Plagues, an Ice Age, and Rome's Decline (with Kyle Harper)

[@thewitchfindergeneral81]

I had a class with Dr. Harper last semester, he’s a great scholar

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

Which university and what was the class? Just curious!

[@thewitchfindergeneral81]

@@Jon.A.ScholtUniversity of Oklahoma and Origins of Christianity

[@bgrune1]

This is amazing. I read The Fate of Rome twice it was so good.

[@natalassblaster]

I love waking up having coffee, playing Rome II total war and listening to this awesome podcast!!!

[@SusanN-x4j]

I completely love these podcasts. The conversations are fascinating and the information given is so helpful for understanding history from an interdisciplinary perspective. Thank you.

[@KrisV385]

Great guest Garrett! Thanks for this.

[@paulkoza8652]

Great discussion that links science to ancient history. Really appreciate this discussion. It has broadened my thinking of the ancient world.

[@zertyuz]

Gotta say, Toldinstone is probably the best channel on youtube. I love your voice and your aesthetic and content of choice. I wish you'd do a podcast similar to Fall of Civilizations

[@markmaki4460]

Don't forget humor too. The humorous bits are where i pause the videos the most.

[@claytoncotter5252]

Another phenomenal podcast!

[@swtoreconomics10]

Great episode! Fascinating discussion.

[@emiliomartinez1332]

A deeply fascinating conversation, especially about the different plagues and ancient pandemics.

[@JAdams-jx5ek]

Excellent stuff. Well done. I'll pick up Dr. Harper's book.

[@michaeldunne338]

Really great, detailed, insightful discussion on a tough topic.

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

All the Toldinstone podcasts are fantastic but this one was especially good! 👍

[@WarshMeh]

Great video. Excellent topic! Im settling in for this! Got my snack and drink ready.

[@WarshMeh]

Tree rings can get really close but because climate is such a hot topic in the modern day the data can get mired in politics.

[@dreamjackson5483]

Very interesting. Interesting to learn more reasons about the collapse of empires. So so many variables

[@johnspizziri1919]

What a fantastic show!!

[@Shanklin_the_Painter]

Fascinating! Great episode.

[@markp44288]

Wow he's well spoken. I'd love to take a class of his, maybe I need to get a book!

[@martinarthur2597]

Try Plagues upon the Earth by Kyle Harper, a wonderfully informative and fascinating book. Recommended.

[@lindaandroysmith8008]

Usually watch all your KZbin material on a non-smart TV and therefore can't comment or like. Having discovered how to do it on my laptop wanted to thank you. I've enjoyed everything especially these last two videos on Footnotes. It's exciting to hear of new discoveries and of more to come. Best wishes, Roy

[@WagesOfDestruction]

Harper raised a question that has been bothering me for years: Why did the Black Death become a pandemic when the conditions were there long before it broke out?

[@haplon33]

lots of theories point at the mongols acting as a sort of vector. possibly transmitting originally from groundhog/prairie dog dens in central asia where yersinia pestis is known to thrive. not sure if these theories have been validated or softened lately, so im curious, too

[@TVYL3IGH]

Have you heard of different groups poisoning well water with the Black Plague? Doesn't really answer the question, but there are lots of questions unanswered. The Black Death is proof of herd immunity, yet the current status-quo disregards the use of non-vaccination and herd immunity from pandemics -- as in the case of Sweden.

[@billmiller4972]

A small change in the genome that: - makes it more easily transmitted, - a bit less deadly so it can infect people better, - a bit more stable outside rats/humans, - a bit better able to trick the immune system. (all of them or one of them, in any arbitrary mix)

[@WagesOfDestruction]

@@billmiller4972 something must have changed, and what you say is plausible. that the Y. pestis strain responsible for Black Death involved some novel mutations conferring some increased pathogenic and transmission traits consistent with a changed variant. Most other explanations, I find unlikely as the Black Death impacted such a large proportion of populations across diverse regions.

[@stephenlight647]

An interesting discussion that is necessarily not conclusive, but nonetheless has many reasonable factors to consider. I think climate change of any type or duration does have an effect on populations and states or empires, but unless totally catastrophic, is usually secondary to social factors. We’re lucky to have any written accounts of several of these plagues, and more fortunate still to have more science to explore the question.

[@BenjaminIMeszaros]

Loved this conversation. One note for future guests is to keep the microphone in a place that will decrease breathing noise pickup in the mix. It was a bit challenging to listen to the nose breathing for the duration of the conversation, which is really tricky to control in post production. There are a few AI driven apps that can help reduce that kind of noise in post, but an ounce of prevention goes a long way

[@Outdoors49Man]

I wasn't going to say anything because the content was excellent and engaging, but since someone else brought it up, I'll echo that the inhaling sounds were a minor distraction.

[@markmaki4460]

I didn't detect any breathing noise, so i suppose much has to do with the environment of the listener (electronic and physical e.g, background and 'white' noise). I avoid ear or headphones.

[@MarkVrem]

The Wheat being taller is interesting.. Was just reading how they just created a Shorter Corn, that yields the same amount. But is safer from wind and other damage.

[@pushlooop]

The holocene optimum was warmer than now, it's clear from the tree line in the Alps, 150 mt higher than now

[@kerryrwalton7791]

Great and illuminating podcast. Any thoughts as to how the intersections of plagues and climate change may have influenced the evolution of Christianity during these crucial formative years?

[@rayhume1971]

My theory is that all books ever written about the fall of the Western Empire are almost always a reflection of what the author deems the most pressing societal issues of their current place and time.

[@annascott3542]

Go Sooners!

[@QuantumHistorian]

I don't really buy the argument that the Roman climate optimum helped the growth of the Roman empire. After all, the same optimum would also have been felt by all its rivals around the Mediterranean too, and it would have helped them as much as the Romans, thereby mostly cancelling out the ease of empire building. In fact, in the 2nd Century BC we see the decline of multiple states in the Eastern Mediterranean basin (the Ptolemies and Seleucids being the most obvious), despite them also having the same improvement in climate. If the argument is that the optimal climate was specific to Italy, then that's far less well supported by scientific evidence. I think the issue is that the gap between what's good/bad for an individual and what's good/bad for a state (especially on the long term) is much bigger than acknowledged here. For example, better harvests can just as easily lead to peasants having the time and strength to overthrow the existing order and destroy the state, as it can lead to the state having higher tax incomes and conquering their neighbour. Or for another example, the Black Death was obviously horrible for the people who lived through it, but it laid the foundation for important socio-economic reforms that drastically strengthened centralised power in European states (via a complex causal chain).

[@annascott3542]

It was just a case of right place, right time, right empire, right people in power to best exploit the better climate to their advantage than their neighbors could muster (for a variety of reasons, many of which being pre-existing).

[@waggsish]

I think some high quality marijuana makes this a more interesting story.

[@markmaki4460]

"...reliable government data..."

[@unclejoe7466]

Good video that would have benefitted from the use of past tense when describing past events. Seriously, the pretentious present tense is awkward and pretty much useless, especially when relating recent past events or events spanning time, so maybe consider talking like a normal person rather than a "historian."

[@Selfloathingmisanthrope]

Common era? Climate scientists? Lol, ok bro.

[@NelsonDiscovery]

27:30 "You can't change old terminology and replace it with something you cooked up among your community." Says one of the guys who has been saying BCE and whatever instead of the previously established BC and AD because of some ridiculously flawed amess discourse.

[@StanleyKubick1]

Your voice sound like a man's voice sped up 1.5x

[@NelsonDiscovery]

Hey youtube stalker! Niekhkgers😂

[@NelsonDiscovery]

3:46 The common era. Which means that the birth of christ is the rulling definion of time on a global scale and no other religion is of any importance? Right. Go on with your newfangled amess culture terminology.

[@haplon33]

cry about it more bro

[@Andreoli2005]

Guy knows very little about the climate of the past and makes very large claims to know so much in his book. Really love how after decades of fighting their doctrine of keeping the theory of evolution alive, carbon dating has finally been limited, to what can only be assumed, to be less than 50,000 years old after we have known full well the half life of carbon isn't measurable after 15,000 years... One of these new BCE types, so sad what "science" has become.

[@haplon33]

yeah and whats all this hullaballoo about cigarettes causing lung cancer??? empirical more like STINKPIRICAL amirite