The Treasures of the Byzantine Emperors - where are they now?
After the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the contents of the Byzantine imperial treasury were scattered across Europe and beyond. This video traces the surprising stories of 5 of the most spectacular treasures.
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:52 The Sack of Constantinople
2:06 The Farnese Cup
4:20 The Great Cameo of Constantine
7:47 The Rubens Vase
9:53 The Chalices of Romanos
11:41 Conclusion
Thanks for watching!
"a deranged curator with an umbrella" are we just going to gloss over this lol. I want to hear more about this curator and how the umbrella was involved!
Agree! That deserves a Tuesday mini movie just by itself!
I was entirely ready to make this comment ☝️We need to know.
His name was Salvatore Aita. He was a strange and suspicious character, prone to lashing out at other guards (sometimes with his umbrella). At last, as complaints from the rest of the staff mounted, he was moved to the night shift, essentially so that fewer people would have to deal with him. On the night of October 1, 1925, after being (again) disciplined by the Museum, Aita vented his rage on the most famous artifact in his care: the Farnese Cup. After smashing the glass case with his umbrella, he struck the cup itself, knocking it from its mount and breaking it into pieces. The other guards (who had been sleeping nearby) rushed to stop him before he could do more damage.
@@toldinstone And this is why we can't have nice things!
Time traveler trying to fix his timeline by destroying the holy grail?
This really makes you wonder - how much was actually destroyed during the 1204 sack and what kind of bronze and gold was melted down for the crusaders to pay them off. Truly one of the most tragic losses of the Middle Ages.
Yes. Just think, these were only a tiny part of what treasures had been in Constantinople.
It makes me froth with rage when I think about all the dumb shit the barbarian tribal kingdoms which sprung out of the corpse of Rome did
@@odochi7091 the napoleonic troops melted early middle ages jewelry from the Treasure of Monza
@@odochi7091 Agreed, but the Romans destroyed a lot of art when they sacked Corinth.
@@odochi7091 are we to assume rome didn't routinely destroy historical artifacts?? lmao the "barbarians" were hardly any worse bud lol
The most beautiful piece of art could've already been created and lost, and we would never know.
It prolly has
Fuck all of that. I don't care.
@@Just_another_Euro_dude Then why are you even on this video about art
@@Just_another_Euro_dude Well there's a medieval smelter in the flesh
There was a work of Chinese calligraphy named The "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" by the most famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi, composed in 353. The work resided in his family for 400 years, but in the end one of the emperor decided to bring the work into his grave. This work ever since it’s creation is viewed as one of the masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy. Yet it is lost forever. And none of Wang’s work survive to this day. We only have copies of his work. Copied by those who have actually seen his work. Let hope people makes copies of the most beautiful piece of art.
the 4th crusade is such a heartbreaker so excited for this video.
Just one more consequence of a dying empire. The advance of their enemies through anatolia necessitated the involvement of other nations in their defense.
All of Crusades fall into that category for me. A strong case can be made that we are still paying the price.
@@spacelemur7955 The crusades were a reactive element in history, they are not unique or one sided.
@@rudiruttger Good points. While that is perfectly true, even today, in that region, the west is distrusted and the crusades often mentioned as a reason. The Brits, French and Germany in the region in the late 19th and 20th centuries (and add in the US later) were seen as confirmation that the old European crusader urges still exist. But, as you say, it isn't one-sided. Many Europeans still talk about the early spread of Islam into Europe as an inspiration to some sort of ultimate, devious, reason for Muslims seeking a better life abroad.
All over a worthless patch of semi-desert.
The Rubens Vase - from the smoldering ruins of Constantinople, to the ruins of Baltimore.
Ha HA ha ha ha...
verissimum , Baltimore est nuntius
That’s not very nice. Poor Baltimore.
Good old Charm City. Not a murderous as MAGA country but still awful.
@@dontparticipate240 Those opposed to self-defense are the criminals. Marxists use the "Cult of the Victim" to attempt a power-grab, and they don't want anyone fighting their rioters, arsonists, and looters.
"And then they were broken down/Smelted for their precious materials." A new drinking game, take a shot everytime ToldInStone says this in any of his videos
Or that something was lost in a fire
My liver has been dead for a year
Drinking yourself to death won’t bring the objects back
The story of the Batavia is one of the most interesting and exciting in Australian history, and to hear that there were ancient Roman treasures involved just adds more great flavour to an already juicy story.
Yeah! I was really surprised when he said it was loaded onto the Batavia! What a plot twist!
@@universeofopulence Did you watch the video?
Venice seems to have more than its fair share of Constantinople's treasures. I believe that the four bronze horses above the entrance to St. Mark's were once part of a Quadriga that used to adorn the Hippodrome(chariot race track) of the Roman capital. They were probably brought there the same year, 1204, by the crusaders.
Yes, that was the case. I saw them in Venice a couple of years ago.
When the crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 Constantinople was rather a Greek-Byzantine cosmopolis and not a "Roman" capital! Constantinopolis had lost the little "Romanitas" it had centuries before the crusaders sack!
@@ThomasGazis no true constantinople was the roman capital when West rome fell the term byzantine was made up by French historians the byzantines always called them selves romans and other nations too for example Turkey calls Greeks that live in Turkey rum wich means romans in Turkish
Also the four tetrarchs, the porphyry statue is in Venice.
@@ThomasGazis Wrong! They were Romans and they were Greeks, and there is nothing, nothing that makes these two terms antithetic of mismatched. In fact, for the "Byzantines" they were synonymous and tautonymous (tautological), and for them being Roman was no different than being Laconian, Attican or Macedonian - which of course means to be Greek. As for the Romanitas, it is still alive in the Greek Nation. Only that today it is refered as Rhomiosene and not Rhomaiosene like it did in the Middle Ages, and every educated Greek who hears of Rhomiosene immediately recognizes it as the same essence of Greekness.
I did not expect something like the Farnese cup to pass into the hands of Timur at one point in time, strange connection in history for a classical roman artifact to travel throughout Eurasia.
Timur the Lame has become the centerpiece of Uzbekistani tourism, with many new statues and plazas erected in a very Soviet-era style. But they have done quite a bit of restoration work on Islamic structures, including Uluhg Bey's observatory in Samarkand, where one can see how he achieved such great precision without telescopes.
In reality, the Farnese cup wasn't Roman at all! It was the product of the much advanced Hellinistic Alexandrian artisan! If a French artisan created a masterpiece in the German occupied Paris in WWII then how "German" was that artifact?
@@ThomasGazis the romans and the greeds had culturally merged.. the roman upperclass all spoke and red greed and enjoyed greek culture
@@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367 dear Manchago actually the Romans never merged culturally with the Greeks! They were great organizers and warriors, they were practical, down to earth people (good farmers) but culturally they left much to be desired! The Greeks and other - eastern mostly - people filled the roman "voids", culturally speaking...
Timur was a good dude , lent me 60 geese to pay off a warlord in Asia holding my 6 th wife hostage
The 4th Crusade and the sack of 1204 had another tragic effect. It so severely weakened the Empire that it almost certainly hastened its eventual collapse and contributed to a level of acrimony that has helped perpetuate the schism between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) churches. Among the Greeks living under the rule of the Islamic Ottoman Empire such was the bitterness that a popular expression went "better the turban than the tiara," referring to the traditional crown of the popes of Rome. I would however, hasten to note that there are very real theological differences between the two churches.
@Sunbro even so, is it not fair to claim that those sacks did greatly damage the empire?
@Sunbro There is some truth to what you wrote but the sack was really the beginning of the end for the empire. Much of the city was burned and never rebuilt, with resulting depopulation. The theft and destruction of most of its treasures impoverished the city thereafter. Without the sack it would probably have fallen to the Ottomans anyway but it would have been much later and a more even contest.
@@acolyte1951 there was no "empire" in the first place! The Byzantine "empire" was actually a Greek-Hellenistic-Byzantine kingdom built around a huge "cosmpopolis " (Constantinople - cosmopolis being an Hellenistic concept), a kingdom which in some occasions managed to re-expand itself... And I say "re-expand" because Byzantium indeed started in 330 CE as an "Eastern Roman Empire" but it soon lost its "Romanitas" and then its pre-existing Hellenistic core surfaced pretty fast! And as fast Byzantium was losing its "Romanitas" it was losing its military prowess as well! Many factors contributed to the demise of Byzantium but in my opinion the most important of them is called "Mantzikert"! In 1071 CE Byzantium came for the very first time ever into a frontal collision with one of the most ferocious nomadic people of the entire planet, the Seljuk Turks! A very advanced, intellectual and religious people like the Byzantines were invaded and confronted by a rather uncivilized, pagan, nomading people whose entire lifestyle had been so far mililitary invasion, bloodshed, pillaging, looting! That was the Seljuk Turks (and the Turkic people in general) lifestyle ever since they descended in that part of Eastern Mediterranean from their homeland, the Altay plateau in Mongolia! And as soon as they defeated the Byzantines in 1071 - near the Armenian city of Mantzikert - they start pouring in Anatolia - Asia Minor by the tens of thousands! They were so ferocious and so much feared by the Byzantines that the Byzantines were delivering to them their own cities instead of trying to resist them! Thus, in just a few decades the Seljuk Turks had occupied almost the entire Anatolia - Asia Minor! In such a way, Constantinople had lost immense swathes of Byzantine land, crops, resources, taxes, military personnel etc.! That was actually the major blow ever to the Byzantine "empire"!
@@ThomasGazis Thank you for your explanation, I can understand why you would consider the Byzantines a kingdom at that point in time because a lot of their state seemed to revolve around Constantinople and it's territories were fluctuating unfit for an empire.
@@acolyte1951 not just for that! Constantinople was a real religious and spiritual COSMOPOLIS! That's an Hellenistic concept which never made it through the Roman empire, never flourished within the boundaries of historical "Romanitas" - it is a concept particularly unknown in the western part of the Mediterranean, the most Latin part of the Mediterranean, that is...
It is amazing how those giant solid marble (granite) (rock) statues have all been broken up over time but the small and fragile agate works with the little delicate features on them are intact.
Wow... you've really got a talent for explaining complex history in a quick, clear and colorful way.
The history of ownership, residency, travel, and their escape from impending destruction is just as thrilling as the artwork itself. Your book is on my Christmas wish list, which if I don't receive will entail an angry letter to Santa.
The famous statue of the Four Tetrarchs, now in Venice, was also taken from Constantinople.
Wow these stories were incredible, I loved all the connections to famous historical persons and events.
Those artifacts are so beautiful- the cameo is HUGE! fascinating stories all & amazing these priceless items still survive! Thank you fir sharing!!
I don’t know if it was ever in Constantinople, but the famous Marlborough Gem, today in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was once also owned by Rubens. This 1st century cameo was very likely made for Augustus and was borrowed by Josiah Wedgwood and was the inspiration for Wedgwood jasperware. Its formal name is “The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche” and it is signed by its carver: Tryphon.
I love your videos, thank you so much. History is amazing and you communicate it very well.
The strangest thing happened today. I went to The Walters Museum in Baltimore, specifically to see Melanchthon's Watch, and having been recommended by the docent to start from the top and work our way down, decided to skip the 19th century art and instead start on the third floor. I stepped into the Medieval art exhibit and the Rubens Vase is there, glowing right in front of mine.
your videos are some of the best to watch before drifting off to sleep.. and i mean that in the best way! once i turn my phone off and close my eyes it’s easy to imagine life in ancient times after your wonderful soothing combination of narration and explanation 😌
So the Gauls sacked Rome twice. And then they sacked Byzantium. Maybe Romans shouldn't trust the French.
Once. The German Tribes sacked Roma under Alaric. Also the French aren't Gauls. They are Franks and Burgondeons.
@@christianfreedom-seeker934 Gauls are part of their ancestry, like or not sjw/lgbt revisionist.
@@swissmilitischristilxxii3691 no need to get angry, is it really his fault you never had a girlfriend? :D
@Basil the 2nd of Macedon - the Vardaska slayer France is a blend of gauls, romans, franks, burgundians, normans.
@@bezahltersystemtroll5055 Wait, I will let my daughters respond to your agression ... wait 🧡🧡🧡they forgive you for your stupidity. They're my only joy, they don't want me to be rude with people in general.
Need more of Byzantium, the very late Romans. Thanks!
I live in Leiden and never knew such an important artifact was here...I know what im doing this weekend
This film was EXCELLENT. Keep up the good work ! Thanks. Jim Wade
Love this content, thanks Dr. Ryan -- your channel has quickly become one of my favorites
Just like your book, your commentaries are always filled with great information and highly entertaining!
Incredible, both in the history and your writing. Thank you.
Man, I so look forward to your videos! I love your storytelling and scene setting abilities.
GREAT VIDEO!! I have always wondered what treasures the world lost when ancient sites were sacked or looted. It is so fascinating to see these few intact marvels in photographs and I am so grateful that they still exist to be enjoyed by others.
Fascinating! Each items extra ordinary back story could be the centrepiece for any novel. Amazing!
Dr. Garrett, this video got me so stoked, I am familiar with a lot of happenings throughout history but this was something very poignant. Without mastery, I’m enraptured around these novel items that connect us to those days. I truly wonder if I’d be able to survive the times and the drastic changes experienced throughout time, it just gets me pumped. Thank you so much for this and every video.
Shout out to all my ancient day Romans
This was one of your best videos that I have seen! Very interesting and well told!
As Indonesian I'm happy to hear that one of the byzantine treasure was once in Indonesia
Fascinating and informative Thank you
That was such a trip thank you
You should cover the furthest Roman outpost
Thank you for these interesting videos and explainers.
I really enjoyed watching this video, wow, you really know how to make history interesting! Thanks for sharing! I have shared its link on Facebook.
Brilliantly done!
Fabulous as usual, sir.
Thank you so much. Greatly appreciated.
The "Crusade" was not actually a Crusade. "Real Crusade History" on KZhead is great for this topic.
Nice try papist, but Innocent III initially greenlighted the Crusade in an attempt to install a latin-friendly emperor and convert the Eastern Roman Orthodox population to papism.
@@lordofhostsappreciator3075 Key word: initially. Initially the plan didn't involve sacking Christian cities. after the Pope learned of the sack, every single leader was excommunicated. Simple as. But I won't expect a Tortodoxo to be truthful.
@@riograndedosulball248 That's just dumb semantics because he greenlighted the attack on the most prosperous Christian city either way, all for personal gain. Not to mention that he kept his share of treasures anyway instead of giving it back to the Orthodox Church & the Romans.
@@lordofhostsappreciator3075 than why did he excommunicated then. Learn your history
Beautiful, subscribed!
Wov, every piece as a history more entertaining than the other! Thanks
Outstanding! BUY THE BOOK!!!
Love this channel
The documented history of the Farnese Cup is stranger than fiction. Imagine what its story was like in its earlier existence.
I can’t wait to read your book!
Good work!
You are the Mark Felton of greco-roman history!
That is a high compliment!
There is no better feeling than asking a question that leads to a content creator making a video about it
Wow! What a video. I am shaking with awe
Just finished the book today. Totally worth the purchase
Very interesting. I subscribe to two history magazines. I enjoy your detailed investigation of Roman and Greek civilization which are my interest since childhood. Welldone.
I love how to-the -point your videos are. You dont spend too much time speculating and conjecturing on a point.
Or pandering for likes and subscribes. That's a big one for me.
Awesome stuff.
Well done
I love these videos so so much
Great history lesson!
I visited Istanbul as a student in 1992. At that time there were still dirt roads not so very far from the centre on the 'European' side. It might've been that there was construction afoot yet it didn't look like it and the decrepit house that lined that dirt road on a hill appeared uninmproved, to say the least. I haven't been back since and, though I just see photos, it looks like the place has changed in many, many ways. Much of it was old and beautiful, and if I lived on that street in those homes I'm sure I'd be pleased to live in better. I'd love to go back and visit. However, it cost $2 a night last time - I don't think it'll cost that now! Again, very close to the centre.
You should have seen it in 1975, like I did.
@@spacelemur7955 I bet it was wonderful. I'd probably still like it now, there's a lot to enjoy. I recall being down beside the Golden Horn with people selling grilled fish on rudimentary BBQs - I fear that has been swept away for more sanitary, yet bland, fast food kiosks.
@@VanderlyndenJengold I was back there about 7 years ago, and alghough it is much changed, it still has its Eastern character. Back in 1975, I drove a truck from Yugoslavia to Tabriz, and eastern Turkey, in particular Kurdistan, was rough driving. There was truck traffic then between India and Europe and this main artery was a washboard gravel teethshaker and spine bruiser. The summer dust enveloped everything, and if the wind was blowing along the route, it was very slow going for fear of collision.
In 1987 I stayed in a youth hostel in a beautiful old house directly opposite Hagia Sophia. We had our own room which looked down on the remains of the 4th century church. I went back to Istanbul 2014 and 2018. It isn't a youth hostel now. In 1987, Turkey and Morocco were the only countries where we could afford to eat out in restaurants, as we travelled for almost a year. I remember the sweet taste of fried zucchini.
@@glbale I lived off Souvlaki for a while in Greece and Turkey, a great comfort food and cheap. It gets easier for people to travel each year, yet even with AirBnb and cheap, reliable planes - for the most part - I reckon it's more adventurous when done as ecoonomically and 'off piste' as possible. My travelling companion and I still talk about our trip all these years later.
Very interesting information
This video’s awesome!
4th crusade devious licks
That cameo carving in the thumbnail is absolutely perfect incredible.
I didn’t know it is a cup.
The quadriga in Venice is a magnificent piece of classical art. I saw the original horses, in Venice's cathedral copies of them have been placed.
All the hands and lands these objects passed through. Yet here they are. Shocking.
7:45 _"Can I turn that into a belt buckle?"_ _"No, you cannot."_
Amazing engagement from your subs on this video, you just need a marketing push and your channel will be at 1 million in no time. Stuff like this can be uses in school for a few mins to help build that sense of wonder with history
Very interesting 👌
Thanks once again for this Garret, I'll study the Batavia story further, sounds like it would make a great film .
Sounds like the Milgram Experiment on an island, sort of like the plot of Lord of the flies...
gratias ago tibi pro hac informatione ,,
Survivors of the Batavia were overwhelmed by a bloodthirsty little gang very quickly. Surely this inspired the book Lord of the Flies.
Fascinating!
Very interesting!
the Cameo of Constantine had a cameo (ha) in the wreck of the _Batavia_ definitely not a plot twist I expected
The only time the Patriarch of Constantinople declared a holy war, meaning they would go to heaven, was against the those western Christians involved in 4th Crusade for desecrating the Agia Sophia. Conflicts against Muslims was treated as territorial wars and soldiers, even the emperor, had to do penance.
And that's why the bozos of the east lost to the turks lol
@@fritz404 calling the true christians clowns makes only you look like one
@@markosgelos3321 and where is the religious home of these "true Christians" today
Too bad he, or the emperor, didn't say or do anything when 50.000 venicean civilians were massacred or sold into slavery to the Turks in 1182. I'm sure that apathy would never have backfired
these are great stories to put behind artifacts in an rpg, I love it!
THANKS KING
There are surprisingly few artifacts overall from an 11 centuries long empire. The sacking of Cοnstantinople by the crusaders was a disaster indeed, however some pieces remained into Christian hands and are now possible to admire. I don't think any of those artifacts would be around if the Ottοmans had found them in the final sacking of Cοnstantinople in 1453
I think it's adorable how when you say "war elephants" it sounds like whirl-a-faunts 🥰
A topic worth a book.
Thanks!
Fresh told in stone video poggers
fascinating
Great video! I'd love to see a follow-up regarding the religious artifacts stolen during the 4th Crusade. I was in Amiens, France a couple years back and visited the famous cathedral there. It's one of the hugest in the world, and I was shocked to learn that the reason for its existence all stemmed from the fact that someone had stolen the head of John the Baptist from Constantinople during the 4th Crusade and brought it back to Amiens. That one relic was enough to create a juggernaut of religiosity and pilgrimage--and Constantinople had been full of them! I wonder what other towns' fortunes were built on the bones and vials of blood stolen during that sack.
In Paris, there is also the real cross.
@@pierren___ & the crown of thorns in Lyon.
Check out Patrick J. Geary, “Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages”
Very nice 💖💖💖
Wonderful video as always! Totally off-topic, I noticed you leave out the second "T" of the City and seem to pronounce it "Constaninople"... neither here nor there, just a curiosity. :-)
I wonder what sights these masterpieces have seen in their time.
Are you going to be doing any videos on Constantinople? I love your stuff - its so interesting. What was the biggest effect of the Sack on the modern world?
I hope to do more on Constantinople in the relatively near future. As for the Sack's effects - it's often said that it made the fall of Byzantium (and thus the rise of the Ottoman Empire) all but certain.
@@toldinstone Also a watershed moment in the financial history of the West. In many ways, Italian maritime republics were responsible for the rise of Western civilisation, in many ways 1204 was responsible for the beginning of it's expansion.
Really enjoying all your content thanks. I have one question please, did they ever have gladiator games in Constantinople? in the hippodrome ? Thanks
Glad to hear it! There was an amphitheater - the Kynegion - for beast hunts and gladiatorial combats in Constantinople, though it seems to have fallen into disuse fairly early. I'm not aware of any combats taking place in the Hippodrome.
@@toldinstone thanks very much for your answer 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Wow! I had never seen that vase before. Have any of the grave goods from imperial burials looted in 1204 been identified?
No, or at least not to the best of my knowledge. The burials had already been looted by a cash-strapped Byzantine emperor by the time the Crusaders showed up, so it's a safe bet that all the gold, at least, was long gone.
I could have sworn I just saw that cameo at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles!
Would love to hear you talk about the Gemma Augustea!
I hope to do a whole video on that fascinating cameo!
@@toldinstone Great! Love your work. I am also interested in the so called Belvedere Torso would love your take on that as well.
Rubens is from my country but they never taught us this cool detail about him.
What about a video about the works of literature that we know were lost in that sack? Maybe there are some references in byzantine writers from the years before and after.
We know from the Bibliotheca of Photius (who wrote in the ninth century) that quite a few works that survived until the middle Byzantine period were lost before the Renaissance, presumably because of the Fourth Crusade. Quantifying the losses, however, is difficult.
excellent,
There is a picture of my mother as a teenager, wearing a Roman cameo. That piece of jewelry always struck me as a bit strange. Her mother gave it to her, and it originated in the Dutch East Indies long before WW2. My grandmother was part of the royal family of Java. I wonder if it was one of the Byzantine items on the Batavia. The cameo was huge.
Giant folly crushes lavish collection, more hubris to come :)
Aside the savage sacking of Costantinopole, all because of sheer greed the consequences was enormous, and immediately very controversial among the Catholics and the Orthodox, because the Bizantine empire never recovered from this disaster that led to the final downfall. Unfortunately the sacking of the city was facilitated by continuous riots both religious and political issues and ever more diminishing central authority of the imperors with too many factions to contended with and dethroned emperors hastened by both the ruthless commercial interests of Venice and Genoa. In other words already the empire was in great decline. Thanks for sharing this very interesting video on the remaining treasures of Costantinopole...