes, we certainly do share the same view, the henads are glorious and good, however true blesedness is found in union with the One.

    • @abbasalchemist
      @abbasalchemist 10 месяцев назад

      @@kornelszecsi6512 of course! I will have to make another video about henosis. There's a lot of confusion as to what union with the One entails. Rather than a simple dissolving of egoic particularity into universality, it is much more nuanced---especially if you take a polycentrist Proclean henadalogical perspective.

  • @Timodj13
    @Timodj13 2 года назад +13

    Hey I have a question. How did they depict Ancient Rome in the Middle Ages? Between 800-1500 were there any depictions of Caesar or of any wars of the republic or early Roman Empire?

  • @wavecast64
    @wavecast64 2 года назад +9

    Love this content, could we get a video on the final days of the roman senate?

    • @ambiorixdeseburons4939
      @ambiorixdeseburons4939 2 года назад +2

      Read Cassiodorus, the Senate in Rome experienced a renaissance under the Ostrogoths.

    • @williamkinkade2538
      @williamkinkade2538 2 года назад +1

      The Roman Senate ended after the Gothic wars in the 6th century.

  • @shounakbanerjee8904
    @shounakbanerjee8904 11 месяцев назад +6

    Reading stuff like this makes us understand how much Hindus are an oddity in the world. We saw not one, but two waves of monotheistic persecution and yet we still survive. May the Ancients rise again.

  • @TSEliot1978
    @TSEliot1978 2 года назад +3

    Your videos are excellent. Keep up the good work!

  • @luciuscornelius4037
    @luciuscornelius4037 2 года назад +8

    Is it possible that temples in ancient Rome stayed closed and virtually untouched (the city kept repairing them), although devoid of the statues and other works of art, for 2 centuries till they started being converted into churches?

    • @toldinstone
      @toldinstone  2 года назад +6

      Much appreciated! There were imperial edicts ordering the preservation of the temples and ancient monuments of Rome; and in the case of the Pantheon, at least, these seem to have prevented serious pillaging. Other temples, however, were certainly destroyed for building material during late antiquity.

  • @ZackTeitelbaum
    @ZackTeitelbaum 2 года назад +6

    It'd interesting if you made a video on the ancient vs. modern days of the week. It feels like a topic surrounded by a lot of misinformation, so a well-researched video would be cool.

  • @joeblow9657
    @joeblow9657 2 года назад +4

    I found this fascinating

  • @MrPeterheather
    @MrPeterheather 11 месяцев назад

    your videos are always super interesting!

  • @TetsuShima
    @TetsuShima 2 года назад +207

    Christians before being legalized: "We only want a World in which Christ's justice and love rule us all..."
    Christians after being legalized: "...AND THE SWORD HE BROUGHT SHALL MAKE SURE OF THAT!!!"

    • @hanz3967
      @hanz3967 2 года назад +85

      All monotheistic abrahamists are alike

    • @ofthecaribbean
      @ofthecaribbean 2 года назад +33

      @@hanz3967 They have more in common than they do apart

    • @boarfaceswinejaw4516
      @boarfaceswinejaw4516 2 года назад +33

      christianity was always legal. the reason christians were persecuted is because they refused to follow roman laws, particularly the ones about making offerings to certain roman gods.

    • @TetsuShima
      @TetsuShima 2 года назад +6

      @@boarfaceswinejaw4516 Saying "before/after being legalized" is just a colloquial way of referring to the prohibition of your beliefs and self-restrictions. What I write should not be taken literally

    • @boarfaceswinejaw4516
      @boarfaceswinejaw4516 2 года назад +5

      @@Nathan-jt8zt
      what are you on about?

  • @joeshmoe8345
    @joeshmoe8345 2 года назад

    Really interesting stuff here big dog, thanks for sharing.

  • @richardglady3009
    @richardglady3009 2 года назад

    Wonderful video. A great lesson and a smile. thank you.

  • @LuDux
    @LuDux 2 года назад +3

    Loved "St. Demetra"

  • @kirgan1000
    @kirgan1000 Год назад +1

    7:35 The days of the week (atlest in english) is not from the Greco-Roman pantheon, but of the Nord-Germanic pantheon.

  • @garywait3231
    @garywait3231 2 года назад +14

    " ... from my first book ..." As you have used this phrase a couple of times recently, I'm wondering whether it foreshadows the happy news that you have a second book in process? 🤔🙂

    • @toldinstone
      @toldinstone  2 года назад +6

      It certainly does! Stay tuned...

    • @garywait3231
      @garywait3231 2 года назад

      @@toldinstone : Delighted to hear it! Looking forward eagerly to its appearance.

    • @hamiljohn
      @hamiljohn 2 года назад

      @@toldinstone can't wait!

  • @ELLHNIKA
    @ELLHNIKA 2 года назад +16

    the “idol smasher” erected an idol in the old idols place💀. Gotta love that blind hypocrisy

    • @pandakicker1
      @pandakicker1 Год назад +2

      Tyrants must destroy what they cannot control, lest it rise up and depose them. They are human tyrants worshipping a tyrannical deity that has blinded them from ever knowing any other way.

  • @avam5634
    @avam5634 2 года назад +7

    Very cool video!Could you please make one about plants in ancient greek arts?I have to do research on that for my paper and would love to hear your unique perspective on that!

  • @TheSkelzore
    @TheSkelzore 2 года назад +14

    I love your channel, I'd also love to see you as a guest on forehead fables again. I think they secretly liked having you on the show.

    • @toldinstone
      @toldinstone  2 года назад +10

      If Sam ever invites me back, I'm game!

    • @vitriolicAmaranth
      @vitriolicAmaranth 2 года назад +1

      I haven't caught up on forehead fables since like episode 5, toldinstone was on there? wild

    • @TheSkelzore
      @TheSkelzore 2 года назад

      @@toldinstone I will begin petitioning.

    • @TheSkelzore
      @TheSkelzore 2 года назад

      @@vitriolicAmaranth Yup! Episode 69 funnily enough.

  • @Sunnason
    @Sunnason 2 года назад +3

    Great video! Very informative and non-biased. I very much appreciate that

  • @NikeonaBike
    @NikeonaBike 2 года назад +3

    @toldinstone In De Adminstrando Imperio, Constantine Porphyrogenitus informs us that the Maniots of the southern Peloponnese were still worshipping traditional greco-roman polytheism in the 9th century. They were forcibly converted by Basil I, but my guess is these people were the legitimate final worshippers of the greco-roman religion.

  • @polymathable
    @polymathable 2 года назад

    Love you, toldintone. Tell us more about fat gladiators next year 🤭🤭

  • @v.g.r.l.4072
    @v.g.r.l.4072 Год назад

    Fascinating reflection on the subject. It would be worth analysing the survival of paganism in the Catholic veneration of the Holy Virgin and the saints, which Luther rejected as a trace of paganism.

  • @generalfailure9730
    @generalfailure9730 Год назад +1

    A nail tree - or in French: arbre à clous - is something you can encounter especially in Belgium and north of France. An old folk belief with roots in pre-Christian customs that by hammering a nail or a piece of cloth that has hit your sore tooth into the tree, you transfer the “evil tooth spirit” in your body to the tree

  • @funkkymonkey6924
    @funkkymonkey6924 2 года назад +1

    I love unique sponsorships.

  • @adizmal
    @adizmal 2 года назад +8

    I often think about the decline of Rome and the rise of Christianity. If I could run with a bit of Edward Gibbon's take and give my own brief opinion, it would be thus... **The decline of Rome occurred [in part] due to a decrease in individual and collective civic duty and accountability, which makes a lot of sense when considering that Christianity encouraged believers to focus on their own personal salvation.**

    • @ahorsewithnoname773
      @ahorsewithnoname773 2 года назад +5

      One of the main problems with the notion that Christianity doomed the Roman empire, was that the Roman empire continued on until 1453. It had over a thousand years of being Christian.

    • @adizmal
      @adizmal 2 года назад +7

      @@ahorsewithnoname773 Not really. Eastern Rome was not Western Rome. Besides, Rome had over a thousand years of being pagan.

    • @ahorsewithnoname773
      @ahorsewithnoname773 2 года назад +6

      @@adizmal Eastern Rome was quite literally a direct continuation of the Roman empire. Constantine had shifted the capital to Constantinople in 324.

    • @adizmal
      @adizmal 2 года назад +5

      @@ahorsewithnoname773 Wasn't the same thing, everyone knows this. Not going to debate it.

    • @clenesuniversaisx5173
      @clenesuniversaisx5173 Год назад +3

      and the city of rome wasnt' even a metropole by the time

  • @Erik_123
    @Erik_123 Год назад +2

    beautiful ending speech

  • @usergiodmsilva1983PT
    @usergiodmsilva1983PT 2 года назад +4

    I can´t recommend this book enought, great stuff!

  • @kuglepen64
    @kuglepen64 2 года назад +13

    Let’s not forget Festivus which is still celebrated, around the unadorned aluminium pole, to this day.

  • @dominicperez3777
    @dominicperez3777 2 года назад +1

    Marauding bands of monks is something I'd never thought I'd hear.

  • @HistoryFirst
    @HistoryFirst 2 года назад

    I really like your videos, and they are always well made and offer new perspectives on the ancient past. Would you ever consider making videos on Iron Age India? Its certainly an interesting subject and had a lot of influence on the Roman Empire. Im currently writing a research video on Croatians in India, though this is in the more modern period.
    Best,
    GH

  • @oscarhans3712
    @oscarhans3712 2 года назад +7

    The Gods never die

  • @giuseppersa2391
    @giuseppersa2391 2 года назад +26

    Ahh yes Christianity... We come in peace.. as long as it is our peace.

    • @MikeS29
      @MikeS29 2 года назад +6

      "We come in peace, we leave you in pieces..."

    • @georgeoldsterd8994
      @georgeoldsterd8994 2 года назад +2

      Pax Romana in practice.

    • @missmorla1339
      @missmorla1339 Год назад +1

      They were the liberals of the day, except they slaughtered everyone who didn't join them.

  • @roflnosedlolfin
    @roflnosedlolfin 2 года назад +10

    Hi! I am a long time admirer of your content and also an art historian. What is the name or source of the image that appears at 4:08 in this video? It's arrestingly beautiful and would make a great slide in my lectures!

    • @Aldebaran...
      @Aldebaran... 2 года назад +11

      Hey there, I actually remember seeing this fresco at the Vatican! Its called "Triumph of Christian Religion" and was painted by Tommaso Laureti

  • @TetsuShima
    @TetsuShima 2 года назад +41

    Pagans after being ilegalized: "Wait, didn't your God say that you have to love everyone without hesitation?" 😢
    Theodosius: "I missed the part where that's my problem..."

    • @KevinJohnson-cv2no
      @KevinJohnson-cv2no 2 года назад +13

      Christians realizing that they're still oppressed peasants after opening their eyes from prayer: 😡😡😡

    • @hanz3967
      @hanz3967 2 года назад +14

      @@KevinJohnson-cv2no They would be promised their prize in the "afterworld" though - Which is why this slave religion was so appealing to the peasant class (and Empereors as a tool to rule them)

    • @histguy101
      @histguy101 2 года назад +4

      @@hanz3967 It seems to have grown more among urban dwellers and the middle class, as well as the army. Most early Christian writers were from the provincial upper class.

    • @joellaz9836
      @joellaz9836 2 года назад +2

      @@KevinJohnson-cv2no
      Peasants were pagan (that’s basically what pagan is describing). Christians were city dwellers.

    • @joellaz9836
      @joellaz9836 2 года назад +6

      @@hanz3967
      All wrong. Seems like you’re just badly coping about your “strong” paganism getting BTFO’d by Christianity lol.
      Stark argues that contrary to popular belief, Christianity was not a movement of the lower classes and the oppressed but instead of the upper and middle classes in the cities and of Hellenized Jews. Stark also discusses the exponential nature of the growth of religion.
      Stark points to a number of advantages that Christianity had over paganism to explain its growth:
      - While others fled cities, Christians stayed in urban areas during plague, ministering and caring for the sick.
      - Christian populations grew faster because of the prohibition of birth control, abortion and infanticide. Since infanticide tended to affect female newborn more frequently, early Christians had a more even sex ratio and therefore a higher percentage of childbearing women than pagans.
      - To the same effect: Women were valued higher and allowed to participate in worship leading to a high rate of female converts.
      - In a time of two epidemics (165 CE and 251 CE) which killed up to a third of the whole population of the Roman Empire each time, the Christian message of redemption through sacrifice offered a more satisfactory explanation of why bad things happen to innocent people. Further, the tighter social cohesion and mutual help made them able to better cope with the disasters, leaving them with fewer casualties than the general population. This would also be attractive to outsiders, who would want to convert. Lastly, the epidemics left many non-Christians with a reduced number of interpersonal bonds, making the forming of new ones both necessary and easier.
      -Christians did not fight against their persecutors by open violence or guerrilla warfare but willingly went to their martyrdom while praying for their captors, which added credibility to their evangelism.
      Stark's basic thesis is that, ultimately, Christianity triumphed over paganism because it improved the quality of life of its adherents at that time.

  • @adrien5568
    @adrien5568 2 года назад +2

    The Maioumas festival must have been something!

  • @MJ-lx8pc
    @MJ-lx8pc 2 года назад

    Great info

  • @om1ri
    @om1ri 2 года назад +1

    Loved the painting at 4:00-4:17 in the part about Pagans in the countryside, simple yet powerful. What is it called?

    • @dylanmilne6683
      @dylanmilne6683 2 года назад +1

      "Triumph of Christian religion" by Laureti, Vatican Museum

  • @Novusod
    @Novusod 2 года назад +9

    The last "influential" pagan was a man named Tribonian who lived in the time of Justinian. He was a legal scholar who rewrote all of Roman law under the direction of Emperor Justinian. Tribonian was the last Pagan to hold high office in the empire. His legal reforms became the basis of Roman common law which was used throughout the empire and into the middle ages. This Roman common law became the underpinning of all modern legal systems. This is really the last and greatest legacy of Paganism. They gave us a legal system that was independent of the Church because the laws were written by a Pagan who did everything in his power to limit what the Church could do to a person legally. Separation of Church and State starts with Tribonian.

    • @georgeoldsterd8994
      @georgeoldsterd8994 2 года назад

      Damn, wish I knew this back in school, wouldn't have gotten on the law teacher's bad side. :D
      (this is a serious comment, by the way, even if I used a smily)

  • @WildMen4444
    @WildMen4444 2 года назад +9

    Hail to the last of the Pagans before the modern era! There are those that remember you and aim to carry on your legacy. May you be with us.

  • @mcalkis5771
    @mcalkis5771 Год назад +1

    We Greeks still to this day celebrate "Apokries" every year, a Halloween-like holiday and festival that has its roots in ancient celebrations of Dionysus.

  • @EggShen905
    @EggShen905 2 года назад +5

    Hey, maybe you hear this a lot and maybe not, but: as a Catholic, I appreciate your very even-handed, "just the facts" approach here.

  • @steveneardley7541
    @steveneardley7541 2 года назад

    The book Night Battles, by Carlo Ginzburg, details an agrarian cult in the Veneto in the 16th and 17th centuries. This was a relic of pagan cult dedicated to the ancient Moon goddess, Diana. Believers would astral project to fight the witches, in order to protect the fertility of the fields. The Inquisition began investigating, but found that these beliefs were so prevalent, even among the rich, that they ended up backing off.

  • @theeccentrictripper3863
    @theeccentrictripper3863 2 года назад +17

    What's even more interesting is the paganism you don't see. Neoplatonism, while being an esoteric take on Hellenic philosophy and religion, passes on into Christianity through Augustine of Hippo and others. It remained present in the manuscripts of philosophers, alchemists, and theologians throughout the Medieval period, and to this day exists as a scaffolding for a great deal of theological musing, re-framed with Christian axioms. People will point to the saints, the statues, the robes, and the incense as signs of the lingering pagan influences on Christianity, and Christians will reply that these are trappings merely inherited through culture, but in her very bones the Church is a product of Hellenic pagan theological/philosophical speculation fused with the messianic Judaism common in the early Empire.

    • @RamManNo1
      @RamManNo1 2 года назад +1

      Kinda is. You’d be surprised how often Aristotle gets brought up in homilies at Catholic Churches. Once I even had a priest drop some Plato.

  • @Wyattinous
    @Wyattinous 2 года назад +37

    The one topic I wanted to know about the most. Are you a mind reader?
    Edit: Just wanted to give a well wish to the New Year for Garret and everyone else hear on toldinstone! May everyone have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, a Warm Yule and Io Saturnalia 🎉❤🥳🍾

    • @toldinstone
      @toldinstone  2 года назад +7

      Happy holidays to you too!

  • @nicolasclermont893
    @nicolasclermont893 2 года назад

    Amazing channel

  • @SUDMONEYBAGS
    @SUDMONEYBAGS Год назад +3

    Here in Armenia we still have a roman pagan temple

  • @diebesgrab
    @diebesgrab 2 года назад

    “the days of the week [...] are named after the gods”
    But which gods? What god would be hanging around Heathrow trying to catch the 3:37 to Oslo?

  • @astrotog7265
    @astrotog7265 Год назад

    You mentioned your first book; do you have a third one ?

  • @RonJohn63
    @RonJohn63 2 года назад

    0:21 What about Cyprus and southwestern Anatolia?

  • @JordanBeagle
    @JordanBeagle Год назад

    1:55 Raids by marauding monks is not a sentence I thought I'd hear

  • @harmenbreedeveld8026
    @harmenbreedeveld8026 Год назад

    I have come across similar stories of the old and new religions overlapping temporally in Scandinavia. I remember hearing of an early church there, where the builders had also worked a symbol of Thor in the church.
    Maybe it was a (sensible!) attempt to hedge their divine bets?

    • @missmorla1339
      @missmorla1339 Год назад +1

      Its an act of defiance when you are forced to convert or die, there are ways to continue to be a pagan covertly. They staid alive and in turn so did paganism.

  • @udaaz
    @udaaz 2 года назад

    Very nice 👍

  • @clivebaxter6354
    @clivebaxter6354 Год назад +1

    I thought painting crosses on shields at the Mlilvian bridge was a myth not mentioned until centuries later?

  • @toprak8311
    @toprak8311 2 года назад

    Where do we can find the great art used in this video?

  • @oh_no_martians
    @oh_no_martians 2 года назад

    I need to listen to “Songs for Pierre Chuvin” again

  • @mademoiselledusfonctionell1609

    When I a few decades ago went with my choir to Spain, we visited quite a few churches.
    Walking around the churches, I saw statues of Saint Mary of the XX and Saint Mary
    of the YY, and so on and so forth. Male saints and female saints. All beside each other.
    It seemed to me that the pagan gods and goddesses that had only been renamed.

  • @Michael_the_Drunkard
    @Michael_the_Drunkard 2 года назад +4

    Harran is Carrhae, of you didn't know.

  • @AldemirVieirajrchem
    @AldemirVieirajrchem 2 года назад +17

    The Vestas became the nuns. The Pontificex Maximus became the Pope. Some saints history is very close to the history of some gods. Saints Cosme and Damian was very accepted in Rome in allusion to Romulo and Remus.
    The Genius became the angels. The lararium became the shrine in some houses. Lupercalia is the Carnival.

    • @ambiorixdeseburons4939
      @ambiorixdeseburons4939 2 года назад

      No, this is bad history and ignores the brutal destruction of institutions. This is like saying I became the Roman Emperor because I took them name Caesar. The Vestas were raped by mobs and kicked from their temples.

    • @RamManNo1
      @RamManNo1 2 года назад

      Castor and Pollux were absorbed by Saints Peter and Paul. Patrons of travelers.

  • @michaelscalzo6716
    @michaelscalzo6716 2 года назад +4

    Love the videos you should do more talking about Christianity in rome

  • @teslaoliveira2195
    @teslaoliveira2195 2 года назад

    Super!

  • @georgeoldsterd8994
    @georgeoldsterd8994 2 года назад

    I remember doing some research on Thracian\ Dacian religion, and apparently there were still some people living in the Balkans, in the 7th century that practiced a form of totemic wolf-worship. This comes from a seemingly throwaway line in correspondence between some Christian missionaries, one of whom informed the other about intending to "take the word of God to those wolves up in the mountains", or some such. Researchers believe these may have been leftover from the non-Romanized Dacians that also avoided conversion to Christianity because they were living in an out-of-the-way and difficult-to-reach mountainous area.
    Then again, these "wolves" could have been some eastern peoples that came into the area during and after the Great Barbarian Migration. Some of those barbarians came from Asia, after all, and in Central Asian cultures the wolf is an important totemic animal.

  • @sarahsarah2534
    @sarahsarah2534 2 года назад +7

    "Under new divine management" XD

  • @christopherevans2445
    @christopherevans2445 Год назад +2

    Gnosticism could be seen as continual and connection to the mystery past and Christian beliefs

  • @Matt_The_Hugenot
    @Matt_The_Hugenot 2 года назад

    Paganism in the Iberian peninsula survived well into the 16th century and even later amongst the Basques so much so that the full force of the inquisition was turned on them.

  • @johnspizziri1919
    @johnspizziri1919 2 года назад

    BUY THE BOOK!!

  • @straggler64
    @straggler64 2 года назад +2

    I don't mind the add read, I'm all for having sponsors that aren't terrible scams like Established Titles, but could it be sped up a little? a full minute is a little much for an 8 minute video, it really drags.

  • @kasrkaiser6686
    @kasrkaiser6686 Год назад +5

    In Northumbria, England, Roman Paganism, although in a heavily damaged and broken form, managed to slip through the cracks and survive, right up until the 1800s. It was noted on more than one occasion that Isolated villages would drag ancient broken statues of Juno, Ceres and other roman goddesses that were dug up or pilfered from decaying Roman Ruins, through their fallow fields in order to bless their future harvests, despite possessing no knowledge on who these status were of except that they were pagan gods.

    • @jackholloway1
      @jackholloway1 Год назад +1

      This is a huge misunderstanding, they were not Roman pagans but continuing Anglo-Saxon traditions, the name of the goddess Ceres was used by the German chronicler describing the events but it's clear from understanding Germanic paganism that he was simply using the name of the equivalent Roman goddess to the Anglo-Saxon fertility one (possibly Frig). They also didn't use Roman statues, you have misremembered, but made idols out of corn (this is a practice that sort of survives to this day too)

    • @pandakicker1
      @pandakicker1 Год назад

      Awwwww may the Gods feed them honey! ❤❤❤

  • @evillyn7895
    @evillyn7895 2 года назад

    Did I hear you say "FIRST book"?

  • @james_giant_peach
    @james_giant_peach 2 года назад

    Are you the same guy from fire of learning?

  • @r0ky_M
    @r0ky_M 2 года назад

    0:48_it remains debatable whether it was Pagan Roman "X" (solar symbol) or an Xtian symbol painted on shields..Constantine after all was a huge 'Solar Invictus' worshipper.

  • @bratdfortd
    @bratdfortd 2 года назад +2

    heartbreaking!

  • @signoguns8501
    @signoguns8501 Год назад +4

    Just imagine if Europe had remained Pagan. The TRUE religion of the European people. Christianity is a middle eastern import. Like Islam.

  • @dragonrykr
    @dragonrykr 2 года назад +5

    It's interesting how now in the 21st century we are experiencing a similar major event - the replacement of Christianity by Irreligion, in many places throughout the world. And it is also interesting how the older belief again remains stronger in the rural areas, while the urban ones are more eager to accept the new ways of thinking. Just how it was with Paganism vs Christianity a millenia ago, nowadays it is with Christianity and Irreligion.

    • @ianian4162
      @ianian4162 2 года назад

      I wonder where irreligion will go from there. What might come after that?

    • @view1st
      @view1st Год назад

      I'm waiting for a Constantine or a Justinian from the USA who will set in motion the destruction of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, possibly by nuclear war.

    • @missmorla1339
      @missmorla1339 Год назад +1

      No one wants to follow an immoral deity that demands the slaughtering and sacrificing of infants and children, seriously jephthah was a follower and still had to burn his daughter ALIVE. the millions upon millions slaughtered for and by your deity and the many other immoral acts committed and subsequently pathetically justified for by you people. 90% of serial killers do or did follow your psychotic mass murderer of whom you keep a bragging book of slaughtering of which is not a coincidence. There is not a moral compassionate bone in the whole lot of you no one wants to be gaslighted and manipulated anymore and that is all your religion does. You can put bandaid on as many people as you want but it doesn't make up for a mass geocide of Pagan babies and infants you people try to justify.

    • @pandakicker1
      @pandakicker1 Год назад

      It’s not irreligion, it worships the perfected Man at the end of history. It is the same type of tyranny as Christianity, only thing is it either doesn’t recognize that it is a religion or it denies that it is a religion. That is why it is happening in a similar way and just as tyrannical, if not more tyrannical. If it isn’t a religion, why does it act the same way? It has zealots that are the ugliest zealots ever on the inside and outside.

    • @missmorla1339
      @missmorla1339 Год назад

      If this 'irreligion' is anything like you people you should be terrified because it was abrahamic beliefs that started small and pillaged the entire world because of the teachings of hatred and slaughtering of anyone who didn't believe in the Abrahamic convert or die motto.

  • @cronbtc5680
    @cronbtc5680 2 года назад +1

    The first ecumenical councils are recorded in the Bible. CoC wasn’t the first ecumenical council

  • @robertscott4728
    @robertscott4728 2 года назад +4

    What modern foods would the Romans find terrible to eat?

    • @jamisongillespie3524
      @jamisongillespie3524 2 года назад

      Gogurt

    • @selectionn
      @selectionn 2 года назад

      probably Aspic. that nasty meat inside jelly dish

    • @bonesapart8210
      @bonesapart8210 2 года назад +2

      They would probably find things too sweet due to sugar being so common in our diet.

    • @ahorsewithnoname773
      @ahorsewithnoname773 2 года назад +1

      They'd probably hate the way modern people drink wine.
      Only barbarians and uncouth soldiers drank unmixed wine (the Romans "cut" theirs with water), and the Romans were also fond of mixing lots of herbs and spices and what have you in with their wine that would horrify most modern wine snobs.

    • @pandakicker1
      @pandakicker1 Год назад

      @@ahorsewithnoname773I would looooove to try their wine! It sound so lovely.

  • @Jcecil17
    @Jcecil17 2 года назад +2

    It's over at 1:50 I repeat it's over

    • @valentine8161
      @valentine8161 2 года назад +2

      "It's over Anakin, I have Constantinople!"

    • @Jcecil17
      @Jcecil17 2 года назад +1

      Constant no people