Why Were the Romans Allied to the Vikings' Ancestors?

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So in this video I dive into some of the history of the Nordic Bronze Age and subsequent Nordic Iron Age and how the Romans influenced society in Scandinavia, specifically Denmark, at this time and how in turn this led to many societal and cultural changes that allowed for the start of the Viking Age some centuries later.
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Music Used:
Expeditionary - Kevin MacLeod
Loopster - Kevin MacLeod
Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
"Dub Feral"” - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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#Vikings #Romans #VikingHistory

[@fodge5395]

27 BC to 476 AD... Byzantine Empire: *"Am I a joke to you?"*

[@eid8fkebe7f27ejdjdjduyhsvqhwu2]

Not only the Byzantines, Julius Nepos was still the recognised western emperor for the next four years.

[@hadenthomas123]

Yeah, they are

[@ChristianAuditore14]

What is a byzantine?

[@Bigsmoke11001]

The Byzantine Empire never existed. The Roman Empire didn't fall in 476 ad.

[@bcvetkov8534]

@@ChristianAuditore14 Romans

[@gummy3504]

I didn't know the Romans had a vpn to protect them self against the germanic tribes?

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

Germanic facebook is stealing roman personal info via bots and selling it to celtic advertisers.

[@roderickclerk5904]

@@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin lol

[@Quincius]

@@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin lmfao

[@ronjayrose9706]

@@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin don't forget to Slavs and Baltic tribes as well

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

@@ronjayrose9706 Nah, fuck those guys

[@RRW359]

"They weren't contemporary" *angry Byzantine noises*

[@garretphegley8796]

You guy's changed too much...

[@Hatypus]

@@garretphegley8796 A year late, but; Rome changed vastly whilst the first Rome still stood, does that mean the Romans of, say, 356 CE are less Roman than those of, say, 79 BCE? Just because Eastern Rome continued to change and evolve, does not mean it arbitrarily and abruptly ceased being Roman. Constantinople was called at it's founding (Or rather perhaps refounding from the old Greek colony on it's site) as, variously, the New, Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Rome Constantinople (Roma Constantinopolitana), the latter effectively meaning Constantine's city of Rome, which is where Constantinople then developed from.

[@garretphegley8796]

@@Hatypus I would say that Rome stopped being Roman after the Republic, after that the nature of the people changed from an Agrarian Republic, to an an autocratic empire that was just based in Italy. They didn't care about tradional roman ideals after Caesar.

[@Hatypus]

@@garretphegley8796 That doesn't make much sense. They stopped being Roman because of a very slow decay of the powers of the Senate and Republic in favour of autocracy? Caesar's taking of power was the final act in a long period of political change, and that political change was alongside the typical slow cultural change. Why the Republic? Surely they stopped being Roman after the end of the Kingdom, as then the traditional Roman values held in the kingdom changed? Or when the various periods of the Republic ended and changed, with their ideals changing as well. Ideals, Ideas, Politics and Culture changing, as I said before, are all natural things in a society, and Eastern Rome merely continued those societal trends. By your logic any nation that poltically or culturally changes to any reasonable degree needs a new demonym, as they no longer encompass the ideals of the previous demonym correctly.

[@iraholden3606]

Roman Empire wasn't a great place to live for most people ever, it was better to be on average German or Celt

[@DaniTheDeer]

"Protect yourself, not by hiring Scandinavians, but by getting Nord VPN" Nord, eh? Are these Scandinavians not also Nordic? 🤔🤔🤔

[@gruntscrewdriver3261]

Da, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries

[@apotato6278]

I mean if you need to protect yourself the Scandinavians will probably do a damn fine job. There's just something about them. The Swedes are some of the biggest weapons exporters per capita, the Icelanders are some of the strongest people on earth and the Danes make really good beer. Combine the three and you've got yourself a platoon of drunk giants wielding recoilless rifles. A terrifying thought to be sure.

[@Onnarashi]

@@apotato6278 Iceland isn't in Scandinavia but Norway is, and you left us out.

[@apotato6278]

@@Onnarashi Oh yeah, it's not actually in Scandinavia. I'm Swedish and i can't really say anything about you Norwegians. Every year, like the vikings of old, you cross the border to occupy our beaches, filling them with charcoal grills and drunken laughter. You sure liven up the mood but I'm not sure what the nation of Norway actually does. Your salmon is pretty good but that's the only major thing i know of...besides your massive fucking pile of well invested oil money.

[@bugzyhardrada3168]

Its a weird thing with Iceland Not in Scandinavia but the Icelanders *ARE* Scandinavians

[@kinglouiev9530]

The Varangian Guard was the Eastern Roman Emperor’s personal body guard. They were made up of Vikings.

[@darthrevan6171]

swedish rus vikings

[@Einherji81]

dont forget about the herules which cused mayhem around the black sea and into greece

[@sadaqataljariya]

They were made up of Anglo Saxons who suffered at the hands of the Normans

[@sadaqataljariya]

deremilitari.org/2014/06/english-refugees-in-the-byzantine-armed-forces-the-varangian-guard-and-anglo-saxon-ethnic-consciousness/

[@grub833]

@@sadaqataljariya yup they were made up of both Anglo saxons and norsemen

[@someonesilence3731]

Good vid but a small critique: Leave a lot more sources in the description.

[@celtofcanaanesurix2245]

The idea that Bronze Age religions were like nature worship is severely flawed as the Indo-Europeans the people who introduced the Bronze Age to Europe in themselves had a pantheon

[@scubaremastered]

Exactly. However the Indo-Europeans didn't introduce the pantheon into Europe as all Europeans no matter where they are worshipped the same gods despite what their names were.

[@paulingvar]

There are some bronze age items showing worship of the sun. If this is "nature" or not can be discussed

[@TheMindtwistah]

​@@paulingvar It is not the same as nature worship the way Hilbert meant, that is the worship of primeval forces of nature rather than anthropomorphized gods who can also represent some aspect of nature, like Thor being a thunder god. And this doesn't prove that bronze age people were nature worshipers without a god pantheon either, since a sun deity is part of all indo-european pantheons (Sól, Helios, Surya etc), usually represented as riding a chariot across the sky and often also being the eye of the chief god of the pantheon.

[@jardon8636]

yes oScuba, the roman catholic church and its archives,. depict several names of pre christian : pagan gods in europe, especially lunar & solar ones, that most probably originated in the east..., with some 20 or more names... and churches built directly on top of ancient pagan sites..., it maybe a coicendence but matriacal religions, from the east and later roman-greek patriacal ones, must have transformed viking ideas of religion*....

[@SuperDuperJo]

Celt of Canaan Esurix, yeah, what does Hilbert even base these claims on?

[@sawyerheyman1761]

"Im going to talk about Rome". Talks about Nordic culture

[@Onnarashi]

"Nordic culture" doesn't exist. Nordic cultureS exist though.

[@sawyerheyman1761]

@@Onnarashi oh jeez. My deepest apologies for the greatest of mistakes throughout history. Please may Thor forgive me

[@PajamaJazama]

​@@Onnarashi Nordic culture could be said to be the common traits of those nordic cultures. Don't be so pedantic

[@Agrippa23]

You should make a video about the Lombard peoples in southern italy after the lombard kingdom was destroyed by the franks and many fled to the south

[@arx3516]

The lombard kingdom was never destroyed, Charlemaigne just annexed it, lombards remained as lords without much change. The lombards in the south didn't fled from the franks, they were already there.

[@wezzuh2482]

I find the idea, that the Romans were the cause of a shift from nature worship, to pantheon worship a bit ridiculous, since Tacitus already attested (somewhere around year 9 AD if i a not mistaken) that the Germanic tribes worshipped gods named Wotanaz, (Odin) Teiwaz, (Tyr) and Donau (Thor). Keep in mind Tacitus was talking about people who lived in modern-day Bavaria, several centuries before any such Roman influence could have taken place. The Norse Pantheon is more likely a mix between Indo-European, and Pre-indo-European Deities and some interpreters of mythology have even suggested that the Vanir and Aesir clans represent this distinction.

[@Floral_Green]

Thank you. Finally, somebody set the record straight

[@mysticnovelbro]

Would be great if we could actually HEAR you, mate.

[@mike_nolan]

Yes more volume would be nice

[@mysticnovelbro]

@@mike_nolan he is soft-toned enough to lean closer to his mic, at least. Great place to start

[@readmore8302]

I had no problem hearing him, although the music was a bit loud.

[@mysticnovelbro]

@@readmore8302 actually, the music is the optimal level of volume that he falls far below the halfway measurement point. All he needs to do is change up some settings, and he'd save a sum on needless microphone specs. If he leans closer to the mic, like from fingertips to the knuckle-segment of the palm as a measurement of spacing, he can add another couple DBs etc.

[@christopherellis2663]

Get your hearing tested. I'm seventy, and it was not inaudible.

[@kazanshin4108]

Cimbrian War * Is one of the most devastating wars Rome faced * Hilbert "Yeah, they were friends."

[@rogeriopenna9014]

Well... not so devastating. Rome suffered a BIG loss in a single battle (Arausio) because of internal stupid politics... like one general being patrician serving under a homo novus consul, and then, when arriving at battle site, camping far away and at the other side of the river, not listening to the "plebe", despite the homo novus being above him in rank, etc. After the Senate convinced Gaius Marius of returning from the Jugurthan Wars and taking command of the war against the Cimbris and Teutones, Marius reformed the army and lost virtually no soldier while at the same time defeating half a million germanics.

[@arcanics1971]

That was definitely interesting. I wasn't particularly aware of this- I may have heard some references though- so it was nice to hear. I'm interested in the link between the Latin script and the Runic scripts. I had kind of assumed this was coincidental, perhaps more to do with the limit of characters that one can make from straight lines but the influence of Rome makes a lot of sense, especially considering the timing. I can see I am going to be spending some time looking into these things. More of this always appreciated, sir!

[@pedrocacela1885]

They could have adopted it even earlier from the Phoenicians. Their cuneiform characters were the basis for the Greek and then Latin alphabets and probably also for the Futhark runes. Strange that he didn't mention the most beautiful artifacts from the Vendel age, its helmets. They were clearly inspired by the Roman generals highly decorated helmets but they became even more impressive in their Nordic rendition. There are some youtube videos showing some of the originals, which are quite damaged, and their respective, present day, handmade replicas. They're incredibly magnificent and very menacing at the same time. Try and see them if you don't already know about them. They're the most obvious Roman influence in Nordic weaponry.

[@TheMindtwistah]

​@@pedrocacela1885 Yeah, the runic script looks a lot more like the earlier Phoenician-derived alphabets, most similar to Old North Italic, Etruscan or Raetic alphabets used before the Latin script was ever introduced there. It doesn't really make sense that the Scandinavians would learn Latin script from the Romans and then coincidentally develop it so that the characters would almost exactly correspond to archaic forms it had developed from and which hadn't been in use for hundreds of years. A more reasonable explanation is that either some wandering Germanic tribe or traders in the years before Rome's expansion encountered the alphabet and then brought it back to Scandinavia, or that it was introduced through Celtic middle-men.

[@fyeahusa]

The similarites between the the Roman and Norse/Germanic pantheons don't directly come from Roman influence on the regions. Reconstructions of the Proto-Indo-European language have clearly indicated a that the Proto-Indo-European people had a pantheon, and that the core of many of the pantheons of the peoples belonging to the Indo-European group are derived from this Proto-Indo-European pantheon. For example Tyr, Zeus, Jupiter, are all derived from the same "Sky Father" god. Of course, as the different Indo-European groups developed on their own, their pantheons evolved, some gods became less important, some became more, some new ones were made, some old ones forgotten, and sometimes gods would combined into a single one. It is possible that Romans influenced how Nordic peoples perceived their gods, but the Nordic peoples, as an Indo-European group, almost certainly had a pantheon in place.

[@blacktemplar9499]

I mean, who doesn't want vikings as their friend?

[@300MAK]

Brits

[@kinglouiev9530]

A monk from Lindisfarne.

[@blacktemplar9499]

@@kinglouiev9530 tell that too athelstan

[@blacktemplar9499]

@De AIVD kijkt met u mee. Well, a lot of frisians were viking, especially in the northern parts, they either joined Scandinavian vikings or went themselves Don't get me wrong, a small population did this and it wasn't encouraged, but it did happen

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

Anglo saxons went viking too. Athelstan built a fleet, and then it went insubordinate after he died, pillaging the coast of france. I dunno if they had the same ships as the norse though (maybe not), but viking doesn't make the ship, merely the choice of action.

[@timpauwels3734]

That’s some next level note making! Most students make a summary of the slides/their writing, while Hilbert makes a video with 10k views!

[@Ratnoseterry]

"The Germans and the Danes have always been best of friends" 😂😂😂😂😂 please stop

[@pashapasovski5860]

Vikings were Praetorian guard for Eastern Roman Empire!

[@granddukethedan7029]

But they were loyal and didn't kill the Emperor at any opportunity they were given.

[@weisthor0815]

@@granddukethedan7029 like former germanic bodyguards of the old empire. they were prefered for their loyalty as well.

[@garretphegley8796]

Byzantine and Eastern Roman are not Synonymous.

[@TheSystemaSystem]

Varangian Guard, thank you very much.

[@Marcusjnmc]

@@garretphegley8796 the 'byzantines' didn't even call themselves that, they were Rome legally & culturally & that is what would matter to Romans & they identified themselves as such.

[@LordBeowolf]

Thanks vor the video mate, never heard about that.

[@ronanlyons5525]

Great history I would be interested in hearing about the iron works that were going on in Denmark and what kind of influence the Romans might have had

[@Floral_Green]

Nice to hear you pronouncing Danish place names with a Norwegian accent. Much nicer on the ears.

[@zrgbrg]

Did I get it correctly, that you assume northern Germanics worshipped "Nature" and only from contact with Roman developed their gods? Sorry, this is the most outlandish claim I've heard ever. More correct would be that both Romans and Germanics have the same origin in regard to spirituality. The Thundergod is a central element of Indoeuropean religions. While the deities differed somewhat regionally, thunder was always the sign of an important deity. In this context deities sometimes possess a percussive weapon, but they don't have to be the same as the thundergod. E.g. Donar, Thor, Perun, Perkunaz and even Herakles with his club. It is safe to assume that the percussive instrument and thunder were a symbol of the heart and the heartbeat, and thus life itself. It beats and the lighting looks like blood pumping through veins. The point is that at no stage it was a mere worship of nature, which would be a really rough interpretation of modern scholars that cannot explain prechristian symbolism sufficiently.

[@deangoldenstar7997]

I actually don't believe we have any evidence of specific germannic religions before the the norse pantheon. While i think something like that must have existed back in the roman days, it is not impossible that the roman contact changed such pantheon. Also, wouldn't some roman scripture mention such deities if they were very common?

[@JonSeverinsson]

@Dean Goldenstar: Roman literature of the first century AD (notably "Germania" by Publius Cornelius Tacitus) *did* describe the Germanic pantheon and Germanic religious practices, though it used the names of the closest matching Roman gods rather than transcribing the original Germanic names (much like how they called the Greek goods by Italic names), so the names of the Germanic gods as we know them today are largely reconstructed bassed the Norse names and comparative linguistics, after reverse-engineering Tacitus' descriptions to figure out which Norse god he was referring to with each Roman name...

[@zrgbrg]

@@deangoldenstar7997 We absolutely know the central elements of the pantheon of the Germanics, Protogermanics and Indoeuropeans. Also, it wasn't an unified church and deities differed religionally, especially the names- Tacitus mentions Ingvaeons, Irmions, Istvaeons. We know from Iron-Age Scandinavia that Ingve-Freyr was probably the most important deity before the Odin-Cult became popular. We know the Irmin-sul from Saxonia, which symbolizes the World-Tree, another central element of the pantheon (see Odin hanging in the tree). And Tuisto from the Istväonen, probably symbolizing the conjunction of sky and earth. All in all, it seems that no one really seemed to care about different aspects of the religion and just called the other European gods as he would in his own language. Because at the end of the day they were more or less the same. That everyone influenced each other is quite possible, but keep in mind that even the Samnite religious cult differed from the Roman one and so on so it's kind of a moot point. Religious cults would have merged with Germanic cults especially in border regions and colonies, as it has with Celtic/Gallic cults since forever, but you would be hardpressed to find significant differences to support the argument that Germanics "worshipped Nature" before the contact with Rome.

[@jardon8636]

intresting mark, the proto indo europeans.... most probably took the *thundergod from the east, aka india.... one of the worlds oldest religions.... hinduism, with its many many many different gods, influences from other ancient nearby religions: maybe baylonian-assyrian-egyptian or even persian . the thundergod ..seems to be a common theme, everywhere from .the east to aztecs,incas,chinese and aborigine,moari cultures too...

[@Floral_Green]

OP knows what he’s talking about. The Indo-Europeans were incredibly important with regards to pre-Christian spirituality across the continent.

[@saxonshieldwall5315]

These Danes would have been very similar too the teutons, cimbrians and ambrones who came from northern Jutland who the Romans had fought in 113BC ... therefore the Romans may have had some prior knowledge of the danii?

[@Norilius]

Naw

[@thomashankelbjerg72]

The Danes was living in Southwest Sweden most of the roman era, they where part of the Goths tribes. They captured the area todays know as Danmark in 300 AD but you kinda rigth for they mixed with the Juts.

[@saxonshieldwall5315]

@@thomashankelbjerg72 thank you, yes I know that the Danes were originally from southern Sweden and the Zealand island? So yeah modern day Denmark(Jutland peninsular) during the republic and early-middle empire era would have been inhabited by jutes angles, cimbrians and others rather than Danes at this point

[@stonedape2406]

@@thomashankelbjerg72 I mean before the viking age Jutland was referred to as gotaland, theres a possibly that the Jutes were related to the geats or goths.

[@xaph5575]

“I’ll even link it in the description” >doesn’t link it in the description >hmmmmm

[@hazratemahmood]

Are you familiar with the Indo-European hypothesis? That part about the Roman influence on North religion can be explained by that. By that hypothesis this is less an influence, and more a common origin.

[@biggbals4375]

Great video!

[@shanebattles6132]

Love your show man

[@TheMindtwistah]

Very interesting video and subject matter! Unfortunately in many places, especially where we lack clear primary sources, you seem to be reaching quite a bit and pushing some kind of odd narrative as fact when there's quite a bit of evidence of the opposite actually being true. However your other videos I have always appreciated for their accuracy and being well-researched, you just dropped the ball on this one, happens to the best of us. Let me help you pick it up: I may have misunderstood your meaning here, but you seem to imply that elite rule appeared or first rose to prominence during the iron age, supplanting an earlier communal societal system. However the Nordic Bronze age elites were almost certainly far more rich and powerful than their iron age counterparts, the NBC being one of the most socially stratified eras of Scandinavian history according to archeological evidence. Remains of very large houses and ornately crafted bronze and gold tools, weapons, jewelry and other items point to great wealth disparity between the elites and the communal "peasants". Many of the most grandiose Scandinavian burial mounds are also from this era, especially the early NBC, and contain royals or powerful nobles buried with vast hoards of gold, bronze, intricate clothes, art and drinking vessels, sacrificed servants etc in mounds that would have taken thousands of man-hours to build, demonstrating the immense power possessed by the ruling class during that time. As a side-note, regarding the iron-age practice of keeping cattle indoors I've read that this was due to the drastic fall in average temperatures in Scandinavia after about 650 BC, leading to more fluctuating and unreliable weather which could often kill unsheltered cattle. However, keeping track of which cows were yours was probably also a factor, as well as protection from cattle-raiders, a practice sure to have increased in the more chaotic and violent iron age. The depopulation and destitution caused by worsening climate could also have been a reason for the collapse of larger clan systems and move towards survival as smaller, familial groups. The warrior elites also probably appeared at a much earlier stage judging from the greatly increased deposition of iron weapons in many sites during the time of the bronze age collapse. Imo the two critical factors for their rise would've been worsening climate and collapsing international trade routes, weakening the power of the bronze age elites and cutting of their bronze imports on which they relied to maintain military superiority, in combination with the discovery of bog iron and widespread adoption of iron technology, making weapons much more affordable and accessible to the average person and thus shifting the balance of power to individual warbands and their chieftains/petty kings. Finally, what I consider to be your most unsubstantiated claim, seemingly a conjecture based on falsely assuming a model of static in-situ linear theological development while ignoring evidence pointing to earlier ancestral theological diverge and later hybridization(s), is that the pre-Roman Scandinavians didn't have a God pantheon but rather worshipped abstracts concepts of nature/natural forces. This is almost certainly wrong (well, partly at least). There is no reason to believe the early Scandinavians didn't have anthropomorphic deities just like the Romans, Celts, Greeks etc, as comparative mythology and linguistics very strongly points to a shared heritage of all these pantheons from a common Indo-European pantheon dating back from millenia earlier in the late Neolithic. However Norse mythology also did include a non-IE set of divinities personifying amongst other things natural forces and fertility, the Vanir pantheon. These were likely gods absorbed from other peoples who the early Scandinavians had either conquered or integrated with, probably originally worshipped by Neolithic farmers and/or hunter-gatherers. The idea of the Aesir pantheon being a later borrowing from the Romans rather than the two having a shared heritage can be disregarded on the basis of characteristics shared between the Aesir and other temporally and geographically isolated Indo-European pantheons such as that of the Indo-Iranian Asuras, which later diverged into the Iranian Ahuras and Indian Asuras. Not only are the names of the pantheons very similar, also seen with the reconstructed Proto-Indo-Iranian 'Nsuras or 'Nsu and the Proto-Germanic Ánsuz, both dervied from the PIE Hensu-, but many of their gods also share similarities not seen in the Roman equivalents. For example the Asura Indra and the Aesir Thor both being gods of thunder and lightning, great heroes of war and protectors of their people as well as of humans, both having leadership positions (Indra being king and in that sense more similar to Jupiter while Thor is "second in command" to his father king Odin), both wielding throwing weapons which always return to their hand, the arch-enemies of both being world-ending serpents which they eventually slay etc. As an interesting bit of trivia, in both Indic and Old Iranian mythology the Asura/Ahura pantheon gradually falls from popular grace, as both peoples started to settle down and abandon their more warlike nomadic ways while absorbing theological ideas from the peoples native to those lands. Eventually Indians completely rejected their old gods in favor of the native Deva gods, and accused the Asuras of being selfish, violent, petty, power-seeking troublemakers and creaters of chaos, which doesn't seem that far off from the stories we have of the old European gods, them often being morally ambigious, acting rashly and selfishly, having very violent tempers and psychopathic behaviours, creating chaos by taking sides amongst humans and manipulating them into war and slaughter for their own petty reasons, thus usually being much more of a danger than blessing for humans to be around. The Iranian people also rejected the Ahuras, with the exception of Ahura Mazda, translated as the Lord/God (Ahura) of Wisdom (Mazda), who the Persians considered to be the only redeemable member of that pantheon and worthy of worship. In later Persian mythology he gave a vision to the prophet Zoroaster, encouraging him to found a new faith based on his divine insights of a good and just religion, which eventually grew into the Persian state religion of Zoroastrianism.

[@briankearney5994]

A proper understanding of the Roman limes and general foreign policy, I salute you sir! Very interesting that Scandinavians seemed to have picked all of this up, not surprising that it happened, but very interesting.

[@giovannithiene8744]

beautiful, thanks

[@JamesAce]

might i ask .... your opinion about the dutch farmer demonstrations maybe work it in cheeky vid? loving it hilbert

[@matsrosenquist4620]

Found any connections between Upsala in Sweden & Sutton Hoo England during the Wendel era. The battle gear are similar & the helmets are exact.

[@brightonbegole5459]

Idk about the rest of the battle gear, but the helms were not the same at all. The Uppsala one looked much more like the Gjermundbu helm than King Rædwald’s.

[@vvaldbeere]

Sutton Hoo is an anglo-saxon burial site and the Anglo-Saxons were a mix of Angles, Saxons, Frisians and Jutes, all of which belong to the same culture as the Swedes.

[@jaykatz9785]

The Scandinavians were Germanic tribes too.

[@jasonjuelg5045]

Arthur Callahan One of those all Scandinavians were Germanic, but not all of the Germanic were Scandinavians type situations.

[@wezzuh2482]

that's true. Some have even suggested that southern Scandinavia was the Germanic heartland... somewhere around the Jutland Penninsula.

[@wezzuh2482]

@steven cellugi Are you referring to Samis and Finns?

[@wisedragon173]

@@jasonjuelg5045 Well the Urheimat, original Land of ALL GERMANIC TRIBES whether Vikings or the Germanics from Germany was Scandinavia. Some of the Germanic tribes moved to Germany and populated it.

[@wisedragon173]

@Jarl William Yep all Germanic people including those from Germany originated in Scandinavia. Keep in mind North Germany is very close to Scandinavia anyway. However several Germanic tribes left Scandinavia and move to Germany and populated entire Germany. That turned Germany to the second heartland of the Germanic tribes. Actually, the South of Germany prior to the Germanic migration was the heartland of the Celtic tribes. The Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, the Teutones and Cimbri, Visigoths, Lombards or Longobards, Cheruscans were basically the same people.

[@ulrikbrndsted9891]

13:53 I know this is a stylized map, so some narrow waterways are removed, but the highlighted area is much bigger than Lolland. The Eastern half is another island called Falster.

[@Ratchet4647]

Wow! Communication between these 2 groups never crossed my mind! I would have thought the mainland Germans formed a buffer between then. Thank you for making me aware of this interesting piece of our shared history.

[@hoegild1]

Your Danish is quite good! The relations between Denmark and the south actually goes far longer back than Roman times. Down the spine of Jylland there is a road called "hærvejen" (The road of armies) that dates back to the bronze age, and continues a long way into northern Germany. It makes sense to make a wall and demand toll where it leaves Denmark as it was a primary route for export of cattle, amber and slaves- and you need a military base to operate from, when you plan to invade southern Europe, which the Danes (and the other tribes, Cimbrians, Jutes etc) did often...

[@williamlinley1402]

The Romans had a big impact on the whole world.

[@Johnnybravo..]

For the dutch viewers, I just saw a advertisement about a viking exposition in the Fries museum. I think it's worth checking out.

[@joonte1010]

This is complicated, you also had Burgundians,Goths,Winnili to mention some, that actually were enemies to Rome, and they came from Scandinavia. Also, there is a finding in Öland, a massacre took place there aimed at a village fortress called Sandby Borg that had strong ties to Rome. You can find more information about it if you search for Öland massacre. Maybe the "Danes" were on more friendly terms with Rome, but i wouldnt say the more northern tribes was.

[@joonte1010]

Also, i need to add that Danes didnt enter Denmark until around 500 AD, pushing the original "Danes", the Heruli to the south. So the Heruli might have been good friends with Rome, but not the danes.

[@jasip1000]

Hildbert have you got any links or any info about this “Holgers Dike” you talked about? From my point, of view you are exaggerating the Scandinavian contacts with the romans. The fact that we find roman luxury items and Roman weapons in present day Denmark, doesn’t prove that men from here in big scale served in the Roman auxiliary’s. A Roman coin, glas, or a gladius could have ended up here simply by trade.

[@dolmenkollen2786]

How about they found a roman soldier buried in the North of Norway?

[@regular-joe]

Superb treatment of the topic (as always!), but the sound was a touch subdued in this particular video, making it a bit of a strain to hear compared to your others. Edit: thoroughly enjoyed the alliteration in the description!

[@aidansumner8364]

Completely incorrect, the scandinavian gods can be traced back to the indo europeans! Were the gods in germania, who were almost identicle to the ones in scandinavia, also taken off the romans?

[@Chokwik]

dear Hilbert. have you studied "Troy towns", and do you have an opinion or hypothesis of about what culture did them? we have ~200 of them around in finnish coast areas, but very few in the inland.. One hypothesis (from Jukka Nieminen), if i remember it right, was that those stone mazes were linked to Roman imperium.. sidenote: He said also that the Romans might have founded cities here., those cities are connected to each other in semi specific lenghts, that would've been the army's marching distance for one (or two) days.., those cities here happen to be mostly near the same^ coastal areas. the Gulf of Finland and 'Bottom's sea' (sea of bothnia) used to have alot of trade going through.. Wouldn't be a surprise if someone wanted to get the area & people under tax

[@micahistory]

I never even imagined that the Romans were allied to the Vikings' ancestors

[@Brahmdagh]

Which of these actions has made more money: Vikinging across the seas? Or adding word 'viking' to something's name/title?

[@mysticnovelbro]

Viking is a verb on its own, no need for added ING lol

[@mysticnovelbro]

The warriors of Jomsborg liked raiding in the name of their port city, and so went Jomsviking. Later to be referred to in their acts by name, being called Jomsvikings by Englishmen etc. Word on the vine is that these dudes made quite a lot of money, and saved on a shitload of coin by perpetually spurning Wendland's monarch's demands for taxes. Tough ol' bastards, so they were.

[@magnusorn7313]

viking in old norse is a verb vikingr is a noun in old norse for a person who goes viking viking is the english translation of the latter

[@Brahmdagh]

@@magnusorn7313 wouldn't that make vikinging the proper english verb then? :)

[@magnusorn7313]

@@Brahmdagh it could be interpreted to be but a more logical way to say it in my opinion would be to say someone is going on a viking as thats close to how the word is used in modern scandinavian languages

[@p0xus]

Great video! I thought you were going to just talk about the Varangians or something....

[@micahistory]

Interesting how this fuelled the end of collective ownership and the beginning of individual property

[@deismaccountant]

I know. It’s why I’ve repeatedly referenced this video starting at around 5:20

[@Zetrao]

Alright i have alredy notiecd some wrong things here 5:35 Now IF i remember correctly "vikings" kept on being a sort of a "clan or rather village controlling themselves" system all the way into the early viking age. 6:59 sorry but there never existed a "warrior" class in scandinavia society until the later viking age, the farmers were the warriors, what i mean is that people weren´t warriors as a profession rather by necessity. As in let´s say that your harvest was shit well then you would be almost forced to go raid (wether that be the english or a neighbouring village). 7:45 I honestlly speaking don´t know to much about this but from what i do know the "norse" pantheon wasn´t influenced directly from the romans (from what i know, could have had some influence) since the germanic people alredy had words for gods like Woðanaz (odin in proto-germanic) so i think it was influenced from the germanic people in germania (Maybe they got it from the romans as i said im not really an expert in this area and i would appreciate it if someone could correct me on this with sources thank you very much). otherwise great video!

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

Nice video. Altho I should add that some of what you describe, such as the origin of the runes, is still a matter of debate. Some suggest a greek, rather then roman, influence concerning that one. And, more importantly, saying a pantheon of gods came to be due to roman influence is a claim I must dispute. The most accepted theory (and yes, it is used as a theory) is that the belief in the aesir came to the Nordics with indo-european culture, meaning it is far older then Rome. Maby the clearest example of this is that Tor/Thor is almost identical to the Indian god Indra. The vanir (the lesser known Nordic pantheon), however, is believed to have existed pre-indo-european influence, similar to the Titans in greek mythology. This is especialy interesting, as in the greek version the godly war ended with victory for the indo-european gods, while the Nordic version resulted in a peace treaty.

[@wardeni4806]

Wait, Romans around from 27 BC until 476 AD? More like 509 BC (Founding of the Roman Republic and the start of it's expansion) - 1453 AD (Fall of Constantinople and the eastern half of the empire)

[@karlG3375]

Roman artifacts from the time of the Roman Empire has been found in Sweden in my county of Blekinge. Archeologists believe its from a wealthy man who had been serving in the Roman Army. Which was an important status thing even back then before the Viking era. And Roman artifacts has been found elsewhere in Sweden. And with that evidence of the treasures of Vång, its event more clear of the Roman presence back then.

[@jansundvall2082]

Roman artefacts are sparsely found up to Trøndelag in Norway and Medelpad and Ångermanland in Sweden

[@eid8fkebe7f27ejdjdjduyhsvqhwu2]

"Who were around from 27BC to 476AD as an empire" Julius Nepos, Justinian, Belisarius, Heraklios, Alexios and Konstantinos XI Palaiologos: "EXCUSE US, WHAT THE FUCK?"

[@Marcusjnmc]

considering the varangian guard roman artifacts from byzantium could have easily ended up in scandinavia, so it needs to be sourced from a period appropriate site ideally to be certain that the actual exchange occured during the earlier era, there seems plenty aside from that one though

[@theMOCmaster]

You made this vid in 1 day :O

[@garychynne1377]

thank yew.

[@paulingvar]

The reason for keeping cattle Indoor in iron age was because of colder and wetter climate

[@larsrons7937]

12:06 - *Danevirke* - is older, at least from around 500, probably yet older. _"we start to get the construction in the early __-7th-__ century..."_ according to English Wikipedia but not correct. The oldest parts of the "main wall" is dated to around year 500, yet built on older not yet dated ramparts possibly from around 450 - 500. Interestingly this coincides with the period of the fall of the Western Roman empire as well as the problems with the Huns in this part of the world. It's also interesting that the wall is built possibly between Angles and Saxons home territory at a time when they jointly (with others) start getting foothold in the British Isles. [Edit] The early start of the Danevirke wall perhaps means that it wasn't the Danes who initiated it (we don't know of Danes having power in this area that early), but we can't know if Danes were somehow involved. Maybe they helped financing it? We don't know. Only that it's older than 500 AD.

[@anonymous_coward]

That there were Roman weapons in Denmark seems like a plausible explanation as to why the Vikings had equipment, like swords and helmets, so similar to late Roman equipment. But I'm curious if there is more evidence? Say for example swords from just before Roman contact that don't look like a spatha.

[@arx3516]

A late empire legionary equipment was basically identical to that of a rich viking, mail, spear, shield and a spatha as sidearm, wich was really similar to a viking sword.

[@erlinggaratun6726]

Music is too loud :(

[@micahistory]

I had no idea this alliance caused such a shift in their culture

[@Shaden0040]

I understand why you play the Dutch anthem so much but why does it have to be so LOUD!?

[@someonesilence3731]

Because it's glorious!

[@Maxibon2007]

Pup314 to annoy the Walloons?! :)

[@polilla318]

So basically you’re a comrade, thank you for this nice video

[@AR-ge1oo]

btw you forget to put the image in the description

[@micahistory]

I had no idea this even happened

[@spacecanuk8316]

Us Danes have always been ones for stealing good ideas as well as gold and women ;) However here we divide our iron age into Celtic, Roman and Germanic based on the dominant culture in Europe at the time, it's not all about the Romans lol. Also not sure how it got more violent than the bronze age since the Solensfolk were quite warlike themselves and fought over the copper and tin trade.

[@aidansumner8364]

Your norse ancestors are looking down at you in shame.

[@Bigsmoke11001]

The Roman Empire didn't fall in 476 ad. The Roman Empire survided and even retook Italy, africa and even a part of Iberia for a while. Byzantium never took over. Byzantium is only a old name of Constantinople.

[@apc9714]

A part of the western Roman empire survived after 476 in Gaul too. ( before being conquered by the Franks)

[@Bigsmoke11001]

@@apc9714 Soisson :)

[@apc9714]

@@Bigsmoke11001 Yes exactly

[@JohnSmith-rk7zy]

BIG NUMBER

[@kevwhufc8640]

I know adam n lisa who found that hoard of Viking and Saxon coins your video started off with ,im just a little bit jealous lol

[@wowdodge1959]

10:36 Biskupin

[@1d1ane]

- did not see a link to Roman silver set found in Lolland Denmark.

[@koosh138]

I always thought the futhark more resembled the phoenician text.

[@pinkandfluffysuperwokeblok9859]

Aren’t these actually the Anglo Saxon and jutes ancestors and not the vikings? Or are they they a common ancestor?

[@tommy-er6hh]

They were Germanic Scandinavians, they were all a similar people with similar language and customs. The Cimbri and Teutons "germans" that invaded early Roman empire came from Jutland area, as well as Angles& Jutes of Anglo-Saxons later, and Danish Viking raiders later. It is like having a biker thug gang nearby, every once in a while you get trouble.

[@Sefree6]

FYI, you pronounce Jylland as 'you-lan' not Yoot-land :-D Nice video anyway!

[@CollinBuckman]

It's Jutland in English.

[@Sefree6]

@@CollinBuckman yeah, it is. But he's obviously not saying it in his normal English accent, implying he's trying to pronounce it in Danish

[@Timbo5000]

@@Sefree6 He says it in Dutch, actually.

[@Sefree6]

@@Timbo5000 He's speaking with a British accent, actually.

[@Sefree6]

@@Timbo5000 and speaking in English, with an English accent, but then using Dutch pronoucination for Danish places doesn't make my point invalid. If you're going to pronounce things in a foreign accent, at least use the right one, surely?

[@zinzorius313]

It was a very good video and I applaude you for trying to pronounce the danish words, but if you said the vowels for a bit longer it would sound alot more danish.

[@hammer86_]

4:01 You didn't put The Hoby in the description.

[@michaelmuller6890]

what function does that Wilhelmus have in your videos?

[@tommy-er6hh]

have you done a video on the Roman resettlement of some frisii into Albion (England)?

[@5h0rgunn45]

There's a poetic beauty in the Classical Romans helping the northern Germanic tribes kickstart the Viking age so they could become mercenaries for the Medieval Romans. It's like an alien race life-seeding a world so that the natives can later become part of their empire.

[@Camalex98]

its kinda weird hearing ads for nordvpn since they just had that data breach (which was made public after this video to be fair)

[@shorewall]

I love the Romans, I love the Vikings, so both is good. :D

[@Bigsmoke11001]

2 words. Varangian guard.

[@Onnarashi]

Vikings aren't a people.

[@roderickclerk5904]

@@Onnarashi What if he was just referring to the exploring section of the Old Norse societies?

[@shorewall]

@@roderickclerk5904 Yeah! Precisely that. I don't care about no farmers that stayed home. :D

[@shorewall]

@@Bigsmoke11001 I was so happy when I heard about that. :D I also like the Normans, as Norse that settle in French lands and picked up (imo) Latin qualities.

[@mathiasgudme9901]

Lovely name there at 10:19

[@creakychair9387]

Still waiting on the video about the Swedes during the viking age.

[@PajamaJazama]

Check out the great courses, they have an excellent video series on the vikings which goes into specifics of Norway, Denmark, Sweden etc. Even though this might be about "Danes" there were certainly later Swedes & Norwegians among them as well.

[@JoelK1991]

The Vendel age is not that long as you show. In between the Roman iron age and the Vendel age we have the migration period in Scandinavia

[@user-rx8ds1yn6u]

What ist about the varangian guards in Constantinpole?

[@magnusorn7313]

what ist?

[@marcn4452]

Audio is too low

[@zeuscaesar4845]

The jokes are funny, great video.

[@RonJohn63]

Background music: loud and distracting. Why do you think you need it?

[@vampyrjack]

Got any source on Holgers dike? Haven't heard of it before and would like to know more :)

[@svenlittlecross]

i cant find it either and cant find anything on Hoby(also mentioned in video)

[@snorrebjorkson2294]

It is unlikely that Funen was Danish that early. It was the island of Heruli and the Heruli were also the inventors of the runes. Almost all Germanic tribes had warriors who hired themselves out to the Romans as mercenaries. The Saxons were also in Roman service before they conquered England.

[@AshleyDownTranmissionSociety]

"level pegging field" @6:42

[@TheZestyCar]

More videos about the Dutch please!

[@seanfroudistwalsh3870]

Interesting about the relationship between the runic alphabet and the Latin alphabet. Is this also true for the Ogham script?

[@thomashankelbjerg72]

The kimber tribe from jutland made a great impact on The romans

[@timomastosalo]

The boss (pre-)Viking has pretty mad eyebrows

[@hi23nutzer21]

I love the pictures of the roman complaining that they were seriously neglected😂😂😂

[@spacecanuk8316]

Also if you really like roman engineering being co-opted by the Danes, check out Jelling. The walls can be actually measured precisely in meters because those are based on the old Roman measurements. Again, not just gold and slaves we took from people ;)

[@georgytodorov7947]

Dude, please fix your audio. I can hardly hear you with the volume turned all the way up...

[@steyn1775]

is it me or is the sound very soft/low?

[@johnfenn3188]

So, a question: if the Jutes were so organised and Danish, how come the Jutes who came and settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight some a West Germanic Dialect? Or are they different Jutes?