Chinese Historian Describes the Byzantine Empire // 7-10th century "Book of Tang" // Primary Source

This is the third in our series on the relationship between China and the Roman Empire - in this case the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).
Here we have an extract from the Old Book of Tang, the first history compiled of the Tang Dynasty in 945 AD. It is a compilation of earlier annals, dating from the 7th century up until the 10th, which shine light on the Chinese opinion of the Byzantine empire and the various embassies between the two states.
Thanks again to the Seattle Silk Road website - a great resource:
depts.washington.edu/silkroad...
How do we actually know about history? Voices of the Past is a channel dedicated to recreating the original accounts from the people who lived through events, or who lived far closer to them than we do today. We do this word for word, with an accompanying soundtrack of rousing music and images.
- Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to subscribe for new videos every single week! & Let us know in the comments what you’d like to see covered in the future.
- Don’t forget to subscribe to our other channel History Time, where we make full length historical documentaries:-
/ historytime
- Music courtesy of:-
- Epidemic Sound
- Voice actor & editor:-
David Kelly
We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please don't hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit.
Thanks to:
SY [CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]
Ichthyovenator [CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]
Getoryk [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]
en:User:Bigdaddy1204 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)]
Cabinet des Médailles [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)]
By Taha b. Wasiq b. Hussain - Created by the help of Muawiya's bust on coins and historical descriptions of him. Medium: Acrylic paintPreviously published: scontent.fkhi10-1.fna.fbcdn.n..., CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

Excellent Video. The 'Frightening Chicken Stone' may be the Alectorius described by the ancient Roman Historian Pliny the Elder...

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

Pliny, book 37.54 "'Alectoriae,' or 'cock stones,' is the name given to stones found in the gizzards of cocks. In appearance they are like rock-crystal, and in size like beans; and it is claimed that Milo of Croton owes to his use of these stones his reputation as one who was never worsted in a contest."

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks! I've been recommended your channel from many different sources, I'll be sure to check it out!

[@midshipman8654]

Voices of the Past another thing I found interesting. I know that ancient Chinese King’s were often deposed and changed about due to natural disasters, like the legend of that one great flood. Do you think that could have partially influenced the idea of the Byzantine king?

[@danielkellyuk]

Herodotus related that in India wool grew on trees (presumably cotton). I wonder if this is a version of the same belief, with the location confused.

[@curiousworld7912]

@@VoicesofthePast Thanks for the recommendation - I just subscribed to Dr. McLaughlin's channel.

[@TheBasjenator]

"The kings are not permanent rulers, but they select men of merit." Byzantine emperors: "Well no, but actually yes."

[@AdventuringMind]

TheBasjenator lol

[@tudormardare66]

Survival of the fittest.

[@AndrewTheMandrew531]

tudor mardare it’s not survival of the fittest if the empower keeps promoting people based on social status rather than merit.

[@tudormardare66]

@@AndrewTheMandrew531 Survival of the fittest because people assassinated each other for being emperors. The fittest remained for the longest time on the throne. You could be a peasant, if you managed to kill the emperor, you became the emperor yourself.

[@slav1467]

@@tudormardare66 How do you think Justin I became Emperor?

[@iapetusmccool]

Ah, yes. The famous Roman poison-detecting goose, and the man-eating lamb plants. With assets like that, no wonder they lasted so long.

[@macdermesser]

@Qimodis That's what I thought.

[@apotato6278]

No wonder so many emperors were stabbed! With a trusty Roman Detecto-goose at their sides nobody could ever have poisoned them.

[@Xanixade]

@@VojislavMoranic is not as if the goose had already been trained into detecting poisons just like dogs today are trained to find drugs. they were indeed retarded relying themselves on a goose and not on a poison detector. a bunch of peasants if you ask me.

[@specialnewb9821]

I thought the lamb plants were from India...

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

@Qimodis wouldn't it be a peahen if it were green?

[@sussurus]

Is "lambs growing from the ground" a reference to cotton? Byzantine textiles included cotton, whereas the rest of Europe tended to use linen.

[@Hakudohshi]

It's safe to assume most stuff that makes no sense in historical documents is a poorly translated metaphor.

[@ericconnor8251]

@@Hakudohshi It has to do with the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, actually, which was a real legend about sheep-growing plants, literally. Mind you, this was a legend that existed before the cotton plant became well known throughout much of northern Europe, apparently due to the Norman expansion south and their capture of Sicily from the Moors. The Chinese were just relaying crazy shit Europeans were saying.

[@NugsSlugsBugs]

That would be incredibly interesting but i think Eric has a point

[@menaseven9093]

Nice

[@kaashee]

Eric Connor thank you for this Eric

[@TheTyrantOfTyrus]

When you picture this, imagine the chain of partnerships and one time friendships between merchants. These Greek dudes relaying like stories of their homes and perhaps of old military days to Arab and Indian tradesmen, who would travel over and spread those tales, until some fishwife in Southern China is talking to her husband whose been going on and on about how some traders told him about a bird king and his poison goose.

[@dariogutierrez6716]

Fascinating, ain't it.

[@Cherb123456]

Cool!

[@aidanator8008]

Well, there also were two separate periods where the Byzantines and Chinese exchanged embassies and diplomatic missions with each other, one being during the seventh and early eighth centuries and the other being in the late 11th century. So there was some direct contact between the two.

[@The_ZeroLine]

I feel more like some official was tasked with putting together a report and instead he used his budget on opium and women and then made up his report like a fourth grader making up a book report on the fly.

[@mattguellec]

China's Emperor : So tell me about that roman empire China historian : they got gold, silver, pearls, glass, gems and a lot of shiny things

[@user-wb7ez9ud4p]

Emperor: those are exactly what I'm interested in!

[@nikob1712]

You forgot, they have GOOSE

[@realpatriot1769]

​@Immortici Italiano [Mussolini did nothing wrong] theres always random racism on any asian history video it seems, your kind can't die out fast enough

[@pfl95]

[X] Emperor: So tell me about that [Y] Empire [X] Historian: so they got gold, silver, pearls, glass, gems and a lot of shiny things

[@imnotyourfriendbuddy1883]

@Immortici Italiano [Mussolini did nothing wrong] An Italian accusing another group of people of being materialistic? AWW, your hypocrisy is adorable.

[@LogicalMan6]

"Or if wind and rain come at the wrong time" *suddenly pictures Justinian being ousted for incorrect weather forecast*

[@morganrobinson8042]

It was history's biggest sports riot. It wasn't far off.

[@user-ow4qc3lc1b]

Well in the Chinese scribes, this term actually means natural disasters......of which we thought that's the punishment of God

[@bilibiliism]

its just chinese version of 'shit hits the fan'. it doesnt need to have an actual shit and an actual fan.

[@sylvainfalquet6350]

I was blown away when they described a water clock and some crazy water based A/C system

[@VoicesofthePast]

That A/C system sounds great doesn't it

[@sylvainfalquet6350]

@@VoicesofthePast for that time it sounds very advanced , I wonder what other things they did we don't know about

[@YossarianVanDriver]

@@VoicesofthePast To many European contemporaries Byzantium must have seemed like it was from the damn future...

[@pipebomber04]

They even had mechanical walking birds powered by a spring mechanism. Thats medieval robotics.

[@Yingyanglord1]

never heard of those only the mechnical priest which was made if i remember correctly France

[@Basil_leaves27]

“If the wind or rain comes at the wrong time the emperor is disposed” Fanciful way of saying they were unstable lol

[@lensy6]

So like we really like eagles and eagle symbolism here in the Christian world Pet goose, got it.

[@davidwhite4874]

A green pet goose, no less.

[@iapetusmccool]

@@davidwhite4874 a poison-detecting green goose.

[@hermescarraro3393]

I am somewhat sure that said green goose was actualy a Peacock I mean... Their anatomy is kinda goose like. And their feathers are bluish and green. 🤷

[@pattheplanter]

@@hermescarraro3393 Peacock - my thought exactly.

[@hermescarraro3393]

@@pattheplanter I KNEW IT!!

[@doritobrando4966]

China: lambs don’t grow on trees you know Byzantines: hold my wine

[@ganikus8565]

Chinese until the 17th century beleived that wool grew from tree that grow on dead lamb. They learnt to make wool when the French king Louis 14 sent scientists to the Manchu empire to teach them western knowledges in all kind of sciences.

[@hermescarraro3393]

@@ganikus8565 Did they think that because their clothes were made of silk, and silk tecnicaly grows on trees?

[@censusgary]

I wonder if the s was a reference to cotton: “wool that grows on plants.”

[@hermescarraro3393]

@@censusgary Isn't it funny to hear how distant cultures tried to understand each other by grubbing random stuff they knew?

[@johnyricco1220]

This is a reference to the Greek belief in the origin of cotton, that it was harvested from the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. Neither the Europeans nor Chinese had cotton. It was introduced to China by Persian or Indian Jews around the 10th century. Before that the rich wore silk and the poor wore hemp.

[@WanneSomeSoup]

OK, I did some research, looks like "Chicken frightening rhino" really is a thing. So here is the description from 晉 dynasty. 葛洪(283~343) said in his book 《抱樸子·登涉》 "又通天犀角，有一赤理如綖，有自本徹末，以角盛米，置雞羣中，雞欲啄之，未至數寸，即驚卻退，故南人或名通天犀為駭雞犀。 " I will try my best to translate it: "There is this kind of gigantic rhinoceros horn (or literally, sky-touching rhino horn). It has a red line runs from the bottom to the tip, like a line of red silk on the hat. Someone used the horn to hold seeds and put it among the chickens to feed them. The chickens came close to eat but when they were several feet away, they suddenly got startled and ran away. So they call it Sky-touching rhino or Chicken frightening rhino."

[@VoicesofthePast]

Amazing

[@lololman]

fascinating, maybe the scent of the rhino was scaring the chickens? Also that's a potentially extinct species right there, probably hunted to extinction by Byzantine chicken farmers to prevent poultry from escaping. lol

[@wweishi]

@@lololman used for keeping grains from the poultry including chickens

[@wweishi]

应该是没前进几寸

[@WanneSomeSoup]

@@wweishi 哦！有道理。

[@martinusv7433]

"If wind and rain come at the wrong time he (the emperor) is deposed" - this description of the Byzantine political traditions is as good as it gets :D :D

[@siechamontillado]

"If anything poisonous is put into the kings' meals...the bird will crow." You can almost hear the historian saying to himself, "Not gonna lie, this sounds like bs."

[@meandmetoo8436]

It's nothing compared to the stories on Chinese emperor, those guys took themselves way too seriously.

[@pattheplanter]

The Romans had a flock of sacred chickens which they consulted before going into a war.

[@arawn1061]

@@pattheplanter ah yes the sacred geese

[@pattheplanter]

@@arawn1061 They had sacred geese as well - though the geese were supposed to just defend Rome rather than advise on government policy as the chickens did.

[@arawn1061]

@@pattheplanter wait they were separate? Well thanks for notifying me of that my guy

[@95keat]

I'm noticing a distinct lack of rivers and oceans in this one

[@melonlord4055]

I mean, you just fly to Constantinople International. Heard security there is pretty quick and easy.

[@NIsForNoobCakes]

very interesting that the same details of Roman government (the petition-bag, the kings that are "not permanent") from Yu Huan's account also appear in the Tang account of Byzantium

[@AATT-py7tn]

Twern't the Eastern Roman Empire fer nuthin.

[@sophiejones7727]

that's because it was the Roman Empire. It just gets called a different name because the capitol was moved and the language was different. Over the 700 years of the country's existence, the culture also became rather different.

[@Billswiftgti]

@@sophiejones7727 As for the language, eastern parts spoke predominantly Greek even during Augustus era, but yes you are right.

[@curiousworld7912]

The Byzantine era has long fascinated me. It's very interesting to hear what impressions it had on the Chinese. Thanks for posting!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks for watching!

[@heathenwizard]

Wait....he honestly reported that lambs spring out of the ground????? Sounds like the Byzantines were pulling his leg

[@gixxerfixxer4159]

He's probably referring to their growing of cotton.

[@johnyricco1220]

Vegetable Lamb of Tartary

[@AGH331]

But it's fascinating how much people would believe back then. Europeans would believe there were dragons living in countries far away, that there were witches, demons in their own countries ... So I'm not surprised the Chinese believed such wondrous things existed in places far away. The world must have seemed so much more magical back then ...

[@Fankas2000]

Sound like the person who wrote it didn't actually go anywhere.

[@dickbison]

@@AGH331 Well they were totally right about the dragons.

[@ValensBellator]

Man someone really messed with that guy when explaining their sheep lol

[@giovonnielewis4329]

Cotton i think they were referring to

[@festerallday]

They were confusing wool with linen. Flax grows well in wet areas. Cotton is not native to that region. And you would harvest flax that way. Let it go to seed and rake up the grain. Leave what's left for it to grow next season.

[@pfl95]

Perhaps they were confused with the wordings? Maybe the way the Romans talked about cotton and lamb and making wool cloths were closely tied to lambs? Things lost in translation, most likely

[@moondust2365]

*cotton

[@aokiaoki4238]

They probably showed him the wool of the sheep

[@KevDaly]

I thought the lamb plants were the weirdest thing until I got to the chicken-frightening rhinoceros stone.

[@Overlord99762]

Lamb plants are cotton plants, I'm pretty sure

[@CypherDVoid]

3rd Century West Rome: It's Rome China: It's Rome Historians: It's Rome 7th Century East Rome: It's Rome China: It's Rome Historians: IT'S BYZANTINE!

[@TomSmith-li5se]

Rome was no longer part of the Roman empire so byzantine from the capital Byzantium seems appropiate

[@NUSORCA]

Tom Smith and Kansas City is not in Kansas

[@bradleya3381]

What's wrong with using a different term to differentiate between the older western roman empire and the continuation of that empire in the east

[@NUSORCA]

Bradley A nothings wrong but do we have to use an ENTIRELY different term? you know chinese historians will simply put words like “later” “earlier” “south” “east” “north” “west” before the country name according to the location of the new capital in contrast to the former one

[@TomSmith-li5se]

@@NUSORCA That Kansas city thing is pretty nonsense btw

[@Flokithedog]

"he is deposed"- understatement of the millennium

[@donquesewilliamswilliams3497]

He is casterated

[@aaronaldrich9688]

Last time I was this early, the Roman Empire was still worshipping Jupiter.

[@shiningknight1375]

Last time I was this early, Aldrich wasn't declared a saint.

[@CadetGriffin]

Last time I was this early, Buzz Aldrin wasn't on the moon.

[@italia689]

Last time I was here this early, the Roman Empire was still intact.

[@wildcard9010]

Last time I was this early, China was still in the northern and southern dynasties

[@ghazalsuna9861]

Last time I was this early Baghdad Madinate-ul-slam was the hub center of knowledge and culture.

[@Armorius2199]

If the pattern repeats itself the Byzantines are gonna describe the Chinese as, well they farm and wear clothes!

[@TheGM-20XX]

_It is said that the Seres have like roads and stuff_ - Apoxophous

[@JP-rf8rr]

They byzantines sent monks to steal Chinese silk worms (look it up)

[@AtlasReburdened]

@@JP-rf8rr Yeah, stealing is wrong when it's silkworms, but it's fine for military equipment blueprints.

[@JP-rf8rr]

@@AtlasReburdened Didn't say it was right or wrong

[@jinjunliu2401]

@@JP-rf8rr Wew people immediately assuming your views and attacking

[@khust2993]

'[Men] wear robes leaving the right arm bare' Quite interesting even the 'chlamys' or paludamentum was described.

[@IceBreaker1881]

"Byzantine" was a name invented by the Germans in order for them to lay claim to the Roman Empire, after sacking Rome. In truth, the Empire survived for another 1,000 years following the fall of Rome, known as the Eastern Roman Empire. And, although Hellenized by cultural conquest, they never referred to themselves as "Byzantines".

[@karaqakkzl]

The most native Germanic name for the city is Miklagard

[@Dalmenco]

wrong. Byzantine empire was named after a greek fishing village by the bosporus dardanelles...The village was called Byzas...

[@IceBreaker1881]

@@Dalmenco , it was NEVER used to describe the Eastern Roman Empire.

[@Dalmenco]

@@IceBreaker1881 Eastern Roman empire never was described by the byzantines...They spoke greek

[@zippyparakeet1074]

@@Dalmenco They were greek speaking Romans. How hard of a concept is this to get. Byzantine Greek aka Romaic is different from Modern and Ancient Greek. It has a *lot* of Latin words and phrases. Modern Greek was "cleaned up" to remain close to ancient Greek since modern Greeks reject their Byzantine heritage in a way. The Byzantines were simply Romans who spoke greek and thus the greek they spoke was quite latinized and different from ancient greek. Hell, the language they spoke can't even be called Greek and many scholars give it its own name- Romaic- since it is Greek but highly Latinized (Romanized).

[@Taiyama2]

Fascinating that apparently Rome kept up the suggestion bag tradition from the classical era all the way to medieval times. That's some astonishing continuity if true.

[@dionf3858]

The ancient Greeks and Byzantines had a whole discipline on mechanical devices called ´Automata´ but it wasn’t any use to them as labour was so cheap

[@sophiejones7727]

@Johannes Terzis Mechanical devices were also used in temples (in pre-Christian times) and later in churches. Machines were also used extensively in theatrical productions. Water clocks were used extensively in law courts (to make people shut up, mostly). They had uses for this stuff. They did however regard any attempt to circumvent human labor with suspicion, and not solely because they had lots of cheap labor available. They viewed work as virtuous. Moreover, they viewed machines as not reliable enough to replace human labor.

[@sophiejones7727]

Nobody is fooled. idk what your problem with Jews is, but they are irrelevant to this discussion. There is not, nor has there ever been a Jewish Empire. The Jewishness of a nation has no bearing on whether it owns slaves or whether it cares about innovation. Your argument would have been valid, if you had not decided to add an unnecessary anti-Semitic slur. Speaking that way about a group of people is never fine, regardless of how much they might have hurt you. Yeah, of course a slave-owning Empire isn't going to care much about labor-saving devices. That applies as much to the Byzantines as to the Chinese, or anyone else who has formed an Empire. That would be true of an extraterrestrial Empire. No shit, Sherlock. Finally, please stop dishonoring the English language with your laziness. Our language has many perfectly good insults. Use them. E.g. "funny how these depraved slave Empires didn't care enough about innovation to bother". Or "funny how these backwards slave Empires didn't care enough about innovation to bother". Or "funny how these disgusting slave Empires didn't care enough about innovation to bother. Or maybe they are decadent slave Empires? or perhaps soulless slave Empires? you get the picture.

[@augustovasconcellos7173]

@Johannes Terzis Not only that. While they came close to inventing the steam engine, they couldn't develop it into something practical because they had put no research into the thermodynamics behind them. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that back then, as most scholars were noblemen who considered any practice of physical labor undignified, science was largely devoid of experimentation, so coming up with stuff that required accurate mathematical equations to explain and predict was next to impossible.

[@andyhx2]

@@augustovasconcellos7173 I suppose that steam engine would also require effective fuel to power and coal mining was not very common at those times.

[@deaclavilis6760]

@@sophiejones7727 lol

[@marvelfannumber1]

There's a suprising amount that's accurate here compared to the older description, if you glance over some of the bullshit like the stories about the lambs and bird. The clothing is described somewhat accurately in regards to the "men leave their right hand bare" (Chlamy's) and the political situation is described accurately in regards to Mu-Yi (Muawiyah) besieging Constantinople. Some parts of the Constantinople description are accurate too, the water clock apparatus is probably supposed to be the Horologion, and I think the golden portico is supposed to be the Golden Gate (?) although it is to the west of the city, not the east. Now whether this historian actually got accurate information from his sources, or whether he just got lucky and it's all coincidental is anyone's guess.

[@420JackG]

Tell me more about this poison detecting green goose.

[@michael14195]

Sounds like a peacock.

[@lovfro]

@@michael14195 Pretty unlikely, as the peacock was well known in China. There is a story of the first Tang emperor shooting an arrow at a dividing screen painted with a peacock in an attempt to win the favour of a beautiful, young woman. It later on became integral to the ranking system of court officials, tail feathers in the hat denoting rank. It also became to be one of the highest ranks for scholars, below crane and golden pheasant.

[@y33t23]

@@lovfro but why Was he thinking it could detect poison

[@linhhoang1363]

@@y33t23 probably a local myth between local people. The emperor might just kept that goose as a pet

[@13141beizi]

Maybe the bird has poison allergies.

[@kayharker712]

"....there is the jewel that shines at night - the moon shine pearl, the chicken-frightening rhinoceros stone ......" This is fantastic commentary. Bravo !!

[@ericconnor8251]

I'm going to scare the shit out of the chicken with my rhinoceros stone.

[@Adonnus100]

Imagine what this historian could have had to say if he actually got to visit Constantinople instead of just reporting hearsay.

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

"They had armoured moving lions and humanoid metal in their Imperial court, with the color of our gray gold"

[@Chris-jw8vm]

I like these China and Rome videos. Seems the only other nation either truly respected was each other.

[@khust2993]

Sassanids and Tang also respected each other, the family of last Shah of Sassanids fled to China if I remember correctly where he was given titles and stuff.

[@ExVeritateLibertas]

Don't be convinced by these accounts the Chinese ever believed anyone was equal to their civilization or particularly their emperor. Listen at the end how they view any foreign emissary to their court as "offering tribute" not speaking on equal terms. As late as the Opium Wars in the 19th century the Qing could not get it through their heads the British were not interested in paying homage to the "Son of Heaven". Even c. 1900 the Qing court were so confident of their innate superiority they didn't seem to notice China was totally backward in development and subject to the demands European powers. And they are still convinced today the "Han race" is superior.

[@melonlord4055]

@Giacc S China will never be "middle kingdom" (well now "middle republic") again due to global communication and how many nations rival China in power and influence. It's safe to say the United States, European Union, and India are going to continuously be at parity with China until someone crumbles (and democracy, nationalism, and internationalism have changed the dynamics of state stability compared to preindustrial age).

[@ExVeritateLibertas]

@Giacc S the world already is. That's why the global trade realignment being pushed by the US has to succeed.

[@MrLi-fd4hs]

@@ExVeritateLibertas Britain was able to beat the Qing Dynasty because they completed the industrial revolution. In 1840, in the Opium War, the British used steam warships to defeat the Qing Dynasty sailing ship. Ming Dynasty before the Qing Dynasty.The Ming Dynasty defeated the Portuguese colonists twice in the Battle of Tuen Mun in 1521 and the Battle of Xicao Bay in 1522, and defeated the Dutch colonists in the 1633 Battle of Luowan. Obviously, before the industrial revolution, European settlers could not defeat China. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Liaoluo_Bay. Chinese:zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B4%87%E7%A6%8E%E6%98%8E%E8%8D%B7%E6%B5%B7%E6%88%B0

[@vivalapalestine7235]

I’ve been looking for a channel like this for so long . Literally this is exactly what I want Real sources and what they said . MAN GIVE ME A PATREON OR SOMETHING SO I CAN DONATE I want you doing this more !

[@VoicesofthePast]

Haha hold on! Setting one up soon 😁

[@thecommongroundsshow3968]

I love these videos where ancients speak of distant countries. I also love epic conversations such as the one between Alexander and Darius. Please More!!!!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Yesss!

[@futurepig]

I love how both Eastern and Western civilizations had totally inaccurate and fastantic ideas of the other.

[@menaseven9093]

Nice narration of Chinese historian description of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. Fu Lin or Byzantium gave a gift of African lions and antelopes to Kazakhstan

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks!

[@collinpace6522]

1:34 Chinese Emperor: Shut up and take my silk worms! 🐛

[@Donnah1979]

It was strictly forbidden to export silkworms - an "industrial secret" of the time.

[@NegativeAsmolav]

20th like and second reply

[@ArgaAnders]

What an awesome channel! Great job and great production value! Well done indeed!

[@BigJayKaner]

Don't mind me, just helping the YT algorithm along... ;) Finding this channel has been one of the gems of this lockdown. Excellent quality videos and a totally fascinating take on history, narrating the words of those early writers as they travelled the ancient...though fairly modern for them.. world. So thanks for that! Right, now I've thanked you for your awesomely enjoyable channel I'll get back to binge watching the rest of it ;)

[@jellymop]

That’s fascinating the contraption for cooling down a building using essentially a primitive water mister. Man Byzantine was quite miraculous back then.

[@Agent0fPhenax]

Are there any descriptions of the Sassanids or Parthia like this? That would be interesting to hear.

[@ruedelta]

There is far more, especially with the Sassanids. The fact that the last of the Sassanids fled to Tang China should give you a sense of how close diplomatic ties were.

[@user-uy1rg8td1v]

Rufei Kings and Generals KZbin channel has a video on this and Chinese contacts with a Central Asian Greek kingdom.

[@julioduan7130]

There is kongfu series about some clans from Parthia.

[@topgears7775]

This is sassanid, if you study classic persia you see definitely matching.

[@xuchen4012]

China had a long term alliance with Sassanid (萨珊 Sashan). After being defeated by Arabians, the prince of Sassanid fled to Chang'an, the capital of Tang Dynasty, and bacame a general of Royal Guardians.

[@cec4231]

Thank you! Absolutely love your channel!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks!

[@anxietywave8735]

This was an extraordinary video. Thank you!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@devanman7920]

These are so fascinating!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks!

[@NeilRoy]

I'm always fascinated on how they tackled modern problems, like the time keeping and cooling systems in this. I note about the 12 hour day, it is not like our modern 12 hours, consisting of precisely 60 minutes etc. The daylight period was divided up into 12 sections, this was true in Jesus' day. I thought long and hard about this when studying the Bible and read where Jesus said "are there not 12 hours in a day" and a friend pointed out, "no, not always", and that puzzled me for a long time until I realized they divided the day up into 12 parts (I read that somewhere, I forget now), and the problem was initially with thinking about their hours as if they were the same as our time today.

[@faithlesshound5621]

The 12 hour day would be longer in summer and shorter in winter, but advanced civilisations were closer to the equator then, so the difference was less marked for them than it was for the Northern savages, who may not have needed to measure time accurately.

[@NeilRoy]

@@faithlesshound5621 I don't think any of those civilizations needed "accurate time" as we measure it. I honestly don't think WE need it either to be honest. But it was something that was interesting to look into at the time (pun alert), as one tends to think in terms of how WE tell time today which can lead to some confusion. It was really nice to finally learn the truth and realize the differences. Helps in understanding.

[@user-wb7ez9ud4p]

In China the 12 hours spans the entire day, starting from midnight. However "accurate" time didn't come about until trains were invented.

[@Spardeous]

The greeks had something resembling air conditioning/internal heating. They ran pipes with heated water through the walls in the winters.

[@NeilRoy]

@@Spardeous I'm afraid they didn't have pipes back then.

[@susisblusis]

Thank you for the video. Amazing as always. If someone is interested, the final music piece is called Trapped Inside · Fabien Tell

[@byzantinetales]

Great video . I haven’t heard about Chinese accounts of the Eastern Romans before

[@kirby28645]

"Lambs growing out of the ground" - Byzantine Romans used the Animal Crops mod

[@galecarp]

It is cotton

[@PandoraKin564]

I came back to the video after reflecting on it and imagine the LSD type stuff you would hear in Bactria (Afghanistan likely Kabul) about both Rome and China. That'll be absolutely wild to experience. Just badly translated metaphor after metaphor. I do wonder just how far news of Italic Rome's collapse went and how much was known about Francia, Anglia, Germania, and Hispania before 1600 CE.

[@rydyly1734]

Wow this video was great! It needs more recognition and more subs!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks!

[@johnnypatrickhaus890]

Very interesting. Thank you!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks for watching!

[@Wolfen443]

I love these series about older civilizations describing each other, what will history record of our modern times?

[@whosurdaddy1975]

Allahu akbar？ hehe

[@ariochiv]

I guess this is what happens when you play "telefone" across the 7,000 miles of the Silk Road. Either that, or Liu Xu had a substance abuse problem. :D

[@dariogutierrez6716]

Thanks for the reading. Very interesting. I'll subscribe.

[@Morwyn_le_Fay]

awesome video!!! i would love it if you did something from the 11th-15th century.

[@VoicesofthePast]

I have! Loads!

[@chrisbarlow6422]

I love the Byzantine Empire 😍

[@ezequielhermoso5954]

This is good so is invicta

[@VoicesofthePast]

Yay!

[@ezequielhermoso5954]

It is very interesting to see how people (even if they are not commonfolk) would see the world and document it

[@PeteofHartainia]

The pounded plaster floors sounds very much like a description of Terrazzo. Which is concrete mixed with glass and pot shards, poured over a floor then ground smooth.

[@ytg50162011]

Love your videos.

[@mazzolajewelleryandgallery2100]

Sadly no mention of the night life in Constantinople

[@NegativeAsmolav]

yea. (20th like and first reply)

[@demeterruinedmylife3199]

That rare jems line... Maybe it’s a translation from "土多金、銀、夜光璧、明月珠、大貝、硨磲、碼碯、木難、孔翠、虎魄。". 金(gold), 銀(silver), 夜光壁 (bi that shines at night, bi is a flat jade disc), 明月珠 (moon-shine pearl, the same thing but not in a disc shape), 大貝(huge seashell, 貝 is generic term for all kinds of seashells so I can’t pinpoint it), 硨磲(tridacna), 碼瑙(agate), 木難(a tricky one, it’s a kind of bluish green pearl said to be formed from saliva of birds with golden wings (金翅鳥, a translation of Garuda from Hindu mythology)), 孔翠(feathers of peacock (孔雀) and alcedo (翠鳥), 虎魄(amber, modern day’s 琥珀, means tiger’s soul, since ancient people believes that when tigers die, their soul will go underground and turn into this stone)... I wonder frightening chicken stone is which one.😂

[@VoicesofthePast]

fascinating!

[@polmak1507]

Amazing video

[@TheEnabledDisabled]

I love when we able to read what acient people described the world or a area

[@PennyDreadful1]

Well I mean sounds about correct up until "They grow lambs straight up from the ground with freaky umbilical cords connected to the soil like tentacles." But the house water cooling part was actually probably true. The romans had stuff like that too.

[@corywiedenbeck1562]

Why believe that? You don't believe one but the other why? Same author

[@patrickholt2270]

That sounds like the medieval legends about cotton, that there was a type of sheep that grows as a plant. Since cotton comes from the steppe, it seems odd that the Chinese wouldn't have been more familiar with it than the Byzantines would have been.

[@christianorthodoxy4769]

Thank you' for your Video' Sir. God bless you..

[@davidmolloy126]

Fascinating, thanks very much.🤓

[@davidwhite4874]

The chicken frightening rhinoceros stone? Did I just hear that?

[@94Newbie]

I guess thats what happens if you translate chinese characters word for word XD.

[@WanneSomeSoup]

OK, I did some research, looks like it really is a thing. So here is the description from 晉 dynasty. 葛洪(283~343) said in his book 《抱樸子·登涉》 "又通天犀角，有一赤理如綖，有自本徹末，以角盛米，置雞羣中，雞欲啄之，未至數寸，即驚卻退，故南人或名通天犀為駭雞犀。 " I will try my best to translate it: "There is this kind of gigantic rhinoceros horn (or literally, sky-touching rhino horn). It has a red line runs from the bottom to the tip, like a line of red silk on the hat. Someone used the horn to hold seeds and put it among the chickens to feed them. The chickens came close to eat but when they were several feet away, they suddenly got startled and ran away. So they call it Sky-touching rhino or Chicken frightening rhino."

[@davidwhite4874]

@@WanneSomeSoup Thanks!

[@zteaxon7787]

They had a mechanical random character generator in ancient China to name foreign things that lacked any intuitive characteristic to name them after.

[@KeinsingtonCisco]

Can you make a video on chinese Buddhist monk Faxian and Xuanzang's travels to India? Great work mate. Cheers!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thankyou, and yes yes yes!

[@maligjokica]

@@VoicesofthePast I have heard about a mongol nestorian monk who travel to Rome in the middle age. I don't know that his record is preserved in original or like secondary citated sources. It will be interesting.

[@tasnubarahman6068]

@@maligjokica it is a joke

[@maligjokica]

@@tasnubarahman6068 what is a joke?!

[@bouseuxlatache4140]

wonderful to hear that cultures were curious of one another since the dawn of time

[@macdermesser]

Seriously well done channel, both in terms of curation and narration. Very interesting subjects and enjoyable vids.

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thank you very much Thomas! Appreciated

[@thisisahumanlol8255]

4:24 "Roman lambs grows on the ground" Nobody : Me : (thinks of lambs growing like cabbage) Also me : (thinks Chinese harvests lamb from trees) Also me : (a Chinese)

[@pslogge]

Thank you for this video. The theodossian walls are made of limestone, I do not remember granite in Constantinople. The southern gate must be the Golden Gate, gate of triumph. Made of marbles of various colors and adorned with statues and engravings, it must have impressed the chinese visitors. On top of it there was a chariot drawn by an elephant. Could it be the rhino? Anyway the variety of colored marbles must have been quite an astonishement for the chinese. If i remember well China used to build with wonderful granites but no marbles.

[@jamesflint6171]

this will definitely be your next most popular video.

[@VoicesofthePast]

Hah hope so

[@michaelrichardson9458]

Great videos; )

[@julioduan7130]

“拂菻国”是古中国史籍中对東羅馬帝國的称谓。古代亦称“大秦”或“海西国”。有時也被稱為「此名」。随历史时期之不同，此名有时也指苫国（今叙利亚）等地中海东岸地区。两宋时代又用以称呼塞尔柱突厥人统治的小亚细亚。 此名在《魏书·高宗纪》、《显祖纪》作“普岚”。《北史·西域传》作“伏卢尼”（Fūrūmi）。玄奘著《大唐西域记》卷十一波剌斯国条所附西方诸国作“拂懔”，道世《法苑珠林》卷三九及所引《梁职贡图》作“拂懔”，慧超《往五天竺国传》作“大拂临”[2]，杜环《经行记》、《隋书》、《旧唐书》等均作“拂菻”，各种异译都是伊朗语族的Frwm（粟特语作Frōm）、Purum（安息语作Prom）、Hrōm 或Hrūm（中古波斯语）等的汉字对音。19世纪末在蒙古高原发现的8世纪突厥文毗伽可汗碑中作Purum。学者们多方考定，以上各种叫法，都出自阿拉伯人和波斯人对東羅馬帝國的名称--Rūm（روم‎）。 杜环的《经行记》和两唐书西域传对拂菻国的物产、建筑、民俗等情况有详细记载，但两唐书中的记载据认为有一部分係从唐代长安情况类推而来。在唐代，长安与拂菻之间，西突厥汗廷与拂菻之间都有频繁的使节和商旅交往，特别是西突厥曾与它联合对抗波斯的萨珊王朝。景教（基督教聂斯脱利派）当自该地传来。《元史》卷一三四爱薛传有“弗林”、“拂林”，戴良的《九灵山房集》卷九有“拂林”，据学者考证，此“拂林”当是Farang 一词的音译，乃当时阿拉伯、波斯人对欧洲的称谓，亦即《明史》之佛郎机，非北魏、隋唐时期的拂菻。

[@Khoditsky]

That summer cooling system is genius.

[@fredf7457]

Fascinating !

[@jonhart4563]

You read this as if you wrote it, love it! 👌

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks pal! Lots more on the channel

[@user-hh2is9kg9j]

Do next what the Chinese thought about the Ta Shih or the other way around what the Arabs thought of the Chinese. The late history of Europe is also interesting, to see what the Chinese thought of the raise of the western empires and the age of enlightenment and modern science.

[@saladcaesar7716]

last shadow Especially before the battle of Talas.

[@tasnubarahman6068]

@@saladcaesar7716 also after

[@konstantinoskotsomytis2544]

So Byzantium is where the chicken frightening rhinoceros stones come from! It all makes sense now!

[@jayh9529]

Enjoyed that 👍 do you know a date for starforts being built ,keep getting different answers

[@taylor52595able]

This seems way more unbiased and professional than a lot of others.

[@ReddoFreddo]

Narrator: "Its height is over 20 chang." Me, a non-Brit/American: "Wtf is chang?" Video: "20 chang = 235 feet" Me, a civilized metric user: ...

[@zteaxon7787]

It's about 70 metres..

[@julianzhu0099]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zh%C3%A0ng

[@everydayuntilyoulikeit1501]

Roughly 3 feet to a metre. Simple enough to remember.

[@carlosmarte3154]

ReddoFreddo Divide by 3, oh civilized one.

[@carlosmarte3154]

Vebjørn Sandnes I’m in Europe a lot for work, and conversions only take a few seconds of mental math. I prefer the Imperial system for things like ambient temperature, weight, and volume (more practical imo), but Metric is definitely more convenient for distance. Either way, Americans unanimously, and consistently turn down proposals to switch so don’t hold your breath.

[@khmerian1985]

Can you do Zhou daguan's discription of the Khmer empire?

[@andrewhay2241]

Very cool

[@bobcharlie2337]

Very interesting.

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks!

[@Phaedon53]

"The Greeks are the only nation that hasn't liberated it's capital city yet" Helene Glykantzy Ahrweiler Provokative yet 100% true.

[@Roman_21]

κάποια στιγμή θα γίνει νομοτελειακά,μπορεί να μη ζούμε αλλά θα γίνει,το βρωμερό ψευδοέθνος των τούρκων θα λάβει αυτό που ιστορικά του αξίζει είμαι σίγουρος.

[@Phaedon53]

@@Roman_21 Μακαρι. Για μενα που ειμαι στα 50 λιγακι δυσκολο να το ζησω. Ευχομαι ομως να το ζησουν οι γιοι μου!

[@91rumpnisse]

Whats wrong with Athens?

[@Phaedon53]

@@91rumpnisse Obviously nothing. It is that Κωνσταντινουπολη represents the broader idea of Hellenism and its cultural ability to appeal to other nations and the strength to assimilate them. Athens is our cradle yet Constantinoupolis is the capital of "our empire". Alexandria could have played that role even better if it hadn't been for the Arabs. Considering that our cultural status now is close to zero you do undetstand that it is just a theoretical talk.

[@91rumpnisse]

@@Phaedon53 cultural status is zero? Dont say that, you guys are awesome and are pretty high up there. Could be worse right?

[@miketacos9034]

4:43 What was he smoking when he saw those sheep????? lmao

[@Enzo012]

The finest opium?

[@JFishSev74]

If I understood correctly....they had a mist system to cool during hot summer days....to stay cool. Way more advanced than I thought....it get way too hot in Florida....some restaurants have mist systems for outdoors.

[@Strider91]

. . . . .love those Roman Roof wells bro

[@andanssas]

These Chinese series are some of the most fascinating narrations I've heard in a while. I must write though that the *pronunciation of the Chinese words* may be improved by typing in Google translate (pinyin button) and hearing the sound of the chosen characters. E.g. 6:06 _Cheng_ is pronounced as *txeng* and likewise _Qie_ as *txieh* , _Si_ as *sse* , _Ze_ as *tza* (relating to the last video, 2nd of the series).

[@ericconnor8251]

One should probably also be aware that modern Mandarin pronunciations are anachronistic if applied to the pronunciations of Old and Middle Chinese from the Han and Tang eras, respectively.

[@ruedelta]

@@ericconnor8251 While true, the narrator is attempting Mandarin pronunciations so the intent is there to improve.

[@cgavin1]

"Yeah I'll have a large #4 and a side portion of Chickenfrighteningrhinosaurusstones please."

[@ABCshake]

You guys should do a video on the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta description of China

[@tonysabell7737]

Fascinating.

[@censusgary]

I wish I had a chicken-frightening rhinoceros stone.

[@kenan2044]

Love your work! Still would prefer Mesoamerican or precolumbian content. Keep it up!

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks! Quite the challenge you've set me there...

[@pattheplanter]

@@VoicesofthePast You'll have to translate it from Spanish - www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0071-16752015000100008 It reads like poetry, here is the one bit I translated for an article I am writing, slowly. About the logwood or brasiletto: Huitzcuahuitl. Its name comes from huitztli (spine) and cuahuitl (tree). This is a big tree. And from its flesh, from its trunk, the colour for dyeing is made. It is something that is broken with stones, it is something that is smashed, it is something that is covered with water, it is something that is soaked in water, it is a thing from which only liquid is extracted. It is just a little blackish still, a little dark. Then, they make the colour appear with tlalxocotl (the alum). And still with something [more] they mix it. It is red, very red, red, of an intense red, very red. It is a dye, not a pigment. I make something huitzcuahuitl colour, I dye something with huitzcuahuitl, I apply huitzcuahuitl to something, I turn something huitzcuahuitl colour, I cut the huitzcuahuitl, I pick the huitzcuahuitl, I sell the huitzcuahuitl.

[@jamesallen1735]

Bravo!

[@sagirahmed9309]

Make a series on Xuanzang's journey!