Roman Treasures Hidden in the Vatican Museums

The Octagonal Courtyard of the Pio-Clementine Museum houses the oldest and most storied part of the Vatican’s vast collection of Roman art. A few of the pieces displayed here are famous. But most - including some of the most fascinating Roman artifacts in any museum - are unknown. This video calls attention to these overlooked treasures.
Please consider supporting this channel on Patreon:
/ toldinstone
If you liked this video, you might also enjoy my book “Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants: Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Greeks and Romans.”
www.amazon.com/Naked-Statues-...
If you're so inclined, you can follow me elsewhere on the web:
/ toldinstone
/ toldinstone
/ 20993845.garrett_ryan
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:54 Sarcophagus of Scipio Barbatus
1:34 Mummius Inscription
2:05 Harbor Relief
2:30 Sarcophagus of Varius Marcellus
3:00 Casali Altar
4:45 A wall of artifacts
5:27 Venus Felix
5:51 Amazonomachy Sarcophagus
6:43 A strange portrait
7:34 Molossian Dogs
8:07 Sarcophagus of a learned woman
8:30 An imperial sarcophagus
9:11 Laocoon, briefly
9:56 Conclusion
Thanks for watching!

[@toldinstone]

If you’d like to book an in-depth tour of the Vatican Museums, I recommend Through Eternity Tours, a Rome-based company that specializes in custom walks and virtual tours. Save 5% on any private or group tour with the discount code TOLDINSTONE. www.througheternity.com/en/vatican-tours/# You might also be interested in the Through Eternity KZbin channel: kzbin.infovideos

[@edosman6537]

Good video

[@Flash-Strike]

Through Eternity Great Channel Thanks

[@andyroo9381]

Even though you covered the very last statue, in a previous video, I still wish you would have discussed it again in this video. Who can get enough of looking at this beautiful work of art.

[@SI-ln6tc]

Is it just Roman artifacts? Maybe things from other civilizations too?

[@FransBlaas1]

Expensive tours..

[@SuperTommox]

This is so important. The museum doesn't provide tourists with this meticulous and well explained narration about the pieces. Museums need more of this.

[@ChimpityChoo]

Which makes it even more frustrating to see that the only (likely) person in the vicinity, whom should be permitted on the other side of the rope to Apoxyomenos, is subject to the plebeian sight line

[@cerberus6654]

Do you really think a bunch of Italian religious would provide anyone with a well explained narration about anything?

[@robertdobbs2283]

@@cerberus6654 When I toured the Vatican Museum I thought the explanation and historical narratives were wonderful. But, I'm not a bigot and so I'm not prejudiced against them.

[@surplusrevenge2013]

To be fair, when it comes to the Vatican Museums an in depth explanation of the pieces would ultimately result in months long tour

[@midshipman8654]

reminds me kind of those audio tours. I worked in a museum, and believe me, most that have collected material for 50+ years of donations and purchases and finds only even showcase a small percentage of their collection and don’t go all that in detail about most either. given that most patrons are not exactly historians themselves and are perfectly fine with a light explaination. Of course, sometimes you can target your tour to your audience by feeling out the level and nature of their knowledge/interests. But still, often you got to target your broadest base.

[@hape3862]

Fun fact: When the German Poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed in Rome 1786-88, he saw the Laocoon, whose right arm was reconstructed stretched out. Goethe immediately saw that this couldn't be right according to the muscles and the anatomy. The original arm was only found in 1900 and replaced in 1960. This shows the aesthetic intuition of Goethe.

[@kerryrwalton7791]

Michelangelo intuited what the arm would look like and he was right!

[@babisz8640]

But he didnt noticed the Pieta ....

[@SnailHatan]

That’s not intuition, that’s just anatomical knowledge. The opposite of intuition. He knew it was wrong because the anatomy was wrong, and that Romans had a meticulously detailed understanding of musculature

[@kerryrwalton7791]

@@SnailHatan Yes he knew anatomy he was an expert and preformed dissections perhaps the word intuited can be applied to the position of the arm. Baccio Bandinelli created his own version in the wrong position that others copied.

[@kerryrwalton7791]

@Dio Ego Yes you are right see my response(s)

[@superhooch]

The toe of the colossal statue is absolutely fascinating to me. To just imagine where that statue may have once stood and what it looked like, and all the people that saw it as part of their daily lives. Now we are left with just a small piece of the toe to give us a hint. Fascinating

[@free_at_last8141]

I like to think the sculptor just had a laugh and carved a giant toe after a notable night on the town. Thousands of years later, we imagine the colossus it must have belonged to.

[@StrawHalo]

Just like we see the statue of liberty now. A thousand years from now maybe only the hand will be left. And people will marvel how it looked like. Hopefully KZbin is archived and not censored

[@JonatasAdoM]

@@StrawHalo Hopefully someone won't just erase KZbin with the press of a button.

[@StrawHalo]

@@JonatasAdoM illuminati would do that 😔 unfortunately

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

@@StrawHalo The Illuminate will erase KZbin with a press of a button?

[@jeffcampbell1555]

To comprehend the seemingly callous "piled up" riches of the Vatican museums, consider this: The Holy See existed within the ruins of the Roman Empire's capital city. No church could be expanded, no palazzo remodeled, no well dug or street graded or field plowed without digging up Roman artifacts. The vast baths and temple complexes were stripped for the columns, marbles slabs and building stone that comprise the present monuments of Rome. The collection grew in leaps and bounds every time a building project was undertaken. The popes didn't go treasure hunting; the bounty fell into their laps. I'm grateful they didn't burn the marble sculptures for quick lime.

[@robertmccully2792]

And how did they get buried?

[@hape3862]

@@robertmccully2792 After the fall of the Roman Empire the city of Rome degenerated into a small town with only a few thousand inhabitants for hundreds of years. Vegetation overgrew the monuments and built up soil above them over the centuries.

[@malkomalkavian]

The flooding of The Tiber fills the streets with silt

[@jonathanmcalroy8640]

That explains how the Vatican has these ancient monuments but its no excuse for how they are treated today.

[@hape3862]

@@jonathanmcalroy8640 How are they are "treated today"??? They are in a museum, for everyone to visit. Nothing to "excuse".

[@twstf8905]

5:52(ish) LOOK at how detailed and intricate these sarcophagus are! Imagine how difficult it would be to carve that! You couldn't make ANY mistakes at all! I hope the job paid well, the artists certainly earned it! 👍

[@rickb3078]

Oh man this is so helpful. I’m approaching 50 and I’m commissioning my Egyptian Roman funeral building and my 17 sarcophagi (I’m expecting to be hung drawn and quartered). I have my designs nailed down now.

[@cerberus6654]

Humans are not 'hung'. In proper English we are 'hanged'!

[@buttholesurfer1266]

@@cerberus6654 im hung doe

[@deltanovember1672]

I’d that’s true then you’ll only need five sarcophagi.

[@rickb3078]

@@deltanovember1672 wife children pets mistress other favorite servants. I’m not going to the afterlife alone 😜😜

[@deltanovember1672]

@@rickb3078 Ha ha ha, you’ve got it it all planned out bro.

[@Polyfusia]

I never realized that the Romans had so many works that are as good as works by Renaissance figures like Michelangelo, who clearly was inspired by and essentially copied their stylings.

[@superhooch]

That's why it's called the renaissance! The rebirth of interest in classical art and philosophy

[@sagapoetic8990]

It's fascinating to consider the influences behind the influencers -- and to continue reflecting backwards in time. I think the so-called ancient civilizations may really be modern? If you think how long the history of humans really is. Time is mis-defined

[@Blackadder75]

If you could walk around in Rome in the times of emperor Trajan, your mind would be blown

[@danielchequer5842]

@@Blackadder75 crazy to think that, right? To think in the future people will walk over the ruins of new york in hopes of catching only a glimpse of what it might've been to live there "at its peak" and now we just don't think about something like "the fall of new york" even though it might be closer than we think, just like the romans during trajans reign

[@Polyfusia]

@@sagapoetic8990 Exactly my thoughts. Roman stuff seems so recent to me. It feels modern. It seems more modern than the middle ages or the dark ages. The art and culture and architecture isn't that far off from the recent past. It feels 200 years old. Not 2000.

[@spacelemur7955]

Yes, 99% of all tourists run off to the Sistine Chapel and one does get these wonderful rooms almost to one's self.

[@PRH123]

The last time I was there a couple of years ago in April it was so jam packed with tourists that it was impossible to see anything, it was like the metro at rush hour.

[@jeffwalther3935]

@@PRH123 Being a humanist, I'm impressed, rather than dismayed, at your deploring the museums packed with tourists. All these pieces celebrate humanity AND divinity like nothin' else in existence SSSOOO the people know what's good, and they come in droves to see and experience the beauty of it all AS PILGRIMS to Christianity, of course, but also to Greek, Roman and Italian civilization and triumphs in their lifetimes. Atheists must love these museums too because we are humanists, like Jesus, without the supernaturalist parts, for goodness' sake. This video is awesome.

[@Enlightened0ne]

@@jeffwalther3935 ok.

[@jeffwalther3935]

@@Enlightened0ne OK then. 😊😊

[@beejuh723]

@@PRH123 I was there in Oct 2018. It was literally like a slow moving river of people. You couldn't go any faster and you couldn't stop. We also did a tour of the Gardens and Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis(that's not the one under the Basilica). It was awesome unto itself, but a life saver to get away from the crowds for awhile. Our guide on that tour said to come back in January if we didn't want to tour the museums with 20,000 of our closest friends lol.

[@AaronSikkink]

"He was a stab first, ask questions later sort of guy." LOL

[@jss4082]

A Sagittarius 🏹 kind of guy!

[@lucaschiantodipepe2015]

When I visited Vatican museum (actually in Italian is a plural "musei Vaticani") i was the only italian among a huge mass of foreign turists. By the way they are wonderful and amazing.

[@AnyoneCanSee]

You were also a "foreign tourist" as the Vatican isn't Italy. It is the world's smallest independent country. It has a two-mile border with Italy but is a completely independent absolute monarchy.

[@lucaschiantodipepe2015]

@@AnyoneCanSee I live close to the Vatican. I can see the dome from my windows (by the way it's 100 meters high). I know all that. Employees are from Rome ,they talk my same dialect. Foreigners for Italians are Frenchs, Germans, slavs, English and not those of a Rome's independent district.

[@SpaceSanctum]

@@AnyoneCanSee "let me tell you about your country"

[@lucaschiantodipepe2015]

@@SpaceSanctum "let me tell you about your own town".

[@Canalbizarrof]

Are you saying Italians don't care much about the Vatican Museum? Why do you think that is?

[@alanzeleznikar]

Thanks for this great video, Dr Ryan. Being able to take the time to really examine any object in the Vatican Museums is a luxury and having up close access is even more so. The next time I'm there I will make a deliberate attempt to spend more time in this area of the Pio-Clementine.

[@TooCynical]

This channel is a diamond in the rough. I’m so glad I found it. Each videos is informative and visually pleasing. Thanks for sharing what you love.

[@freethepeople4093]

Those reliefs are so impressive. The level of craftsmanship is utterly unbelievable. I challenge anyone in the world to carve something is as exquisite detail as these masterpieces are. It's crazy to think something that was carved 2000 years ago we couldn't duplicate today. And there's not just 1 of them. There's a bunch. They did this regularly.

[@jmeyer3rn]

U of Michigan!! Love Michigan. The state of course! Beautiful state. Your videos are so amazing!!! Mom lived in Flint. Dad from Indiana. We went to Michigan so many times when I was growing up. Thank you for sharing your work with us!!!

[@BlazeTheGamer1]

I got your book in the mail today and I've really enjoyed reading it so far!

[@DusanPavlicek78]

This was truly awesome. I love the quiet, educational style of your videos.

[@HawthorneHillNaturePreserve]

Your videos are great! It’s so overwhelming visiting the Vatican Museum with crowds and so much to see, you can never see it all. Your videos help me revisit that place in leisure and comfort with my own personal guide. Thank you!

[@feleepe]

Love the video, as always. This place looks amazing! I'd love to visit one day

[@donaldauguston9740]

Thank you so much. I just bought your book today. Have a good weekend, DA

[@georgeweissmann9095]

It's one of my greatest dreams to come here one day. Thanks so much.

[@jaybee9269]

Awesome content, bro!

[@paulamarie43]

Your Channel is FANTASTIC !!!

[@leaf732]

great video thank you very much for such a great analysis!

[@Nana-qd6iu]

I visited this very place once when i was a teen. I remember wanting to stay all day looking at everything. The two dogs were my favorite. Thanks for showing us your insights, i wish i had a museum tour as good as yours! It makes me want to visit it again :). (sorry for weird english)

[@BenKlassen1]

awesome. Thanks for sharing. I love Roman and Greek art and history.

[@GasserNorm]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing and the history lesson.

[@Tuherd]

Thanks for all you do!

[@SOGYPANCAKES]

Really great video, currently reading your book and enjoying it.

[@allisonpalmgren7583]

“The third century is never dull” 😂

[@ClassicDannyboy]

Congratulations on 100k subscribers and the many amazing videos that got you there :D

[@k6num24]

Thanks for the walk through!

[@geraldcapon392]

Thank you sir. An excellent vid, very well done.

[@denizalgazi]

Another excellent job! 👍

[@rodolfoayalajr.8589]

Great educational video friend.

[@sirchromiumdowns2015]

I always learn something from your videos. They are excellent.

[@aninternationalbadinfluenc9271]

Excellent as always.

[@sherylcrowe3255]

Wonderful video. Thank you.

[@PoleToPoleTravel]

This museum is so vast and amazing. I wish I had more than a day to go through it when I did

[@jamiehackl1231]

Thanks for the excellent video doctor.

[@Mr.PepeSilvia]

Congratulations on hitting over 100k!

[@Sumermak]

That was awesome! Thank you! Please Do more of the Vatican museums!

[@goldenineke]

I’m so excited. Your book has just been delivered! Regards from Australia 🇦🇺

[@ms.donaldson2533]

I love touring Rome with you!

[@jmeyer3rn]

Love these videos. Yes, these statues have so many nuances. At first, if you don’t study the faces and just look at the posture and physicality of the statue you really miss so much. It’s like going to the Pantheon and just standing in the square, never entering this beautifully designed structure, never gazing up into the oculus.

[@eco.]

Amazing work, the man does it again

[@nancyM1313]

Thank you for making history very enjoyable. Stay safe❤

[@Jenult]

I got your book and i'm thoroughly enjoying it. You should do a podcast on some of these subjects, man.

[@scottwhite2757]

Amazing great work !! so interesting .. :)

[@757575436]

We visited the Vatican twice,we can only imagine the unseen wealth that exist in the labyrinth of the Vatican vaults.

[@Rayza82]

Awesome walk-through and information. How did you learn so much in depth information about each piece? That certainly can't all be found online or books. Did a guide help you and how do they know that information? Amazing stuff.

[@toldinstone]

I did a lot of reading in old guidebooks and the Vatican Museums catalogue (which is online, though in Italian).

[@abcdeff76]

So cool, Thanks Garrett

[@pamelafolger8449]

Always loved this story!😊💖

[@tamlynburleigh9267]

Thanks for this.

[@patjohnson3100]

Fascinating. Very grateful these treasures still exist.

[@a_l_b__a607]

Hope I get to visit the museum some day. Great video :)

[@JustMe-ob3nw]

Wonderful! Thank you!

[@macscotsman51]

Fascinating. Thank you.

[@Draxis32]

No wonder basically all the western democracies copy the Greco-Roman styles. They were truly the absolute masters of stone work. Even today, with our modern CNC machines, we can hardly make things more impressive than those works

[@sunofshangoihate45thihated85]

And Africa was the master of metals

[@technoman9000]

Yeah you're right, computers made us lazy.

[@sophitsa79]

@@technoman9000 except for the solar system exploration that they have allowed

[@casewhite-954]

@@sunofshangoihate45thihated85 Masters of Mudhuts you mean. Hehehe

[@cherylsmith4826]

Seeing the Laocoon sculpture is on my bucket list- so mesmerizing & beautiful. Can only imagine the power it extrudes when actually standing by it.

[@kevinlong5842]

I fought my way back through the Sistine Chapel and most of the Vatican museums to see that statue after our tour guide had marched us through without pointing it out. My advice, don't take a tour and go in the late afternoon when the crowds have thinned out.

[@cherylsmith4826]

@@kevinlong5842 sorry that was your experience- it obviously drew you to it- how exciting you were able to stand before it- thank you for the advice-

[@KeyserSoze685]

I remember walking through that....great video....I remember being awestruck since I studied art and art history and loved ancient history....then I remember seeing Michelangelo Sistine Chapel...for me....the entire tour was like a religious experience...well...it is the Vatican museum...lol

[@jacobalvarado6056]

I would pay good money to have you as my tour guide haha ive learned so much from your channel i plan on reading your book soon!!

[@merlindavilla3837]

Very precious. The Catholic Church is very rich in her treasures.PRICELESS I will visit Vatican City ,when .the pandemic is over.

[@magnvss]

Imagine an ancient Roman listening to this videos' narrator when saying "to Romans eyes this was not in poor taste" lol. Wonder what he would think of our current... affairs.

[@jens-kristiantofthansen9376]

It really is weird how terrified modern society is of the naked human body. I mean... we all have one.

[@6ick6ick6ity5]

Hed watch ancient aliens and probably think we were idiots lmao

[@uuaschbaer6131]

I think you can ask a contemporary Roman because I doubt anyone in Europe would even consider it being in bad taste. 🤷‍♂️

[@jens-kristiantofthansen9376]

@@6ick6ick6ity5 and at least on that front, he'd have a point. Haha.

[@catholicracialist776]

If an ancient Roman would watch this video he would cry and probably die of extreme depression. Why? Because of the fact that he witnessed the Roman architecture, art and city in its full glory and now its all gone. Seeing those tiny pieces in a video he would probably have a mental breakdown and go crazy or just cry a river

[@jonathanbrown1177]

Just bought your book, i hope it is half as good as your youtube content-How about something on the role/uses of the humble olive in a future video?

[@toldinstone]

Deeply appreciated! A video on the many uses of the olive in the classical world would be very interesting. When I visited Sparta a few years ago, I spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil. Perhaps I could use that as a point of departure...

[@bullfrommull]

I wish I had seen these when we visited the museum. We need to go again !

[@Fages1]

Love your videos Garrett. Have you visited Vindolanda on Hadrians wall in Britain? The writing tablets discovered there have to be one of Britains best archaeological discoveries and would be well worth a video.

[@toldinstone]

Much appreciated! Unfortunately, I've never visited Vindolanda. But I have plans to do so - hopefully next year - and when I do, I will certainly make a video.

[@Flash-Strike]

THANKS BROTHER GOD Bless YOU and Yours

[@susanhepburn6040]

Thank you very much.

[@EncinoLIVE]

This Channel seriously turns me on, Thank you for making these videos, you are bringing a lot of joy to us history nerds!

[@tombystander]

Can't articulate my appreciation enough for you explaining items as you show them. Very helpful to the lesser informed viewers lol

[@Benjaminwolf]

Thank you. I visited this part of the Vatican museum. At the time I found it hard to locate. Wish I could have stayed longer.

[@chemismokebender1362]

So so cool and fascinating

[@jtobin9159]

totally intriguing!

[@colinslant]

What a luxury to be able to wander around the Vatican museum without the crowds! It felt like being in a herd of sheep when I was there a couple of years ago. I was disappointed to find the tomb of the Scipios wasn't open to the public, but at least I got to see Barbatus' sarcophagus, along with so many other pieces I'd only seen photos of before, in the Vatican and Capitoline musea.

[@robbabcock_]

Wonderful! I'd love to see the Vatican Museums someday.

[@AndreyAndreyevich]

Thank you.

[@blakelowrey9620]

The dogs were my favorite. I have never seen something like that from the classical world

[@hakon5873]

Just joined patreon, lovely videos

[@mcoll6694]

WOW!!! The combination of your narration with visual examples indirectly reveals the roots of early modern Italian visual culture on so many levels. Did the pre-Roman conquista Greeks also depict wealthy patrons as gods in public art as well?

[@toldinstone]

The habit of presenting important people as gods really got started in the Hellenistic era, when Greek kings had themselves portrayed as gods or heroes. The Roman elite (and especially the emperors) adopted the convention a couple centuries later.

[@mcoll6694]

@@toldinstone very true! I forgot about that.

[@music_by_carlos]

love art love history im currently a art history major in college this is the best channel online love you!!!!!

[@helbitkelbit1790]

Art major........... Good luck with that

[@pierrefranckx6363]

"... the stab first, ask questions later sort of guy..." got me!

[@johnspurrier0001]

This is what YT was invented for. Thank you for the superb work!

[@BC-lo6rf]

Most Excellent

[@Doug6412]

Thank you for bringing back memories of a time when we could travel. I always feel saddened when I look at the Vatican museums. More like a magpie’s nest than a collection for education. More a statement of power than a celebration of human endeavour. Thank you for bringing a little part to life.

[@johndorilag4129]

huh

[@ralfjansen9118]

Well, after all it were the popes who made up the collection to show their power and wealth, they were the lords of Rome until the Italian unification

[@nuzzi6620]

Read the pinned comment. Hating on the popes is boring and inaccurate.

[@ralfjansen9118]

@@nuzzi6620 Nobody shows hate to the pope (I appreciate the museums) but one should accept the facts of history. And when I visited the museum last year (unprepared!), oh lord what a untidy mess of collections of the several popes, didactic measures was obviously not their thing. At the end of my visit, I just stumbled through the corridors hardly without looking left or right and was sure my legs got 2 inches shorter ;-) If you recommend a professional tour as a necessity, you just confirm our point.

[@nuzzi6620]

@@ralfjansen9118 My bad, the comment was not pinned. This is what I was referring to -- a comment from someone else: _To comprehend the seemingly callous "piled up" riches of the Vatican museums, consider this: The Holy See existed within the ruins of the Roman Empire's capital city. No church could be expanded, no palazzo remodeled, no well dug or street graded or field plowed without digging up Roman artifacts. The vast baths and temple complexes were stripped for the columns, marbles slabs and building stone that comprise the present monuments of Rome. The collection grew in leaps and bounds every time a building project was undertaken. The popes didn't go treasure hunting; the bounty fell into their laps. I'm grateful they didn't burn the marble sculptures for quick lime._

[@dirtyoldfarmhand3]

Bravo!

[@DefenderOfVirginity]

I was just gonna look this question up, you read my mind!

[@odd9238]

A video about the Roman mines would be interesting.

[@aka99]

i agree

[@fastertrackcreative]

"according to myth, Achilles fell in love with the amazon, *after* fatally wounding her. He was a stab first ask questions later sort of guy" 😆. Love that dry humour. I love your video essays/lectures.

[@MMijdus]

Beautiful stone carvings.

[@spookerd]

The title of your book makes me think of another book I own called "The Joy of Sexus" by Vicki Leon, and I'll be sure to pick it up soon as all your videos I've enjoyed thus far it'll be right up my alley.

[@deltanovember1672]

No pun intended?

[@tessat338]

I visited the Vatican Museum back in 1982 at Easter. I remember the statue of Laocoon because, yeah, that image is everywhere. I think that I remember the dogs but of course, I didn't know much Latin then and couldn't read the inscriptions. I'd love to go back again now. I especially remember the Bernini cherubs and the Sistine Chapel.

[@arshdixit1566]

more videos about museums please

[@silverkitty2503]

Wow ty

[@Pitbull00000]

I liked already, i watch it later when i got free time

[@philt4346]

How about that funky font on the Casali Altar inscription? It's stylistic in tune with current aesthetics.

[@33Donner77]

No crowds in early evening! That's the time to be in this museum.

[@ciprianpopa1503]

Not exactly. The museum is huge. Showing up late means that you'll be kicked off before seeing all of it .

[@kaltonian]

thank you, incredible history & art, the courtyard is so roman, time warp

[@babyyoda0U812]

Whoa !!!

[@BoomVang]

Thanks, what is that modern glass section of the Vatican that specializes in Roman and possibly Greek sculpture? Great lighting and worthy of capturing on an even higher resolution camera. Not too crowded since it is off the main path.

[@toldinstone]

That's the Gregorian Profane (i.e. pre-Christian) Museum. It was closed during my last couple visits to the Vatican Museums, but there are some wonderful artifacts there.