Trajan: Optimus Princeps
2019 ж. 27 Қаз.
642 853 Рет қаралды
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Host - Simon Whistler
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I enjoyed your biography as always. I’d love to see a Praetorian Guard video ❤️
Please Do a video on Rudolf Hess
I'd be interested in more on the Praetorian Guard & their role.
You should have spoken more about Romania. The wars between trajan and decebal are literally the origin of the romanian people!
plz do liu shan plz T_T
One shall stand, one shall fall. *ROMANS, ROLL OUT!!*
I came here just to see this comment.
Yay! I'm not the only one getting Transformers flashbacks
Agreed
Defenders of Rome... Matrix of Leadership!
That explains the Roman Red Cab color, they should replace the blue with a combination of gold and silver though.
To this day, I have no idea why Trajan is overlooked. Any historian will tell you he was the best Roman ruler. When we think of Roman leaders, we ought not to think of Caesar, but of Trajan.
Elagabalus was much better
@@UlpianHeritor I was trolling
Augustus is up there with him as well.
Trajan, Augustus, Aurelian, Vespasian, Hadrian. My personal top 5 and, in my obviously biased opinion, a pretty tough top 5 to beat.
@@GerryBolger I would say Aurelian first. I cannot think of a more difficult position to start your reign in.
I own a silver denarius minted during Trajan's reign and bearing his face.
How much is it worth?
@@ungobungo7986 worth 1 silver denarius
@@massimobernardo- wow thanks!!!
Probably $100-$500?
So THAT's what happened to his face.... you had it all along!!
He’s a well liked figure here in Romania. We have a lot of squares, streets, markets etc named after him and some even after Nerva. Hell Trajan himself is mentioned in our national anthem.
Da, intr-adevar suntem singurii idioti care ne pupam in cur asupritorul stramosilor nostrii. Asta dupa ce ne-a jefuit de toate bogatiile fara de care nu ar fi fost posibil sa isi ridice forul din Roma. Si noi ce facem? Ii dedicam imnul, strazi etc... ne meritam soarta spun eu
@Anton Pogorevici limba cui o vorbesc?
Ah, Romanians. The Dacians that LARPed as Rome a bit too hard.
@@kestutisvaiciunas8663 LARP? Dacians were integrated into the Roman Empire and gained citizenship, just like Illyrians, Greeks and the Italic tribes were, the only LARPers were the Turks, the "Holy" "Roman" "Empire" and probably Napoleon.
Domantas Jealous that we still call ourselves “Roman” or that we speak the “limba romana”, one, if not, the most conservative Romance language?
They called him Optimus Prime?!? And he was born in Metallica!?! Duuuuuuuude......
Lol!!
He Was Born In Italica (actual Seville)
What a Chad
Let's trash the stage, man
A true LoL Love that one
Another one! These roman emperor vids are the most interesting.
What am I ? Chopped liver ?
Yep these and the ones on Ancient Egypt
video topic suggestion: the praetorian guard
Edmond Desh yesss!!
That isn't a person.
@@zaphyra- On the sister channel of Biographic.
More about the Praetorian Guard? Oh Yes please!
Sejanus
Glad to see a report on Trajan. The thumbnail statue's hair had him looking like the fifth Beatle though. John, Paul, George, Ringo and Tray.
the emperor set the standards of fashion trends. that's why you see bears come and go with some roman times and others not so much. the only thing that never caught on was Nero's chin strap.
He loves you! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Trajan was the last clean shaven emperor until Constantine, 200 years later.
@@histguy101 It's sad to see them lose such a traditional aesthetic quality that defined them since the earliest days of the republic. Beards are for Germs and Grekoids.
I thought the title said Optimus Prime for a sec.
Same xD
Transformarius, Romans in Discigvseus
RAB1618 nice Womble profile pic
“Wait I still function”
"It's just you and me Megatronicus".
When discussing Domitian, it's important to remember that every new dynasty vilified the final emperor of the prior dynasty. It helped legitimise their own reign. Nero was easy to vilify because he was a monster, although revisionists would argue that he wasn't as blatantly evil as history would have us believe. Domitian was a different emperor in almost every way from Nero. Unlike his two dynastic predecessors he never indulged in nepotism. And unlike his immediate predecessor (Titus) he was fairly peaceful to the Jews. Which, when compared to Titus and Vespasian, isn't a difficult task. Nonetheless he allowed all people to follow whichever gods they wanted to, as long as they didn't interfere with the governance of the Empire. He ran things like a meritocracy, if you were good you progressed. Being rich or from a noble family didn't matter to Domitian, if you couldn't do your duty you got the boot. And that might be why he's seen as a bad emperor to this day. During the time period Domitian was emperor, the Senate was overflowing with rich men with regal surnames and lots of land. Beyond that they were little more than a relic of a long dead republic, and Domitian recognised this. He had the balls to take power away from the undeserving wealthy and strengthen the position of emperor. And when he was dead the Senate remembered that fact. They wrote history as we know it, and they got revenge on Domitian in this fashion, slandering him after he had died. His reign lasted 15 years, which is an eternity for a Roman Emperor. Clearly the people didn't have a problem with him. But they didn't write Roman history, the senators did...
Exactly my thoughts, the writers of history do sometimes influence the way people think about historical figures
I learnt this during 8th grade history, when we studied Ancient China. Many of the supposedly terrible things kings and emperors did are likely exaggerated or entirely made up by subsequent dynasties to justify why the Mandate of Heaven had frowned upon a previous dynasty and gave way for a new dynasty to rise to power.
@@fishstickssrn3909 they still do.
He was a tyrant who bribed the army.
Can someone please tell me what BCE and CE stand for, as I only know of BC and AD.
1:47 This is a common misconception. The first Roman Emperor to be born outside of Italy was Claudius, not Trajan.
He's referring to the fact that Trajan was considered a provincial and the first provincial emperor, whereas Claudius was dynastic.
@@francisdrake7060 Well, that's not known with certainty, but that's not what I was saying. I said he was seen as a provincial emperor, lacking pedigree, an outsider, etc. His father was the first to enter the senatorial ranks by marrying into Vespasian's family(who was also seen as provincial).
@@francisdrake7060 Thats not correct. The last works of the scholar of the Roman Empire, Alicia M Canto from University UAM (Madrid), has proven the father of Trajan was a turdetan (a ancient iberian tribe). There are documentation that the grandparents of Trajan were from Umbria but they adopted Marcus Ulpius (Trajans father) being a child from a native turdetan family. In fact, accord those works the gens Traius is iberian not italian. Curiously Trajan decided use his iberian familiar name (Traian) besides the roman name of his adoptives grandparents (Ulpius)
@@Fasolislithuan He was probably both...
@@eodyn7 His father, Marcus Ulpius Traianus, senator at Rome, was 100% iberian turdetan, not italian, adopted by Trajan's grandfathers. His mother is from unknown origin. We can speculate his mother probably was from italian background, perhaps from Umbria because Trajan adopted the cognate names from his two families, Trahia/Traia (Hispania) from his father and Ulpius (Umbria) from his grandparents (and perhaps from his mother). There are information about the origin in Hispania from some of the 5 good emperors. Three of them (except Nerva and Antoninus Pius who was from Galia) looks related by maternal lines. Hadrian was related with Trajan and also Marcus Aurelius, nephew of Hadrian (Commodus, Marcus's son, logically also is related)
I’ve been waiting for this one. Also for Marcus Aurelius.
Me too def my 2 favs
Check out The History of Rome podcast. It's way more in depth.
Is that your actual surname?
Yes! Definitely Marcus Aurelius
Husband to etc etc
I'm glad that you have decided to make a video about Trajan. He's an important part of our history. Also, after the Siege of Sarmisegetuza ended in a decisive Roman victory followed by Decebal's suicide, a confidant of the king, Bicilis, led the Romans to the king's hidden treasure. According to Jerome Carpocino, a French historian and author, the Romans found 165.5 tones of gold and 331 tones of silver. Now those numbers can be sightly exaggerated but there's no doubt that Dacia did have a huge gold deposit.
do you know a lot about Dacia? I have no clue but I want to learn from someone
Fun fact. Romania still has a lot of gold deposits
@@cgt3704 Plus alte minerale.
Hadrian, the practical emperor who favored Greek culture is my personal favorite. He embodied both the best and worst parts of imperial rule with his domestic achievements and authoritarian repression against opponent. He’d make an excellent follow up to Trajan, and a fitting one due to his controversial succession of Trajan.
Hadrian killed 4 senators and Lusius Quietus right at his accession, many others during his reign, killed Apollodorus of Damascus, abandoned Trajan's parthian conquest, managed the provinces poorly and as a result triggered the Bar Kochba revolt. Not a record to be proud of.
@@titisuteu I agree that Hadrian’s killings of senators are unlawful and are heavy handed but he did have a reason lol. His targets were Trajan’s closest allies who really wanted to continue trajan’s expansionist ideals. However, I disagree about your statement that Hadrian managed the provinces poorly. In fact, Hadrian was one of the best administrator Rome ever had. He was constantly travelling and visiting provinces to manage them, he rarely stayed in Rome like the majority of the emperors. This is the exact reason why he didn’t like Trajan’s expansionism and made a lot of enemies in the senate, he wanted stability in the provinces and adding more territory (adding more tax as what the greedy senate want) would just overextend the empire and cause instability. The only major revolt is the bar kochba. However, that province was always troublesome and Hadrian pretty much stabilized it for the entirety of the Roman empire’s life lol. If you think one revolt makes an emperor bad, I wonder what you would think about Marcus Aurelius lol
@@kittykattzee I agree with you. It's good to remember many people dislike Hadrian (and Trajan) for their sexuality. When in fact they are two of the best rulers in Roman history, in all history really.
"He left his troops in charge of his Generals", anyone else hear that?
wait a minute...THAT'S ILLEGAL!
Given the context, it sounds about right! ;) Quis custodiet, ipsos custodes? !
@@jacobmortimore No, it's called democracy.
@@vespelian5274 tis a meme friend...tis a meme
@makeshift marotte Hooray. Not a lot of people know that. I had never heard of Mohamed Salah until I penetrated the Great Pyramid of Giza. Funny the things you can learn.
thank you for all of these....its become my morning ritual right before logging in to work. my 8 year old son started listening too. could you do some more ancient egyptians?? he is learning about that in school. thanks!
19:05 'I'm getting too old for this cacat' -Trajan
Trajan is mad at me because I'm not expanding my civ. I expand, Trajan is mad at me for building a city next to his empire.
Jason Ahn take him out
There's just no pleasing some people.
I get the reference. ;D I nuked him 4 times.
"You have left the richest parts of your land for your enemies to claim. Are you scared of expansion?"
He's such an a hole in Civ, if i spawn close to him, it is guaranteed he'll declare war within 2 turns upon meeting me.
Oh wow, a good Roman emperor... You don't see that often!
😆😆
That’s actually not true at all.
@@Prodigi50 it's sarcasm man hes saying Simon has done them alot if u scroll through the channel page you'll see he's right
@@joshuagonzalez1502 Yup. He's just not done much of the good ones.
@@kiboinderitu8431 doesn't make his statement any less true he's done alot of them
Funny how Trajan, a man born, raised, and educated in Spain, was popular with the senate when you consider that *_"Trajan and Hadrian..recruited new senators, so that Spaniards made up about 25 per cent of the Senate."_* (According to Leonard A. Curchin)
Love these. I hope you do Galla Placidia some day. Daughter of an emperor Theodosius the Great), step-sister of two emperors (Arcadius & Honorius), wife of an emperor (Constantius III) and mother of an emperor (Valentinian III), she was the last really noteworthy empress in the West. She personally helped defend the city of Rome against Alaric's Visigoths, was taken hostage by them when it fell, and during a long march through Gaul ended up marrying Alaric's brother in an elaborate ceremony. She had quite a life.
Now that would be an amazing film. History only really recounts the victories and defeats of men...
She wasn't all that, Aggripina was HOT!!💥
Wow
@@Natalia-pc7fm If that is so, then can you really name *every single person* who was son of an emperor, brother of his successors, father of another emperor, and tried to defend his empire?
@@Natalia-pc7fm And lastly, I must add that history doesn't recounts the victories and defeat of men, but "great" men. Even during the height of Roman Empire (one of the 4 principle civilizations of it's time), about *80 to 90%* of people were living under subsistence conditions. The equivalent of modern middle class is said to have comprised only 5 to 10 % of the Rome's total population. So for much of the history, most men also got the short end of the stick.
Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. So many of the great works of Rome have been lost.
Jim Humphries annoys me greatly
*He surely liked to name things after him.* *Ah yes, **_Trajan's Rome_*
Make Rome Great Again
Make Rome Trajan Again
Well he did want to emulate Alexander the Great.
You know, Trajan is a name that needs to come back into common use...
In Romania its actually a verry common name.
Yep, common name in Romania, even a president recently.
Huh, I suppose that makes sense in hindsight.
@@reignman.7555 I think in the Philippines it's also used due to Spanish colonization there. Not sure that it's common there, though.
@@theregalbeagle8855 Yeah, Trajano is kind of a well-known surname here.
My man, Trajan!
The Praetorian Guard would be a great video. I'd also love to see a video on the Hashshashin, the ancient Order of Assassins of Persia.
He has a video about the hashshashin..it was something about first assassins or where the first assassins originated from..if I'm not mistaken
@Taylor Miller..He's actually made a video about hashshashin...if I'm not mistaken
There's already a video about the founder of the Hasasiyun.
The rise and fall of the Preatorian Guard would be amazing. They really were the pride of Rome under Augustus, how far they fell by the time Constantine wiped the spoiled bastards out of history....
If Disney had ever done a film on Rome, the Praetorian Guard would have almost certainly been the villains. Constantine did the Empire a HUGE favor by getting rid of them.
Very helpful and highly enjoyable! Thank you for the time you put into this!
Note: Trajan’s bridge was used for over 170 years. Also Trajan’s baths were far from the last public baths in Rome
When the leader thinks he's a Trajan but is actually more of a Commodus....
12:42 WE NEED AN EPISODE ON AURELIAN! GIVE US AN EMPEROR OF HUMBLE BEGINNINGS!
Thank you very much for making this, and these videos on Roman Emperors. It's really helped me as a supplement to my studying and reading of scholarly works and is very well-presented. Thanks again.
0:24 Early life & Family 3:28 Snippets about previous Roman emperors (Domitian & Nerva) 9:06 Early days of reign 14:49 Improvements in Rome *Increasing Romam territories* 10:13 Dacian Empire (Includes regions of Oltenia, Transylvania & Banat. Mostly in current Romania, included parts of current Serbia & Hungary) 14:21 Nabatean Kingdom 16:03 Parthian Empire (campaign in Armenia in-between
Please do more on Pretorian guards. Now that you gave us some insight, we need to know more. Oh and yes, do more on Roman (and Byzantine) Emperors. Thanks
I want a an Oompa Loompa too!
This was so well done. Biographics is becoming a good serious history blog. The presentation, too. Some of the other good ones are lectures by professors and we all know they can sometimes not project interest very well. Trajan was lucky to die when he did. Rome could have never held Mesopotamia. It was really just a grand parade to the Gulf. Hadrian (equally interesting ) had to take all the abuse for abandoning the area and was never truly popular.
Great video! Thanks so much, I do really enjoy all the content you put out. Take care.
All of your channels are very informative, please keep making them
Yes, please do a video on the influence of the Praetorian Guard. Thanks!!!
His alternate mode was a cab-over diesel truck!
Neg Ative 😂😂🤣🤣
Such a vulgar joke
Hahaha
@@alerojas2952 Pro Vulgato
*raises hand* Would love to see a video involving the Roman Praetorian Guard in greater detail. Also, you guys have been killing it with the videos lately. Keep up the good work!
finally been waiting so long for this
Being both Italian American and Romanian American I thank you for this video! Great job!
Trajan was born in Spain tho
Perfect timing! I just played as him in 'Civilization 6'!
Great video. Love to hear more about the Praetorian Guard.
I've been binge watching these ancient history videos and they are very interesting!!
I love it when you guys do Rome stuff!
It’s him bois! It’s Trajan! Best Emperor, pogchamp in chat!
Extremely interesting and thorough - intriguing.
Hi Simon, I’ve been following many of your biographical narratives for quite some time now, it would be great if you could maybe consider putting together a short series on Roman campaigns and battles perhaps incorporating some battlefield graphics, others have tried and failed miserably, but with your excellent and may I say infectious, assertive, confident and enthused talent for storytelling I believe you’ll get every like minded history fan hooked big time - Keep up the good work mate they’re thoroughly enjoyable and consistently riveting and entertaining.
Still want the Augustus video, just teasing me at this point. Also love this channel keep up the good work
Still no Augustus video. I'm also waiting for a video on Marcus Aurelius
I've never seen so many noseless Romans in my life
True but, as with noseless Egyptian sculptures/statuary and other cultures it isn't a conspiracy, as some claim.
Informative video, thank you!
Great video as always!
I would LOVE to see more episodes about Ancient Rome and then men and woman who made it so great and terrible (often simultaneously) and above all FASCINATING!
Here are some ideas George Carlin - The king of Sting James Madison - Father of the Constitution Barnum Brown - The Dinosaur Digger Ludwig Von Beethoven - Immortal Music Shaka Zulu - Zulu's Monarch
Lapu Lapu the one who killed Magellan
Your videos on ancient Rome are by far my favourite.
SUPERB....GREAT content and your commercials fit in nicely.....very very good!
There should be a movie on the life of Trajan.
Pierre S. be some boring movie This guy was just conquest, conquest, campaign, chillin with the soldiers, touring the soldiers, basically just a straight up soldier.
@@J3diMindTrix I mean if Spartacus can be made into a 3 seasons show, Trajan can surly be portrayed in a movie.
J3diMindTrix I want to play Trajan
Imma be for real, it won’t be as exciting as you would think lol. The main reason is because Trajan pretty much always wins. Unlike other characters which almost hit rock-bottom and would’ve been more dramatic 😂
One of great achievement of Trjan it was build my city in noth africa, exactly in Algeria it's name is Timgad,He left a huge legacy behind him 🙏
he was a real chad ruler. Not only victorious in battle, even he was a clever politician, a good administrator and a nice person (most of the time)
thanks for the video 📹❤❤
Definitely would love to see videos about the praetorian guard!
Ave Roman Aeterna! Good video Simon! My favorite emperor though was the successor of Trajan, i.e. Hadrian. I would love it if you did one on Hadrian and his lover Antinous, whom he deified after death in the Nile.
2099: hey can we finally get that David Bowie video
Great & informative & YES please some vids on the Praetorian Guard
Domitian is the reason for trajan's easy ride. The best emperor to have his name blackened
I blame myself, I thought Titus would live longer.
@@vespasianflaviustheemperor7901 shoulda been a better dad to domitian
@@johnmurdoch3083 I was old and he was an accident, thought I was done having kids. It never occurred to me that Titus would die childless.
Lol I saw this out of the corner of my eye in the feed list and read Optimus Prime. ... Wait a sec Can we get a video on Optimus Prime?
Y E S
1:30 - Chapter 1 - Family & military life 3:50 - Chapter 2 - Domitian 7:40 - Mid roll ads 9:05 - Chapter 3 - Rise to the throne 10:15 - Chapter 4 - The dacian wars 14:20 - Chapter 5 - Work in rome 16:05 - Chapter 6 - The parthian war begins 18:25 - Chapter 7 - Mesopotamian campaign 19:55 - Chapter 8 - Death
Very interesting. Would love to see a documentary on Arminius and Alaric!
Yes please do one over the guard! That would be awesome! ❤
New topic: Decebal, the most terrifying enemy to Trajan
he wasnt even alive when trajan became emperor
My last name is Trajanovic so I just had to look up the history behind the man himself
You should live up to that name
@@bethueltanui954 it definitely gives me pride.
YESSSS !! Video on the Praetorian Guard plz
I love how unbiased you guys try to me 👍
I'm very novice in learning about Roman history and never heard of him. Thank you.
One of my favourite roman emperors. Excellent work Simon If you do another roman emperor, may i reccomend emperor claudius (who was the emperor when trajan was born)?
Oh yes, I would love to see an episode on Claudius!
Great video. Can you do Marcus Aurelius the Philosopher Emperor (last of the 5 good emperors) next?
YES! A video about Trajan that is not a snippet from a documentary from the 80s!
Trajan Pro is my favorite font and is used on 90% of movie posters :D
Hahahahaha!
i read Optimus Prime for a split second.
Amusingly I was just about to start studying for an exam about ancient history and it just so happens that today's block is gonna be the Romans. Marvelous job on the video as usual, you guys manage to make the boredom that is antiquity incredibly interesting.
I am a fan of Roman History and Trajan is my Favorite person to learn about. Thanks for the video.
"Angle axioms" um is he talking about degrees
I was with you up until the end... I think it's well known that Trajan and Hadrian had a close relationship and that Hadrian was the hand picked successor well before death.
Do a video on the Praetorian guard. BTW, I'm really enjoying the Roman history videos. Fascinating!
Keeping in the theme of the emperors who ruled during the Pax Romana, I think most people would love a video on Marcus Aruelius. Not only did his death signify the end of peace for Rome, but his Stoicism was likely his defining trait.
Simon, do a video on the serial killer who was the real candy man deal corrl who was in Houston Tx
*Dean
Rob gavagan has one on him look it up
Trajan: optimus prime
Gay geek reference.
Loved this! Always interested in Roman history
I would like to see a video that focuses on the Praetorian Guard. Possibly their greatest feats, or perhaps their most influential moments? I think it would be interesting, and could even be a two to three part video.
If there's going to be a biopic of Trajan I think Ciarán Hinds should play him. No doubt about it. He's one of my favourite "supporting role" actors, like Peter Stormare, but I think he'd be able to do Trajan justice. Also, Biographics, when can we expect episodes about the African Roman emperors? As well as the Syrian Roman emperor Heliogabalus?
HInds already played Julius Caesar in HBO's great series, "Rome". With a full head of hair! Apparently he refused to shave his head to play the dictator / would-be-emperor.
Thank you In Croatia there is a saying “In emperor Trajan goat’s ears” Do you know why? I think it is a Slavic fairy/folk’s tale
Surprised Constantine doesn't have a Biography vid yet. Justinian and Aurelian also deserve one.
I requested this thank you.
It's ok to say "A.D."
One of my favorite emperors.
Also, absolutely wanna hear more about the Praetorian Guard!
Justin Weber >> “PRAETORIAN!!”
I thought Claudius was the first Roman emperor born outside Italy.
You thought right. Obviously, US and Brits have no clue about it.
@@nicktamer4969 Obviously we (Brits at least) know the history better, as well the details: Trianus was the first provincial emperor not otherwise connected to Rome.
@@owenshebbeare2999 So why saying "the first roman emperor born outside italy" if you mean "the first provincial emperor not otherwise connected to Rome" ? Isn't it stupid to say something while you mean something else ? Isn't it such a shame to "know the history better" if you are not able to use the right words ?
video suggestion: Rudolf Hess
Yup, would love some more info on the praetorians. I always thought they were just high ranking military, I'd love to know more.
They were technically the Emperor's bodyguard, think of the Leibstandarte SS during WW II. They were supposed to be an elite force and one of the only Roman troops allowed to bear arms while in Rome and the few stationed in Rome itself. After a while the leaders of the Praetorians became corrupt and instead of protecting the Emperor they became king makers. Throughout Roman history there are stories of Praetorians assassinating unpopular Emperors, sometimes putting someone of their choosing on the throne, as was the case of Claudius, and other times selling off the throne to the highest bidder.
Definitely interested in a video on the Praetorian Guard.