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I still think Gibbon thought the Pax Romana was the happiest age in human history because he compared it to the England he lived in.

This video raises some interesting questions about the romanticized view of the Roman Empire. While it's true that the Pax Romana was a period of relative peace and stability, it's important to remember that it was also a time of great inequality and suffering. I'm glad the speaker brought up these important points.

Insightful as always. Hard to imagine anyone imagining that life was in any way better in Rome than the present, though, in fairness to Gibbon, the differences between the Pax Romana Empire and 18th century Britain, especially for the working classes, were far less noticeable!

living in rome was like living in latinamerica : constant coups, raging inflation and political inequality

A period of 25 years of absolute peace is 25x longer than times of peace we had in recent history...

I always felt this period, compared to human history down through the 1700s, was better described as the least worst time to live in, rather than any golden age.

Congratulations on 100k subscribers.🎉❤

A top-notch quality video, as alway. I have never used patreon, but I'm really thinking about supporting Sebastian. Also gratulationes for the Ck subscribers!

Always great to see a new a Rome video!

I watched this just a couple of days ago.😮😗

Keep in mind Edward Gibbon was comparing the 1st century to the 18th. The latter was not much better compared to today.

Reminds me of the Monty Python film "The Life of Brian" and the "what have the Romans done for us" scene.

Reupload? Was something wrong with last one? I think we should keep in mind semantic shifts in words. I don't think many people think life for normal people was great in the shady insulae. People think more about the wealthy as well as achievements in technology, planning. It was also obviously about contrasting with the periods before and after. I'm chronically ill and wouldn't want to trade anything for modern medicine. When people say they'd love living in an ancient era, they mean a vacation. I'm also a fan of East Asian cultures and take a long vacation travelling Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Republic of China. Not so much Red China because of bad toilet situations there (I have ulcerative colitis). However, I wouldn't want to live there permanently. Japan etc. have an insane work culture( and I'm German so we already put higher emphasis on it than other Europeans) and the cities are too dense for me long term.

Gibbon was comparing living in Rome to the 18th Century Britain.

To be honest The best time to live as a human over all is probably now in a country with moderately good economy

Gibbon a member of a slaver aristocracy idealized Rome a slaver empire... No suprise here. A free commoner's life was little better than a slave, with the only perk would be the dole and the lack of rampaging armies.

Can you please do a video on Marcellinus of dalmatia? I want to know more about him.

dope video

Two major problems with ancient Rome were debt and slavery.

Thanks!

The 1950s in California was the happiest time in the history of humanity.

Super!

KZfaq unsubbed me, which is criminal because youre one of my go to roman history channels. At least i have a chunk of missed videos to binge

Had to reupload it again because of copyright?

For anyone interested in hardcore Roman social history I recommend Schwerpunkt's content

As convincing as Gibbons is with that eloquent, lyrical, summary characterization, it's easy to lunge for healthy skepticism and point out, confidently, that an enormous minority fraction of lives were probably as miserable as the satisfied majority were happy. However, I'm willing to surrender to approximation and not insist on exactitude for the luxury of evocation. Gibbons was as knowledgeable and insightful as anyone else intrigued with Greco-Roman history. So I will accept his estimation, but only with two caveats and one mandate. Caveat 1) that the nine eras containing the Axial Age, the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the earliest Indus Valley/Gangetic Plain civilizations, the time of Mencius, the time of Casimir the Great, and the Olmec, Khmer and Incan civilizations are considered candidates for such an age, in addition to Gibbon's nomination. And 2) the recognition that every golden age--of Islam, Spain, the Netherlands, etc, are also corrupted at their rough edges. And as for my mandate--it is the responsibility of students of history, citizen humanists and friends of progress to work toward the most honest assessment of history, and make choices that leave the world better than we found it. We do not come into a world or ancestry of our making, nor a body and brain of our choosing. But every individual can exert some control over the course of their existence. Out of all possibilities, we possess at least some powers of volition over the arc of life. In fact the only history we write alone is our biography. That's more power than any emperor could have exercised over the entire Roman Empire.

Valeu! Ótimo video

Could you do a book review of Warrior of Rome: Fire in the East. Then, without spoilers talk about the Historical significance and setting of that time and place. Just an idea.

Modern dentistry.

i said it in your previous upload but here is a shorter version. Rome may have been much better than Europe in the year 500 but even in the late medieval period we could do things the romans couldn't. like how many people watching this wear glasses ? in the roman empire you would have a hard time surviving but in the year 1300 you could get glasses. and the medieval castles and full body armour was also something that the romans couldn't make .and if you send people from the 1700s back in time to the roman empire the romans would end up like the Aztecs they wouldn't stand a chance. and lets not even talk about comparing them to current civilization and even in places like Somalia they have access to better medicine than the romans have .i can compare countries like that to Europe in the early 1900s.

Actually, due to the lack of technology, the warfare of the Roman times were not nearly as bloody as today. Only a few percent of the warriors were killed in most battles, compared double-digits percentages of casualties during WWII or during modern wars.

So in other words, The Pax Romana period wasn't as great as it seems because of slavery, wars and ignorance about diseases.

If you were a male roman citizen in fighting age during the first 2 punic wars, you might as well have traded place with a WW1 infrantry man to improve your chance of survival

And then we didn't even mention how smelly and cold (or, sometimes, too hot) it was alwas and everywhere. It is true this misery was general in every country and era until the 20th century.

An excellent video. I was going to mention the plight of women: Dr Mary Beard disproved it vividly in her TV program about Rome, until the video made this twist. I’d personally wouldn’t want to live before anaesthesia was properly introduced, that’s for sure. And that started happening only from 1850-s.

I can imagine Gibbon was thinking of all the countries that constitute the Roman Empire and how much more peaceful and prosperous they were under Rome than in his own time indeed even in our time Palestine, Syria, Libya etc were much richer, prosperous and peaceful than today.

Why this video was reupliaded?

Would you take living as a medieval peasant vs roman citizen in rome 2nd century?

That naivety could easily be applied to the current world empire Every time period has problems

The Romans were quite good at military medicine, if not dealing with plagues and viruses.

Well, comparing the so-called "Golden Age" of the Roman Empire to Britain during the reign of King George III might be needed. After all, Britain just lost the Thirteen Colonies despite just gaining Canada from France and then also have to proven its naval supremacy by fighting against France under Napoleon's rule. However, Gibbon forgot one thing. Britain during his lifetime actually banned the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But aside from that, yeah. Britain during the reign of King George III seemed to not be much good. At least, in the eyes of someone like Edward Gibbon.

Hm, regarding the cities as population drains, would this be different today?

Life for free or slave men or women who are criminals or rich people has always been wonderful and will always be wonderful. People with a mental or a psychological disability however have always suffered horrible lives no matter how rich their family was, whether they were enslaved, or where they were born. Life for most people has always been wonderful anywhere in the world. But for people with a mental or a psychological disability life has always been a struggle and still is a daily struggle.

I would have loved life back then.

I thought only barbarians wore beards.

a good dose of common sense. But here's a different comparison: life today versus 50 years ago, in 1973!

9:06 The Romans had access to thin pieces of cloth to cover their faces. The plague would not be a problem for us more intelligent & modern humans.

You did not mention this in your video but you have to admit these people were always far more ahead of us when it came to knowledge, religious study, philosophy, ethics and morality. This was the period before all the great libraries of the time were burned. The addition of lack of technology also meant the human race was in its much more natural form, as of today its more about dehumanization. Many people today even go on drugs for example or smoke, shortening their lifespan on purpose with the argument of living a life were you feel the most alive despite if its shorter. In the pax romana life may have been shorter but people felt alive at every moment both with the good and the bad. Also today we may have advanced medicine were if the romans had, based on their morality they would have made sure every single person gets healthcare access like they did with the bread toll, yet today even in a developed country people are being killed off or neglected by the healthcare system or other forms of corruption all the time.

So...good video but a bit too much deja vu.

Ive always like and followed your videos but saying the Pax Romana was when all humans alive were the happiest is very ignorant and Eurocentric you are ignoring people living in Asia, some parts of Africa The Americas and Australia. I know for a fact you aren't one of those racist youtubers but moving forward, this should be addressed. I'm African and i love the Roman empire just like every history buff but ignorant statements like these should be avoided. T for thanks

There are many other Empires you could compare with Roman. I have to say that America really is the best now to compare with. We certainly want are freedoms we have now, but if you look at America is set up with democracy locally and in City's(polis) with a nod to ancient Greece like Athens. And a Republic at it's federal level like Roman.

Yeah, the "golden age of Rome," was built on the suffering of millions of human slaves, toiling to make Rome golden. It was not a golden age for humanity, but for the free Roman citizens.

Of course it was shite compared to modern welfare states. Read some of the relevant literature about biological standards of living in pre-industrial societies, as well as the land-tenure laws and tax rates. Comparing Rome to all of these other preindustrial societies is actually interesting.

first:D

great video