I stumbled on Timgad in 1983 while hiking through Algeria. Then it was an abandoned place, only inhabited by some (beautiful) Roman status (one of Venus!) and a few skinny cows looking for something to eat. Will never forget the excitement of that day
@garyfrancis61933 ай бұрын
You mean “ statues”. Skinny cows get you excited? Okey Doke.
@waynejones78252 ай бұрын
Had to have been amazing! All to yourself in a way.
@monumentaltravel37452 ай бұрын
So cool, those experiences are the best of life.
@jtee59572 ай бұрын
@@garyfrancis6193You’ve mastered the fine art of locating missing “e”s. Congratulations.
@zaneyoung15582 ай бұрын
@@garyfrancis6193 you mean Dokie, you clown,
@TetsuShima3 ай бұрын
For those interested in Roman structures, the novel "Vespasian: Tribune of Rome", written by Robert Fabbri, has a strikingly beautiful chapter in which the very different areas of the city of Rome are described in vivid detail from the point of view of a teenage Vespasian as he and his Family visits the city for the first time. It is so well written that it literally makes you feel like you are inside the ancient eternal city.
@megansfo3 ай бұрын
I'll look it up. Have yoy read Margaret George's Confessions of Young Nero, which is one of two Nero books? So good, they almost make one sympathize with him. Also, the same author's Memoirs of Cleopatra is fantastic.
@johnpinkston38183 ай бұрын
Thank you for the recommendation
@brandonquezada95233 ай бұрын
I read it after reading this recommendation, and it really brings the city to life as it was that I haven’t seen before, thank you
@micheldaubigne76293 ай бұрын
Thanx for the tip!
@yigittural95113 ай бұрын
Are these books historically credible?
@kiva6673 ай бұрын
Thank you for the video. I visited Timgad in 1975 and had long wondered if it survived Algeria's various troubles. I'm happy to say that it looks pretty much the same as it did 49 years ago.
@garyfrancis61933 ай бұрын
Pretty much destroyed right down to the ground?
@Smiktozo-213Ай бұрын
Timgad's museum was robbed in 1995 and it was only reopened in 2018 after recovering most of the +950 artifacts. Glad to see tourists rediscovering it again.
@OskarEricson3 ай бұрын
Pretty crazy to think Rome started as a small village of wooden cabins. Everything just got replaced by good old reliable marble.
@undergroundman46463 ай бұрын
I remember from Robert Graves' novel "I, Claudius" that Augustus used to say that he came to a wooden Rome and transformed it in a marble Rome, or something similar. Please, excuse my por englush, it's not my first lenguaje.
@undergroundman46463 ай бұрын
KZfaq doesn't allow me to edit the previos comment, so *poor *language
@emilianozamora3993 ай бұрын
And plaster…
@theorixlux3 ай бұрын
I suppose if you go far enough back, any city started as wooden cabins or huts
@johnladuke64753 ай бұрын
@@theorixlux Not Vegas. It's been a tacky monstrosity of concrete and neon in the middle of the desert from day one.
@Sandesh-sh7ez3 ай бұрын
Well, I was just thinking about roman empire. nice timing.
@irighterotica3 ай бұрын
'Et tu', huh?
@huntertrum36583 ай бұрын
I wish there was a time when I wasn't thinking about the Romans😭😭
@dj-kq4fz3 ай бұрын
Cheez, I think about them constantly for some reason.
@radiofreeacab3 ай бұрын
Imagine identifying with things you didn't accomplish 😂 good luck, mayo supremacists 😂
@dj-kq4fz3 ай бұрын
@@radiofreeacab Image being that obtuse to not recognize jokes about an internet meme from 6 months ago.
@torontoguy10973 ай бұрын
As usual another fascinating video! Our host is one of the only creator who does NOT directly read his script directly from Wikipedia and seems genuinely interested in communicating information in a clear, concise and UNBIASED way. Thank you!!!
@EndingSimple2 ай бұрын
Yeah, this a jewel of youtube channel.
@ClanChannel-pj2vh3 ай бұрын
Great video sir, you captured the essence of Roman architectural genius, and the secret to their ability to feel 'at home' anywhere chose to rule. Thank you!
@niamohamed98982 ай бұрын
Thank you for your awesome video and the presentation of the beautiful city of timgad I hope you enjoyed your trip and maybe you'll come back to Algeria to discover more about all the Roman sites we have the closest one to timgad is another beautiful city called Djemila about 170km away and it's very well preserved
@peterwikvist24333 ай бұрын
Thank you for this information. Loved the combination of photographs and a street map.
@silverado91043 ай бұрын
An unsung pleasure of Garrett's wonderful KZfaq channels: the comments -- Interesting, well-written, and even laugh-out-loud !
@garyfrancis61933 ай бұрын
“Unsung”? Taylor Swift never wrote a song about his videos? You may be right.
@silverado91043 ай бұрын
@@garyfrancis6193 All subjects are unsung until the Swift lady sings
@yallahyallah42203 ай бұрын
Really happy for you Garrett that you had the opportunity to visit those incredibly well preserved roman cities in person, Carthage next ? :)
@zachesherman3 ай бұрын
Thank you so much for the video Dr. Ryan. Watching it today, I’m suddenly realizing how closely these houses resemble the Riads in Morocco you can still see today.
@davidwebber8143 ай бұрын
I know it's not the point, but @toldinstone always seems to have the most interesting sponsors.
@johnladuke64753 ай бұрын
He mixes it up, that's for sure. My favourite was the plumber from Queens who paid a history doctor from Chicago to advertise on youtube for the whole world to see.
@randomvintagefilm2733 ай бұрын
This place is amazing. I had never heard of it until recently.
@champagne.future52483 ай бұрын
I’m so happy you went on this trip. These kinds of videos have high rewatchability. Looking forward to the rest of your trip content
@GarfieldRex2 ай бұрын
Absolutely incredible, new place in the to go list 👌 thank you!
@lolhs963 ай бұрын
Please go to Volubilis (Walili) Morocco! Old roman, Carthaginian, and older architecture !
@josephbingham12552 ай бұрын
A fine presentation. I take it this was also for wives and such of the retired soldiers. I met an lady elementary teacher who had visited Rome on holiday and liked to tell every class how great the Romans were. I suppose she though she would be living in a villa with slaves waiting on her - rather than being one.
@SpiritWolf19663 ай бұрын
I enjoy all of toldinstone videos
@lteht69193 ай бұрын
Having Google Maps up while watching thsi was great
@VivaSepulchre3 ай бұрын
I love your content Sir 💯
@tbird2673 ай бұрын
Amazing to experience a site like that with no tourists. I hope you tried out that latrine for the true Roman experience, minus the sponge on a stick.
@dwayneblaser28663 ай бұрын
Looks beautiful there. Would love to visit someday
@GnomaPhobic3 ай бұрын
I really like videos like this. Thank you for traveling to these places and showing them to all of us who can't travel!
@kolinako68723 ай бұрын
I just listened to your appearance on forehead fables today at work (I'm late I know). Had a blast, great job lol.
@Kededian3 ай бұрын
Wow it must be very impressive to visit this site. Amazing!
@joeshmoe83453 ай бұрын
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with us Big Dog!
@monumentaltravel37452 ай бұрын
Very well done, thanks for producing and publishing the video. Certainly has got me adjusting my todo list.
@brick63473 ай бұрын
There's a renaissance city in Poland called Zamość which is laid out very similarly. Surrounded by walls, checkerboard streets, market square in the centre with public buildings and porticos around it (it's World Heritage Site, worth a visit). My question is, Poland obviously wasn't part of Rome, so did this style of building cities just sort of continue in Europe for centuries or was this a specifically renaissance nod to the past?
@toldinstone3 ай бұрын
I would guess that the people who laid out that city had read Vitruvius, or were at least familiar with developments in Renaissance Italy
@neonity42943 ай бұрын
It isn't a rocket science that grid based cities with an "downtown" are efficient, other civilizations like the chinese or cultures from south america had the same idea. Like the reinvention of pyramids.
@RizzstrainingOrder663 ай бұрын
eyo my guy great video as always and congratulations to the 500k really deserved
@edgarsnake28572 ай бұрын
Thanks for another excellent video about a place I was unaware of.
@Thorum3 ай бұрын
Garrett you're the best!! Thanks for the shout out.
@rodionromanovich4493 ай бұрын
Come for the soothing voice, stay for the facts. Thanks for an awesome channel!
@RileyJSW2 ай бұрын
An extremely fascinating and informative video. Great job!
@C-Hirsuta3 ай бұрын
I loved this video and I would like to see more ancient urban planning videos.
@horror112 ай бұрын
even in the past old ppl wanted to spend their last days in a sunny warm place close to beaches.
@biggbeefer3 ай бұрын
It always makes me sad to hear the phrase "it was later dismantled for building material used for other buildings." This is the fate of so many incredible structures from the ancient world. I sometimes wish our medieval ancestors had the same care for archeology that we do today
@FreeManFreeThought3 ай бұрын
Equally you could say that what they did was better, today many old buildings are turned into rubble & trucked to a landfill rather than anything being reused.
@tristanthamm5053 ай бұрын
They had practical concerns. If a building was not actively in use it would be just a pile of unused resources.
@Jamie_kemp3 ай бұрын
Credit to you - I didn’t click with the last thumbnail and I did for this one. You got me this time Stone…
@kacperwoch43683 ай бұрын
Could you make w video explaining the origin of Roman architectual uniformity? For such a vast empire spanning three continents and incorporating hundreds of cultures the urban planning is remarkably identical across all major cities in all corners of the empire. Even by modern standards this rigid adherance to a set of rules is insane. What was the purpose of it? Was it simply a reflection of totalitarian top-down structure of the state? Or is there more to it?
@johnladuke64753 ай бұрын
I'm not the doc and this isn't a video, but I'd guess that at least part of the answer is military surveyors. The Legions built things everywhere they went with efficient military uniformity. I don't know if that explains the styles of particular buildings or not. But as in the case of the town in this video, it certainly explains the urban planning similarities and also uniformity in major projects like aquaducts and roads.
@kacperwoch43683 ай бұрын
@@johnladuke6475 I guess this explains the layout but there is still a question about the style - how did Roman architecture become so universal that every artisan was making the exact same corinthian columns. We do see different materials and different local building techniques (opus afticanum) but these were covered with plaster and tried to imitate the common style. I also find it interesting that even in Britain they still built their houses as if it were a Mediterranian climate. It wasn't the military building the villas and theaters so how comes?
@wyattrox033 ай бұрын
Jeez I wish I could have come on this trip, times wouldnt line up as I was traveling in Italy but hopefully one of the future trips!
@stargazer46833 ай бұрын
Amazing!
@sgassocsg2 ай бұрын
Greatest book on Rome is Masters of Rome by McCullough. Brilliant beyond measure, she was awarded medals by city of Rome. Detailed and thorough she highlights the greatest century of humanity: 100 BC to Christ/ Augustus: Caesar, Marius, mithradates, Herod, Sulla, and Octavian.
@Buckshot97963 ай бұрын
The ability of Rome to project itself across so much time and space is amazing. Funny how a small, obscure village in Italy or a cold, out of the way island in Northern Europe could grow into world empires
@djm58sk3 ай бұрын
What was the source of the town’s water supply? And the basis of its local economy?
@antonxuiz3 ай бұрын
I think I see a river in the first photo. Maybe they took water with an aqueduct. Maybe they used wells. Maybe there was a river that is now dried out, like the Nile in Damietta and many more.
@Im_Politically_stupid_and_dumb3 ай бұрын
Though the 5 road stone highway (which no longer exists) they transported huge water tankers (that resemble modern day semi tanker trucks) that where pulled by 10 horses every day from the river and to the city
@RussellB3 ай бұрын
yes while I can't speak for water I am indeed an expert at the local economy of this particular military colony. At the rectangular courtyard with porticoes for merchants stalls they bought and sold magic the gathering cards with tremendous profit margins
@MrZork332 ай бұрын
I hope you enjoyed your stay in my home country!
@Jcecil173 ай бұрын
Wow, diadem’s do get down to building.
@Jcecil173 ай бұрын
cameraman is told
@SpottedSharks3 ай бұрын
Now batting: #12, the shortstop, Tim Gad. Tim Gad now batting.
@faizanrana29983 ай бұрын
AAAAHAHAA he loved cricket
@faizanrana29983 ай бұрын
What a hit! 6 runs!!
@arrjay24103 ай бұрын
Thoroughly enjoyed this; and found it educational too.
@JokeFranic3 ай бұрын
what would the veterans do for living? Be given a piece of land to farm?
@scottabc723 ай бұрын
Yes and that was the main motivation for most to join the army. It also was a major driver for expansion of the empire because once they had this huge standing army they had to have new lands to give the retired soldiers.
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
It is a beautiful planet
@jakehammon86313 ай бұрын
It’s crazy to think after all that time existing, being built by the Romans, the Roman’s would take it down. In their mind I would go to say they thought they would have time to rebuild.
@fabiansw83 ай бұрын
Plz drop Thorium
@BriarRouge3 ай бұрын
We’re you the only person there? So lucky!
@lesliea73943 ай бұрын
It would be wonderful if we could be transported back in time to both see and experience the "living" city.
@rhoddryice54123 ай бұрын
Im an experienced Roman city planner. I spent far to much time playing Caesar in the 90’s.
@crescentworks68553 ай бұрын
What do you know about the excavation of Timgad? I would love to hear more about that as part of your site tours (also good luck at Dougga, I was there 20 years ago and loved it!)
@CigarAttache3 ай бұрын
When are you hosting your next tour? 🤔
@toldinstone3 ай бұрын
I'm going to Turkey in October! There are still spaces open...
@JohnyG293 ай бұрын
What did the Romans call the place? Timgad doesn't sound very "roman".
@faizanrana29983 ай бұрын
Toujge my butt
@AnExcellentChef3 ай бұрын
The full name was Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi. Colonia meant it's a Roman colony, a community of citizens planted on conquered land. The three following names were there to commemorate different members of the imperial house and Thamugadi comes from a Berber word for local topography. With a mouthful like that it's no surprise the name has shortened since.
@YaMumsSpecialFriend3 ай бұрын
Timgadium?🥹
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
Carthage lost the Punic Wars. They named it first.
@Foxpuffy2 ай бұрын
Kinda surprised because he managed to get a visa to Algeria knowing that it is the hardest visa to get, anyways amazing video
@karimmezghiche99212 ай бұрын
He's a historian, that's why it was easier for him I suppose.
@billparker24416 күн бұрын
Can you imagine the hilarity of sitting all around together in a latrine with your buddies after a huge meal and playing battleshits...
@IanZainea19902 ай бұрын
8:12 urban sprawl!! 😮 Hahaha
@MigLMariano3 ай бұрын
Great Sponsor - I got my wedding ring from Thorum.
@OskarEricson3 ай бұрын
Speaking of ancient churches, it is quite funny that in the first legals Christian temples there were no pews and Christians had to attend mass standing all the time. Just because Constantine gave them freedom of worship does not mean that they had the right to practice it comfortably. 😅
@kenjitakashima10413 ай бұрын
"If I can receive the Lord's inspiration standing up so can you dammit"
@survivalkidro45823 ай бұрын
In orthodox churches you also stand up during mass, only old people sit on the chairs along the walls
@johnladuke64753 ай бұрын
"And if you're really really good and love Jesus enough, you'll get to go to Heaven, where you may have a seat." But I guess that doesn't make any less sense than the rest of it.
@lesliea73943 ай бұрын
Since it was based on the basilica design, not a religious building, it makes sense that there was no seating.
@athrunatreides3 ай бұрын
I was thinking of using this video to make my way in Caesar III
@CHAS14223 ай бұрын
Another guy I follow Garth Harney was recently in Timgad. Great video. What happened to the population in late antiquity? Did they lose all sources of revenue and abandon the city?
@s.mcchristy97043 ай бұрын
Why would veterans of the Roman Army want to go across the sea to live in a desert? What would they do there? It's abandoned now probably because there is no water...
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
They fought barbarians and savages for 25 years just to have a house, they could deal with the weather and they drank wine.
@rayk7307Ай бұрын
Timgad is not in the desert. Northern Algeria is not a desert. You can even go skiing not too far from Timgad.
@rickrandom6734Ай бұрын
Northern Africa has areas with similar climate to California. Why would people live in a place like California?
@paulbredt56073 ай бұрын
On the floor in front of most public bathrooms is a small water channel. I find it very interesting that at Timgad, there are slits in the floor instead. Do you know what those were for?
@jcb57823 ай бұрын
That “organic essence” of Roman city planning is a very interesting topic in urban history. That, and the fact that the Romans felt quite at ease building outside the walls. The Romans(in the broadest sense, of course) can be seen as the first peoples who saw the city and the country as one whole. Only Romans could be that arrogant, of course…This is best shown in the process of centuriation(or surveying basically), whereby surveyors planned not just the town in question, but the surrounding countryside for miles. They were very aware of the concept of empire, seeing land and sea as theirs just as much as any town or city. There is an interesting duality in Roman psyche where they think of the city as a perfect order growing around a ‘mundus’ and surrounded by the sacred ‘pomerium,’ but at the same time obscuring that perfection by incorporating the natural world into its urban geography. This is very unlike the Greeks, for example, who seemed to stick to their rigid grids no matter the circumstances. Piraeus is a perfect example. For them and many other prior cultures, the city was the world of man and the country that of myth and legend. For the Romans it was just an extension of the city. This concept, which was quite profound, was crucial for the eventual development from an empire built essentialy out of contracted city states, to a centralised state with common citizenship or the notion of borders, as we indeed see developing in late-Roman and Byzantine history. Of course it is a concept that endures to this day. Anyway, awesome video as always man!
@timeflysintheshop3 ай бұрын
So do you think the paving stones of the main road were laid at an angle to make a smoother ride for the solid wheel wagons and such?
@sliceofheaven30263 ай бұрын
It is pretty impressive to me how Romans kinda had almost a standard layout for towns. They had blocks of houses and streets of the same width running beside most of those blocks of houses alongside with raised stone blocks for pedestrians to walk over the street withouth stepping in anything that the horses might drop for example. It took probably until the 20th century until people started planning towns more methodically in the way that Romans planned them. Maybe Romans werent that great artists in a way but they for sure did a lot for cityplanning and for engineering in general.
@FrankyBabes3 ай бұрын
That Thorum sponsorship surprised me. And they don't just do rings!
@toldinstone3 ай бұрын
I'm becoming genuinely attached to my "Meteorsaur" ring
@yigittural95113 ай бұрын
Can someone explain why the upper parts of the buildings are totally missing? I understand the reuse of material or producing quick-lime by heating it up to extreme temperatures but is there such an explanation where they used decaying material for the upper parts like adobe or wood?
@TetsuShima3 ай бұрын
Romans after conquering a tribe: "Do you see that unoccupied land?" Barbarians: "Yes" Romans: "We are going to build an aqueduct there" Barbarians: 😢
@festungkurland9804Ай бұрын
neat
@reeyees503 ай бұрын
Better than today
@RussellB3 ай бұрын
Okay boys lets learn how the Romans built cities! Hell yes!
@MrJoeFuego3 ай бұрын
Please make compilations of your videos!!!
@s1nb4d592 ай бұрын
Im sure Pompeii is the best preserved,if you watch footage online its like they left it yesterday.
@1Rab3 ай бұрын
Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Roman Empire is the abundant artificial quarries
@yippee85703 ай бұрын
I read that it's not safe for Westerners to travel to Algeria. What's your take on that?
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
It is not safe to live in the west either, go, enjoy your life while you still can.
@USSResolute3 ай бұрын
How would you recommend that we get there? I have had this on my radar for about a month to go visit. Was it safe to visit Algeria?
@mbarnlund3 ай бұрын
Would love to see a 3D rendering taking a stab at what this could have looked like “back then!”
@ericdavid1992 ай бұрын
Question. So was all of these ruins buried under sand and then excavated semi recently, or have they sat at out in the open since roman times?
@AndyM_323YYY2 ай бұрын
A lot of them were in the open and virtually intact until French colonists arrived in the 19th century and started robbing them for stone.
@BC-kc6em2 ай бұрын
@@AndyM_323YYYthe royal mausoleum of Mauritania in Tipaza was used as a training target for the french navy which left a huge hole that can be seen on what's left of it today.
@user-uo7fw5bo1o2 ай бұрын
I thought Pompeii and Herculaneum were the best preserved Roman cities.
@MarcoPollo773 ай бұрын
Cool
@julianszlawski86583 ай бұрын
Who else is here to listen to information about the Romans?
@giorgio58262 ай бұрын
At least 504 k people who are subscribed
@bobfrog48362 ай бұрын
I accidentally clicked a link I thought was a Rick Astley video.
@jusadude71623 ай бұрын
Haha! Timgad was the first retirement community
@Pyjamarama113 ай бұрын
We lost relatives during the Vandal invasion of Timgad This video may be a little bit too soon
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
At least you honor your ancestors
@nokizzy45043 ай бұрын
How big were their circular Saws?
@realtimbotube3 ай бұрын
Are there any names for the wealthy donors who constructed the market?
@OPEK.3 ай бұрын
It wouldve been actually so funny if this video was only 10 seconds long and he just says “with there hands” and then pauses for a few seconds and it ends
@Flubbydubbydoodoo2 ай бұрын
So Timgad was a kind of Del Boca Vista for Rome’s retirees!🤪
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
Better than what American soilders get, VA benefits.
@jevosch3 ай бұрын
Is thera a video on the safety of ancient baths? Bacterias and other micro organisma must be a real issue?
@FrankBurnhamАй бұрын
Two words, Communal Sponge, not TP.
@pigdroppings3 ай бұрын
At 6:48...who is the auther wearing...Dior, Versace, Calvin Klein ????????
@Lochamp3 ай бұрын
Who would be the decurions in a roman veteran colony? Senior members of the army?
@golgumbazguide...4113Ай бұрын
Explore Golgumbaz Deccan india 🇮🇳
@Zach-mj8ir3 ай бұрын
Be a sick COD map.
@johnzimmermann29532 ай бұрын
There are those who call it...Timgad?
@almorad981Ай бұрын
What should they call it then ?
@andalusianstockmarket62843 ай бұрын
no ads ?
@chuckskilit98083 ай бұрын
You can’t convince me that this isn’t the same dude from Beige Frequency