Were The Ancient Romans White? The Truth

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Were the ancient Romans white? Let's find out the truth.
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[@fierypickles4450]

"the romans pretty much thought everyone was beneath them and hated everyone equally" 😭😭 true equality

[@joshm3484]

Except the Greeks.

[@miaya3898]

So basically like the English?

[@miaya3898]

@@joshm3484 not really. While they admired Greek art and sciences they enslaved ordinary Greeks. If you you weren't a Greek scholar you were fooked

[@chase6579]

@@joshm3484 no, even the Greeks

[@chase6579]

@@miaya3898 like every other ethnic group in all of history tbh.

[@CrocodileTooth]

Oh the Romans were indeed very inclusive! Anyone who was not an actual Roman citizen could be made a slave regardless of race, color, ethnicity, creed or gender. Good commentary and analysis sir.

[@whatever5401]

True equality right there. Maybe we should learn from the Romans /s

[@ludovicus-5oh]

No ethnicity on Earth has ever been excluded, from being either a slave or a slaver.

[@AbsentMinded619]

Apart from the smaller or worse-equipped groups who WOULD own slaves if they could but couldn’t.

[@brokefangmagepunk3685]

@@AbsentMinded619 what groups do you have in mind? Tribal groups(Africa, North America, etc) would take slaves from other tribes but of the same race and that's with bow and arrow and wooden club type of warfare. And while not acquired through war one thing that is barely talked about is that American natives wanted booze, guns....and African slaves because they already practiced slavery, now they didn't have to fight their own to acquire them. I know not ALL natives did but a majority did practice it

[@adamwelch4336]

The bulk of roman slaves are abandoned babies left to die by Roman families

[@TreeGod.]

The problem is that we are not dealing with historians These articles are written by political activists

[@jackjones4824]

I have no idea why anyone would say this lol. Like regardless if it’s true (which the Roman’s obviously were white) it doesn’t have literally anything to do with or proves anything in modern American politics. I guess some people are just crazy.

[@matthewgordonpettipas6773]

Sadly, many historians traded in their history degrees for their activist hats too.

[@Azrael3176]

Ancient romans where diverse but they where arab people

[@GS-rw9og]

agreed!

[@angeloo7162]

These articles are written by underpaid interns who have no idea about the subject. They just make a 10 minute Google research, pick a couple of facts that enforce their argument and write an article about it.

[@v0rtexbeater]

Ah yes, the classic, "Europe is a melting pot but Africa is 101% black no matter the time period"

[@hislord1]

Strange, that sentiment in reverse is exactly the nonsense you get on this channel. Asian is genetically diverse, the people aren't the same, Africa is genetically diverse and the sub-Saharans aren't the same as the North Africans but when it comes to Europe, oh no, they're all White and they possibly couldn't be a melting pot of different groups even thought this channel claims Egypt and North Africa were a melting pot.

[@jaimescott8627]

Who says that?

[@Ali-fc1bv]

@@jaimescott8627 Afrocentrics

[@danielbrowniel]

Insecure people who appeal to flattery. Like people that think black people are the orginal Hebrews and (by the way that's flattering) Like people that think black people built the Gaza Pyramids (how impressive) Eventually black people will have built the wall of china because that's impressive too. It's kind of like black history month, all of the history is celebrative. And that's okay to do but it's also important to not be myopic with history. A HUGE amount of human history is deeply unflattering/ disturbing/ should inspire us to NOT be evil/ but you will find that when you come accross evil people Nazis for example, they prefer pride/ power and they prefer flattery it its super ironic that most of this flattery that evil people cling to is false. We simply have to be honest.

[@JustMe-no8el]

I think the narrative is that Africa is the melting pot and Europe is white historically speaking lol

[@just_a_turtle_chad]

I can't wait for the video, "Were the Zulu's black?"

[@peekaboo1575]

"Were the Chinese Asian?" Etc.

[@jasondreamboat9552]

Was the pope Catholic?

[@tabletoptales7679]

Exactly. The woke mobs would be pooping their pants.

[@the-real-Lovefist]

“Does a bear shit in the woods?”

[@ericvulgate]

Nobody knows but I heard he shits in the woods.

[@shawnotoole1421]

"Those who are offended by the truth cannot do anything but lie" was PERFECTLY stated! They are words to live by.

[@sbraypaynt]

My friend one day you’re going to realise that cuts both ways when people start deciding what they choose to be truth. Such as when people start saying that gender is not a spectrum because “sCiEnCe sAys So” Which it doesn’t if you do any research.

[@bobSeigar]

@@sbraypaynt Weird tribalistic statement here. For what it's worth, Science doesn't say anything about what a thing is, only what is it not. As for your Gender Identity bait, it is all made up. You have no 'Identity' attached to your gender, you have a series of proclivities, such as Neuroticism. Take a look at the Big 9, compare that to what you consider to be Identity, then rethink what sources you've consumed. One day, those who lie, will stop using labels to try and define what they cannot comprehend. It causes nothing but pointless division.

[@AURON2401]

The Noble Truth!

[@elsaeraser]

@@sbraypaynt You are absolutely right... if I identify as a cat, I biologically become a cat. But not if I identify as an Korean, because that is offensive, at least if I'm white... which is really weird, because race most definitely is a spectrum with many of us having ancestors from all over the world. Twitter logic I guess, but I bet with "do any research" you mean browse twitter. Clown world...

[@KnightofAges]

@@sbraypaynt Recently, because until not that long ago, the word "gender" simply didn't exist. It was made up in the Anglosphere in the 1950s by very dubious 'researchers' like John Money (whose extreme perverse experiments led children to commit suicide when they reached adulthood), and didn't reach outside the English speaking world it until the 1970s (and in some countries, much later). I'm not young (nor an Anglo), and I can assure you that, decades ago, we didn't use nor even knew what the term 'gender' was. We said 'sex', which was the only word used to describe all the things gender ideologists who espouse John Money's erroneous beliefs do when they talk about 'gender'.

[@tres5533]

Thanks for correcting stupidity in modern "journalism." I can see it's a full-time job. Well-done!

[@pinkblackdesign]

The obvious truth is, that Stalin was black, with the same complexion like POOtin

[@sryan9547]

This might be controversial but I think the Spartacus TV show portrayed this very well. It was very diverse, lots of nprthern european/african/middle eastern people in a variety of roles. Which was correct. But they were all gladiators or slaves... all of the powerful aristocrats were exclusively white Italians

[@Devin7Eleven]

I highly doubt they were as diverse as our modern cinema portrays them considering the distance people would have to travel back then and also the desire since humans naturally prefer to stick with their own familiar group

[@YannFranck]

@@Devin7Eleven it was possible that a slave could have been set free from his master and gain roman citizenship. If the particular slave was from one of the middle-east or one of the african provinces then he could live freely in Rome or any other city/province within the empire.

[@gerardfarresfranch7242]

@@YannFranck True, but at the same time, the journey wasn't easy nor was it cheap. How could a penniless former slave pay for the travel? Its not impossible to find an Ethiopian free man in Britain, but it would be so rare you would have an easier time finding a unicorn. If it were widespread there would be a lot of representation in medieval times, and less hatred, rather than believing black people were tainted by the devil

[@YannFranck]

@@gerardfarresfranch7242 i never said it has been widespread but possible. Former higher ranks from an african province who brought their slave with them to one of the cities near the mediterrian cities when they got promoted.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

@@Devin7Eleven Actually, circus gladiator slaves are one of the most believably diverse groups, because Roman patricians wanted to put up an extraordinary show to show off their wealth and power and to entertain the people. Thus having fighters who fought well AND looked exotic on top of that was a plus. Same reason why they imported lions and other exotic beasts for their arena games in Rome and other European cities instead of just sticking with those wild animals that would be native to Europe (like wolves and bears).

[@Obi-WanKannabis]

I once got into an argument on reddit about this, they tried to claim there was no evidence for their skin colour... Please, there is literal art that survived, paintings out there that show people who have the exact same skin colour as modern italians. I don't understand what is this obsession with making everyone black.

[@jmgonzales7701]

because they wanted to make it seem that sub saharans have a great civ.

[@johnh.mcsaxx3637]

It's something called Afrocentrism. It's more common with black Americans than actual Africans. Said Afrocentrism also claims the Mayans and Olmecs were black. It's like the opposite side of the coin with Aryanism - whereas that ideology presents whites as a master race, Afrocentrism presents blacks as a master race.

[@Winterfellen]

There's also DNA ffs

[@whathell6t]

@@johnh.mcsaxx3637 Do you actually have citations in MLA or APA format to back your claim about Afrocentrism?

[@shay5839]

@@johnh.mcsaxx3637 Lol! They claim they were the real native Americans, Jews, Egyptians, etc., too. 🥴

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

They often forget that there is a huge desert between North Africa and the rest of the continent, called the Sahara, that was much harder to cross than the Mediterranean Sea. Which is not helped by the fact that "Africa" meant modern-day Tunisia and not the entire continent at the time.

[@nataliekhanyola5669]

They did make it down to Ethiopia.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@nataliekhanyola5669 true, going up the Nile (or following the Red Sea) is surely the best way of crossing the desert. Still, that would mainly be relevant for Egypt.

[@adamprice3466]

White people couldn't survive in Sub Saharan Africa very long until modern medicine. In ancient through middle ages White populations would quickly die out from disease.

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@adamprice3466 yup, that's why Africa was colonised several centuries after America despite other factors being similar.

[@marcor3843]

All other ignorance factors aside, I feel also these kinds of articles tend to ignore, like you mention, the distances, or the geographical and travel time factors. It seems like they think there were trains and planes in the Ancient Era, and everyone could afford them and move effortlessly around the territory, probably during their paid vacation time, I guess, while withdrawing money from ATMs in Latin? Even with a ton of darker-skinned colored people in the Roman Middle East/North Africa, unless they were in the rich minority or traders they wouldn't really have the means to make it to the city of Rome to watch a show at the Colosseum.

[@rosemarie7705]

I greatly appreciate this video and I’m so happy to see someone who is speaking the truth. My grandparents immigrated to Cuba from Spain and England and I live in the United States and since I was a child I have always found myself in discussions, where with my friends defending my race that I am white and yet I’m told that I am not white because my parent’s were born in Cuba and it doesn’t matter that they are of European descent. It’s so tiring to have to go through this discussion and I find it as being racist. I look very European and especially Spanish and Italian and I am as white as a European American.

[@kimberlyvespa]

My husband’s family is from Cuba and mostly Spanish and French. Also, people thinking Cubans eat spicy food like tacos and burritos. Oh, brother!

[@matthewgordonpettipas6773]

Its the same with Mexicans. People seem to think, for whatever reason, Mexican is a race unto itself and that all Mexicans are brown. They don't know that Mexican is a nationality and there are Mexicans who are White, Black, Brown, what have you. Sure, if you want to say the original Mexicans (as in the Mexica, better as the Aztecs) were Brown, then by all means do so because its true. But saying Mexican itself is a race is ignorant.

[@kimberlyvespa]

@@matthewgordonpettipas6773 stereotyping! 👍

[@celeriacmarcus]

It depends how you look like.

[@KilianMuster]

Yeah Americans have a very weird definition of "white', usually you'd say Caucasian = white, but in the US they think Latinos aren't white. That would mean Spaniards, Portuguese aren't white either (nor me during the summer when I get a tan), so the literal conquerors of the Americas by the definition of some people in the US makes them people of color. So then white people aren't the devil, it was people of color who conquered other people of color after all? It's just too much cognitive dissonance.

[@jayt9608]

When you meet an Italian, you are meeting a descendant of Rome. So take a long look and decide. Lol

[@marcobelli6856]

@@Nin10dofan8in the north anywhere from 0 to 10% germanic. In the south 0-30% arab. But that was After the Western Roman Empire Fell. So they weren’t germanic and Arabs before they were just italic

[@user-cl7pm7zm3x]

No modern italians do not look like ancient romans. Cato the elder had red hairs light blue eyes, octavian was blond blue eyes sula the same and many others of whom we have accounts were way whiter than modern day italians. These descriptions are from ancient authors like plutarch and others. Many people we don't have an idea how they looked like just a description like "cleopatra was very beautiful" etc. but of course cleopatra doesn't looked like egyption since she was by blood 100% macedonian and some greek. Ptolemeins never mixed with egyptions, she might have some iranian aristocrtatic blood though

[@GraupeLie]

Another thing you mention just as a sidenote: Just because the Roman EMPIRE might have stretched to cover multiple ethnicities etc, that doesn't mean that all those different groups would have automatically been found in the city of Rome itself to a "modern" degree of multicultural and multiracial diversity.

[@siddhartagoutama4140]

I think it is not a question of any agenda, only an Anglo-Saxon would be such an idiot as to question whether the Romans were white or not. Yes, the Romans were white, but they did not look like a Brit or German, they looked like Italians or Spaniards, i.e. they were not all pale nor did their skin turn red in the sun(not extremely like an Anglo).

[@GraupeLie]

@Siddharta Goutama he said that in the video. The Romans were Europeans, ergo "white". Of course, the Romans in Italy would mostly look like the Italians we know today. Most Roman citizens in Hispania would resemble Spanish people, citizens of Gallia would resemble French etc. He said as much in the video and it will never cease to surprise me that this apparently needs to be pointed out, especially to people across the pond.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

@@siddhartagoutama4140 Yes Romans were West Eurasian. West Eurasian if we put it on a spectrum kinda ranges from Northern European on one end of that genetic spectrum to MENA at the other end, with Southern Europeans in the middle, as Masaman shows.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

Obviously it wouldn't be new York but there would be a fair few traders and merchants within said city. Most of the diversity would've been military though rather than anything civilian. Moving around in those days by yourself or in small groups was hard and it took a very long time.

[@GraupeLie]

@CyrustheChad🇹🇼 agreed, there would definitely have been a few people from, let's say, abroad. There would also have been slaves, obviously.

[@samg.5165]

Their mention of Septimius Severus couldn't be more ironic. At one point, Severus demanded that an Ethiopian soldier be removed from his sight on account of his supposedly "ominous" skin color.

[@mirror8519]

-why did you put your knee over that man's neck for 9 minutes? -His skin had an ominous look to it

[@mhd2680]

Septimius severus was born in Libya

[@samg.5165]

@@mhd2680 And Elon Musk was born in South Africa. Even if Septimius Severus had been from a native family, he'd have been Berber, most of whom are light to olive-skinned.

[@mhd2680]

@@samg.5165 And that’s a North African feature

[@samg.5165]

@@mhd2680 Yes, so I'm not sure what your point is.

[@yak55dvr39]

Metatron, Thank you for your thoughtful presentation on this topic. Your thought process and presentation is a solid model for a constructive way to approach issues of this nature. I can think of two points you might consider addressing to give more depth and understanding to your presentations (you may do this already in other presentations). You already do an outstand job of explaining that ancient Egypt, Rome were huge and consisted of may people of different backgrounds and cultures. But as you point out those societies were not multi cultural as we try to think today, where each culture was given equal respect, and usually other cultures were viewed as inferior. In addition, I am amazed at how much interaction and trade existed among the ancients. The book "The Year Civilization Collapsed 1177 B.C." (an excellent read - also good KZbin presentations) does a good job of fleshing out how extensive trade and interactions were between the ancient civilizations. But the first point, that may add depth to this, is to consider how long many of the ancient civilizations lasted. The United States is just a flash in the pan compared to ancient Rome, Greece, Persia, Egypt (you get the point). Even with the short life of the U.S. consider the vast changes that have occurred. An observation about the U.S made in one decade may be totally inaccurate in the next. Now consider a point made about Egypt or Rome at a specific time and think about whether it appropriate 100 years, or so, later. It is prudent to keep in mind that although change was less rapid in the past things were very fluid and given such great timespans one needs to be careful of the date of the observation and avoid generalizing one's point over the entire lifespan of the civilization. The last point is on race. I believe your observation that ancients would probably view anyone different from themselves in a very guarded manner is spot on. And given human nature to be comfortable of those who look like yourself and act like yourself is understandable; where as, it is also understandable to be warry of those who look different and act different from you. Those differences naturally would include language, dress, customs, body types, facial features and skin tone. And of course, being human, if you are different from me and mine then you must be somewhat inferior. From what I have encountered in my studies, the ancients had a number of markers that would mark their superiority over others, and where as skin tone was sometimes one of those markers, it never seemed to reach the top of the charts. (This may be because with large groups of people skin tone can change quite markedly depending on sun exposure while working). But this changed in approximately 1450 with a little book written by Gomes de Zurar, a Portuguese man. The book was commissioned by the King of Portugal to provide justification of the emerging, and very profitable, slave trade in African peoples. The premise of the book was that all dark skinned persons from Africa were bestial and inferior therefore slavery was good for them. The concept went viral in Europe and soon any excess of melanin made one fair game for exploitation. This was racism on steroids and was markedly different than how the ancients thought. A good Ted Talk on this topic can be viewed on KZbin under the title "The Lie that Invented Racism" by John Biewen. This is a critical shift in thinking about skin tone and anyone who wants to understand the race issue ignores it at their peril. I believe it would be very hard to find anyone referring to themselves as "white" before this book went viral. The concept of "whiteness" has, and is evolving. Note that, just a few decades ago, the Irish and Italians were not really considered as "white" and equal to the real European races in the good old U.S.A., but being the manganous people we are, we have finally admitted them into the "white" club (kind of - some are still not sure). Metatron, thank you for your consideration of these points. Keep up the good work.

[@pp38pp]

Compliments. Excellent commentary: intelligent, reasoned, based on a broad historical culture and the result of serious reflection. And being a long and interesting comment obviously it doesn't have any likes because the very ignorant social media users can't read more than two lines!

[@lancepage1914]

These articles are vastly different to what I was taught at school over 20 years ago now. It's amazing how much ancient history can change - even though it has already happened - in a space of 2 decades. 😆

[@ivorkovac303]

"I don't care if your message is good or bad, you should not change history to support it," --most important take away from this.

[@Stp-n-r]

that is what caucasians has been doing for all centuries, they change history to support their bad message.

[@ivorkovac303]

@@Stp-n-r If by "caucasians" you mean communists, then sure.

[@Stp-n-r]

@@ivorkovac303 not communists, the white supremacists.

[@ivorkovac303]

@@Stp-n-r Like Woodrow Wilson?

[@Stp-n-r]

@@ivorkovac303 if you think he belongs to that group.

[@polybian_bicycle]

The people who push the "Rome was multicultural" are abusing the ambiquity of the term itself. As an empire, Rome obviously had multiple cultures, and thus was multicultural in a sense. But that is not how the term is used usually. Multiculturalism is used to mean that your culture should not matter in how you are treated in the state. This obviously was not how Rome worked. The Latin culture was the norm, and if you failed to adhere to that, or the Greek culture, you were considered inferior.

[@woaddragon]

In many time, Greek culture was also particular dislike at well.

[@areyoutheregoditsmedave]

and the multitudes of cultures were mostly provincial and separate, rather than our modern idea of “multicultural” which means something more like all cultures occupying the same space and living harmoniously (which is a dubious utopian fantasy imo)

[@zekun4741]

True. An interesting fact is that the British Empire had a larger Muslim population than it had a Christian population. So based on the same criteria, you could say that the British Empire was a multicultural, multiracial and diverse empire. But when they slander the British Empire and, according to them, their many evil deeds and crimes, the British Empire stops being multicultural and becomes completely white and they blame the whites for the bad things.

[@woaddragon]

@@zekun4741 well,..., I am simplifying Gandhi here, but not quite.. see multicultural implied that all culture are treat equally, this was not the case in the British empire....a least according to the British empire.

[@Freawulf]

Exactly! The Roman Empire, or the British Empire for that matter, were multiracial and multiethnic but certainly not multicultural: there was a distinct prevailing culture in terms of ideology, laws, common principles, mores and so on...

[@kingjoe3rd]

The writer made the quip that "just because Rome is in Europe and Europeans are white doesn't mean that Romans were white" and then goes and does it for Africa which it still baffles me that these people don't seem to understand that all the black people in Africa mostly live south of the Sahara, hence Sub-Saharan African. This is a key point of historical revisionism in the US, which is why they think Hannibal was black as well as every Pharaoh, including the Ptolemy's.

[@guerino8945]

Congratulations. I would say the word "Eviscerate" is an appropriate description of what you have accomplished with your very exhaustive and accurate explanation. Thank you!

[@anonanon7497]

The example of the Ethiopian soldier in Britain is quite often used as an example of multiculturalism within Britain but they always seem to omit the part of the account where the commanding officer banished him upon seeing him, as he had never seen such a person before and thought his presence to be bad luck. The re-writing of history for modern political aims is terrifying.

[@citoante]

First gentile convert in the Bible was an Ethiopian eunuch.

[@warlordofbritannia]

I’m not sure how that disproves that the Roman Empire was multicultural. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s just more proof. The Romans had a more or less explicit policy of using troops from one side of the Empire to garrison the other, in order to reduce regional loyalties.

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@citoante Heck, the first officially Christian nation wasn’t Rome but Armenia. Rome wasn’t the second either-that was Axum, embryonic Ethiopia

[@jdr1767]

@@warlordofbritannia you are mixing multiracial and multicultural. They are not the same

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@jdr1767 Back then, race was determined by ethnicity not skin color, so it really comes down to same thing. Either way, Rome was *both* multiracial and multicultural-Gauls, Nubians, Greeks, Italians, Iberians, Jews, etc. all living under a single entity.

[@charliebrownnz1]

That articles argument is like saying that Victorian England would have been a mix of African, Indian and polynesian people because the commonwealth contained many races.

[@spock_elvis]

Except that's what it was...

[@crowe6961]

@@spock_elvis Wrong, go troll somewhere else.

[@Neion8]

@@spock_elvis In 1971 my city - Birmingham - was 91% white (census wasn't as discriminatory back then so I can't tell you what % were British), given that's post-windrush the only way it could've been more multicultural 100 years prior is if we somehow conducted a secret and fully successful genocide between then and now without leaving a single but of evidence like bones or families abroad noticing the disappearance of loved ones. 50 years later it's 48% white with only 43% white british, so yeah these days there are more non-native people here than natives but that's far from always been the case. Pretending otherwise is like portraying native American tribes in the 1600's as caucasian just because caucasians later invaded marginalised and intermingled with them.

[@romaimparatoru4905]

@@Neion8 do you feel sad about it? Just curious

[@drakron]

@@spock_elvis No, problem is people try to apply modern mobility were back then there was no airplanes and se voyages took weeks if not months and automobiles were not even a thing, roads were made for carriages and you can forget about highways as those would only come about in the 1940's. To get from South Africa to England it would take months of travel and expensive one at that, most people would only travel if they absolutely had to, this mean even if there was a mix of people overall distances make populations more or less contained to their regional areas, even the wealthy that could afford travel usually did not because, again, being stuck on a boat for 3 months isnt exactly "fun".

[@Jesse615]

I love your discussion of Claudius! I think you are correct about his "Gaulish" origins. Because, about 800 years later, crowning the truly "barbarian" Charlemagne emperor caused quite a stir in the Eastern Empire at the time. So making an actual Celtic Gaul emperor during Claudius' time would not have happened.

[@joefish6091]

Caesar was a nephew of Marius, Augustus was a nephew of Caesar, Claudius was a stepson of Augustus.

[@kennethscott4997]

A Celtic Gaul is not genetically distinct from an Italian Roman, they called each other barbarians but are really the same race, it's a cultural distinction.

[@Jesse615]

@@kennethscott4997 They are both related as Indo-Europeans, but no, Gauls were Celtic, Romans (not citizens of the Roman Empire) Italic -- a different people.

[@spooderderg4077]

​@@kennethscott4997they were both Caucasian. But Roman and Celtic are not genetically that similar. The reason most scientists reject the old race system where melanin levels were king is because there's roughly the same amount of genetic differences between say Ireland and Italy as Ireland and Nigeria, so it's more appropriate to just use each culture and only use melanin concentration for that which is specifically related to melanin amounts like certain cancers and mineral/vitamin deficiencies.

[@Jesse615]

@@_JollyRoger666 Yes! Hard agree! This is, I believe, more or less documented as to why the eastern Frankish realm will start calling itself The Holy Roman Empire. And later, would lead to the Reformation in England. As well, I noticed in my college Art History that one of the first times Jesus is depicted enthroned and wearing Imperial robes, as an Emporer, was not by Italian Romans, but the Germanic Ostrogothic kings of Italy (Santa Apollinare in Ravenna).

[@Jobby2077]

Same reason I hate the whole 'Hannibal was African, therefore he was sub-saharan African black' argument because it completely ignores societal and cultural pressures that shape a demographic. He was from a ruling Punic family and would've looked like a modern middle eastern person. If anything it's harmful to the history of another minority (in the US, where I see a lot of articles about this) by replacing it with something of an entirely separate culture.

[@Mortablunt]

Basically, Roman Judaeicans, Aegypticus, Phoenecas, and Punicos would look like the guy who runs your Halal shop; moderately swarthy, tan easily, but clearly not truly dark.

[@admirekashiri9879]

We don't know what he looked like. Mind you, there were black people in Carthage that being said we don't know how they were seen or treated. We see Carthaginian art of black people as warriors and some on signet rings known as Phoenician Scarab Corpus, Oxford University has examples. But, again we don't know what these mean. Plus mind you the Etruscans minted a coin with a black man's face on it during the Second Punic War, yet again who.this is or what this black person symbolises we don't know. Some speculate it represents Hannibal or his brother, others an elephant rider symbolising Carthaginian strength, again we may never know. I doubt its Hannibal mind you the people Figure on the coin looks young.

[@FlagAnthem]

I find interesting how these anti-prejudice brigades automatically assume that these people from middle-east or northern Africa MUST be dark or "brown" no exception. SPOILER: Doctor Zhivago was played by a Syrian-Egyptian actor

[@elimalinsky7069]

And even if Hannibal wasn't ethnically Phoenician, he would have still been from what is now Tunisia, which had a Berber population, who would have been caucasian and definitely not Sub-Saharan African. Berbers living along the Mediterranean coast are closely related genetically to Middle Easterners, a result of a migration wave of Neolithic farmers from the Natufian culture of the Levant 9,000 to 7,000 year ago.

[@steventaylor8918]

It completely ignores the formidable barrier of the Sahara desert that shaped demographics too.

[@darthcalanil5333]

I come from a town in the middle of Syria that has been continuously inhabited since at least 6000 B.C. I have been called "White" more times than I could count. One of my childhood friends wouldn't be distinguished were he called Polish, while another is as darker skinned as an Arab from the desert. And there are people who look like everything in between. Go to Italy and travel from north to south. The cultural divide aside, you can easily notice a different "look" to the people. Living almost anywhere around the Mediterranean will make people look a shade darker than a scandanavian but lighter than a Beduin. Migration, ancient colonies and similar climate will do that over thousands of years. Many legionaries from Syria were stationed in Britain, and sure they looked different than the Britons, but they hardly looked much different than the italians, greeks and Spaniars in there (main differences were cultural in how they dressed, shaved,...etc). If you go to north Africa and travel between Morocco to Egypt, you will also find a massive variety of people of all colours. It's honestly almost insulting when some modern Americans with their own political agenda try to project and frame the history of the region (and the people living here) to what suits their narrative.

[@siruristtheturtle1289]

Americans and (to a minor extend) europeans not getting that lighter or "white" facial features can arise in places other than Europe or be brought to other regions of the world is one of the most common historical misconceptions they have, only surpassed by "the enterity of Africa is black". Variations in skin tone and complexion are inevitable in big empires, and not even old nations like Egypt were void of their own "diverse" populations between the Nile delta and their southern border. This doesn't mean they were literal british-tier whites+sub-saharan africans. Most of them were fairly related ethnic groups that looked slightly different due things as mundane as climate. Ultimately, human populations are very complex things that can't be easily clasified as "white" (and thus american) and non-white (and thus african/chinese/native american). Ethnicity and race is of course real, but there is much, much more than the five or six that make up the current North American population, something that sadly pop culture seems to always forget.

[@maaziy_ghaziyIYI]

Very well said my Syrian brother. There are some Bedouins who have white skin tone as well. Same thing with some of the Yemenis too. There are some Yemenis who look white. And if you were go to Southern India, you will be surprised to find that there are Indians who have skin tone blacker than Africans. Unfortunately, with the rise and dominance of Northern Europeans led by the Brits and now Americans, the white skin tone came to be associated with them. Ancient empires like Roman and modern states like America are based primarily on race/ethnicity. It was mainly in the Muslim empires that ethnicity, nationality and race became secondary. The Rashidun Caliphate, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Ayyubids, the Seljuks, the Ottomans, the Mughals in the Subcontinent (which included Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma and possibly Tibet) Muslim kingdoms in China Xinjiang (Uyghurs), Malaysia, Indonesia and even the Philippines etc. were multiracial, multiethnic and multilingual. True diversity was on display in these Muslim empires.

[@darthcalanil5333]

@@maaziy_ghaziyIYI we're going to have to agree to disagree when it comes to the Islamic empires. The Umayyads were racist Arabs, the Abbasids racist Persians, the Ottomans and Saljuks racist Turks. Of course I'm massively exaggerating. but the point is that overall none of them were any more or less based on race than the Romans and Persians before them. But regardless of the political entity ruling the area, the people there are diverse all the same whether you call them "white" or "black" or any other modern nonsense in between.

[@SeasideDetective2]

My understanding is that "white" wasn't used often to refer to people until Europeans be gan to distinguish themselves from sub-Saharan Africans during the early years of the African slave trade. So all of the "color words" as we understand them today date to the Renaissance at the very earliest. (Interestingly, "brown" was originally used to refer to "Malays," or Southeast Asians, rather than MENA people or Latin Americans.)

[@MohdHilal]

Your white because you are turkish

[@elisabettamacghille4623]

Met ti posso dire che secondo me sei un grande attore? Mi piace come riesci ad essere ironico ma mai davvero aggressivo! Le espressioni! Non ne sbagli una, mi sono scoperta a sorridere esattamente quando tu lo volevi! Sei GRANDE!

[@Oskarelu]

*Fun fact:* Speaking of Claudius's origin in Lugdunum, said Emperor nearly died in his birthplace. When Claudius, as a member of the Senate, visited Caligula during his journey through Gaul, the mad Emperor, who took pleasure in mistreating his uncle with cruel jokes, had him thrown into a river for an absurd reason. Miraculously, Claudius survived and Caligula spared his life so he could continue mistreating him. Despite nearly dying there, Claudius never forgot his birthplace, visiting Lugdunum again during his conquest of Britannia.

[@Ockhamsbarber2392]

Average Caligula antic

[@bigcrackrock]

It's so savage I can almost respect it

[@JukeBoxDestroyer]

most of what is said about Caligula are lies recited by his enemies, namely members of the elitist senatorial class, not a valid resource.

[@Oskarelu]

@@JukeBoxDestroyer But it's known that Claudius was bullied by everyone since he was a child, so it's perfectly possible that Caligula (who was a bad emperor without any doubt despite how unreliable the sources are) treated him like sh*t

[@christopherellis2663]

Lyons, the Rhône is very wide there.

[@joewilson2602]

I just discovered your channel and subscribed right away. Awesome, awesome.

[@RonG.Comedy]

Sir, this is my first time having your channel come up on my feed. I like it. I have just subscribed .

[@coleparker]

As a retired Archaeologist with a University minor degree in History, I find your youtube videos both informative and entertaining. One thing I will mention is your comment on the researchers who make claims about black emperors, and other issues. I sympathize with your frustration about the use of simplistic reasoning and conclusions, as I have dealt with it in my field as well.

[@Simba365]

Are you referring to the etruscan emperors of Rome?

[@coleparker]

@@Simba365 I was not referring to any one Emperor or Emperors.

[@cordellsenior9935]

Oh, if only one of my public-school history teachers were half as clear and fascinating. i don't' know HOW I absorbed what I learned. I was a poor study in lower grades, but I paid attention and remembered impressive facts. The ability of a teacher to present factual knowledge to an assembly in an engaging or entertaining way goes miles and miles toward "learning". I love this man's work.

[@coleparker]

@@cordellsenior9935 Totally agree. You always remember a few lower grade teachers that you had. I was a poor study in the lower grades, it was not until I got into college did I start doing well in studies.

[@gusmacker919]

The Table Of Nations states that the children of Japheth inherited the European Isles. Japheth brother was Ham the progenitor of all the dark races Ethiopians Egyptians Libyans and the Canaanites but not the negro. The Book of Jasher says that the children of Japheth made Zepho the grandson of Esau King over them and they became one people. Before Rome was Rome it was called Kittim or pronounced Chittem . He was the the son of Javan, the grandson of Japheth, and Noah's great-grandson. If Ham was Black that means all his brothers and father were too. White is a recessive trait.

[@mrkisukes]

These types of writers view the idea of "diversity" strictly through their narrow, politically progressive urban environments. They'll see an empire spanning across multiple regions and rather than think the obvious explanation of separate, ethnic pockets, they assume they've suddenly become ethnically diffused.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

Exactly. It'd of only been that way in the military and the trading and merchant classes. It was hard to move around in those days with sich vast distances

[@remo27]

@@ManiacMayhem7256 Yep. Sure, occasionally in the Colleseum , you'd see a wealthy King (being feted by the Roman Emperor) or rich merchant and his or her family. They might be black as coal. But they'd be in a sea of a mixture of Italian-white and German-white people. So there's room for black actors. Heck, you could probably even have a few East Asian people as traders or exiles. But as all you guys are saying, they'd be vastly outnumbered and their cultures often considered inferior at worst, curiosities at best.

[@ThisTall]

Their definition of diversity is to implement the fastest possible way to eradicate all diversity in to 1 race.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

@@remo27 Indeed. Also those actors better be Nilotic or Cushitic rather than Bantu

[@learnguitarat6043]

What a refreshing and intelligent view! I'm subscribing!!

[@fernandof.bompard5388]

Amazing video mate, u just got a new subscriber here!

[@Soyfunnykids]

they were duh look at the statues, clearly white

[@cursedcaracal04]

AYACTCHUALLY

[@Intranetusa]

They were white, but ironically Anglo Americans discriminated against Italians in the 1800s as white ethnics or less than full white due to their bizarre racist ideologies. Italians and Irish were placed next to African Americans near the bottom of the 1800s American racial hiearchy by Anglo Americans.

[@hollywoodsaint57]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@sowpmactavish]

Except for the few token black statues

[@HontasFarmer80]

Sarcasm?

[@michaelbardill5310]

I have worked for over 40 year as an Osteo-archaeologist, mainly in London. Over this time period I have excavated and analysed 100s of Roman period human remains, most were morphologicaly European, meaning WHITE!

[@4566b]

The thing is a ancient roman wouldnt care that he is white because someone from a germanic tribe is white too. And all these questions are stupid, why shouldnt romans be white if the majority of native people there is white(some are kinda brown if we are honest). Finding out that romans were white is like finding out that water can freeze. And racism back then in the roman empire is closer to the racism in the Balkan than the Race-racism in the usa

[@pawewalitos3505]

KZbin will soon censor such a statement🤣

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@4566b “White” (or skin color in general) as a racial identifier is a quite modern concept. As your comment implies, they would have been more interested in what we would now call ethnicity. Thus, referring to any group of ancient peoples as “white” or “black” is highly anachronistic.

[@4566b]

@@warlordofbritannia thats what i meant

[@jamilajaber3077]

they look more like Osama Bin Laden than Trump or any white person, they copied all the knowledge from Middle East and North Africa. Whites bragging about Greece or Rome are like a Sri Lankan bragging about China

[@joshuadewaal]

I loved hearing your pronunciation of the emperors.

[@winloseorrug7099]

I would definitely like some links to substantiate this information :)

[@shellysands7342]

I absolutely love that you are so passionate about truth in history. How can we ever hope to learn from the past if people rewrite it to fit their own narrative and agenda. Thank you for speaking out.

[@shellysands7342]

@@bastiat4855 did you even listen to what he said. 🤦‍♀️

[@sergiodiaz2725]

@bastiat Watch the video

[@eminentbishop1325]

@@shellysands7342 dont need to watch the video to know that what our cat-god friend here is saying is not a controversial point. They're just saying that Rome was a multicultural empire so simplifying it by defining it as white or non-white is akin to saying nothing at all. Also i watched the video. He circled half of the empire and idk if you know this or not but the other half was actually the more populous side during the height of the empire. The need to assign the concept of modern racial identity to the Romans is just stupid. Cracked was dumb and Metatron is just feeding the problem by engaging with this idea on their level. Its a moot point. Romans were not white or black they were Romans and they would see anyone not like them as dirty and uncivilized

[@ailediablo79]

The most tolerant states are within Muslim world. Then old Persia as a close second. First Caliphate, Abasised and the many Sultanates and Emirates during second half of the Abasised times and later after 1258. Then comes Ottoman then Ummayad. Ummayads where least tolerant as they where threatened as they where corrupt and unauthentic ruling by absolute force and lowest justice levels. Ottomans second because of what they done after 1908 and because they took a harsh stand in the Bulkens (as they keept rebelling as they are hardcore Christians and it us a warzone and unstable the feather u are from capital Constantinople and nobles of the area are tricky people and annoying. Christians in Levant and Egypt as a majority and where fine) plus they where the least Islamic based power in history (not couting for Mughal, bearly a Muslim power. They are Mongoli first turk second and Muslim third - they care about power alone. They killed even Muslims in large genocide numbers. It dependson ruler and times. Half of the rules where evil.). Revolutionized the world in everything. They basically did what old Persia does but also not allowed into military and only adult men pay taxes whom low only symbolic on an individual level. Also rich Muslims pay more taxes. Not so rich Muslims don't pay the Zakat but get payed zakat. Zakat for any unfortunate person but Muslims take first priority, as money came from rich Muslims only. Zakat is 2.5% of your entire wealth. Income base tax is to non-muslims, it goes from 5 to 10% with no GST on anything. That is the only tax you pay at the end of the year. Somebody else can pay the tax for you if necessary. Rich non-muslims are responsible on that. If you are disabled or old don't pay taxes too. You very likely to het hlep from Zakat infact. Non-muslims get full autonomy with their own areas and their own police, law and court. Only Muslims whom believe in Islam are put to follow Islamic jurisprudences. Christians and Jews whom peaceful and frindly plus pay taxes are to be protected with Muslim lives. It is a responsibility and honor. Protected means too to be fully just and equally soft. Justice is Islam most important and highest value, which is freedom truth and peace an element within Justice, that makes justice. Justice has to be for all unconditionally - even to the enemy in war and battle no matter what. Of course despite that Muslims are in control and the ones whom rule plus at a higher level than others. As they are the ones incontrol of the government, military, police organization, intelligence and control economy. They also own most of the land. They are in power. Also in time of peace a Muslim more important than a non-muslim and non-Abrahamic are theird place. However, this is an collective thing of thought hiden and doesn't get shown only sometimes if necessary when necessary to show who is the boss here and who decides stuff in command and control with power and authority. Of course non-muslims have to give respect to Muslims. Especially when they are got conquered, despite many hleped from within them too. Those did hleped are rewarded havely of course. There was some shanghais from time to time. But they are they are that bs stuff. Mostly done by Ummayads and Mughal. Some of those done by Ottoman too. But first Caliphate and Abasised had nothing to do with that. To see real Islam in action Prophet times and first Caliphate are the go to. Then Abasised, then Ottomans. Note: Since 1908 there is no state that does Islam even decently acceptable level. Ottoman where 5050 not so good but the best available. 80% of the requirements needs to be fulfilled at least. Even Sauid Arabia since it is beginning does not fulfill 10%. There is issues even on a local level but most issues is to come with their politics , foreign policy, attacking Muslims in Yemen, stupidity, not being independent and being an absolute Monarchy. Sultanate and kingdom are mot really the same. Even a sultan is not above the law. But Sauid family is above the law. Islam is not 100% against non-absloute kingdoms but regarded undesirable only. Absolute monarchy is not allowed as God is the king and with highest authority. But in Sauid Arabia by law the word of the king are more important than God. But mostly don't use it in the wrong way as it has consequences. This is one of the issues with MBS. Which is why u see the current social changes which is non-Islamic and bad. Except for one change which was social construct , not based on Islamic jurisprudences - women not driving car ,but still can use horses though. Which doesn't make sense. It contradict Islam or comes in conflict with Islamic jurisprudences. As sll kids have to learn to do horses why would women not be allowed to ride a car then ? It was a local cultural stuff. Remember Islam is above culture it is not a culture or cultures. There is tone of non-Islamic stuff that is cultural in Muslim world that Islam fights against. That is why education and knowledge is important in Islam.

[@bodyrumuae2914]

@@eminentbishop1325 I don't see how making a claim is akin to not making a claim at all. One requires proof to support it, the other requires nothing.

[@AlternateKek]

Based History Man emotionally destroys history revisionist in 16 minutes.

[@DrCruel]

PRO: People of all races and cultures could be found in the Coliseum. CON: They were used as live food for carnivorous animals during halftime shows.

[@m.h.lockesteppe9834]

Shitters gonna shit.

[@DrCruel]

@@m.h.lockesteppe9834 Especially when they see those lions running towards them.

[@GhostSal]

Unfortunately the revision is his, and before you go into anti-wøke attack mode, you should know I detest the wøke movement… I just disagree with his assessment and here is why. 28 Universities in Europe under the lead of Oxford University, did DNA surveys for the inhabitants of Europe. They found that Southern Italians are most closely related to Greeks. Southern Italians are also most closely related to the Ancient Romans. While Northern Italians are most closely related to Northern Europeans. To simply label us all with one racíal group identity, such as whïte, isn’t accurate. Italians, Greeks, much of Spain and Portugal all have our own racíal identity that is unique to us and separate from the rest of Eurøpe. With the French as the inbetween group, both like us and them. It isn’t only DNA, it’s language (Latin vs Germanic), it’s culture and it’s different domínant physical characteristícs (such as darker hair, skin, etc…). There was in fact animosity in Italy for a long time based on separate ràcíal identities. Not just Italy but in the US Southern Italians weren’t seen as whíte for a long time. So the history and the DNA studies contradict what he stated. I do enjoy his videos but he isn’t correct on this. Metatron is welcome to self īdentify as whíte, he’s ínaccurate to describe us all that way.

[@charliesargent6225]

@@GhostSal Your assessment based on one study isBS. And even this study does NOTHING but distinguish different ETHNIC groups NOT RACES. Southern Italians are still European which is WHITE. Do you know Germans, Swedes, Irish, Slavs, Scots were all considered not white, but different ethnicities in the US? Only the descendants of original English colonist were considered white. Yet we all know all Europeans are white whether Latin, Nordic, Germanic etc.

[@rameybutler-hm7nx]

I wonder if metatron has had the oppertunity to read the novel series Casca? I would love to hear his point of view on the books.🎉

[@janstan8407]

I had a HUGE online comment war with someone who thought Africans could be legionnaires in Claudius's time because they saw it in a Dr Who show. They called me ignorant because I didn't recognize Africans and other ethnic groups could become Romans. They just didn't know the WHOLE picture. What else is new right?

[@Drakemiser]

They are trying to make Severus as black, which is funny because he’s one of the few where we have complete genealogy on him; he was italic and Phoenician/cannan/Tyrinian.

[@mrtrollnator123]

He was not black

[@jmgonzales7701]

he probably looked like a semite

[@Drakemiser]

@@jmgonzales7701 yes. He was half Phoenician(Semite) and half Italic. We actually have the genealogy of his mother and father.

[@jmgonzales7701]

@@Drakemiser thats cool

[@Drakemiser]

@David_Icke12349 hey, I’m American and I know history and geography. Don’t think we’re all ignorant. We just live far from the old world. A lot of Americans know about central and South America. Your knowledge of history is usually based around where you were born. But yes, I am an American that knows the history of antiquity from Sumer to Assyria to Egypt, Babylon, Mede/Persian,Greek and Roman. I like history.🇺🇸

[@ducati-uv1ov]

When I first saw the title I did not even watch I assumed this was something else. Very well done. I agree with most of what you said. Being Italian and a history buff I had read lots of information around ancient society in the roman empire and the movement of tribes throughout. This was just a good commonsense take on what happened back then. A+

[@metatronyt]

Grazie! 🙏

[@blanska]

"What difference does 2000 years make?" We, Hungarians supposedly hung out in Asia for a very long time (and supposedly originated in Asia, our language definitely did), then we moved into the Carpathian basin more than a 1000 years ago, and we've been looking very white European (for the most part, obv) for hundreds of years :D

[@ralphg2771]

I think the problem is most of the time, when they make a movie about the Romans, they always use people of Northern European Heritage. Both the Greeks and Romans noted they were generally darker and shorter than their northern neighbors. One could attribute darker skin due to their usual "olive" skin color and southern Italy being sunnier, but one also has to keep in mind the noted height difference. Way too many movies have a tall dude who looks like hes from Britian, or Norway playing a Roman instead of some more representative of Romans of the era. They're especially bad concerning this when it comes to the Greeks.

[@trentblackwell6203]

I would imagine they would have a tan bc of the nice Mediterranean weather.

[@Devin7Eleven]

I mean, after seeing Italians and Greeks many of them are tall and just as white. They definitely have different facial features and generally are never blonde. I go off of what I see on the murals and mosaics they made. Romans generally had apricot skin with reddish brown or black hair.

[@ralphg2771]

@d-7113 the Greeks and Roman's both wrote how northern Europe were taller and had pale skin compared to them, and they noted things such as blonde hair. Some Roman females were known to dye their hair blonde because how it's was very rare in Rome and even more rare in Greece.

[@skylinelover9276]

​@@ralphg2771Greeks and Romans are mixed neolithic Anatolians, Indo Europeans and Mediterranean J2, R1a, R1b and E-v13

[@skylinelover9276]

​@@ralphg2771real Hellenic and italics are white skin because they are Indo European originated in step North caucasus Russia... While they migrated to Greece and Italy in bronze age they mixed to the natives like neolithic Anatolians and Mediterranean

[@user-tm5em4vu7u]

100 years ago, the US government and Britain didn’t even consider the Spanish, Portuguese, Italians and Greeks to be “whi-te.”

[@robertbosson5223]

This revisionism is endemic today, especially in schools. Thank you for calling it out.

[@chinchilla415]

It's a bit on the nose.

[@GSteel-rh9iu]

Elementary schools? Universities?

[@WickedScott]

Yeah and I've met young people that already think that way. It's working.

[@pavelm.gonzalez8608]

*Wokeism* (= *Posmodernism* ) is just the result of the miseries / damaged caused (effectively, in most cases) by: *1) The USA* / *UK* (= the *English Empire* in general), *2) France* (also before but especially on the XIX - XX centuries), *3) Germany* (= the birth place of the *Protestant Reform* & modern racism / antisemitism) or even *4) Netherlands* (which only succesfull colony is: *Southafrica* ). In other words, the modern countries who really control the *_"Western Civilization"_* discours (in which mediterranean countries and actually closer to the traditional west just like: *Greece* , *Italy* and *Spain* ... are now merely puppets) are the ones who export these *_"woke"_* identity politics / activism (which actual roots are more other bullshit than just simply marxism!! xd) and could also be the main responsible on the balcanization (= fragmentation / destruction of human society and real nations) above the rest of the world.

[@Hwite_Knight]

To be fair revisionism has always been prominent in academia. The only difference is that now the lies are so blatant they've become more noticeable to the average person.

[@jonhudson3568]

I get into this discussion quite a bit at my work, and one thing I've noticed too is that ALLOT of people forget that in cases like Egypt, Anatolia and Persia, the ruling classes there by the time of Roman occupation/conquest would have been very Greek..if my memory serves me, the Ptolemy's couldn't speak the Egyptian language and wrote their records in Greek

[@NSC776]

You know the Ptolemaic dynasty existed closer to our current time than to the creation of the pyramids right? The demographic of the ruling class during the vast majority of ancient Egypt wasn’t remotely white.

[@jonhudson3568]

@@NSC776 yes, the Ptolemy's existed closer to us, you can see in all the depictions and hieroglyphics of the vast majority of Egyptian history that they wouldn't have been white, however, by the time Rome had their interactions and occupation of Egypt, the Ptolemy's had been the ruling dynasty for over 2 centuries

[@Manlio.Cipullo]

@@NSC776 We are speaking of theRoman Empire and Cleopatra and her brother were from the Ptolemaic dinasty...

[@palpaladin315]

The Romans were very Greek! It was "The Greek world", much the same vibe as when we say "the western world" today. The Empire formed in todays Dalmatian region of former Illyria; but the Republic formed long before it, as part of the Greek states. When the regional power shifted to the Roman Republic, hegemony had begun to take root already, and that was when the rot began to form. Hegemony is the rot of a failing Democracy. Prior to Ptolomae, Egypt had never known even 50yrs of self rule. After 300yrs of revivalism, you think the Romans woulda just gone there and done whatever they wanted? Hell no! 😅 The Dynasts wouldn't have it. They all geographically connected, already.

[@thomassenbart]

@@NSC776 I don't know what you are basing your analysis upon concerning the skin color of ancient Egyptians. If you look at the DNA evidence gathered, they had less than 8% Sub Saharan DNA; Rameses II hair color (red), looking at the statuary, paintings etc...what you see are Caucasian people, who likely had various skin tones, most of which were likely just as they are now in Egypt, white, light brown, sallow complected i.e. Mediterranean looking folk.

[@taurusgirl240]

Thank you for combating the woke insanity with hardcore unadulterated TRUTH. Reality doesn’t love or hate…it just IS.

[@cornnflaek6234]

What has this got to do with ‘woke insanity’?

[@gene-van]

This video is a response to the woke propaganda post mentioned by the author. You'd notice this if you really watched the video before commenting.

[@classicnosh]

@@gene-van - This has nothing to do with "woke" though. Re-writing history for one's politics isn't "woke", it's just stupid.

[@SuperReyand]

I admire how you even got energy to respond to that nonsense. Very good video!

[@LandofNodnuts]

Great video, if you want to kick a hornet nest, talk about "Cleopatra" and what she may have looked like.

[@forrestdorman4870]

I mean….she had a Greek heritage who rarely married out side of the family. What do they THINK she would look like?

[@benb6060]

@Nin10dofan8 Ironically that logic is pretty racist. Completely ignores the Varity in ethnicities in Africa, especially the typically more lighter skinned North Africans

[@shegocrazy]

@Solur Some people are even crediting most of Western culture as being created by sub Saharan Africans lol. How they managed to all but disappear from Europe for a couple thousand years is never explained lol.

[@neiska25]

@Solur I think such claims are funny since we can literally trace their family tree and in some cases their DNA. But you will never hear the other side mention actual scientific proof, only vague claims of hidden histories and unfounded claims of whitewashing. Even more so since in most cases there are literal physical proof such as minted coins, busts, statues, ceramics, all depicting what they looked like, and the people who want to change history always ignore the obvious depictions of darker toned people.

[@dieterich6533]

Cleopatra was from a Macedonian family, hence she was white. We can’t say that without woke wankers getting offended.

[@Oskarelu]

Germanicus: "It hurts me so much the cruel way everyone treats you, Claudius. I can't stand it when they imitate your stuttering and stammering..." Claudius: "Y-Yeah. Being a Gaul li-living in Rome is not so-something easy, you know?" Germanicus: "...What?"

[@esti-od1mz]

Technically, he had italic ancestry: he descended from roman aristocrats (still funny, though)

[@pinchevulpes]

Degenerates like you belong on a cross

[@Oskarelu]

@@pinchevulpes Bro, are you ok?

[@pinchevulpes]

@@Oskarelu you ever played fallout new Vegas? I don’t very much like seeing you on all my favorite channels farming for likes either.

[@GB-ko8cv]

There are two things certain in the world: that the Roman Empire was one of the most wonderful cultures in the world, if not the most wonderful culture that ever existed, and at least one comment from the last Caesar under every video that talk about it 😅

[@thomasmcnulty554]

I find this very refreshing and I think that this gentleman has got it extremely right and should be applauded

[@AF-ei5yi]

Some articles are like they've been written by 12 yo not because of the writer its because of the reader. The writers of the daily mail have said they write as if their readers are 15yo

[@user-tm5em4vu7u]

This concept of “wh-te” is a very Northern European concept! The Spanish and Italians and Greeks usually don’t have this!

[@zasshulad2619]

I find it ironic when people say "Rome wasn't white" but will turn around and call people from the near east, Semitic people, etc. white or say that Italians aren't white. I feel as though they are almost consistently disingenuous because what they picture in their mind as "white".

[@EPUEPUEPUEPU]

He conveniently left out the recent genetic study on Rome. You can to if you want.

[@pXnTilde]

A lot of what they do is projecting. Take "well clearly orcs are stand-ins for black people and so having orcs in DnD is racist." Well, I never made that association, so who's the actual racist here?

[@zasshulad2619]

@@EPUEPUEPUEPU There are many genetic studies all the time be more specific or go away because you're being disingenuous otherwise. If you're talking about the study from 2019 that shows that genetically many immigrants in the heart of the empire were from the near east I hate to break it to you but that study shows less than 1/4 of the population and near easterners are white in terms of skin tone unless you want to tell me southern Europeans aren't as they functionally share a skin tone as do most people who live on the Mediterranean.

[@EPUEPUEPUEPU]

@@zasshulad2619 The fact that people read your response and upvoted you saying near easterners are white in skin tone is what is disingenuous

[@laju6398]

@@EPUEPUEPUEPU so you choose ad hominems instead of providing any information about the study you meant? Great job my dude.

[@CurtisCT]

I'm always amazed when people wonder and speculate what the ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, ancient Egyptians, or ancient ________ (insert favorite civilization) looked like. I'm amazed because there's no need at all to wonder, just look at the artwork they left of themselves. There's no better witness of what the Egyptians looked like than the Egyptians themselves, and they left us thousands of visual representations of themselves, e.g. paintings, reliefs, statues, artworks, murals, engravements, drawings, etc. Same goes for all the other great civilizations. They depicted EXACTLY what they looked like, from skin color to the shape of their noses, to type of hair, to what they wore, etc. No need at all for confusion or doubt.

[@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov]

Wait, if we’re going to base our knowledge on what we think ancient people looked like based on the sculptures and artwork they left behind than would that mean that everyone had round or oval faces and sexual dimorphism and facial diversity didn’t exist until very recently?

[@CurtisCT]

@@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov I'm no art historian, but I've observed that ancient civilizations, at least the great ones, left a very sophisticated spectrum of visual representations of themselves, everything from sculptures to artwork and everything in between. If we take the Greeks and Romans, for example, besides artwork depicting "round or oval faces and sexual dimorphism", there are also innumerable life-like artwork that takes the guesswork out of their appearance. An excellent and moving example of this are the mummy portraits in Roman occupied Egypt from 2000 years ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGKxnJ2Lbb2ircU The ancients were capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, i.e. they made Picasso-type as well as realistic artworks.

[@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov]

@@CurtisCT I just checked out that video you linked to me and I guess there was a few black romans but yeah, I guess I’m right: everyone had round or oval faces back then and the men looked just like their women 😂

[@dinodoode2479]

Most cultures portray themselves in the most idealized and centralized way that it is almost impossible to tell accurate history from primary sources of the state. Imagine taking the history of Carthage purely from Roman historians, it's like reading a marvel comic book.

[@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526]

You just need to look at their descendants today (modern egyptians,modern greek and italians ).

[@joefish6091]

A book worth listening to is 'Famous Men of Rome' by John Henry Haaren, its a childrens book from 1904, but nicely concise and very safe for kids lol, Librivox.

[@synthsun7662]

Totally loved ur video. i'm From Rome and yeah what you said it's true. We lives in strange times, why ppl around the world want to change history i dont know.

[@segovax2852]

The Greeks and Romans were not as light skinned as peoples of the North, but they were still European. I love your videos about these topics Metatron.

[@Pizza_Man_]

Indeed, we are europeans but with just less lighter/olive skin. But still Europeans.

[@iop3907]

Just tanned People

[@Pizza_Man_]

@@iop3907 I do enjoy my mediterranean tan xD

[@sowpmactavish]

I wonder if you guys think the same about Turks 😂

[@st0rmrider]

@@sowpmactavish most people living in Turkey are white as their DNA is mostly European / Greek origin (unless you think that 100k Turks became 100 million in a few centuries without marrying into any indigenous peoples).

[@jasonbrown5014]

A group at Stanford did a genetic study on the Roman empire (using skeletons in italy) and found that the people of Imperial Rome were most similar to eastern Mediterranean and near eastern people. The claim is that the population of the eastern Mediterranean and near east were more dense and thus influenced Roman genetics the most.

[@robertmiles1603]

sounds like more leftist propaganda to try to shit on us whites

[@marcobelli6856]

He is Talking about the Western Roman Empire. Of course in the Middle Eastern province if There were more people than they were mostly Not white. But the Movies Are always Set in Italy or europe that’s the “white” part of the Empire

[@marcobelli6856]

Countless studies Claimed Romans were no different to italians Today

[@snow5962]

Dude I never would've thought I'd hear Utah in an episode on this channel haha. I'm a proud Utahn lol.

[@mrjmorovis]

I think about a Japanese friend form college. He said even among the Japanese they could be very insular and have long memories. He said his family moved to a small village several centuries ago and it is still small in a modern sense. He said among the elderly his family were still considered from where they came from centuries ago.

[@user-tr4ej8mw4s]

That is very true even in places such as russia, mainly Kuban.

[@natas8256]

thats hilarious, that made my night thanks

[@jasoninthehood9726]

It is funny that considering how much the world is focused on social justice and being “woke” (for lack of a better term) that Japan and China pretty much get a free pass on being very insular and xenophobic countries when it comes to accepting immigrants and foreigners.

[@dscott6629]

Yesterday I watched a KZbin short which played a BBC clip of an "historian" talking about the black Roman Emperor Septimius Severus who ruled over the Roman Empire - obviously black because he was born in North Africa. It was only white culture bias which mistakenly assumed, because he was Roman, that he was white. I shook my head and thought to myself, "If only Metatron was sitting next to him" And right on cue...

[@ericconnor8251]

It is possible Severus was part Libyan Berber, but the Berbers are mostly brown North African people, while a small amount are mixed with black sub-Saharan. We only know that his mother was Italic/Latin Roman from Italy, while his father was ethnically Punic, meaning descended from Phoenicians of ancient Lebanon who colonized and founded Carthage.

[@hyperion3145]

He was Middle Eastern, though, judging from the contemporary portraits, he almost certainly would've been called black in the US. From what we know, Severus seems to have just thought of himself as a Roman and a Punic.

[@ericconnor8251]

@@hyperion3145 I don't think he would be referred to as black in the US. Libyans and other North Africans are treated as "white/Caucasian" by the US Census Bureau, as are Lebanese people (the modern descendants of Phoenicians/Carthaginians) and all other Levantine natives, Arab or otherwise. With that being said, yes, he was not purely European or Italic/Latin Roman, he was at least West Asiatic if not a bit North African Berber (another Afro-Asiatic group similar to the Semitic speaking Phoenicians).

[@sandraleiva1633]

@Eric Connor The problem is white is equated with European. North African Berbers and Near Eastern Syriacs, Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Georgians, Anatolians and Iranic peoples are also white. Although they aren't in Europe but in Asia and Africa.

[@automnejoy5308]

​@@sandraleiva1633 So many humans are so stupid they can't understand that "races" don't stay neatly within continents. Seriously, people hear "Africa" and think "Black! It's all black as night!" lmao. I can't stand the stupidity. I really can't.

[@shibahtash4700]

Am glad to see someone is talking about crusaders in right manner thanks 😊

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

Well based around where they lived like upper Germany, Gaul, Dacia or the British isles, perhaps they were more bright skin rather than down south where you could get sunburns and tans from all the sunlight,

[@cincymutt]

Possibly the hardest thing to try and talk about are the many people of Northern Africa who visually have more in common with Mediterranean/Middle Eastern races; there were certain to be "black" people but they don't seem to necessarily be predominant. Egyptians are fairly unique, ethnically-speaking, and come in a variety of skin tones, but they mostly don't look quite the same (even very dark-skinned ones) as sub-Saharan Africans. In America, most people think "African? Oh they must look like 'African Americans' as I know them", not understanding that most African-decended people in the U.S. are almost entirely descended from West and Central Africa. Egyptians certainly weren't white, but they also weren't simply "black" in the way people envision.

[@Eysenbeiss]

Excellent - at least someone with a brain, intellect and knowlegde.

[@Broskisnowski]

Africa has more genetic diversity than anywhere else, probably more differences than Europeans vs Asians on a genetic level.

[@mrsmerily]

and mediterranean/middle eastern people are white... with olive skin tone. Same as Italy, Spain. And take them away from the sun, they become pretty white. I know, my bf is middle- eastern and in the winter he is almost as white as I am.

[@laresial]

Egipcias are White. Not Blacks.

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

Indeed. Mostly because there is a lot of discussion along the lines of a black/white dichotomy and asians and latinos often get left out or ignored. Considering some of the discrimination experienced by those of olive skin or asians or arabs, etc. I find it obtuse and rather dismissive to characterize them now as white also.

[@Mr.Skeleton.]

North Africa has been white since Egyptian and Phoenician rule. I'm from the Canary Islands off the coast of north africa and have family in the berber population and we are all blonde/red headed.

[@stefanodadamo6809]

Mostly yes, this was the case, but there were still significant remnants of black(ish) people in the south of Tunisia, and the central Sahara was still fairly black (the ancestors to the Tebou). The desert was somewhat "whitened" by Tuareg expansion in the next centuries.

[@ErickeTR]

Problem is that the Anglo-American sense of "white" excludes a lot of people who would fit very well within the concept of "white". For the rest of the world it generally is: you have lighter skin so you're white. But americans usually don't think like that.

[@willfakaroni5808]

Are Arabs white?

[@stefanodadamo6809]

@@willfakaroni5808 mostly yes, they are, from a phenotypical viewpoint. Obviously they're more mixed because of centuries of slave trade from Africa, and there's a considerable number of Arab blacks also due to relatively recent immigration.

[@stefanodadamo6809]

@@ario4795 is this historically and genetically proven? Aren't they the descendants of the legendary Troglodytes of historians of antiquity?

[@coginito8365]

Yeah even during the Germanic invasions, there was a half Germanic commander of Rome who fought with his life for Rome but the Romans hated him and blamed him for the losses.

[@frankpriolo7735]

My father was born in Sicily. My mother’s parents were both born in Sicily. Because I have a dark complexion and course textured hair, I always assumed that I had a strong African ancestry. It didn’t work out that way. When I had my DNA tested, turned out to be less than one percent non-Italian. These people need to stop trying to rewrite history.

[@TruthMatters9674]

I'm from the South of Portugal and thought the same. Turns out, did a DNA test and i'm 98,5% European, 96% Portuguese/Spanish.

[@synaestesia-bg3ew]

​​@@TruthMatters9674Ancient Europeans had more melamine than today but they were not black(as Wesley Snipes).

[@dauntoldrnodgroot3437]

​@@TruthMatters9674Portuguese is just another name for Spanish black a moors you descended from black people God they really did a number on education for people to speak nonsense

[@phreed2]

Take those results with a pinch of salt

[@TruthMatters9674]

@@phreed2 Why is that?

[@barbarabonnette2705]

People, you can’t take a film made in the 50s and call it historically accurate. Movies were made for entertainment value….not historical accuracy. So you video is spot on! Thank you.

[@bogdanbaudis4099]

Actually it depends exactly what parts. The ancient weapons experts rate the chariot race and battle scenes as pretty good and more realistic: CGI-jockeys did not exist then the stunts were done with real horses. A lot of rapier or small-sword duels are also rated very highly as the instructors were then only one or two generations away from the last duel schools of 19th century. The very contemporary "300" is for example a complete piece of junk I could watch only on fast-forward.

[@Eddict1989]

Great retro collection and great video. Always the truth.

[@ChadJonesAYelpInTheDark]

I was disappointed on my recent travel to Rome. No one spoke with an English accent. I felt Hollywood lied to me.

[@ron.v]

Interesting quote: "Those who are offended by the truth cannot do anything but lie."

[@josephinetracy1485]

Do you mean Ghana's national IQ of 65?

[@jimsy7al]

@@josephinetracy1485 Not surprised by that number!! Thank You!!

[@FrantzVissarionovitch]

​​@@josephinetracy1485 IQ means nothing, go find another reason to be racist

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@josephinetracy1485 Wait, you’re telling me one of the poorest and political unstable countries in the world has a poorly educated populace? 😮

[@josephinetracy1485]

@@warlordofbritannia Those tests are based on potential. To have an average of 65, which is severely mentally retarded--means that half of the population is lower than 65! For thousands of years, too dumb to even stick a seed in the ground.

[@piofernandezlopez7376]

This special worry about skin color is something peculiarly North American. A society which has been obsessed (until today), with classifying people's origins without the slightlest knowledge about their national or cultural background, in many cases for discriminatory reasons.

[@yagamienjoyer4408]

Facts!

[@piofernandezlopez7376]

@@yagamienjoyer4408 White Anglosaxon Supremacists considering the Irish & the Italians as Non-White, simply because they were Catholics? Is that an evident Fact enough?

[@robertanderson218]

Not accurate. The British, French, Spanish, Portugese, and the Dutch brought black slaves to North America. Those countries (all of white Europe) considered blacks subhuman and bestial. Only a few years after the US was formed, we outlawed bringing slaves in to America (1816, if memory serves). Only a tiny minority of Americans owned slaves. The first REPUBLICAN President, Lincoln, fought a horrrific civil war agaibst the democrat slave owners to end slavery. I hate the revisionist history prevalent today.

[@piofernandezlopez7376]

@@robertanderson218 Slave trade...You are talking about centuries ago. I am talking about racial discrimination until today. Martin Luther King's, the Klan,...that's Today.

[@diegolopez000]

@@piofernandezlopez7376 also Slavs trade was made because of culture not color. For example Romans made alliances with black and blonde kingdoms and hated blacks and blondes with tribal culture

[@cutty-sark]

That last statement is so powerful and true!

[@Tyrian3k]

I thought they hated imperialism and colonialism... but that's in essence what made Rome "diverse".

[@Somewhat-Evil]

Most people in ancient times did not travel hundreds of miles from where they were born. Some of the Legions might have been well traveled, but the vast majority of the population wasn't in the Legions. The population of just the CITY of Rome was 4 to 5 million. The Roman army has been estimated at around 380,000 soldiers serving in roughly 30 active Legions and 60 or so auxilia.

[@connorgolden4]

Pretty sure the city was more like 1.5 million but other then that I agree.

[@minutemansam1214]

Rome has 4 million NOW, but they never had that high of a population in antiquity. Rome's population in antiquity peaked between AD 1 and AD 200, estimated to be between 800,000 and 1,200,000, give or take. I believe London was the first city in the world to reach a population of over 4 million. In fact I think they were the first to reach 2 million.

[@mnk9073]

There's this cool concept called "slavery" where you move people from one place to another against their will. Rome had a habit of enslaving prisoners of war and shipping them home where eventually they'd become free men and their decendants maybe even citizens because multi-generational slavery is a more modern concept linked to chattel slavery. So a victory in Thrace results in an influx of Thracians in the Empire, a rebellion in Germania brings in Germans and fighting in Arabia Felix distributes Arabians to the provinces.

[@Kainis80]

at the beginning of imperial Rome, the city had around 5 million slaves within the city, making up over 3/5ths of the population of the time. Most of those slaves were from conquered lands, including syria, thrace, judea, gaul, spain, germania, etc. Very, very few had thus far been traded to people in Rome by african berbers who were bringing slaves up from the southern reaches of the Nile and Libya. So few, in fact, that it wouldn't be unlike watching the rarest of penguins at a zoo.

[@mnk9073]

@@Kainis80 Exactly, there was a wide range of peoples from within the Empire and the bordering cultures but most probably the only "black" people would have been the occasional Nubians/Kushites.Rome was indeed very diverse, just not in the sense a 21st century American would understand the word.

[@godwarrior3403]

Thank you for acknowledging the immature way people write nowadays. I noticed it years ago and I remember thinking "The articles I had to read for high-school research sounded way more professional what is this?" Someone cited a source to me a few days ago from an article that sounded indistinguishable from a regular internet comment. Inaccurate opinion based information and name calling as well as dismissal of the "other side," absolutely unprofessional. How they target the people who pride themselves as intellectuals and succeed with this type of not only misinformation, but blatant immaturity, is astounding to me.

[@pXnTilde]

One problem is that people frequently cite opinion pieces as sources, and have no idea what the difference is. It's like children teaching children.

[@adc1222]

Yeah it's like these "writers" think they can replace actual factual information with pure snark, as if no one would dare to disagree with them because of how much they "owned" them

[@godwarrior3403]

@@adc1222 Exactly. I refuted the source and all I got was "You're a liar." And that was good enough for this guy. I couldn't believe it. Like you have to know on some level you're being dishonest and settling, but you're fine with it? Feels validating to see someone else call it out. I've never heard anyone else mention it.

[@icefl4re597]

It IS literally the point. The point is NOT "good debate" or "historical accuracy". The point is to: 1. Own the cons / libs 2. Appropriate what's popular to indulge in power fantasy.

[@icefl4re597]

People gobble it up anyway and that's all that matters.

[@tanguypouliquen7546]

"freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear" George Orwell. i think you are a good illustration of that noble one.

[@biapinder]

In your guys opinion, how historically accurate is Assassin's Creed?

[@julius43461]

Article: People are wrong for assuming that any empire in Europe was white Also article: Assumes that any territorial possessions in the Med clearly shows that people in the empire were "tanned", as if that somehow makes them not white.

[@John76125]

Tanned people are not white. They’re not tanned. They are light brown.

[@alexdragoon74]

Any empire in Europe was white....

[@warlordofbritannia]

Depends on who’s defining “whiteness.” Ask the Klan and they’d tell you “tan” is about as bad as “black.”

[@Saxxin1]

@@warlordofbritannia The Klan? You mean the 80 or so old ass democrats that still want Jim Crow laws?

[@me5969]

A few inbreeding rednecks in the arse end America aren't really relevant to anything really, let alone the Roman empire. They don't like Italians and stuff no but they also don't like Catholics, Irish ect. The Italians however do very much consider themselves not black... Very much so. It's one of, if not the most racist country I have ever been. It makes Americas bible belt look like Bradford. They, along with anyone who isn't a neo nazi, consider themselves white. Otherwise my girlfriend could be black because she's tanned and blonde or my mum could be black because she's tanned with black hair. In fact there's only my dad that's white because he's a redhead with blue eyes. I mean if we're going off tan then Essex is basically Somalia

[@-haclong2366]

I stopped reading Cracked over 12 years ago, this was because most of their articles were constantly "men and boys are dumb, women and girls are smart" (imagine insulting the majority of your audience all the time), a few years later I tried reading it again but noticed a lot of racism against Europeans. I also noticed as I got older that basically any "fact" I learned from Cracked would later end up to be complete non-sense or completely debunked. Cracked is pure clickbait with very few information of substance

[@JamesRDavenport]

Yep. The days of it being Mad Magazine, but funnier are loooooonng gone.

[@katsmeow2775]

The majority of the human race is female.

[@Matt_Alaric]

@@katsmeow2775 ...so?

[@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov]

Men are both dumber and smarter than women and women tend to be in the middle of the IQ line

[@AnotherDuck]

Just another content farm.

[@draganignjatovic7411]

Roman Empire Map Where can I see/visit/download a map/stone/paper/goatskin map or any kind of peutzeriana that says IMPERIUM ROMANUM, not ITALIA, made during the Roman Empire? Thanks in advance.

[@user-jk8fb9zz5y]

Just think about how sick society is now, that such obvious things need to be explained! 🧐🧐🧐😯😯

[@michaelstafford442]

When the fastest method of travel was a sailing ship (which had a uncommon habit of sinking with all hands), people didn't tend travel that widely especially if your not by the coast or a river. Especially not to a neighbouring continent over hundreds or even thousands of miles (unless you really like long walks). Anyone that suggests differently I would recomend some good walking boots and trying it out or better yet some Roman sandles.

[@darrenjpeters]

What a load of shit. For a start, the fastest method of travel was a horse. And people have always been willing to travel if there is profit involved. Since the dawn of time. Caravans from China to the Middle East. Maritime trading all over the Mediterranean. Journeys of thousands of miles. In future, if you don't know what you're talking about, better to say nothing at all. It also might be useful if you learn to construct a coherent sentence.

[@michaelstafford442]

@@darrenjpeters A horse is 30 miles a day if you treat it well and you are lucky, a ship from roman to mid medieval times was around 5 miles an hour (tea clippers were at about 20 mph and did a trip from China to Europe in 100 days by comparisson) multiplied by the time spent sailing aka daylight with twilight hours. Horses are fast but not built for endurance, humans can walk/run faster and further then horses over a day. Humans are enduarance predators, that ate things like horses in prehistory. We litterally ran them to death. Traders did travel yes, with horses carrying the load, deffinately, but it still took time (months), hence prices were high for goods from afar. Hence the success of things like the silk road. Maritime trading was far more effecient (more goods plus speed) once navigation techniques were worked out (but with risks from storms, hence the developement of insurance for ships something about a costly investment), but strangely enough people from village xyz didn't up and move 1000's of miles just because they wanted to. Hence the reason for a level of homogenity amoungst pre air travel populations.

[@Macedonio_le_provocateur_]

I'm a simple Greco-Lusitan, I see meditteranean history by an Italian guy= I click

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

so you are Greek-Portuguese?

[@cdfe3388]

I’m an American of Teuton-Hibernian origins, and I love Roman history, particularly this channel.

[@schizoposter4705]

@@cdfe3388 H.P love Craft would love to meet you

[@schizoposter4705]

I’m an italo-luso, we’re... very similar you and I

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

@@cdfe3388 German-Irish then

[@tomardans4258]

In your footage of Romans marching, I would swear one of them is carrying a Basque Makila staff.

[@Darrius996]

Well done and tactful.

[@IceNinja2007]

There was always that joke on 4 chan that Spaniards and Italians weren't "white" because they weren't Anglo/German. And it sounds like the person who wrote this article to that joke to heart.

[@leonardfeder5115]

Southern Italians and Greeks genetically plot relatively close to Jews and Levantine populations. Greeks and Italians have a diverse amount of phenotypes some resembling Middle Eastern ones. I’m not sure about Spaniards.

[@charliesargent6225]

@@leonardfeder5115 Southern Italians do NOT "plot" close to Jews and Levantines, that is patently FALSE. Of course there is a small minority that do but the vast majority have no more than 3-6% N. African/Arab DNA, and even some Germans have that much. It's Spaniards who have up to 20% Arab/Jewish/N. African and has been proven. They were under Arab rule for 1000 years, only pockets of Sicily/Sardinia were ruled by them and for less than 200.

[@MN-pf2kv]

Italians and spaniards were conquered by Germans....

[@cioffa6972]

@@leonardfeder5115 yes, because the myth says that the paleo-veneto kingdom and Rome were both founded by the descendants of the survivors of the siege of Troy, and basically half of the cities in South italy were founded by greeks, we should also remember that greeks are not the native people of turkey, those would also be greeks(at least in Anatolia).

[@skylinelover9276]

​@@cioffa6972 no wonder why Albanian Greeks and Bulgaria is heavily mixed Ev13 and J2

[@erakor6]

Great video. Spot on! Even Trajan, who is sometimes called the first non-Italian emperor, was born in Italica (clue there), Spain, to an Italian family.

[@UlpianHeritor]

Yeah. I think that after 200 AD most Roman emperors were of non-Italian origin, but they would obviously still be considered to be white.

[@newworldsoldier81]

Santiponce

[@erakor6]

@@UlpianHeritor The two 'African' emperors Severus (Punic father) and Macrinus (Berber origin) may not be considered white retrospectively (but they definitely weren't black).

[@anthonylogiudice9215]

Marcus Aurelius' paternal ancestors were from the same area and he was related to Trajan and Hadrian as well. He was mostly Italian and his mother's family originated in Rome and owned a brick business, I believe.

[@MrArjonisimo]

And Spain happens to be White.

[@teemo8870]

Metatron, please tell us about the roman patrician lineage sometime. 🙋‍♀️

[@GS-rw9og]

again, channel of excellence, THANKUYOU!

[@randomfactor3599]

You need to do this about the Norse and Gales. A certain race has laid claims to being celtic and viking races.

[@haidner]

Yes, please! And other groups, too. Israelites?

[@justinobuscape7031]

@@haidner Israelites? They are more of a melting pot, contrary of what people might think.

[@victorjordanjr1109]

any leveled headed person knows the celts, vikings and ancient israel were not black lol. yes, the hebrew israelites did approach me with that nonsense that i was hebrew and from the tribe of judah. they got angry when i said my ancestors came from west africa and the americas.

[@randomfactor3599]

@Victor Jordan Jr You'd think that. But unfortunately, they believe all white history is whitewashed. Most arguments I debate with they go back 10,000 years to cheddar man and say he's how the viking and Celtic people looked. They mix two very distant time periods to attempt to connect dots that's non existent.

[@clausion]

It is well known that among viking were black people and red people. Red people because vikings reached America and black people because vikings reached Africa. Then some mix appeared, black people with red hair (they were used to scare white populations) and red people with blonde hair (they were used as shamans).

[@lluisboschpascual4869]

Totally agree with you, Metatron. With one caveat: the line you draw on the 117AD map relates more to present-day population "whiteness" than to the Roman times. Please keep in mind that most of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) was populated by Greeks, as was the whole Black Sea coast, north and south. So if you consider "white" as "of European origin", then that blue line should also include most of Asia Minor and the Black Sea coast. Having said that, excellent presentation, mate!

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

How many of those Greeks in Asia Minor were of Greek descent though, as opposed to Hellenized natives? It's not like the Greeks suddenly started breeding like rabbits after Alexander's conquests.

[@lluisboschpascual4869]

@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs Well, how many Americans are direct descendants of the Plymouth pilgrims? And those who are not, are they not Americans? And are you willing to publicly state that British people with, let's say, Russian or Polish five-generation ancestors are not really British? Be careful, mate, think before you talk... Oh, and by the way, the Greek colonisation of the Black Sea began in 1.000 BC, much before Alexander.

[@Hypernefelos]

@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs How many of the pre-Greek Anatolian natives would have been non-white? There were supposedly Thracian migrations into the region before Greeks set up their colonies and there was even a large scale Celtic migration in the 3rd century BCE. The middle of Anatolia (around where the current capital of Turkey is) would have looked more like Gaul than the Middle East at the time of the Roman Empire.

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs Many of those people groups on the West Coast of Anatolia were related Hellenic Branches either way. Greeks Proper had been colonizing it since the second Millennium BC 👍

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

@@lluisboschpascual4869 FACTS!!! 💯

[@jucadvgv3449]

well, since the roman empire spanned such a wide swath of the known world, there were all types of ethnicities. considering that for each conquired area a large percentage were imported into rome as slaves or otherwise moved around the empire, plus lots of times roman citizens were imported along with dignitaries, political office holders, rulers, and soldiers (already integrated from conquired cultures) the concept of rome being 'mulricultiural' is more like what most people consider to be 'conquired'.

[@Ziggy246]

Completely agree with you on this analysis of the article. I find it so frustrating when people manipulate history to push agendas cause if the agenda is actually a good one, it just discredits it. On the Romans white question I would definitely say by today's standards they were white. But what's interesting is the convo this topic starts and how the idea of Race categories have changed over time. For example, for a long time the only people considered white were Anglo Saxons and Scandinavians (true whites). Ethnic groups like the Irish or Italians for a long time were oppressed in America and Irish in servitude and Italians lynched, in some cases seen lower than "blacks". There's a very good video on this called "Finding your roots: How Italians became White". What's more interesting is how Romans saw themselves like this quote from Pliny the Elder (Roman army commander, philosopher) 77AD "For it is beyond a question that the Ethiopians (ie Africans) are burnt by the heat of the heavenly body near them... and are born with a scorched appearance, with curly beard and hair, and thst in the opposite region of the world (Northern Europe) the races have white frosty skins with yellow hair that hangs straight; while the latter (Northern Europeans) are fierce owing to the rigidity of their climate but the former (Africans) are wise owing to the mobility of theirs... In the middle of the Earth (Italy) owing to a healthy blend of both elements... men are of medium bodily stature, with a marked blending, even in the matter of complexion". From this quote you can see how they saw themselves in between black and white, whilst today we would depict and think of them as white like Germans or Englishmen or in other words Anglo-Saxon, but they saw themselves as distinct from those ethnic groups.

[@LevisH21]

you and everyone else overcomplicate things. race is nothing else but geography + skin colour. since Europe is located in Northern part of the planet, close to the North Pole, of course people would be white. and not just Europeans. Asians that live close to the poles also look white. Mongols and Eskimos for example. Asians like Mongols look very different to Asians like for example Vietnamese, Thai or Indonesians that live in a tropical ecuadorial region of the planet. IF Europe wasn't separated by the Mediterranean Sea from Africa, Europeans would be considered part of the continent of Africa. and "white Africans" would be an actual thing.

[@Ziggy246]

@levish4145 I don't think I was overcomplicsting things, just detailing some of the history on the discussion of Race, as the current categories we use for the most part originste from the pseudo-science of Eugenics and racist ideologies, but thankfully that has changed over time. Like I said I would agree that Italians are white but I thought it interesting to share some history on whiteness to show the answer isn't so clearcut and how these categories have changed over the years and quite recently also. Now people are celebrating Romans as part of white history, when not too long ago they were an oppressed group in America and much like the Irish, weren't considered white. And they distinguished themselves from the Northern Europeans as a different racial category, as the quote from Pliny details.

[@LevisH21]

@@Ziggy246 well, since US was a former English colony with mostly English population, of course they would even be xenophobic against other white people like for example the Irish and Italians. that was indeed pseudo-science. and Italians not being considered white is stupid. the Americans simply didn't like foreigners and were always looking for different types of excuses to not welcome new immigrants. even calling other white people like Italians as dirty, for example. not surprised by this mentality. anyways. Romans were white just like the rest of the Europeans. well, most of them at least because some foreign population came from Asia. for example the Magyars(Hungarians), the Huns and Bulgars. I'm pretty sure they looked Asian but lost their Asian appearance after centuries of intermarriage and mixing with white people. so basically all Europeans these days are just white. I won't include immigrants that came last century of course. like the Arabs, Asians and Africans that came from former British or French colonies. in my eyes, they obviously aren't European. just citizens if countries that happen to be in Europe. calling a black guy in France as pure French is like calling a white guy like myself a Japanese person just because I might happen to have a Japanese citizenship. this doesn't work that way. people are connected with their roots, race, values, history, blood, traditions, religion, etc.

[@TheronGBurrough]

What an excellent discussion! The second I've seen, making me a for sure fan of this channel! Thanks also to Metatron for joining us in America, where our intellectual abilities have been deliberately lowered by a variety of parties for a long time. Metatron is a great asset to our culture.

[@DogFoxHybrid]

I'd also like to see a video about the continuity of populations from ancient to modern times- a lot of people seem to have this notion that modern Italians are totally different than Romans, even though the statues look like "guys from New Jersey."

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

It's usually either white supremacists trying to say the darker skin of Southern Italians is a product of MENA conquests or Afrocentrists or liberals saying Gaelic and Germanic crossover made Romans white.

[@USERZ123XD]

Well there were a bunch of Germanic tribes that took over or migrated to Italy over the thousands of years.

[@ManiacMayhem7256]

@@USERZ123XD But not enough to displace entire population. It was more a political conquest than what happened to NA in USA

[@spades9681]

@@USERZ123XD And? The Visigoths invaded and ruled Spain, as did the Moors, and yet Spanish ancestry is still majority Iberian.

[@Matt_Alaric]

It's interesting. In some places we know there was a major population shift, whereas in others we think the population has been pretty stable throughout. But an overview of where/how it's happened across Europe would be awesome.

[@j.echevarria8630]

There were cases where people like Italians and Armenians were bit accepted as white. Its crazy that Ben Franklin was quoted saying that German immigrants were too swarthy and would ruin America’s whiteness which is crazy considering Nazi Germany would come centuries later. I think the Roman are considered white in the modern sense but many may have been swarthy and mediterranean looking as opposed to Celtic or germanic. In modern times many Greeks, Italians and Spaniards can pass as minorities.