History Summarized: Naxos, The Island Frozen In Time

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Most of History isn't the big momentous events - most of it is false starts, unfinished projects, and relics of ideas too grand to realize. So for an illustrative example, let's look at Naxos, the Greek island frozen in time.
SOURCES & Further Reading:
"Oxford Archaeological Guides: Greece" by Christopher Mee & Antony Spawforth
"Histories" by Herodotus, sections 1.60-1.64, 5.28-5.31
"History of the Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides, section 1.98
"History of Greece" by JB Bury
"Naxos" by Mark Cartwright from World History Encyclopedia
"Temple of Apollo Portara, Greece" Google Arts & Culture
MUSIC:
"Phoibe The Orphan" from Assassin's Creed Odyssey OST by The Flight
"Local Forecast" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"I Know How It Feels To Be Lost" from Stray Gods, by Austin Wintory ‪@awintory‬
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[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

⭐🦀SPACE CRAB! 🗡🦀KNIFE CRAB! We've got two new constellation pins in our merch store! overlysarcastic.shop/ -B

[@tinahawley320]

Knife Crab is the best thing that has ever happened.

[@quandary23]

giving the crab a knife is brilliant. can definitely sell this to my friend who's a fellow cancer but hates astrology

[@samn8825]

Had to get them both

[@lizzywarner8709]

Please use your platform for good and support palestine ❤I love the channel

[@bbh6212]

We have achieved distilled Blue: cool architecture, existential dread, dunking on Athens, Sparta, and Herodotus, and then at the end Venice shows up.

[@AquaMoonMaiden]

Also sighing over Rome but that’s two weeks from now

[@jojotheswede8444]

Yep, it's pure Blue.

[@jedimasterpickle3]

I dunno we didn't see any domes in this video

[@AndrewGeierMelons]

I always thought his character design portrayal was blank paper, but, I have just realised, he is marble. Blue eyed marble.

[@Archon3960]

Must have a weird aftertaste. 🤢

[@PersoMena]

That empty doorway is just begging to be turned into a fantasy portal into another dimension or something.

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

-Light a flint- _Pour a bucket of water_ at the base of it, Aether portal. -B

[@patchwork5532]

And on that day, a hundred Historical Fiction and Modern Fantasy stories set sail.

[@Wyi-the-rogue]

Genius

[@casualcraftman1599]

It dose look like a nether portal made out of nether quarts.

[@seanbigay1042]

*sigh* That might've made a cool Indiana Jones adventure once upon a time.

[@Yuric_INC.]

now all that is left of Naxos legacy is a giant Nether Portal in the middle of the sea

[@totalhydration5240]

a very suboptimal exit portal

[@charbird20]

I was about to say the exact same thing! But seriously, that precision on the corners is… *chef’s kiss* BEAUTIFUL 🥹

[@makitvvicentijevic7405]

YURIIIIIICC

[@billywarren007]

TFW you want to build a sick ass temple to Apollo but Sparta goes “Nuh-uh!”

[@marhawkman303]

seen some interesting speculation about how close that temple actually came to completion.... The best guess was that... they'd at bare minimum collected all the materials needed. Which means that when later people swiped the marble... they swiped a LOT of marble!!!!

[@starsgears9200]

Can't believe Naxian democracy died of Lygda(mis)

[@fissionist2158]

What the hell is Lygdam?

[@Albaca27]

@@fissionist2158 Lygdama balls

[@AegixDrakan]

"What the hell is Lygda?" some fool will ask... XD

[@aer0a]

@@AegixDrakan "Lygda balls" some fool will answer... XD

[@AegixDrakan]

@@aer0a Surely some fool by the name of Bophades. XD

[@michaelyoung7261]

“Naxos would know, they saw it through their front door” This line hit a lot harder than I was expecting to get hit, and I’m going to have to go find that document about words for emotions that the general public has forgotten. Found it, the emotion is occhiolism: the awareness of the smallness of your perspective.

[@mageician9269]

mind sending a link for that document?

[@Existential_Tempest]

"...no Spartan has ever understood how boats work!" _indignant Lysander noises_

[@nickjohnsontx]

I was looking for a comment like this. I haven’t seen if the dates line up, but I just got done watching a Roel Konijnendijk video where Sparta’s naval endeavors were mentioned. So yeah. That line made me scratch my head a little.

[@Zeroground300]

To be fair, Lysander's only decisive naval victory didn't even happen at sea and was more due to Athenian incompetence and complacency than anything else.

[@CrimsonBlasphemy]

Herodotus stubs his toe: "My foot is shattered into a billion pieces! It is the worst pain ever. Not even Prometheus is in this much agony!"

[@jouheikisaragi6075]

Tbf, stubbing your foot's pinkie toe is pain worse than many can imagine

[@AegixDrakan]

Man Herodotus would be the ideal person to *de-liver* a meme about Prometheus. :P

[@YayaFeiLong]

@@AegixDrakan take my like and get out

[@TheMageOfVoid]

@@jouheikisaragi6075 I stubbed my second toe so hard I ripped off the nail once (I don't know how that works either), so I have to disagree. Or maybe my pinkie toe has just gone numb from all that I've put it through over the years and it would normally be worse? I don't know.

[@GothPaoki]

Herodotus exaggerating is highly exaggerated. I used to think this as well till i actually took a look at his histories personally and read his process

[@merrittanimation7721]

“My name is Lygdamis, King of Naxos; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Door, boundless and bare The lone and level seas stretch far away”

[@fissionist2158]

“I met a traveller from an antique shore Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the islet. Near them, on the tor, Half worn, a shattered doorway lies, whose capital, And chiseled shaft, and marble of cold bore, Tell that its sculptor ill those fortunes read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The god that mocked them and the land that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear:”

[@MariaVosa]

Exactly where my mind went too! Lovely adaptation.

[@carmacksanderson3937]

Beautiful, and it perfectly captures the nature of the video, too

[@ozzyfish3377]

This deserves all the likes

[@Moonhermit-]

"But alas, the Gods proclaimed the sauce was weak."

[@maddiewettach4954]

Naxos: Yes. Only the mighty Spartans could have defeated us. Blue: But Spartans can’t boat- Naxos: ONLY SPARTANS. What! You’ve never heard of Water Spartans? I’m sure Herodotus mentioned them somewhere . . .

[@tsdk107]

It was the Sea Peoples.

[@Vinemaple]

I feel like a Spartan army could have carefully boated over in transport ships and marched into town, swatting aside any less-organized resistance, as long as they didn't have to fight a naval battle on the way.

[@Doralga]

@@tsdk107 damn Mermaids we could have had our sun god temple, but Poseidon had other plans

[@hugovandyk9918]

Spartans did have a navy, just not a big one. The Spartans contributed 20 ships during the Persian wars. There's also several accounts of Spartan mercenaries fighting in Carthage and Sicily and the Spartans did try to start a colony or two as I recall. I'm not sure why the invasion of an island would be unbelievable or beyond their capacity.

[@LER-865]

Wow, Blue showed impressive restraint by only mentioning Venice once in passing

[@gamewatch6861]

And not a single mention of domes. Impressive.

[@hannahbrown9136]

Me: not that I’m complaining, but why are we talking about this tiny Island Blue: …So marble and stonework- Me: never mind

[@SereglothIV]

Of course I know who Naxos is. They're a vassal of Venice in 1444 and one of the hardest starts in EU4 :P

[@lunarheavens2819]

they are a mostly ignorable vassal that you eventually annex once you can be bothered if playing venice

[@michaelramon2411]

"Because no Spartan has ever understood how boats work." Lysander: "Your overconfidence will be your downfall."

[@lanegentry6328]

That ending bit was beautiful and makes me even more excited for the Veneziad

[@tinahawley320]

Blue cracks excellent jokes, but he also has a sincerely beautiful , emotionally poignant way with words when he wants to.

[@meghanmcgowan7748]

"Sometimes things don't change the course of history, sometimes they just are the course of history." Someone add that to the list of really amazing OSP lines cause holy crap

[@ThinWhiteAxe]

Yup, I thought so too

[@RiddleAnim]

8:22 "Naxos might've been about to have their moment in the sun,but right when it seemed like the clouds were parting,the wind blew,the clouds closed back up,and a hundred miles away,Athens had a sunny day,instead. And Naxos would know; they saw it through their front door." Fuck,that's chilling.

[@mongoose1582]

The marble cinematic universe just keeps growing

[@lorddaegoth]

"They saw it through their front door" absolutely savage

[@ThatOneREDScout]

6:30 "But just because the guy in charge has sick architecture plans does not mean history will oblige them" Looks towards NEOM, Germania, The New Egyptian Capital, and the thousands of other dictator building plans that went nowhere or fell through...

[@Bird_Dog00]

Watching Adam Something?

[@Yora21]

The Egyptian capital is more like the capital of Myanmar. It's not really meant to be monumental, but primarily to keep all the government buildings, dictators, and their cronies well isolated from the population.

[@seanbigay1042]

Blue, I get the feeling you'd love to do a piece on Petra, "a rose-red city half as old as time."

[@gunnarschlichting9886]

This video might have some of my favorite lines from any of OSP's videos, Red or Blue. 8:05 to the credits in particular stands out and really puts into perspective the difference between the small bits of the past that are recorded and the vast majority that simply goes unremembered yet makes up most of the human experience.

[@rachel_sj]

Naxos might not have been monetarily wealthy, but with their marble and emery deposits and skilled sculptures and craftspeople, it’s definitely an asset when it comes to easily displaying wealth, prestige, and aesthetics. Can you imagine how much effort, time, and politics it would take to find a similar island MUCH farther away from Athens or Sparta? Having Naxos RIGHT THERE saves a lot of time and resources in attaining the marble and emery goods and crafting they eagerly wanted…

[@ziemayet]

I never understood the full picture, but ac odyssey makes 2 separate remarks/ jokes about an unfinished temple when you're on naxos . I guessed it somehow never got finished and the Devs wanted to have a lil fun about it

[@IlleScrutator]

4:00 One of those lions now adorns the main entrance to the Venetian Arsenal (the missing head now replaced with a pretty derpy one), a piece of Naxos in our favourite swamptown.

[@Croz89]

Back in the 90's there was no fence around the temple doorway and you could just go up and touch it. I suspect my parents have quite a few photos of me doing so! Naxos is much more of a tourist trap than it used to be, back then it was mostly a family destination for Europeans and generally wasn't seen as one of the popular islands like Mykonos or Corfu, a bit of a hidden gem (it helped that it wasn't that easy to get to, even now there are no charter flights to its tiny little airport). I visited a few years ago in September, after the schools restarted, and it was still heaving, and many of the tourists were from all over the world. Seems like it's a lot more well known now than it was back then. It is considered to have some of the best cuisine in the area, particularly the local potatoes grown on the island are supposed to be special.

[@liamannegarner8083]

And the Kitron, it's great! And the little things like the Galaktobureko in Chalki.

[@Croz89]

@@liamannegarner8083 Hardly anyone goes to Chalki because it's inland, most tourists stay near the cost. We went for a hike up to Zas last time I went, and the place was much quieter than where we were staying.

[@prunabluepepper]

Naxos is such a beautiful island. I can totally recommend it for a nice vacation! The food is perfect, and the beaches are nice. The mountain has hidden secrets. If you walk uphill on hidden goat paths you'll find giant stone soldiers in the flower garden of an age old lady. Ohhh, I can tell so many stories about Naxos 💙🤍

[@KelsieJG__they-them]

As a League of Legends lore nerd watching this whole video had me like "Wait... some of this seems... familiar."

[@mu4784]

I know I sound silly but what part does it remind you of... Edit: OH IT'S NOXUS! ovo

[@KelsieJG__they-them]

@mu4784 The name, the arch structures, and I swear he said they had an Ionian conflict. 😆 Also Noxus is clearly partially based on the Roman empire so the time and location are a bit similar.

[@Vanic00]

Such a good way to end a video. It really makes you feel for Naxos. It's like imagine a story of a little boy, who dreams to be king, and do wonderful great things, all while helping his mother make candles, but to do that he has to pull a sword from a stone. He has the ability to pull it out, he's worthy, but then as he goes to try, he sees some other kid with an old man standing in the sunny rays holding the sword as the old man proclaims him King Arthur. What might have been the epic of King Duncan? We'll never know because Arthur and Merlin got there 6 minutes earlier.

[@R4yj4ck]

Is it weird that I want this to be a new series? History Non-Makers?

[@Rambletripe1]

I lived and worked a year or so on Naxos (in two separate chunks), used to go cliff jumping up by the Temple. It's nice to listen to this history. Loved my time there, also got arrested (actually detained might be a better description) after jumping of the ferry into the water in Paros port. I was a kamaki for a bit and missed my stop :) It's been a few decades since I've been there it was like going back in time even then.

[@BowserTheSecond]

I would absolutely love to see you talk about Skara Brae, one of the oldest standing settlements from 10000 years ago that even had functional drainage.

[@WolfBoy-om6dw]

The Portara gives me imagery of an ancient civilization fleeing to another world via a gateway they created.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Naxos has always had one of my favorite names for any greek city state, such a fun unique little word.

[@genericpotato7118]

this kind of content is why I backed that book

[@dangalfthedruid]

This is my favorite history, video of yours so far, and possibly your most quotable. I left the video feeling exactly the melancholy and wistfulness you described when you visited the arch. I genuinely want to visit and see it for myself. And your ending about Athens receiving Naxos’s sunny day, wonderful work!

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

Naxos was an ok island to visit on AC Odyssey

[@anthonyhorn5914]

That game was so big, I gave up. But I DO BELIEVE YOU

[@Jonathon_Hennessey]

I almost gave up on Assassin's Creed Odyssey just because of how big the world is, but I eventually completed the game because I don't like leaving something unfinished.

[@LiamGWoods]

Talk about Samos! I feel they’re overlooked for how important they were, like they competed with Pergamon and Ephesus for best Ionian city

[@megadragonking546]

8:17 Definitely one of the more poignant things you've said, and it's so good.

[@bluesbest1]

Oh, that last line slaps SO HARD!!! I can't even begin to put why into words. Maybe the melancholy of the Doorway experienced Constructive Interference with the melancholy of the line itself and a wave of Melancholy^2 hit me. And the Doorway itself is so awe-inspiring in a strange way that I'm sure others will verbalize better.

[@terry1jf]

Good video. We were just at Naxos a few weeks ago. Spent several days anchored by the Portara. I wondered why the door stones still had their lifting ‘protrusions’ that usually get chiseled off after stones are in place. Now I know. Thanks!

[@timosmes]

As a Greek, I feel proud of you making 99% of you videos about Greek history and culture.

[@FatherDraven]

More obscure history PLEASE

[@amberhide04]

is that a nether portal in the thumbnail?

[@duckvenger3628]

The door may not be a complete temple, but when the sun is at the right place in the sky, Apollo's light will still shine through it. It's simplicity has created a beautiful and unique way of honouring their sun God, even if the intention was something more grand. The perfect picture of how even the smallest of things can have so much meaning and importance.

[@watbebe]

Apt for Apollo.

[@haystack413]

6:46 "No spartan has ever understood how boats work" * Gylippus is writing a message *

[@FancyTophatDude]

Naxos is honestly my favourite aegean island, it's beautiful and varied and still feels authentic and not completely tourist-ridden. (Please don't ruin that part guys)

[@LateSleeper]

I'm proud of you guys. Lygdamis was mentioned somany times, but there were no "ligma" jokes.

[@Kikabopom]

lygda balls

[@mcintoshpc]

That was an absolute killer of a conclusion, sir

[@MarianPowell]

I've wondered about the relationship of Naxos and Dionysus. I mean, he sailed to Naxos, found Ariadne (princess of Crete) and married her. This suggests Naxos at one time was a center of worship for Dionysus or something like that.

[@Lord_Merterus]

I'd absolutely love to see each ancient Greek region get its own video like this

[@AngelicHarmony00]

This was incredibly moving and gave me goosebumps. You're an incredible storyteller Blue, and this has been one of my favorite narratives thus far!

[@robertprueter3292]

This is really good stuff my man, I love it. You in one way, distilled so much of what I love about history. The "little" stories of real people, in real paces, trying to go great things, and achieving greatness but not in a way the textbooks remember.

[@15oClock]

The silent tragedy of history is what we don’t know. Records lost or never written read the same: empty.

[@Brasswatchman]

You ever wonder if we've all simply been looking in the wrong place?

[@ADruid25]

Topics like this make me want to renew my well abandoned bachelor's research project: tracking the property usage of my hometown. Its nothing special, but ive always been fascinated by looking at old maps of familiar locations, looking at how the communities wants and priorities change over town

[@KHAEISTIREDxx14]

ohhh that last bit of commentary about Naxos seeing Athens next door shining in glory while they can do nothing but watch as everything around them slowly falls to dust... hits so hard, man. time is cruel like that.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your work blue! Thanks For this ❤❤❤

[@MythicTales993]

This video is incredibly insightful and useful! Thank you for sharing such valuable information!

[@TheRealVenusian]

I'm literally going to Naxos in a few weeks and Blue drops this? It was written in the stars!

[@DarkshadowXD63]

Blue not making a Venice related video? 👀 Edit: 7:00 Never mind Venice snuck it's way in 😂 love the vids as always

[@AFinch63-pi2nl]

(Thanos) Impossible.

[@rulersaury]

The book is the vembis video now

[@alekparish1078]

This was an awesome video! Loved learning about different Greek polis!

[@kirstenpaff8946]

Half the time history is about what was important to the people writing things down, and not what was important at the time. Naxos could have been pretty important, at least on a regional scale, but because Athens and Sparta became everyone's favorites in the following centuries, the writings about Athens and Sparta survive.

[@matthewchandler7845]

AMAZING!!! This was pure joy to learn what I would otherwise remain ignorant of if not for the enthusiasm of a single man. THANKS BLUE!

[@anxious2kcowboy]

"Sometimes things don't change the course of history, sometimes they just are the course of history" This says so much about life and our existence

[@BallisticDamages]

Great content to start the day

[@johnlagoss5932]

There is nothing I love more than a portal to nowhere. Love to see all the architecture that's supposed to point to something important end up focusing on the sea instead.

[@sonnygreenley2511]

Sir, you did not have to hit me that hard in the feels at the end there

[@1jovi315]

Nice video as always and was nice to see my home island of Kos on the side. Worth taking a look too.

[@juniper7339]

_Wow_ that was a very impressive end. Made me shiver.

[@jacobklein5543]

I watched this video to start the day, and now that beautifully melancholic ending has me feeling like it's already over. Thanks a lot, Blue

[@J_GamerSP]

Man, that empty Doorway resonated with me

[@gequitz]

Thanks! Cycladic figures are some of my favorite ancient art.

[@ddylan436]

Great channel ❤

[@pendragon2012]

Love the lesser knowns of history!

[@Kost135]

This video came just in time for the summer holidays

[@Basil_o_brouzos]

I need a video about Euboia and I need it now!!

[@liamannegarner8083]

I was just in Naxos this weekend. The temple door has so many good logos based on it.

[@elizabethzamudiozamora5273]

I love your videos bc I can usually finish my food by the time the video ends

[@Black-Clad-Disaster]

That ending line was absolutely breathtakingly poetic 🖤

[@TenkoBerry]

This is Great 👍

[@nikhtose]

Thanks for this background to the temple of Apollo on Naxos. The portal is a breathtaking site, especially at sunset, and one can't help but wonder what might have been if finished.

[@FirstLast-cg2nk]

Geez, at least Ozymandias got a poem for his hubris. Lygdamis only got an open doorway.

[@user-qh9ci2ce6w]

Good job as always blue

[@lucasoliveira2749]

What an amazing outro, Blue!

[@kamoramo1]

What a poignant video. Well worded Blue, its a nice reminder that history isn't just the most defining moments, peoples, or places. It is just our story, as memorable or forgettable as it is.

[@Nova-jw6ju]

Thanks Blue. I might cry now.

[@volixia]

Holy shit I’ve BEEN here. Do you know how excited I was to see this??? Thank you Blue!

[@thereallocke8065]

Naxos feels like a major city in the Midwest of something. Not quite important enough culturally to be like the center of things but also still very economically important. Maybe like Grand Rapids or something

[@VTimmoni]

Hauntingly thought provoking.

[@Burred11]

1:33 I'd like to believe that the marble background is the same one used for oceans on Blues maps.

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

It quite literally is. Good eye. -B

[@hirosoli]

Now I've got some context for that mission in AC: Odyssey! Excellent vid!

[@thejudgmentalcat]

That doorway will always be a time portal to me

[@francisweller839]

Nice to give the little guys some attention. Thank you blue.

[@BaldricOutremer]

"Those who almost hit it big, almost changed everything, almost made history." If I hadn't read the title, those words would have made me expect that the video would be about Corinth.

[@alldaygamergirl]

thank you isle of naxos, for naxos music 🫶🏻

[@tonyjoestar2632]

Looking through the arch gives me a feeling I've never felt before. And it's a powerful feeling.

[@jessewalters6263]

I take my university geology students to the marble and emery mines on Naxos. I try to weave in how important these were to making Naxos a powerhouse in the Cyclades. I will definitely share this video with my students before our next field trip

[@diegocassola1]

I'm guessing it took some restraint to not do a "LYGDAMIS NUTS" joke. I would not be able to resist that urge.

[@dicyanoacetylene6220]

History was so determined to not let Naxos have its time, that it allowed Sparta to have a functioning navy for a few weeks.