Why Were Masks So Popular in Medieval Venice?
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- I'm in Venice now and this is such a perfect opportunity to talk about the absolutely mind blowing tradition of Venetian masks! Why were they used? Why was Venice called "the masked city?"
Masks have always been an important feature of the Venetian carnival. Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, December 26) and the end of the carnival season at midnight of Shrove Tuesday (movable, but during February or early March). As masks were also allowed on Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large portion of the year in disguise.
Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild, with their own statute dated 10 April 1436. Mascherari belonged to the fringe of painters and were helped in their task by sign-painters who drew faces onto plaster in a range of different shapes and paying extreme.
Venetian masks can be made of leather, porcelain or using the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design, decoration, and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most Italian masks are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.[citation needed] However, this makes them rather expensive when compared to the widespread, low-quality masks produced mainly by American factories. This competition accelerates the decline of this historical craftsmanship peculiar to the city of Venice.
Me who never knew masks were popular in Venice: *Yes I would like to know the answer to this burning question.*
uninteligent
Tomas was just following orders
me who played ac
How would you NOT know? Venetian masks are very popular everywhere nowadays
@@LordVader1094 that's what i was wondering, who doesn't know about the carnival and the masks?
"I have distilled an elixir of lead and pomegranate!"
--a doctor
---trust him, he's a doctor
Trust the science.
Darkest Dungeon vibes.
Ezio: Idk this guy seems legit
NOO POMEGRANATE!!!!
he seems trustworthy he's a doctor
So, in other words, Medieval Venice was basically 4chan irl with complete anonymity.
Oh god, this makes more sense than it should!
Bruh
Can you imagine /b/ in real life?
@@AXEL-fg5gi it is real life
Makes sense consider how the Venitians did a lot of trolling, they stole bodies of saints, sacked Constantinople and traded with the Muslim world.
The plague doctor suits actually did help protect the doctor usually, but often, unfortunately, they would touch the outside of the clothing and get infected from time to time.
I still think it's kind of impressing, that even while getting things wrong, some of their concepts were at least partially right and did help at least to some extend.
If I remember correctly, the flowers were actually used to counter the stench of the corpses.
@@orenjineko646 For sure, that's part of the Miasma theory. But the fact they were actually filtering the air out, even just a bit, and the plague was more contact than airborn, these outfits actually ended up protecting the doctors so long as they were careful about handlign the robes. Most of them started to figure out touching things plagued people touched was bad pretty early on, hence their leather gloves.
PLague doctors had a nasty habbit of spreading the plague around in cities a bit though, since they were protected and didn't wash their outfits between seeing patients.
@@ArkinMC Including bloodletting. It actually did help with starving infections of blood iron to grow.
@@ArkinMC well Trial and Error will get you improvement over time. To be completely honest, it's how we got to now, when you think about it realisitically.
"Everyone in Venice was wearing masks for anonymity, and could speak and act freely."
Sounds like Venice was the 4Chan of the Middle Ages LOL.
Or a furry convention lasting hundreds of years
Speaks and act freely in this case = free to engage in dubious dealings and indulgence.
@@101jir By the way speaking of which, Furry Suits is a very expensive hobby in general especially if one wants to create a new one whole suit piece and head piece each year while also cleaning maintenance is required often as it collects allergens and dust real fast in closets and oh boy! one really needs a big dedicated closet for furry suits and head swaps.
Me: trying to write some code.
UA-cam: "Why were masks so popular in medieval venice?"
Me: "Interesting, this could help me concentrate afterwards."
Did it work? Hahaha
Venice is an incredible city, I've been meaning to go back for years now. I still have a mask made in the traditional methods, and the man who made it showed me around his workshop and explained in detail the craft. Personally, I think the Bauta is my favourite.
Do you remember the name of the location? Sounds like a great place.
Yeah if you could drop the name thatd be cool
Drop the name!
Here for the name of the shop 👀
I’ve always been fascinated by Venice since a child, and was the reason why I took Italian in high school 😂
I don't dare go back. I spent a fortune there and bought the most beautiful masks. The Medusa mask is my favorite.
Interestingly, "Volto" comes from the same root as "Visage", both from the Latin word "visus". Coincidentally, the dichotomy of "face" vs "visage" that we have in English mirrors the dichotomy of "faccia" vs "volto". Face is more common as a word, whereas visage is more poetic, the same goes for the Italian words.
In German both the common term "Gesicht" and the more poetic "Antlitz" are from Proto-Western Germanic, not Latin.
However there is also the term "Visage". It also describes the face but the connotation is totally different then English "visage". Used only as part of an insult.
Volto does not come from the Latin visus but the Latin vultus. Both visus and vultus do come from the same root in proto indo European though, "to see"
Well, Volto doesn't come from the Latin word "Visus", it comes from "Vultus".
The word "Visus" originated the Italians word "Viso" that has the same connotations of visage!
Funny how we all have such old commonality
In Brazilian Portuguese we have "rosto" (more formal) and "cara" (informal, which also means "guy") as common words, while "face" is more poetic
as the austrian author friedrich torberg in "Die Tante Jolesch" wrote: "Alle Städte sind gleich, nur Venedig is a bissele anders!" (All cities are the same. Only Venice is an teenie-weenie bit different1"
So many D&D ideas hit me after watching this video. Great stuff
yessss. A mystery to be solved in a city full of masks. Intrigue, blood and glamour.
I'm thinking I might use something like this in a Pathfinder campaign sometime.
Your players will burn it down...
@@RicardoMoralesMassin it does sound cool, but do I get to throw a fire spell on a gunpowder depot?
oh the SCANDALS heh
“Give someone a mask and they’ll show their true face”
I love it.
(Not so much the recent episode of masked fascism, though.)
A visitor to Venice during the period when mask wearing was at the height of its popularity said that it made it feel like a city of ghosts.
Venice had basically become a financial backwater by then so it was decaying and horrifically degenerate at the same time. People only came there because it was a beautiful wreck or to have any kind of sex and gambling they could dream up.
Spirited Away vibes
They wanted to live incognito. Love it
I love Venice. And I would recommend everybody to go there. But remember: Please don't go there on a cruise! It's really bad for the city's foundations. And by by, say staing there for a night or two you can see more of it and expirience it by night.
And as a little bonus: The good people of Venice actually make some money this way.
They're not letting the cruise ships go so close to the city anymore.
such a beautiful video babes! the color and craftsmanship of these masks are just.....wow! 🤩
@@sarumanthewise8511 thank you so much! hope you and yours are well too!
Thank you! Tomorrow we can go back to the mask shop :D
Good day, Lady Metatron. *tips hat
I hope after Metatron told the background history you will represent an athentic venetian fashion show, I am waiting it eagerly!;)
@@sarumanthewise8511 You shall not pass!
In fairness to the plague doctor mask - it DID help, even if not for the reasons the physicians of the time understood the exact why and how of it all...
True. But while plague doctors rarely got infected themselves, they would often infect others.
@@raneknudsen4785 This is true - but nevertheless, the mask protected the wearer. Would that they'd had germ theory at the time...
they had germ theory at that time in history, only it was scoffed at and had you burned at the stake for expressing miasma hesitancy.
@@mgntstr I stand corrected... though, in practice, Europe didn't have germ theory at the time, owing to said stake burnings. :P
Bubonic plague is mainly spread by infected fleas from small animals. It may also result from exposure to the body fluids from a dead plague-infected animal.
Simply touching the cloak wouldnt do ANYTHING to infect you unless it was covered with pus, and they didnt get close enough to patients to have that happen.
So their outfits did nothing
They would bring it home and in its folds would be fleas and the fleas would still infest the home and bite the doctor.
Curious that in Italy "dama'' is apparently an older or fancier way to say lady, in portuguese we use the word like that all the time.
Same in Spanish, of course.
In Italian though the word for “woman” is “Donna” and I’m guessing both dama and donna come from Latin “domina” which has been kept in Spanish and Portuguese
@@Earthstorm84 en español donna es doña y significa Mrs, Miss o lady. ¡Muy interesante cómo idiomas son similares!
In Spanish donna is doña and it means Mrs, Miss or lady. Very interesting how languages are similar!
In french and english too “dame”!
Same in French, "dame" is still used, though either to mention an old lady or when talking to kids, like "watch out for the dame, honey" when a child isn't paying attention in the street and almost bumps into a woman, for example.
this topic was my interest for a while but failed to find the satisfying reason why this culture was famous in Venice for myself but this.....
i want to thank Meratron for scratching the itchy part
I had an inkling of an idea of how masks are tied to Venice, one of my favorite books as a kid “City Of Masks” in the Stravaganza series is based on an alternate version of Venice with a female ruler called a Duchessa who wears a mask for the rest of her reign and my grandparents brought home a miniature Jester mask from when they actually visited Venice, but I didn’t know there were other types!
"Venice is an absolute Jewel" I see what you did there. Very masked of you.
I found it pretty cool that "dama" is Italian for "lady", as it is also "the lady" in my local Norwegian dialect.
I wonder what metatrons opinion is on the assassin's Creed 2 versions of Florence and Venice
I can’t help but think of assassin‘s creed 2 every time I see Venice, I’ve never been but I have so many memories of it.
"Se devo scegliere fra la birra e le donne perché devo scegliere"
A wise shirt wore by a wise man
been to Venice once (and it was during carnival). It was just so beautiful. I need to go back someday!!!
"Il Gatto"
Ah, yes.
Historical proof that catgirl cosplayers have always been a thing and not just a modern creation. Just what I wanted to learn today.
Really want some of those mask, btw.
I have a real mask I got in Venice of a golden lion, it's beautiful
I also have one, with curled horns and butterflies.
Aww, I want to buy one so badly and desperately now! 😂✋
For completeness, there's a third word to indicate "face" in italian, and is "Viso".
I remember Venencia in Assassins Creed 2
Yep!
Best AC
Ah the memories
"Venice was the capital of the Maritime Empire of Venice"
Hmm yes the floor here is made out of floor.
Well actually the floor is made out of water
Rome was the capital of Roman Empire. So they have a tradition of "what it says on the tin".
I mean not even uncommon today, Mexico City is the capital of the United Mexican States, Basilia is the capital of the Federative Republic of Brazil
I loved this vid! I wanna go to Venice now and see the masks.
Please do!
Even without the masks Venice is still worth a visit. It's the most beautiful city I've ever been to. Go to Venice, see it with your own eyes. No photograph or video will ever be able to capture the true beauty of that place.
And unique in that the roads are aquatic
I feel a special interest coming on…
Also I’m upset that we don’t have a television series set in Venice during this time period. Someone make this happen!
If Netflix’s Bridgerton could be made, why can't we have a historical fantasy period drama of Venetian life as well?
@@raisyrosye7656 yassss!
@@MysticHeather Haha, let’s ✨manifest✨ it.
@@raisyrosye7656 yesssss
While the plague doctor's mask was historically used, it actually isn't medieval. It only begun to be used in the 17th century, which was by the way a time when the Plague became pretty much endemic in europe, lots of local outbreaks coming every few years, instead of just a few large pandemics as it was in the medieval era.
I was coming into the comments to say just this!
Imagine being a dude with a distinctive voice or body and getting recognized.
I've been collecting masks since I was 13. I think I might have an overload from excitement in Venice.
Haha, I'm sure you’d have a blast of a fun time there!
is "faccia" and "volto" equivalent of what in spanish would be "cara" and "rostro"?
yes
Yes, but the most equivalent of faccia would be facha, or fachada, the face of the house
@@sirchafa8472
Wat
"Dama" is also a polish word for "lady".
So's in Spanish :0
Also, "Dame" means lady in french
Dame is used in English now and then, except the “a” is pronounced like you would pronounce “fame”, it means the same thing as all the other languages
And probably Portuguese and Rumanian too. Romance languages are very similar.
Also in Russian. Btw isn’t Dame an English female equivalent of a Lord nowadays? Like Dame Judy Dench?
are you trying to seduce us, Metatron? x'D
You live in such an incredible place. I was in Italy a couple years back but didn’t make it to Venice. I have to say that in all the countries we went to, the Italians were the kindest and most generous. I wasn’t expecting that tbh. Beautiful country- beautiful people.
Grz mille! (Tks) ❤
I've been to Venice once. It's easily the most beautiful city I've ever been to. If you haven't been there, believe me, you will not regret going there. You will never be able to appreciate just how incredibly beautiful everything is without going there... And it's so refreshing to be in a place without cars. I still have a pen that I bought there all those years ago, and never used because I was too afraid to break it lol. Guess I need to change that and actually use it... And, when this virus crap is over, I really need to go visit that city again. But, be warned, the city is filled with beggars. Most of them belonging to gangs that take all their money, so giving them money doesn't actually help them, it just helps criminals. So think about that before you give them money. It's sad that things like this happen, but with the amount of tourists there it's such a lucrative business that it will probably only get more and not less...
Recently the beggar thing got sorted out by the governor
@@tafazzi-on-discord that's awesome. Back when I went to Venice it was filled with beggars. At every single corner there was at least one...
@@adenkyramud5005 yes I have no doubt that's true, it was a city filled with beggars until a few months ago; the situation improved recently
Love those Venetians, they get sh*t DONE.
we're going to need to bring these back
under the surveillance state system.
I'm not wearing the mask for COVID which has a >98% survival rate.
I'm wearing a mask for facial recognition technology.
@@Marinealver Air/ heating conditioning for shopping stores messes with me sinuses and cause me to have running noise, so I'm stuck wearing masks when shopping. Both of my grand parents had that same problem with .. dry air.
Yeah, I think so too. Although making each mask unique probably defeats the purpose. An eInk mask whose pattern can be changed would be super-cool.
"Masks are popular in venice"
That sentence is quite responsible these days
To hide the damage from Syphilis would be my guess.
That's what I was wondering, to hide pox or syphilis damage?
In Greek "volta" means "going for a chill walk". It's probably Italian and am wondering if "Volta" has anything to do with "volto" face. (But also wearing a mask and going for a walk). Dama is also the woman partner in dance in our vocabulary.
Me before watching this: ''I have to visit Venice someday''
Me after watching this: ''I NEED TO GO NOW! THIS IS MY FATE, MY DESTINY!!!''
Thanks a lot for this awesome, informative video. This is the best info i ever found about masks in Venice! Thank you a thousand times.
So so magical mysterious beautiful.I need to go back.But definitely during the mask festival.My mask.La Gatto.
It's depressing to think that the city is sinking under its own weight. And in the future, with or without global warming, it will be flooded permanently
It really is
Precioso metatron! Muy precioso!
I typed in spanish just because you speak italian and both are alike
now that you did this video we need you to comment on how accurate the representation of 15th century Venice is in Assassin's Creed 2
I was in Venice a few years ago and I was amazed. As a person who love history (from ancient Greece / Rome to modern times) I really enjoyed the stay there. We went to Venice from Chioggia by boat and I was even more amazed when we landed in the port near San Marco. I can imagine how breathtaking it was for foreign merchants when they landed there during the golden age of Venice.
What a lovely random recommendation by UA-cam this was! I absolutely love masks in general, but Venetian ones in particular. I don't know much about their history, but their aesthetics have always fascinated me. The Venice festival is on my absolute bucket list, although I don't know if my heart could handle so much beauty. Thank you for this brief an very entertaining history and art lesson.
I personally really like masks, just on an aesthetic level.
Now I’ve got to go watch Eyes Wide Shut again.
ALL they wore were masks!
Now that you mention it, I might watch it again too.
Me too. That movie is hypnotic as fuck.
I gotta travel to Venice find some of these masks.
Europe history is so varied! I love it! and some ppl of black/asian descent say that we stole all culture from other nations.. ok.. :D
Viso: "am I a joke to you?"
There had to have been a social agreement to pretend, to a an extent, besides just wearing masks. I mean, surely, if you are walking around being clearly a - lets say - young, tall man and wearing the colors and jewellery of House So-and-So, everyone would be able to guess who you are.
Like at the dance where Romeo and Juliet met?
Usually with the mask people wore the same outfit.
Foreign narrators of that time talks about Venice in nigh as a "city of ghost".
They wore black cloaks (tabarro or tabarri --> plural)
This topic was always interesting to me since I saw Count Of Montecristo at a young age.
I think the modern western world could do with a touch of this magestic attire.
We are so boring
I had known about some of the History of Venice being called "The Masked City". So when I was in Italy for a short time, and visited Venice, I bought a mask. It looked much more like the Japanese Men-po, so I used it for a Samurai Costume I built for Halloween.
I just remembered the Water 7 city structure in One Piece. Now I know why they wear masks there
😍😍😍
The Plague doctor beak mask dates from the 17th century, so although it was worn during several outbreaks of the bubonic plague but not during the Black Death pandemic of the 14th century, it's not Medieval ;)
Hay would you do a video with the youtuber "the historians craft" on roman history.
I am studying Latin (thank you for some of inspiration btw) with the hopes of someday studying Italian as well. I thought it was funny that Italian has two words for face like Latin does. Facies and vultus. I dont think spanish has two words for face does any of the other Romance languages? You Italians have such a leg up when learning Latin....I guess that makes sense. Haha
In spanish you have "cara" that is the common word for face, and in a more formal or poetic way "rostro", the two words means the same but you would not hear "rostro" very often.
The Greeks have 8 words for love
@@elshebactm6769 super interesting I am going to look into the etymology of those words
@@monalisadavinci7076 I've thought about studying Epic or Attic Greek but it makes Latin look easy lol
Just as spanish, portuguese also has more than one word for face. We have 'face', of course, but also 'cara' and 'rosto'. Their use is context dependant, but the most common word for us would be 'rosto', while we usually reserve 'cara' for more coloquial use, but it's mostly used for an animal's face, haha. 'Face' is like a more technical term, but it can also sound poetic, in a less romantic manner.
Ummm, to hide the Syphilis lesions ?
Salve Metatron! Would love to see a collab between you and Tasting History, he has a wonderful collection of ancient Roman cuisine videos on his channel that I think you would love!
I thought it was bc of plague so everyone had traces on ther faces but this is nice actually
I'll answer your question with another question.
Why do people wear fursuits?
The Furries ~ another incognito trend
Short answer: Because they can
Long answer: Because they have the money and/or skill to make them
people wear fursuits in their daily lives? I mean I guess its not forbidden, but where exactly is an entire city filled with furries who wear or wore their suits every day?
@@Apokalypse456 it is forbidden in many places around the world!
Not because of fur, but because hiding your face is illegal!
Driving, partaking in demonstrations, etc. Have even strikter rules regarding this topic!
And there is the social stigma, thanks to 4chan spreading the misbelieve that furries are creepy sexual deviants
And then there is the problem of fursuit mainemtance. Wearing it daily would wear it out very quickly. They are not like a porcelain mask that you just have to wipe down after wearing...
Everybody gangsta until someone brings a gas mask.
Venice is just unreal. Coming in via train and just seeing these buildings on water
As soon as you exit the train station you are like WOW
Weren't people still recognized by their clothes, hair, accessorie and/or voice? Like, anybody who knew you at least a little would have known who you are, even with a mask? Even more so with the masks that show the perimeter of the face...
Can you do a video on the war of the fists(Robert C. Davis) ? Where venetians fought on top of a bridge, sometimes with sticks and bucklers. Very elaborate, even became a game and affected the modern era, as singing to make fun of the other team in football soccer.
basically Dubai for papacy and catholics.
Masks! My favorite! Squeal!
I am making a place like this in my stories. 100%
Are you a writer?
Venice used to be the brothel of Europe because everyone went there for sex -just read the autobiography of Casanova the ultimate sex addict.There were so many illegitimate children that they had to be educated in special convents -the great composer Vivaldi was in charge of teaching music to a convent of girls who were illegitimate -it was called "The Ospedale della pieta" The famous choral work "Gloria" by Vivaldi was written for these girls -it is very demanding to sing and perform so the musical standards of the place must have been very high.
One of my favorites places in the world, the home of one of the best adventures (and musician, spies, lover, politician, lottery inventor, etc.) of the world, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova.
"Casanova" became a Word with its own meaning in italian because of that man!
(A Casanova Is someone Who Is adventurous and carismatic at the same time, altought It can have negative connotations)
Nothing like running drunk through the streets of Venice (^^)
These are the questions that keep me up at night.
Syphilis.
And masks are way easier to apply and remove than makeup.
Also, makes sense if masks were used to visit bordellos anyway.
My daughter needs to see this. These tend to be poorly represented in wall art in the U S of A.
Often masks are part of a school project. My daughter really got into it.
Art is best appreciated with contextual history in mind.
I'm not really sure what "behten" is supposed to be, badly misspelled "beten" (to pray)? If it's supposed to mean to protect, "behüten" (watch over, guard, protect etc.) would also be possible. Or maybe some old german word that is lost in time?
It might be behüten as adding a trema or any other accent sometimes does strange things to text.
In Edo or it was Kyoto there were a period where they use mask for similar purposes
Oh, really? I'd love to hear more about it if you don't mind sharing some of your knowledge with me!
Metatron, are you Egyptian or Italian, which is it?
Make up your mind
"Se devo scegliere tra la birra e le donne"... "scelgo una donna che non capisce questa maglietta così non ho problemi a scegliere la birra" :)
Fun fact. *Untreated syphilis* would have caused peoples hair to fall out and chewed off their nose so anyone with status would have worn wigs and a face covering in public or when entertaining to keep up appearances. Those gatherings would look pretty frightening full of people running around with dead and blackened to the bone holes in the middle of their face.
The full-face masks reach the Uncanny Valley.
Back in college I made a bauta mask for an art project. Its... a bit lumpy in places, but darn it i was quite proud!
(I was using it more for symbolism of a wish to be seen yet anonymous anyway... the stand i made for it was amazing.)
Why do these masks make me think of Dungeons and Dragons? Why am I such a nerd?
But seriously, The masks here would be great for a political setting in a fantasy world, where everyone is wearing a mask for a variety of reasons. Plus, they just look amazing. You Italians are just amazing in general.
Interesting that you look at this in 2021, as over the course of the pandemic I realized I liked wearing a mask as people won't see my face, or notice my expressions. Not that it is a huge deal, but not having to smile at random people i'm walking by is just ever so more convenient. Plus I don't have to shave every single day.
But your eyes are visible, unless you wear sunglasses, and eyes are the easiest way to spot different expressions.
"They wore masks in the misguided belief that it would block the plague--" Stop! You're triggering my mask-mandate PTSD!
The vector was a parasyte
So Venezia was basically the Las Vegas of the middle ages...
Also in the XVIII century
At least in medieval masks, there are a-holes to breath
💘 it!!! 😎😱😭💞💕👋😊
Min 4:12 The bauta... Simple and practical...
Min 08:00 The moretta....
Min 8:50 The jester...
Min 09:30 "Il gatto, la dama..."
“Why were masks so popular in Medieval Venice?” “Because everybody had fucked up skin “ was my first guess tbh Pretty cool that it was all for the sake of rebellion though!
Wow, how cool and amazing is that?
I'm so sad to live in a country with no such cool traditions and awesomeness.
P.S. In Lithuanian we also say "Dama". It means fancy, higher social status, well dressed, usually older woman in festive or polite context.
Anti maskers: i can't breathe, i'm gonna die if i don't take off this mask
Venetians:
German is my mothertongue and I never saw a word like "behten". Maybe you mean "behüten"? Because "behüten" is like protect, guard or save.
Perhaps it's Jiddish
The irony between the Medieval Venetian mask and the modern Covid-19-84 muzzles has not gone unnoticed!!
It's DEFINITELY a shame we have to wear masks that're nowhere NEAR as beautiful.
@@ezrafaulk3076 wear one of these masks then. no one is stopping you.
@@overlorddante noONE is, but the fact that I don't even HAVE one is.
@@ezrafaulk3076 then get one lol
@@overlorddante from WHERE? I'm in Nashville. Or is that just a joke?
Haven't watched it yet ... but I'll say syphilis lesions
My mother owns a beautiful joster mask she bought in Venice few years ago and to this day I like to go to her room and just look at that mask because it is just so beautiful. I am planning to go to Venice one more time and buy one for myself. Also thank you for great video
Ooh, la la, now, I want to buy a Venetian mask as well! I just love the concept of having an alter ego because everyone’s got a secretive side to them that they don't want others to know!
21st century : VPN
14th century : Masks
Hey! I love your videos but I have a question (I don't know if you did this already but just curious) How did ancient warriors or just the people workout? I been working out lately cause I wanna improve my health due to the pandemic but I just thought "Did my ancient European ancestors do the same exercises?"
I am curious to see what you know cause melee infantry and manual labor was super important without advance machines. Some form of fitness training would be needed to build endurance and prepare the nation for a time to conscript possible soldiers.
If anyone sees this what's you thought on this question?
I've heard the ancient Greek Olympians could have run circles around the modern day version
I always thought they were to cover pox and plague scars.