"Unveiling Trier's History: Roman Ruins and Artifacts"

hey everybody my name is Chase pipes and you're watching chasing history we're in the Roman city of trer which was one of the largest cities north of the Alps for the Roman Empire this is an incredible City with an incredible history which also has one of the largest collections of Roman ruins north of the outs as well we've got a lot to show you on this episode so we're going to get at it right now r as we know was an Empire of expansion you know when if you look at Italy there's really no place to go but North and North is where Rome went between 58 and 50 BC the Roman military command of Julius Caesar subjugated all of Gaul and thus the tribal territory of the Celtic Trier as well the military organization of the conquerors was unprecedented erected in 30 BC the oldest Roman camp in Germany near TR conveys the idea of this organizational Talent some of the tribal leaders were not adverse to the Romans and intended to make the best of Life under the conquerors initially everyday life for the triers changed very little even the burial Goods of the time displayed only isolated artifacts of Roman workmanship a reorganization of Gaul took place under the Emperor Augustus during the remaining two decades of the pre-christian Empire TR became the capital of the tribal territory the local population became increasingly open to the Roman lifestyle and the the Celtic nobility in this in the city dwellers played a leading role in this transition as Rome expanded it needed to figure out a way to to make all of these little local places that they were taking over you know uh want to be a part of this greater Empire one of the things that they would do is is they would you know go into an area see what they could you know take from Rome and put there like they would look at a local God and say oh well we have a god very similar to that and they would place the Roman God and not get rid of their local God it's actually kind of a cool little scheme that they were playing and one of the reasons why Rome was able to expand so much but once Rome came into an area and really took power they really took power and that area became became rified for lack of a better word and we're going to show you one of the incredible ways in which they did that so we're in amongst one of the largest collections or the largest collection of Roman monuments north of the AL but what's fascinating is is what these monuments can actually tell us behind me are grave markers and grave markers really tell the story of the life of the person that that lived as you know a lot of graves try to do that and because of that because of these markers we really know a lot about not only what life was like in the Roman Empire but the history as well so how do we know how do we know what happened when in Rome you know were there paper documents that have made it all the way through there were a few but it was really by examination of these grave monuments that really helped to tell the story and other monuments as well that really help to tell the story and is why we know so much about the Roman Empire because they carve so much in stone this assembly of the most significant Roman burial monuments north of the Alps recreates a street of graves as could be found in the Roman era outside of the gates of cities and to lesser extent near Villas in the countryside Mighty pillars or columns as burial monuments stood there as did ALR likee burial monuments half cylindrical monuments and very simple Stila which were just you know small little towers the wealth of the scenes on the monument provides glimpses into private and business life of affluent Roman families we meet the deceased on the front side normally with his wife an inscription furnes furnishes their names and sometimes even the occupation of the husband who is portrayed on both sides in his business life and at his leisure and pleasure the wife however ever appears in her home and simple surroundings the deceased pride in their education is manifested on the scenes from the world of Mythology and of the Gods the monument was placed as a status symbol for everybody to see the burial monuments were generally erected during the lifetime of the owner and were very very colorfully painted as was very customary for a most ancient sculptures a base coat and paint covered flaws in the stone and also protected it from weathering many details in the images were not carried out in in the relief but were left to the painter who was responsible for the three-dimensional effect and to be able to recognize what is going on in the description so you see it's because so much detail was put on these monuments because the the person that had died they wanted their story to be told and their story is part of Rome's story and that's how we know so much about the Empire is because it was all recorded on Amazing monuments like these much like to today religion played a very important part in Roman life you know Rome was a polytheistic religion initially you know they worshiped many many gods it wasn't until the Christian era of the Roman Empire very late in the Empire's life that it became a monotheistic you know believing in God and Jesus Christ and religions that we're very familiar with today back then the Romans had temples everywhere to worship Gods all kinds of gods in this room are examples of some of the many gods that the Romans would worship and I want to show you some of those things now according to the Roman philosopher Cicero the essence of religion lay in the veneration of gods and archeologist offers us much evidence to this assertion temples and sanctuaries are the places where Cults were practiced the venerated gods were those of the were those the Romans introduced but also deities of the local population as well the expansion of Roman power also favored taking over foreign Gods organizing them from the the Eastern area of the Mediterranean together with their priests occult rituals and places of worship however the gods were not only worship but they were also widely feared as were the Demons of the underworld worshippers attempted to Ally this dread through through magic or influence others for their own gain you know personally I think this is one of the reasons why Rome was so successful why the expansion was so successful at least for a little bit of time was the incorporation of these local Gods you know as the Romans would go in they would look at the local gods in the area and incorporate them allow them to be worshiped with some slight minor changes but I think you you got to think about it the what is the most important thing to an individual to a culture to a person but your religion and the ability to you go into an area and say okay you can still worship your Gods with a few alterations you know I think was really important for you know Rome's expansion why it was able to expand so rapidly and hold on to areas so tightly once those areas were tightly held incredible engineering works of art amazing things came into that area and for this part of the world the Roman Frontier Roman Trier incredible works of art came in and I want to show you some of the incredible works of art that were created here in a few decades after an area was conquered or taken over we start to see the rise of these you know really large homes all throughout R Tri was no different so these laborat allowed for you know the inclusion of incredible works of art one of the things that you wanted to do in your home is to show off your wealth and what better with these incredible mosaics like we have behind us these are original pieces that were excavated here locally and it tells some of themselves some amazing Stories scene of gods what's going on you know scenes of the Ampitheater you know things that were of the interest of the person would be represented in these panels wealthy Romans in Trier in the surrounding region allowed themselves an upper home for Comfort rooms for presentation are often equipped with Mosaic floors and underfloor heating the walls of such rooms are often magnificently painted depending on the fashion the clients like we were saying often chose the Mosaic pictures according to their own personal interest numerous scenes around the happenings in the amphitheater and the circus show the enthusiasm for the games there the house owner is able to display his culture and his interest in art by illustration of philosophers and Muses so you see much like in our homes today these Mosaic floors were a personal reflection of the individual of the homeown you know just like how we hang pictures of beautiful scenes of places we visited or what we like or interest or you know have things on the wall of our favorite sports team or sporting events for sports stadiums the same thing is true with these mosaics a lot of times they were a reflection of who the person was So Not only was way to show off their wealth but a way to show off who they were and that gives us a great insight to the interest of the Day-Day Romans in their everyday life once a town and a city was very well established then you had people to feed you had citizens to feed you had soldiers that were stationed there to feed you needed agriculture agriculture was a huge part of the success of the Roman Empire so once you got these established City centers you needed to establish agriculture you see agriculture C assured the food supply of the Roman Empire and thus occupied a very important position in society Trier 2 was surrounded by a landscape dominated by agriculture the development of Trier is a large city and troops being stationed on the Rind created a demand for food and for supplies and for wees for daily loose use for a huge region agricultural goods were produced at numerous farming Estates in the local region grapes for wine were cultivated on the slow sles of the local hillsides the Landscapes created was primarily dominated by the farming estate also known as The Villa these Village likee settlements became the centers of rural area serving as markets places of administration and for local worship a wide ranging system of Roads connected the various parts of the region both roads and waterways permitted widespread trade so you see agriculture is hugely important to the success of any civilization true as it is today true it as was back then you know especially when you look on these Frontier regions you know when you go into an area and you say all right I'm going to take over this area you know all right you have to send people up there and then infrastructures have to be created and one of the most important infrastructures that have to be created is your food supply so how are you going to do that you can only mooch so and so you know off the local population for so long if you're going to have a large city like trior was you're going to need a a very large system of agriculture so the Villa system was set up where you know Roman soldiers who had you know worked for the legions for 25 years gets a piece of land for free but way off on some far-flung you know Frontier like where we're at now so you know they would establish these Villas establish these farms and those Farms would Supply the local region the local area and the local infrastructure one perspective I want to get get across to you is is that things haven't changed you know the same thing is going on 2,000 years ago as happens today people need to be fed people need to be housed people need to be clothed and that's a way to connect ourselves from this moment to the past is to think that you know really the only thing that's really changed is is just the date you know we've got a lot more to tell in this episode so we're going to continue our story of Roman true directly behind the camera is literally one of the most incredible archaeological and numismatic discoveries of the 20th century really even in the 21st century we're talking about the largest gold the largest horde of Roman gold coins that were ever discovered and it was discovered here in this city in this town it is an incredible discovery that we would love to show you on film however due to security reasons we can only show you the images and the pictures that the museum has provided to us for the filming of this episode The Trier gold horde was a surprising discovery made in 1993 at a construction site in the city with over 2,58 gold coins and a total weight of 18.5 kilos it is the largest gold horde from the Roman Imperial world that has ever been found in 196 ad during the Civil War Between Emperor Septimus service and his rival Claudius albinus from Britain the city of Trier was besieged in the chaos of war the owner or administrator of the gold horde buried it in the cellar of his house although the 22nd Legion from Manz was successful successfully defended the city the treasure remained hidden underground until it was rediscovered in the 20th century restoration work and scientific analysis have revealed some astonishing results during the Roman period The Horde represented an enormous asset the actual quote unquote value of the gold horde today cannot be estimated because of its uniqueness it is literally Priceless and I mean in in reality this is a truly Priceless artifact but what makes it Priceless is the story that it can tell the history that we can learn we've learned so much about the Roman world through the collection of this horde I mean there there are coins that nobody even knew existed that because this horde was found it was able to add to our scientific knowledge that is why it is so important that finds like this go to museums like this where it can be studied and understood you know things are still out there to discover this is 1993 we're talking about that's not a long time ago you know there are still incredible things out there to discover and incredible new stories to tell and this hord really represents one of the Priceless not for money but for the information that it gave to us so why are we so impressed with the Roman Empire what what what makes it so amazing to us you know it's really it's the works of art that they created that's what makes it so impressive you know when we look at the things that they manufactur the things that they were able to create you know the glasswar for example or the pottery for another example the tiles the Monumental works of stone the engineering all of these things you know that impresses us it's basically it's civilization that Civilization is what impress addes us you know they were capable of creating such Monumental works of art and of construction why were they able to do that they were able to do that because they had everything down packed they had you know you didn't have to work as hard to survive as you had in previous eras in history because of that you had time time to create Monumental things things like Incredible glasswar or remarkable works of pottery with elaborate engraving and painting on it tiles you know to hang on the wall and of course the ability to pay someone to write everything down in stone it's because of this is why we are sometimes so amazed with the Romans is because we we look at these things and we're like there's no way they were capable of doing that thousands of years ago but the truth is they were very rarely do we get the opportunity to see perishable items from Antiquity things like bread and drink they just don't make it you're talking thousands of years ago by things disappear in the ground soil does its natural thing in the mid 19th century archaological excavations unearth one of the most incredible finds from the Roman world this fourth Century bottle of wine this is an original bottle of wine that was still sealed from the Roman era it's remarkable that the glass itself s even made it all the way up to the 19th century let alone its contents but if you look on the top and down inside of it it's got this kind of congealed Mass with in it that's olive oil that was used as a ceiling layer to protect the wine back in Antiquity that protection back then is what allowed it to make it all the way through today it's very rare that we get the opportunity to see something like this it's very rare that we get to see a bottle let alone its contents it's just an amazing thing to think that this bottled wine made it from the Roman era all the way to us today where we can look at and wonder and amazement it's just a incredible thing to literally see the oldest bottle of wine in existence as you can see from the Reconstruction behind me Trier was one enormous City one of the larger cities of the Roman Empire you know this city was complete with Amphitheater was complete with bath houses all of the things that you know make a major city a major city it needed an immense infrastructure in order to maintain its operation had a huge wall surrounding the city with four enormous Gates that allowed entry and exit to the city but also could be closed off so that the city itself could be defended one of the things that makes this such an incredible site is is you know you have got such an array of things going on in the city you know you've got blacksmiths you've got tayor you've got Potters glass makers glass flers all of the things that make you know Artisans different types of restaurants all of the things that make a city a city you know things that make us you know want to live in these major centers you know the city itself has got an incredible story to it incredible rise and an incredible fall we're going to go to another of the museum and talk about that now that the Romans had control of the city inor and start to expand and grow the the complex of the site itself Monumental Feats of engineering began to be made like Bridge construction behind me are actually original pilings from the original Roman bridge that was built across the river here locally it's incredible to see how large these structures are but it just goes to show you the Monumental Feats V engineering that were taking place here not only were Bridges being built but you know amphitheaters and circuses and bath houses and all the things that make a city a city were built right here the appearance of the city was transformed with the altered political situation and New Wealth after and the Insurrection of the batavians and the triers was suppressed in ad 6970 the tribal territory was finally pacified the expansion of the city began really just after that period the bridge was reconstructed The Forum was expanded a Monumental Triumph Arch was erected near mosul stone structures gradually replaced earlier mud and half timbered buildings an enormous struct construction program was initiated during the reign of Emperor Antonis Pas in 138 to 161 ad the amphitheater and circus were laid out a new third mosul Bridge was built temples and public structures as well as a gigantic Bath House were erected as well as a wall with about 50 towers and four Mighty Gates encircled the Earth urban area this city was enormous it was 1.1 square miles in size was huge no wonder it needed the Monumental engineering Feats that it needed you know multiple Bridges huge Gates defensive walls you know and then of course all the things to sustain the the the the Delights of the population like an Amphitheater like a circus things of that sort but not also to mention the sews the construction the trash removal all of those things City this lives was incredibly impressive but not all cities like that are going to survive or at least are going to last eventually things are going to fall and that depends on political situations that are up and coming not everything lasts forever and that is of course true for the Roman Empire which is why we we talk about it in the past tense but some places some cities like Trier here continued on through Into the Dark Ages into the Medieval World into the post-medieval era the Renaissance the and into the modern world today but it was a long way to get there as its own era between the Roman period and the Middle Ages late Antiquity was marked by political social intellectual religious turmoil the emperor became the absolute sovereign large elements of the population declined into poverty and Christianity became the state religion along with Constantinople in the East Trier as the Imperial residence in the west Rose to become one of the most important Roman centers with the words quote it clothes it feeds and arms a Roman poet described that City in those words around 370 ad it was dominated by the state court with high ranking civil service from throughout the Empire Constantine the Great who considered the first Christian uh emperor of Rome began his political career here in Trier the unusually large Christian Community with the oldest Bishop seat in Germany was Unthinkable without proximity to the Imperial Court as the Empire expanded and grew political centers needed to move to adjust to the Changing Times you know the the center of power moved from Rome itself to Constantinople uh Trier itself became a a very important city center in the western part of the Roman Empire but that's not all that's not the end of the story you know Empires may fall but the people that live in the place continue and so does the history of that place continues in the 5ifth century ad the Roman Empire ultimately lost military control of the Ry region and of Gul Germanic Frank settled in the then unprotected provinces and took possession of the former Imperial residences and administrative centers here in Trier half a millennium of Roman rule thus came to an end their contact with the remaining local Gallow Roman inhabitants the quote unquote Romans acquainted the Franks with Urban ways of life suffused with the Christianity of late Antiquity the conversion of the Franks to the Christian faith was fast forwarded by the baptism of their King of the marenian D Dynasty clov Circ of 482 to 511 the religion of the Christians became the essential knot in the process of tying the two peoples and the continuation of a city from one Empire to the next following the Roman era Trier plundered and destroyed failed to provide the foundation for a structured Civic life the remaining local inhabitants exploited the ruins of ancient structures and transformed them into makeshift living quarters in the same same manner the ruins of the large public buildings such as the baths or the storehouses were occupied and remodeled so to speak construction workers and residents altered and adapted the ancient fields of ruins in this halfhazard manner over the course of time until New settlement centers emerged with the founding of a market outside the Fortified Cathedral precincts in 958 the urban center was relocated to the northern part of the former Roman city the New Market became in effect the nucleus of the future medieval city of Trier what you see behind me lays trier's future from the Roman world into the medieval and into today what we have is is we have what Remains the artifacts the some of the structures the parts of sections monuments all the things that we've shown you in this episode incredible examples of what life was like in the Roman period but like all things all good things they must come to an end and Rome was something as an Empire itself came to an end but the story of this incredible City had not come to an end and still hasn't you can walk this city today and explore ancient Roman ruins one of the largest groups of Roman ruins north of the apps it's an incredible opportunity to really get in and history which we don't really get an opportunity of much in our daily lives I really urge you to take the opportunity to come to Europe to come to Germany to come to tr and check out this Museum I guarantee you you will not be disappointed I am overwhelmed we want to thank museum for having us out here for allowing us to check out and to film this episode we really hope that you take the opportunity to check it out out yourself we've got information at the end of this episode on how you can learn about how ticket prices how to get here what to see the layout of the museum everything that you need to know to check out this incredible Archive of History if you guys have any questions you can always reach us at chasing history and thank you for watching and remember history rocks woohoo [Music] n I I don't know how to explain this next one but it's real I promise you what you were about to see is real so these were hung at the entrances of houses and it was to you know ward off evil spirits for one thing but you know to show strength and vertil of the person that lives in the home this is wrong so you may not want to see what you're about to see but I've got to show you cuz I've never seen an artifact like it so if you're a little squeamish go to the next episode you've been warned there you go this is a giant flying penis dog thing with a penis tail and a penis and a penis and a penis so this would hang in front of doors and would let everybody that entered your house know that you were a vital person so yeah it's a good thing that we don't have those those things well I'm sure there are places in the world where we have those things today but if if if home entry door knocker wasn't enough you could have these which hung around your neck which could let every every body know that you were a strong and vital and procreative person so yeah that's that's you know telling people in the Empire yes I can produce many children for Rome see my necklace welcome to my home come and be a part of of my Mighty Kingdom so had to show you Romans man when in Rome mik check four you piece of crap mic check four why won't you work what is wrong with you and the sound we're in Roman we're here and you're not working with the sound the reigning emperor of the Roman the reigning Emperor Septimus service seus so this assembly is of the most sign uh hold on no no don't stop it and start it just pick up where I stop the reigning Emperor sept when the Romans came in and established the the the reigning Emperor Septimus CIS a fronted I'll never get it right