Inside the Mausoleum of Augustus
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- The Mausoleum of Augustus, resting place of the first Roman emperors, was closed for decades. But a few months ago, after a massive restoration project, the Mausoleum was reopened to the public, allowing visitors to explore the ancient passageways and burial chamber within.
I would like to thank Gina Carpinito and Riccardo Di Cecco for making my visit to the Mausoleum possible.
Please consider supporting this channel on Patreon:
/ toldinstone
If you liked this video, you might also enjoy my book “Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants: Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Greeks and Romans.”
www.amazon.com/Naked-Statues-...
If you're so inclined, you can follow me elsewhere on the web:
/ toldinstone
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:23 Design of the Mausoleum
1:02 Layout of the interior
1:43 Imperial funerals
2:23 The burial chamber
3:51 Emperors and burials
4:38 Relics from the imperial tombs
5:24 Post-antique history
6:40 Conclusion
For the intro theme, I'd like to thank Julien Monette, whose compositions can be found here:
/ @jmonettemusic
The closing theme was kindly provided by Jacob La Bar of Above the Bar Productions.
Thanks for watching!
If you’d like to book an in-depth tour of the Mausoleum of Augustus, I recommend Through Eternity Tours, a Rome-based company that specializes in custom walks and virtual tours. Save 5% on any private or group tour with the discount code TOLDINSTONE.
www.througheternity.com/en/rome-tours/#
You might also be interested in the Through Eternity UA-cam channel:
ua-cam.com/users/ThrougheternityPlusvideos
As with all the other relics lost to time, I wonder, did the Romans have door locks in 98? What of the keys to the Mausoleum? Imagine finding them someday...
@toldinstone
Appreciate your work Dr, keep it up. Would you please make a short documentary story on ancient latrines in Rome? I've always wondered how that knowledge and technology of running water bathrooms was lost in medieval Europe. Thanks
Thank you for your objective approach and not being one of the “Empire fetishized” presenters.
That mound-like design with trees around was very stylish.
It certainly beats that mound of crap these lunatics at Westminster council built at Marble Arch in london.
It's not mentioned but Augustus very likely used the tomb of Alexander the Great as inspiration (which he would've personally seen during his time in Egypt) when he designed his own resting place, it reportedly was round and monumental as well. The placement of the Mausoleum was important too, Augustus making sure that anyone entering Rome via the Tiber River would see this awe inspiring structure first upon their arrival in the city.
How can we confirm this💁
@@youngzzaz5407 We can confirm Augustus visited the tomb of Alexander through Suetonius (Divus Augustus 18). I haven't found any ancient source mentioning Augustus used it as an inspiration so I'm assuming the theory originates in the way two buildings share features and little else.
i thought alexander tomb is in babylon
or keep hidden in secret by his generals/companion
@@faydulaksono Alexander’s tomb was in Alexandria.
The Kings and Generals UA-cam channel has a good two part video on it.
@@michaelcollins966 Virginia?
I am so glad that the Mausoleum has finally been conserved and opened to the public. I saw it in very bad shape during my first visit to Rome in the late 1980's. It was shameful and hard to believe that such a relic had been allowed to reach that condition, a haunt for dog walkers and muggers. Still a ruin but much better now. Would be nice if they put some roman sculptures within the grounds.
I think they did a very bad job, and am absolutely ashamed.
I say this as a Roman born and raised in Rome.
what amazes me is the masonry work that still stands close to 1000 years later
Because Augustus wasn’t a Catholic. Italians are very religious and distance themselves from the Pagans of old. So it’s no surprise they let their Roman monuments go to waste.
I agree. I was shocked and saddened when I went there in 1994. This mausoleum contained the remains of not only Augustus but of so many famous and notorious names from the early Imperial era. Augustus I think was one of the most remarkable men to have ever lived and certainly the one person in history who I dearly would have loved to meet, with Alexander the Great running second. I think Augustus' legacy echoes through the centuries to the present day and I for one, will return to Rome to visit the mausoleum of the man to whom the western world owes so much.
@@leonardodavid2842 I would be interested to read what you consider so bad about it. I know it has been a contentious project.
Its amazing that so many Roman ruins are in fairly good shape considering how most were stripped, bombed, and went through many earthquakes over the millenia.
7 yrs ago, I hunted for the Mausoleum of Augustus and found it after getting lost... I went there prior to be it being open to the public... it was amazing even if it is only a shadow of what it was... thank you for giving this update.
*Once the most important man of the Roman Empire, ruled the known world, now his very tomb is fallen stone and dust....reminds me of the poem by Shelly.*
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
- Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias"[
Marble in ancient Roman ruins exists:
The Church: Hippity hoppity this marble is now my property
Yeah, ironic how the Catholic Church revered so many fake "saint's" relics but pillaged & plundered anything of real historic significance of other cultures.
Businessmen: Hey, we can make lime out of that marble! Free marble!
It wasn't just the church which plundered roman buildings for stone etc. Ordinary citizens following the fall of the Roman Empire attempting to make a living - used the stone to produce the lime for agriculture and for mortar. In time poor people lived in the tombs of the wealthy and cows grazed in the forum. It was only under Mussolini that much of ancient Rome was excavated and to do so ordinary people's houses and places of work were demolished in turn!
@@scotth6814 St Peters structure & the Haga Sophia in Constantinople must surely stand as the most monumental structures built from pillaged Roman & Grecian temples & buildings . Let us not forget that when we enter those buildings.The Pantheon is a stark & beautiful reminder of what has been lost.
@@scotth6814 their own culture. :( thats their history more than anyone elses. such a shame.
The Mausoleum was fenced off and overgrown with foliage during my two visits to Rome (in 2006 and 2016). Thanks for this virtual tour. Hopefully when the world returns to “normal” I’ll be able to visit in person.
I’m about halfway through “Naked Gladiators...” and enjoying it immensely. I found the chapters on the Roman’s beliefs particularly interesting.
I visited it 2 weeks ago (May 2023) and it wasn't open to the public. It is still very rough. There was heavy equipment there so I assume the restoration is ongoing but no where near completion.
Thanks, I always have wondered what was inside. I can't help thinking the story about the monks using Tiberias's urn as a bucket is balderdash, but as a metaphor, it holds true. Stripping ancient buildings for lime, forsooth.
The quarrying of ancient sites is a travesty. Like how the great pyramids had the outside limestone quarried to repair Cairo. Just imagine if they still had the smooth, white stone lining on them to this day... sad
I don't blame them. They had a lot to worry about and no one knew much about any of this.
I do blame every Italian after WW2. THAT was a choice, and it was made.
I like “I always thought it would be a large pyramid” for my tombstone text. 🤪 Now I’m not so sure. Maybe the text should reflect Augustus’ structure.
Incredible how this structure transformed so many times during the millennia that followed. Great information.
Or… shot out into space… that’s be a cool way to go.
Wow, thanks for this. I made it a point to go to the Mausoleum of Augustus when we were in Rome, but it was fenced off. I’m so glad to hear it’s open now. I hope to be able to visit again on day.
As someone who studied 6 years of Latin in high school (In The Netherlands) I must say that you have breathed new life into my interest in classical antiquity. You really have the opportunity to speak to an audience of younger people that normally would not learn this stuff outside of school (including me, I’m 17, almost 18). Hell, 99% of people would not even learn this stuff at all in high school - at least here in The Netherlands - because only a fraction of high schools offer Culture of Classical Antiquity, Latin and ancient Greek as a course.
Thank you and keep doing what you’re doing please! :)
I'm 72, so a slight age difference 😊 but I also studied Latin in high school (in Australia); I remember the thrill of seeing for the first time, original Latin inscriptions - on tablets in the Topkapi palace in Istanbul - as a young backpacker in 1973.
Always a pleasure. I recommend your book to all participants of this channel. It's not only worth reading, it's delighting!
Reading your book…well written, excellently researched…lots of fascinating information!
Just bought your book yesterday! Can't wait for it to arrive so I can jump in. If it's even half as interesting as your videos are, I know I'll love it. Keep up the great work!
Where did you find it, if I may ask? Amazon has had it listed as "In Stock Soon" for weeks...
@@Calamity_Jack I went ahead and ordered on Amazon, they said I would get it in a window from the 25th to the 30th of this month. Still a bit of a wait, but it'll be worth it I'm sure.
@@tomsauber6341 Ah, okay, thanks. I thought you had actually gotten one already.
@@Calamity_Jack Yeah, it'll be a decent wait no matter how you look at it, so I just decided to order it now so I'll get it that much sooner. Best of luck man!
@@Calamity_Jack Try Barnes and Noble, I walked in one yesterday and they had a few copies on hand. shipping should be faster than amazon.
I always seen only vaguely the exterior of the mausoleum but I was always was surprised that such an important structure was left abandoned for such a long time. I'm very glad that it has been restored and renovated and at the first opportunity I will go and visit it. The mausoleum of Augustus and his family deserves much better! Good job again and looking forward to see your new videos 👍👍
"The mausoleum of Augustus and his family deserves much better", Why?
@@athathsonty2925 as I mentioned it was abandoned since the war and the last time I saw it, from outside 10 years ago, it was virtually a cesspit packed with junk and plenty of street cats. The beauty was that it was that it was next to the shopping centre full of tourists and bars at full view. Behind it there is the beautifully rebuilt complex that covered the magnificent Ara Pacis. That is why I stated that the mausoleum of Augustus deserved far better...
@@paoloviti6156 Thank you so much. I had no idea.
@@athathsonty2925 you welcome and glad to be of help...
Hey. I am a big fan of your videos. I enjoy them so much. Your knowledge, quality of video, voice, and choice of topics resonate with me. Thank you!!!
It was believe that the emperor,when visit the SOMA in Alexandria,wanted his tomb to looks like Alexanders. One of the very few surviving architectures of what-could-Alexanders-Tomb-looked-like!Very interesting story to read.
Thank you for continuing to post new material!
THANK YOUUU, U DONT KNOW HOW LONG IVE BEEN LOOKIN FOR A CLEAR VIDEO OF THIS PLACE😭
Amazing, thank you. Can’t wait for your book to arrive…. Soon I hope 👍🙏👍
If the Renaissance was supposed to be the rebirth of classical culture and ideals, you'd think people OF the Renaissance would have taken better care of classical artifacts. "Oh look, Augustus' tomb, the man who invented the Roman Empire. Wow! Let's immediately turn it into a vineyard!" I love this channel, but sometimes it triggers me, heh.
The stone was taken wayyyy before that, though through that period as well due to mundane concerns like needing a fort
Yeah, dude it's hard to keep precious marble and artifacts in place for 2000 years. it started right after the fall of the roman empire and it continued till the 19th -early 20th century. Maybe people back then didn't have the same respect for the past as we do now? keeping monuments in good shape takes a lot of money. and back then most people cared just to put food on the table. most people were absolutely poor. this incredible wealth we now have is very recent (capitalism, technology). i mean, is it better to keep an old building that doesn't work or build a new one with the latest techniques? and i still think that rome is an exception. if you look around the world, the old amazing civilizations of comparable oldness where are their artifacts and buldings? are they in better shape? in Greece, Iran, Turkey, Fertile Crescent, Egypt, China, Japan? old things don't last my friend, it's an harsh reality.
@@osterotto Right. The average Medieval Roman peasant had more pressing concerns than maintaining the freaking Circus Maximus. Preserving the past was a luxury they couldn't afford, salvaging what they could from the ruins was only the practical thing to do. Heart wrenching as that may be.
@@osterotto nice mic drop
It would have been pillaged long before the Renaissance. And by then they may not have even necessarily known the building's original purpose. He has a great video on the Coliseum where he mentions that people in the Renaissance theorized it was some kind of open-air temple.
Thanks for making this video, really interesting stuff. The mausoleum was closed up when I was in Rome a few years ago, and remained my biggest missed attraction. Great to get the history of it alongside the interior shots, thank you!
Thanks for the tour!
It's across the street from the Ara Pacis. Nice afternoon twofer.
Very interesting video, as always. Thank you.
Thank you for posting this. I wish I had been able to see the mausoleum when I toured Europe.
Another epic video Dr. Ryan!
Great video, I love visiting Rome, My favourite city. Was there every year 2017-2020. Have to go back yet again to visit this i think!
I looked through those closed gates around 15 years ago. After visiting Hadrian's more impressive version... It is so interesting to know that it was a castle. Having been to castle St angelo, an hour before, or so. The Romans were obviously aware of the rather impressive Egyption stuff... Then went with the the cylinder to try to be different... You can't really beat the Pyramids... They serve as a reminder to what man could achieve at the time!
Yes we all know about the whips...
Hadrian was careful to ensure that the diameter of the core of Castel St Angelo was just a handful of feet less than the diameter of the Mausoleum of Augustus. It just wouldn't do to be seen to be trying to go one better than the boss himself.
Delighted to see this, well done.
Very interesting. Thank you.
Como siempre, he disfrutado de un vídeo serio, instructivo y muy amplio en información documentada. Gracias
Fascinating! Thanks.
Excellent job. Learned a lot.
Your videos are great!
This guy is such a brilliant narrator
Bought the book 👍 Thanks for all the great content
Nicely done. Very interesting.
I was only looking at this earlier in the week when I came across something that said it had been opened. About half dozen trips to Rome over about 10 years, and it was always somewhere I wanted to see inside. I didn't know they were trying to open it again, because no one was ever working inside the fences when I was there. Glad to see it open, though after this vid how little inside may be 'original', it is still a another reason to go back to Rome when things start to get better for everyone. Thanks for making the vid. Good stuff as always. :-)
“Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit“
many thanks for this.
You, or somebody like you, should write a book detailing how much damage the Renaissance did to the remains of classical structures. I'm starting to get the impression that more damage was done in this era than in the previous millenia and with less justification.
Current times are the worst.
@@krisangel7080 current times restored what remained of the mausoleum.
Close to a 100k. Great content.
I love your videos!
Went there yesterday, but it seemed closed for some more work. Was really excited after I saw your video, but I couldn’t get in
Thank you.
Wow.
Thank you.
"Save some room for later Augustus Liebling."
Sorry, couldn't help myself..
Fascinating video btw
Can you do a video on Hadrian’s mausoleum? You mentioned it a few times in your St. Peter’s video and I want to know what it was like during Roman times.
I'll add it to the list!
Well I'm glad this one still stands to some degree.
Amazing, thanks for the video! It was fenced off in 2019 when I was there and couldn't go in ='(
Love your content. I will buy your book(s)
Well done!
It is amazing that some of these emps were in office/alive long enough to get their portrait done.
always interesting..
Your channel is growing so fast! You're going to reach 100K subscribers soon.
Fingers crossed...
2 weeks later and he's almost to 110k..awesome work
'Cinerary,' new word for me, thank you :)
4:52 that alabaster urn looks suspiciously like petrified wood to me...
Thanks!
Thanks 🙏 again for all of these informative videos. I was always curious where the first emperor of Rome was buried.
There are so many other graves too from Roman times that I’d be interested in seeing as well? So these was a delight. 😊
Well I actually don’t care too much about the later years when the Romans were killing off there Emperors like every two weeks. 😅
Yeah? Not those poor unlucky souls. 😬
But the early years of famous powerful people like Caesar, Marc Anthony, Cleopatras Tomb and her whole family brothers and sister and parents Tombs, and also Nero, and Hadrian.
You know, all of the interesting powerful people from our past.
Anyway,
Thanks Again for these videos.
Your knowledge is greatly appreciated.
😊🥰😊
That's very generous! I deeply appreciate it.
Personally I'd love to see things like this fully restored to their former glory. Ruins are neat and all, but all those once beautiful temples, tombs, &c, deserve to shine once again. I can only imagine how prohibitively costly it would be, though, which is likely the reason they remain in ruin.
I’m enjoying your videos very much. Could you do one on Hadrian’s Villa? Thank you.
That was my exam question for my final exam in architectural history in Engineering College (HTL) Mödling (Austria) in 1967! 😅
Can I get more info on Tiberus' bucket lol. That honestly made me laugh outloud.
Great channel
😎🇺🇸
Interesting! I always wondered what it was like in there…
I don’t think I’ve ever been more mad at people in my life … the amazing memorabilia that would be on display in museums if people throughout the centuries would have just left the mausoleum alone :(
Never mind the stuff that got blown to bits in WW2. Thing is, people think for the moment too often. "Well we can get this 200 year old structure and turn it into this." Then a few hundred years later, something else. Another 200 years, another modification.
Never been more mad eh, well head over to your browser, take a seat and look up the word genocide.
@@OffGridInvestor I’m just very infatuated with Roman history and specifically the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the Augustan mausoleum was full of valuables and possessions that pertained to people like Agrippa , Drusus and Augustus himself obviously … this is just one of many Roman monuments i wish i could have seen when they first built .
@@jjrossitee lol I’m good . Very very well informed on most genocides that have taken place , even the Gaulish genocide taken place during Julius Caesar’s campaign during Gaul … even the one of the first genocides recorded , the asiatic vespers that was an order carried down from mithridates to kill latins that lived in Asia and Greece . I’m just upset that people through out the ages tore down the beautiful architecture the Roman had left behind .
@@kobiglisson if you think about it from the perspective of the people who took the stones from the Roman buildings it makes complete sense. How long and difficult it is to work stone, why wouldn't you take it from the old buildings? Sure I'd love to have everything intact but I can understand why people took stuff and I don't fault them really.
Thankyou.
Excellent video. However, I would have liked a couple of maps. One showing its location relative to the Forum and the Palatine Hill in antiquity and another in the modern city.
Wow, that's some story.
Awesome
Geesh, it's massive!
Hi! Love your videos! I‘m looking forward on getting your book, which seem‘s to be available only in November in Germany.
I recently found new interest in late antiquity. Would you recommend any reading? Would be very nice to get some literature tips from you from time to time!
Greetings from Germany
I'm very sorry that the book will take so long to arrive. There have been shipping problems here in the US as well...
The best introduction to late antiquity, in my opinion, is still Peter Brown's "The World of Late Antiquity." It's vividly written, fast-paced, and covers a huge amount of material. Brown's biography of St. Augustine is also superb. Another good survey is Averil Cameron's "The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity." I'd also recommend the encyclopedia "Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World."
@@toldinstone thank you very much!
Clicked on it faster then the hoplites taking control of vast amount of territories. 💪💪
I seem to recall seeing a marble lid from a quite large funerary urn in the Vatican museums. It was purported to be from the mausoleum of Augustus. Perhaps I am misremembering..
There are a few alabaster urns in the Braccio Nuovo that may have held imperial ashes, but I don't think we know where any of them came from.
Excellent video! Where is the tomb actually located?
it would be interesting to learn more about roman funerary practices, how different they were to today
Omg!! I add my shock, anger & heartbreak to the tsunami of emotions already expressed & echo their upset at how this incredible treasure suffered desecration after desecration over time!!
This is truly a holiest sight for us
Nice, planning to visit the eternal city soon. Just in time.
One of my dreams is to visit this place.
Valeu!
Since the ruins have already been altered I say restore this completely, and turn it into a museum - a proper one.
Been waiting for this to open over 30 years. Then Covid !!! At least I got onto the Golden House before it collapsed again :)
When did Golden House collapse the last time?
@@unbaiat7837 I got in around late 2004. Then a few years later there was a collapse from above after heavy rain. 2010 maybe ? It was the park area over the site with some ruins dating to Hadrian i think .
God I need to get back to Rome... I hate Covid !!
Nice video! Can you answer something for me - why are many ancient ruins missing their roofs?
I wonder what sort of street snacks were served at those giant imperial funeral pyres.
Garum and more garum….
@@shoshana-xs4cm well that’s an obvious one! 😂
Badger's noses. Ocelot spleens. Larks tongues. Gettem while they're hot, they're loverly :)
@@malkomalkavian Can i have a pig-snout sandwich, please?
Got any nuts?
Back then youd figure they would be really superstitious about pillaging people's graves especially someone as important as Augustus. Church officials and secular nobility back then knew who he was.
Allegedly the tombs were ransacked and the ashes scattered by the Wisigoths when they sacked Rome in 410. It was an empty, crumbling ruin when they turned it into a castle.
The first and greatest emperor of Rome lived out his life and was cremated, put into a big urn that ultimately ended up as a bucket for monks either to mop floors or carry waste products. Caesar Augustus was mixed with floor slop. Just wow.
Wow! Such history. Just love the whole thing. Without Rome we would be living in a totally different world!
Have you considered doing a video about Baalbeck the biggest Roman sanctuary in the world located in modern day Lebanon. It's a mind boggling location with its cheer size.
One thing that always upsets me when I watch your videos: People strip down and destroy too many things! Preserve things people!
What if you really need lime though?
The people who lived in medieval times had lives far more rough than us modern folk can possibly imagine. If recycling materials from some long forgotten structure helped them in their struggle to survive then so be it.
Hello toldinstone,
I have a question. I would like to know more about the actual death of Emperors and mausoleums for rich Romans. Do you have any specific literature about this certain subject? If you do, could you answer me a few titles of books? Thank you for your time and reading the question if you have found some time! Keep up the amazing work!
Kind regards
Do you think you could do a video discussing the accuracy of the videogame “Ryse: Son of Rome”? I would like to see your take on it
Ryse is hideously inaccurate
@@OmegaTrooper i think that's the point @H is trying to say indirectly and also how much of that game is inaccurate and what isn't!
Ave Augustus!
🙏💪 give me more of
Augustus is a legend 😍
it was under renovation and closed when i visited. i might have to go back.
So much historical marble inscriptions destroyed unbelievable .
my copy just arrived. and for some reason there is no "personal inscription"...bummer.