8 Well Preserved Roman Cities
2024 ж. 15 Мам.
639 948 Рет қаралды
In this video we will take a look at some of the best preserved Roman Cities around the old Roman Empire.
On this channel we focus on Roman History and right now we're doing a video on every Roman Emperor, if you're interested in that subscribe or watch the playlist here:
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Narration by: Alexander Dobby
www.alexanderdoddy.com
man just drops in no intro. mad respect
Skipped by mistake, I'm used to having to bore through 30 seconds of bullshit intro
Amazing what impresses these days.
He did have an intro, you don't know what an intro is...
No long intro No sponsor segment No begging for likes Just vibes
@@derrickstorm6976what’s with white people and caring so much about semantics
I am Algerian and I think I am very lucky because I always visit Timgad and Djemila, believe me you will feel as if you are in the Roman era
I was stationed in Madrid Spain back in the early 80's. The Roman ruins there blew me away. They still use the aqueduct in Segovia. Just incredible.
Hell yeah, we have an entire roman lighthouse that still working today. Search "Torre de Hércules" ☺
But Madrid has no roman ruins (??)
@@unanecmaybe Punic?
@@Snugggg no, madrid was founded by the arabs and it was a pretty small town capital over a small area until castile seated there. The near city of Toledo has allways been very much important
@@unanec Maybe he meant that while there he visited Segovia.
North Africa has impressively preserved roman/romano-berber ruins. It is sad that most sites are left to depridation and/or are unexcavated due to lack of funding/interest from both the public and the international community.
actully in libya we try our best to take care of what remains of these remanants.
The hell is "Romano Berber" ??
@@alessandrom7181 something beyond your scope of knowledge
Actually he is right the romano berber term exist only in French, used by the French to devide the actual North Africa and especially their ex colony Algeria as much as they can . from the Roman point of view itself it was Roman Africans same for english Italian or Spanish sources it's known as Roman Africans and you can make all the researches you want you will find Roman Africans and No Romano Berbers,for the simple reasons it was not Latinized berbers and Romans only The African province was among the wealthiest regions in the Empire and as a consequence people from all over the Empire migrated into the province. Large numbers of Roman Army veterans settled in Northwest Africa on farming plots promised for their military service but also marchants slaves prisoners wealthy Romans German roman etc that's what gave them their own variety of latin slitely different from the original latin . and the ruins we are talking about like Djemila Timgad Dougga are Roman cities build by Roman Emperors for Roman citizens/retired soldiers it has nothing to do with Berbers ,actually Berbers i mean berber-speaking populations with berber culture were generally rural, mountainous, sedentary or nomadic and that's why till now the areas with the most berbers populations are either the Sahara or Aures mountains Kabylie mountains . i invite you to check several books and websites to have different sources so you end up with a right conclusion better than a proud wrong version ,cause too much pride kills pride
@@valarmorghulis118 i have myself researched the roman city of volubilis in morocco. 80 percent of the population were berber origin according to inscriptions. Search up the Mauro roman kingdom and learn how romanized berbers set up at blending of roman and berber culture in a State. Search up the tabula banasitana for how the berber chieftain julianus from the zegrenses tribe and his sons were granted citizenship from Marcus aurelius. Search up how juba ii the berber King wrote more than 30 books in Greek. The Roman emperor Macrinus was mentioned by Roman historians to be of Berber Mauro stock. Augustines mother Monica was of Berber origin. Sedentary Berbers existed and made up the vast majority of the urban and rural population of Roman North Africa. Berber cavalry serving under Trajan are depicted in his column in Rome. Whether you want it or not, most inhabitants of Roman North Africa were of Berber origin who blended their culture with the Romans.Whether you want it or not there is overwhelming evidence that Berbers in Roman Africa underwent a degree of romanization which is why they ended up making an inscription in Altava saying “REX ROMANORUM ET MAURORUM”. Your attempt to downplay it tells me something about your view of Berbers.
Herculaneum (or Ercolano in Italian) is stupendous and well worth a long visit when you see Pompeii. And it has a fraction of the hoards of tourists that invade Pompeii. It's just a stop or two on the train back towards Napoli. When you get off at the station, it's a short walk down to the excavation site. The narration didn't quite get it right, it survived well-intact because it escaped the hot pyroclastic blasts that destroyed Pompeii, which wiped out all the upper stories and roofs of the buildings. In Ercolano it was more cooler and slower mud flows, so you see complete houses and can better understand the Roman architecture on the upper floors and ceilings. You are walking streets as they would have looked back then and are allowed to walk into houses. See Pompeii first, then go back to Ercolano. You'll then understand what Pompeii looked like and have a better (and cooler less crowded) time.
0:04 Djemila, Algeria (Cuicul) 1:19 Dougga, Tunis (Thugga) 2:33 Ostia Antica, Italy (Ostia) 4:05 Jerash, Jordan (Γέρασα/Gerasa) 5:25 Ercolano, Italy (Herculaneum) 6:43 Timgad, Algeria (Thamugadi) 7:47 Al-Khums, Libya (Leptis Magna) 9:22 Pompei, Italy (Pompeii)
Aquileia
I’m surprised how the Middle East is rich in roman culture
@@12gmkk29 North Africa and especially The Maghreb was very prosperous and contributed a lot to Roman culture, many Maghrebi dynasties ruled Rome and Many were religious personas such as Agustine of Hippo Regius, modern day Algeria
Amazing
Djemila and timgad 🇩🇿👍
Eight cities is just not enough for a list like this - fortunately. In my country, Portugal, there are more than a few Roman cities that emerged and are still excavated, like Conimbriga, Cetobriga, Mirobriga (the word "briga" comes from the Celtic language, and means a "fortified place"), Amaia, Centum Cellas, _São Cucufate_ , _São Miguel de Odrinhas_ , etc... You can also discover monuments inside modern cities, like Lisbon itself with its theater, Chaves (Aquae Flaviae) and its baths where hot waters still flow and with its iconic Roman bridge, _Tróia_ at the mouth of river Sado with its well preserved garum tanks. And this is but a fraction, regarding all that is left from Britain to Egypt, and from Petra and Armenia to Portugal. Treasures, all them, despite dimension and number and type of monuments.
My goodness. I had no idea. I wish there was a documentary of sorts showcasing all the Roman Empire ruins outside of Italy.
Nice, thank you! This is good to know as maybe I will make vacations in Portugal in one or two years.
@@jessicavitale3408 indeed, there are thousands of places and monuments left by the Romans all around the old empire. Amphitheaters, theaters, temples, baths, villas, mosaics, bridges, insulae, even road marks and tomb stones. Portugal is no exception, being integrated in the empire from the II century BC, to the V century AD.
@@danielconde13 that's great to hear... I know the empire spread far and wide, but I want to know more what's left of it outside of Italy...thanks for the heads up...it will be fun to research some more
@@aramisortsbottcher8201 nice! Depending on the region of choice, you can find more or less foundings and places of Roman History of course. Tongobriga for example is located some 60 km from Porto, Portugal's second largest city, and I think they have a program where visitors can spend a day excavating too, since works to dig the city are still ongoing. In Trás-os-Montes region, where I live, you can find several bridges still in use: Chaves bridge and Torre Dona Chama bridge are both part of the old VIA XVII, that connected Bracara Avgvsta (modern day Braga, Portugal, that went on to be the Suebic Kingdom's capital in 409) and Astvrica Avgvsta (modern day Astorga, Spain). In Vila Real you can find the mesmerizing Numismatic Museum, with hundreds of Roman coins and a massive road mark from that same VIA XVII. Some 30 km North there are the Roman gold mines of Tresminas, where you can visit the galleries and watch a recriation of a Roman machine to smash the rocks brought from the mine working. Further North you have Chaves, founded by the Romans as Aquae Flaviae (Waters of the Flavians - their inhabitants are still called _flavienses_ ), with the bridge that preserves two road marks - one dedicated to Vespasian, from which the name of his son Domitian was erased after his damnatio memoriae, and the other to Trajan - and the baths, still heated by the natural springs of hot waters. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
imagine that , london, algiers and damascus were part of the same country , the same official language and currency . All without electricity , internet
I guess people were much more like each other then today...
@@Judge_Magister It was before people were divided by Jewish nonsense.
Mérida, Spain was the first place I encountered with a Roman bridge, theatre, Trajan arch, circus, aqueduct, amphitheatre, and a nice villa. In 26,00km of touring Europe in 1996 only Herculaneum and Pompeii surpassed it. The name is a worn-down form of "the name that the city received after its foundation by the emperor Augustus in 25 BC, Augusta Emerita, a colony in which veteran soldiers or emeritus settled." (Thanks, Wikipedia)
In a thousand years, I wonder if there will be more Roman ruins than ruins from our modern age.
i bet on Roman ruins, today we build an buiilding expecting it won't last more than 30-40 years.
@@mitch8072 Our garbage will outlast our buildings.
@@willjones7132 i agree
There will be thousands of Monte Testacciae lol
Probably not much would exist from after ww2 other than highway remains and perhaps metal bases to buildings. But anything built pre ww2 would remain just like Roman buildings as most things were built out of bricks and such, just like Rome was.
"Ephesus" in Turkey is a beauty and must see as well. Especially the library of the city.
Ephesus is older than the Roman empire it was a helenistic city just like Athens it wasn't built by the romans or in the roman era
You forgot to mention “Aosta” in Italy, the regional capital of the tiny region val d’Aosta, next to Piedmont. I still remember during the ancient Latin classes our teacher keep mentioning as the best city rebuild on top of the Roman grid, other cities were rebuilt next to the ancient ruins or on top of the city completely destroyed but Aosta preserved the famous grid.
It's not that they rebuilt the city over the ruins. Important cities became so crowded they needed to house somewhere, taking a bit space from the street or simply closing it, getting rid of the huge forum, using the citywall as support, etc. That's why grids were lost, they were unefficient
Might I suggest Nimbus which is now Nîmes, France... Amazing aquaduct outside the city, gardens and fountains around and in the city. A smaller but better preserved coliseum than Rome and a temple in amazing condition.
Isnt in numes that they replicate the gallic wars with hundreds of reenactors on the preserved colosseum?
😂 the video is about archeological roman cities.. by your logic he should include rome, verona Istanbul...
Trier has a number of well preserved Roman buildings and may be worthy of Part 2, perhaps alongside other living cities
Many living cities still have roman buildings, ,yeah.
i think Xanten is a better example because the modern city is next to the roman ruins and not on top of them, so there is more to see in Xanten
@@Surviver-zc3uz Thanks, I was unaware and have placed Xanteen on my travel wish list!
Xanten and Trier are both great, i have been to both!
@@jelmero3090 same
Good lord all these are simply breathtaking. Absolutely incredible.
"you can really get a sense of how it would've been to live there" as a plane flies across the sky in the back ground.
Visited Ostia in 2019, really interesting to explore
glad to hear. I am from ostia!
I visited Ostia in the late 1980s, together with my class mates when we went on our school's Rome trip. Funny thing is that Ostia used to be the port town for Rome but the coastline has moved a bit since Roman times so now it's rather inland.
@@AudieHolland yes I grew up in ostia lido which is further down if you are coming from rome. Ostia antica is only 2 metro stops from my house
@@valerio9851 Thanks for your reply! Sorry to say we only spent an hour or two in auditorium/theatre before we had to continue onto Rome. We also visited Ravenna and Florence and we spent a day or two on those beautiful historical locations.
then you'll know there is an error in the video: @ 3:11 Ostia had 2(if I remember correctly) harbours.
Herculaneum is absolutely beautiful! I was there in 2014 and loved it!
Paestum, an overlooked Greco-Roman gem about an hour's train ride south of Salerno.
I have been in Leptis Magna in 2006 and it is by far the most fascinating archeological site I have seen so far
I grew up in Libya and I visited Leptis Magna serval times when I was a kid. I was so fascinated by it, and I was amazed at how big its building was especially the Roman Colosseum and Victory Arch. I did not understand its importance until today almost 15 years later when I read about Roman history as history nerd
The problem with the excavation of Herculaneum is the fact that the modern city of Ercolano was built on top of it.
Seeing and imagining daily life in ancient Egyptian and Roman cities has always fascinated me. Thanks for this amazing content!
Constantinople (now Istanbul) is still mainly intact with many buildings being just reconverted. You can even tell where the old road system was
Croatia is full of cities with structures, excavation sites and roman-styled city planing like Salona - Solin, Spalatos- Split, Siscia - Sisak...
love it! thank you very much. added a couple things to my bucket list
I've been to Ostia, the brickwork there is outstanding, as are the insulae. It's the closest you can get to standing under a towering Roman apartment building. As for Herculaneum, it almost overtakes Pompeii for its level of preservation. The preserved wood is amazing, and you can very clearly see the old beach with its boathouses were residents took shelter. They also have the most intact Roman bathhouse anywhere in the world, which I believe has only recently opened to the public. The famous popina, essentially snackbars or fast-food joints, can also be seen.
😏A large portion of the old Herculaneum is still buried under the modern town and even today excavations are going on to discover what treasures lie buried under the rock, to the extent that some families are being rehoused so work can continue
Could I buy a property in Ostia for 1$ and renovate to meet modern standards? You think it would be a good investment for renting through Airbnb?
@@Kevin-bl6lg Of course, they are waiting for you
@@giovannimoriggi5833 fantastic. We can bring tourism and money to Ostia for a good future. 👍
Absolutely loved the video. Part 2 would be great!
I just kept saying 'wow' to myself all the way through. Just breath taking
If I had a timemachine, Rome would be my number 1 destination. To live there as a senator for couple of years. Or as a trader in Leptis Magna.
Surprised there’s no mention of Ephesus in Turkey. It was remarkably well preserved.
Ercolano wasn't buried by ashes and pomixes, it was buried by a hot mud landslide. That's why it was preserved. The mud stopped even air from touching the ruins and because of that, organic materials like paint and wood were preserved. When they tried to dig in the 18th century and early 19th century, it required a lot of effort cause the mud was practically petrified and was as hard as concrete.
Beautiful video. Thank you.
Efesus in Turkey can compete with some of the cities you've mentioned. Thanks for this video!
wonderful place
Ephesus is considered more of a Hellenic city rather than a Roman one
@@starman1144 it's byzantine era - so that's roman, unless we disqualify everything east of illyria
@@derekscanlan4641 i think ephesus existed even before rome so it's a greek city
@@derekscanlan4641 my guy, Ephesus is older the Rome and it was one of the Greatests Ancient Greek cities.
Great stuff. Adding some of these to my bucket list!
Pretty cool channel, I will definitely check out all other videos too!
come to spain there are a lot of roman cities, in fact the castilean houses segovia, toledo, tarraco, merida augusta....still have the structure of roman villae, squared with a inside patio. and following the street structures and keeping towers, wall and defensive walls, acueducts, etc.then you have the most ancient one italica, segobriga, the recent one caraca.alcala de henares with hipolito house and the still up rounding the city a wall.
quiet a few nice ruins in zaragoza (caesaragusta) too
Lugo.corña incluso vigo
Sbeitla and Sabratha are amazing too, love this video thank you 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Awesome video
Appreciate this,Mate🙌🙌
So beautiful 😭😭
Ostia name derived from the same logic and meaning as Byzantium. Buzë, Lips in Albanian. Bacio, Kiss in italian, Bocca, mouth in Italian, Bouche, mouth in French. In Latin Mouth is Oris, Kiss is Osculum. Both Relating to the Albnian word for Lip "Buzë" by the adition of "B" in front. As-in B'Osculum - Buzulum, to lip someone, aka kiss someone. Why some may ask? Because the Origins of the Latin Language and Albanian are one and the same, they were only dialectally different. The Word/Name Byzantium is older than Rome itself. The Romans were not Greek nor Italians, they documented this very well. I love hijacking important videos such as this one! Love it!
Miss your uploads, the ones about emperors are some of the best content on youtube.
Love brother keep going
Good stuff! I really appreciate the map zoom-in's
U should have talked about Tarraco, it's an amazing city to visit and there is still the Roman coliseum of the old capital of Hispania
Bravo! Well done!
The narration sounds like a Monty Python sketch
Agreed. The voice just doesn't sound natural. Couldn't really take the video serious because of that - was waiting for the comedic moment.
@@perhapsyes2493 people like you is why nobody else in the world likes americ ans
@@BlueBirdsProductions wtf
@@IgnitedMoose What?
@@BlueBirdsProductions what nationality are you? just for context
Keep making these. Your channel will hit critical mass, and you'll have 100k+ subs in no time.
Fact. Love this channel and narrator.
Well done 👍🏼. I didn’t even know those cities existed. Thanks
Man these are so well presented. I wish you could do even deeper dives on each topic.
extremaly underrated channel
What a great narrative voice
Very interesting video, however Dougga is in Tunisia. Tunis is the capital, situated close to Carthage.
Baelo Claudia (near tarifa Spain ) Worth a visit, Italica near Seville and also the Roman ruins in Merida/Spain has a number of well preserved Roman ruins like the Amphitheatre, Roman Theatre, Roman circus, Roman Temple, Roman Baths, two Roman Villas, impressive Roman Aqueduct, Arch of Trajan, Roman tombs, Roman Bridge one of the longest in existence, Roman streets and one of the best Museums of Roman Art, there’s also part of the forum too and other scattered remains. It is 1:30mins north from Seville or 3:00 west from Madrid in the region of Extremadura you will not be disappointed the small city is a ‘mini Rome’ all within walking distance great hotels and food too. Sad that many tourists go to Spain and hardly ever heard of Merida founded by Emperor Augustus 25BC been many time and I love it there!!!
Damn, that view in Dougga - that is something you would want to wake up with in the morning :)
I love watching these 😊
Afrodisias in Turkey is hard to get to but very wonderful - famous in its heyday for its sculptors full of carved faces, with an especially beautiful theatre, an unusual temple of Afrodite and a huge building honoring the Julio-Claudians containing a memorable image of the subjugation of Britania. Anatolia is full of marvels and also has Ephesus and Heliopolis but Afrodisias stands out.
Learn some spelling please. Aphrodisias and Aphrodite. You should know at least the name of the goddess! And yet you write Ephesus (correctly) and not Efesus! Strange inconsistencies.
Aphrodisias was wonderful! It's a somewhat smaller site that you can cover in maybe 3 hours, but there was hardly anyone there when I went, some of the ruins I really was just there alone
great video
I loved the video. The content is very interesting, the narration is engaging and the edition is simple but still very cool. Keep doing what you do, because Rome is a topic with a lot to say.
Rome itself might not be very organised when seen from above, but if you look at the cities they made in the lands they conquered it's all very neat and well-planned 😊
😬Rome has two famous faces, the classic imperial one and the flamboyant one of the popes. But between the splendor of the two periods there is almost a millennium in which she was dying. At the height of the empire, towards the second century AD, the city was home to more than one million inhabitants. However, by the end of the sixth century there were only 20,000 survivors of a multitude of wars, famines and plagues. The merchants, sailors, prostitutes, workers and plebs were gone, while the nobility had set sail for Constantinople. Rome was no longer caput mundi. Indeed, it was governed as a province of the Byzantine Empire.
@@alessiorenzoni5586 This period of dying still left many wonderful remains and aside from the early Middle Ages (Pope Gregory time mainly) it still was a vibrant and alive city
A city of more than 2000 years ago who reached 1million citizens couldn't be "well organized" as a modern one. Duh.
@AlessioRenzoni, completely wrong. Rome continued to be considered the greatest city in the west and it's by far (obviously so) the city with the most monuments of ancient Roman period.
Great vid! A bit brief but very informative in that there are cities from around the empire which I'm sure a lot of roman history enthusiasts may not have seen. Like myself, who became engrossed with roman history back in March. Learning a lot to prepare for a visit to the eternal city itself! Thanks for sharing and keep the vids coming.
Fascinating, but I think you should have included Ephesus!
Awesome!
Outstanding graphics that take us along for the ride into the past. And the map zoom ins.
splendid
Loved this altho the zoom ins made me a little dizzy! Keep up the good work.
Nice comprehensive video ... I like your Map transitioning ... which app is that ???
over the top narration is over the top.
Always a good time when you upload! Particularly love the inclusion of Google Maps to show locations. Great work on this one man!
I’m glad your channel was recommended. Subscribed.
thank you for this awesomeness
I was expecting to see Volubilis in your video since it's in Morocco. I hope there's a part 2 to this video!
Nice video; never heard of most cities.
Was kinda expecting Rome to be in the list as well. Yes, I know it has been rebuilt and would not fit with the others, but Rome is literally an outdoor museum. You can literally go anywhere near the centre (And somewhere out of the centre) of the city to find some amazing roman structures.
This is about kinda abandoned cities, archaeological sites representing a whole city. Rome is builded as roman but becomes not only ancient romans. That's why is called the Eternal City.
In Germany there is Xanten which also have an old roman arena
Excellent dear fellow SPQR
Byzantium will be restore 😡😡😡
Great job … I think you can include Apamea, Bosra and Palmyra …. Which are important Roman cities in today Syria ..
Have visited 5 of the 8 cities. Still need to get to Algeria and Libya some day. Not sure how long we will have to wait for Libya to become stable and safe again.
@@Newit2 w ee33
@@Newit2 Nice shoehorn for your xenophobia.
@MM005 tourist go home again ours dont
@@Newit2 and neither do the global corporations which are making their life miserable for the benefit of mostly Western consumers.
@@slyasleep The "global corporations" that employ people? That otherwise would be shitting in the street?
It would be so great to see an artist's impression of each city, as it was in the day 💛💛
You should show Plovdiv it is an amazing Roman City .
Thank you for a very nice and informative video. I especially liked the review of Jerash, which I had the opportunity to visit in the mid-1980s.
The narration was difficult to listen to, but I did it. Good video!
Super!
I'd love to see one of these cities restored. I mean, ruins are impressive, but it would be awsome to see how ancient cities really looked like.
kzhead.info/sun/aLyxcZh7j5F_o3A/bejne.html
Always amazed by the quality of the paintings in roman era compared to the middle ages, seems to me that the Renaissance was happening really very earlier than what we know 😁
There is another one in tipaza coastal city of Algeria it’s beautiful I used to love going there as a kid as it’s in a forest by the sea the scenery was amazing
You should make a vídeo about roman city of Tróia, at Setúbal,
They need to start an Art/Philosophy/ Linguistic/Archaeology college and revive one of those awesome towns.
I never knew Jay Miller was a well preserved Roman city in Algeria.
so you also didnt know the emperor tray chan?
I think Mérida, Spain is tough to beat. looking down on it from google maps is spooky. if feels like your in a time machine.
Timgad better be on this list
My father and the other farmers complain every year when they prepare the land for farming from the ammount of colored ceramics and potery pieces that keep poping up , some of them still have pattern and disfigured drawings
9:09 Mentioned the city was partially destroyed by the Tsunami of 365 AD. Crete Earthquake, just look at those coastal sand dunes, the height is definitely reworking by wind and mega ripples (tsunami for instance), and the similar sand dunes you can find only in Japan, the Tottori Sand Dunes, reworked by tsunami several time in its history.
i would love deep dives into these sites
Crazy how a huuge and powerful empire can just fall. what a shame these beautiful cities were abandoned
Went to Ostia when visiting Rome, amazing place worth a visit, don't go in August like we did, there's not much shade. Though I was going to die from the heat haha
I'm surprised Ephesus didn't make this list with the continued evacuation being done. Saw it in person in 2022.
Ha, I visited Ostia Antica in Italy back in the 1980s.
Modern day Turkey is filled with well preserved Roman cities, and there are plenty more elsewhere.
Although those cities are more Greek than Roman in architecture. Like, a layman couldn't tell Ostia and Pompeii apart, but Pompeii and Ephesus? They'd know they're not the same city. P.S.: I wasn't clear the first time and I apologize. I'm talking about "western roman cities", as opposed to "eastern poleis later annexed to the roman empire", and I'm ONLY talking about architecture.
@HMC but most of the "roman cities" in turkey are mostly greek in origin
@@Pepella yes but do not forget that "byzantine empire" was still a roman empire in fact roman empire felt in 1453, even so called byzantines called themselves ROMANS and view themselves as a legacy of "old rome". In fact the east side of empire continued to rise when western part felt. They never ever used term "Byzantines". This was just made up by german historian Hieronymus Wolf in 1557.... And yes so called byzantine era was trully different from "classical roman era" but Egypt has also 4000+ years of history but we do not call New egyptian kingdom something else, it was still "egyptian" besides it was totally different from old kingdom....
@@tomassterancak Sure, but I never mentioned the Byzantines, so I couldn't have claimed they were not Romans. I was talking about architectural styles: western roman cities differed from the eastern poleis.
@HMC Are you forgetting Ionia WAS fully a part of the greek world? They were fully Greek, not "greecized" Anatolians. And the rest of modern day Turkey was not Greek nor Roman for a long time, and those cities look different from the poleis and even more so from the western roman cities.