Were there Opium Addicts in Ancient Rome?
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- This latest Q&A video explores Roman traitors, the hobbies of Roman emperors, and the use - medicinal and otherwise - of opium in the classical world.
Check out my other UA-cam channels, @toldinstone and @scenicroutestothepast
Chapters:
0:00 Did Romans ever fight against Rome?
2:37 Did the Romans have hobbies?
4:18 How were pagan priests chosen?
6:42 Were there opium addicts in ancient Rome?
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I just want to note that the mentioned medical uses of opium by the Romans sound perfectly reasonable. Opioids are still used as pain relief for a number of skin diseases and the cough suppressing qualities of opioids are well known .
Yes. It's a an extremely useful substance. If taken responsibly and with proper respect for its potency, its value is enormous. And for modern addicts it would be great if pure natural opium were available instead of morphine or heroine, or synthetics such as fentanyl.
Natural opium contains morphine, codeine and a number of others. It's not like unprocessed poppy pods are healthier for you.@@olavl8827
@@olavl8827morphine is what’s in natural opium at least the red eastern Indian opium poppy but yes it’s very safe if uses reasonably it only has a 30% oral bioavailability you would have to eat a lot of it to hurt you that’s the benefit of heroin it has 90% bioavailability it’s all useful and safe if used correctly but nobody knows how to use them correctly because of our childish social stance on it and the problems with its use comes from the social stigma around it’s use
@@olavl8827black tar heroin 100% organic
Opioids are used in modern times for pain management!? Wow! thanks for letting everyone know! 🤪
On the topic of the first question, I'd add Quintus Sertorius to the list of famous turncoat Romans. After being on the losing side of a civil war at the turn of the 1st century BC, he ended up leading the natives of Hispania in a very successful resistance against Senatorial armies for many years.
We’ll look how he ended up!
I don't think Sertorius counts. He wasn't waging war against Rome, but against Sulla and his allies and successors. His goal doesn't seem to have been to have Spain secede from Roman rule, but to overthrow the Sullans.
@@kawadashogo8258 True. But if a Roman fighting the official legitimate Roman state with a foreign power doesn't count as a turncoat, I'm not sure I know what turncoat means.
Whoever asked about hobbies -- THANK YOU. This is the exact kind of thing I wonder about, as well as anything that can give us insight to the internal state, thoughts, and feelings of every day people in other times and places.
soldiers ALWAYS everywhere loved to gamble. Upper class loved to read. If you coun the desire for accumalting material goods as a hobby, or owning exotic animals, than plenty upper class folks qualify as hobbyists.
you're welcome
In 1st question you should've mention Roman defectors during Mithritadic wars. It were they who did teach Pontus' troops Roman tactics and introduced to them equipment similiar to Roman in later stages of this conflict
The people who taught Pontus Roman fighting tactics were quite likely defectors from Rome's auxiliaries or perhaps disenchanted centurions. They could also have been captives forced to divulge tactics, as well. It's an interesting question and one I hope Dr. Ryan answers.
A question for your next episode - Those "pursuits" of Tiberius you mentioned on Capri (little minnows!), what is the consensus amongst historians today as to whether or not that was merely slander, or if there was any truth to those rumors? My understanding is that our sources were later authors like Suetonius, who tended to slander Tiberius in the decades and centuries after his death. Thanks!
Given the sensitive subject matter covered in your question, I highly doubt Dr. Ryan is going to tackle that in a video. It would get messy, complex, and potentially bridge into the questions surrounding slander and/or child sex abuse. Those don't seem to be his forte and for good reason. It would be interesting to have your question answered, though.
Did the classical period have any famous clothing designers that we know of? Today there are designer brands, but did high ranking Romans or Greeks favor a particular designer for their opulence?
Good question. Were there anything like fashion trends in Rome? It seems that Roman costumes didn't change for centuries.
Part of this was addressed in a previous video talking about jewelry and tattoos
Fashion, yes. Portraits of women can be dated to the decade by their hair styles. Clothing designers, I doubt. My gut feeling is that the designer was also the tailor/seamstress, so would only make a very limited number of garments. So few that a rich household might hire them (or, more likely, buy them as a slave) full time to produce things just for them. This, clearly, would prevent anything like the modern concept of a clothing brand to appear.
During the second Punic War, there were laws on opulence and clothes were restricted by law. You could of course make your own. But when the war was won, women demanded that the laws were repealed and bought clothes again. So there were clearly designer clothes to buy. Cato the Elder, a curmudgeon, grumbled about it. Livy quotes him on this.
@@Joanna-il2ur Clothes? I thought it was jewellery? Anyway, opulent clothes don't have to mean designer bought from a shop. Could just mean you have a slave make it at home from fancy imported silk.
I've always wondered how spoils were shared among soldiers. How did they stop them from killing each other if someone found something really valuable?
Heavily regulated. Soils were a key reason for war, and its acquisition and distribution was governed by military laws and custom. Anyone caught keeping something for themselves would face serious punishment. In the crowded environment of an army, good luck finding the privacy to keep things hidden from your centurion, let alone your tent mates.
The incentive was probably to TURN IN the spoils, that way each warrior who found something valuable knew they had a guaranteed reward in store for them . Thus, eliminating the desire for personal glory among the barracks.
Probably the punishments executed at the time was not worth the risks 😂😂
Murder or theft were treated as aspects of indiscipline. Serious Indiscipline was punished by flogging and then death on a frame of wood. They would be tied up in a central part of the camp with their flogged back exposed to view, and forbidden water.
All of the under-officers of anyone who committed murder or theft would also be punished, usually with a fine because their men were not disciplined. When your immediate officer was fined, he was CERTAIN to say "You rats, you knew what he was planning . . . it was your duty as squad-mates of that thief, to have stopped him . . . by Jupiter I am going to make you see the error of your ways".
Interesting Q&A. _"Hobbies"._ I believe it was you who in one of your numismatic videos mentioned a large ancient Roman coin collection, so the owner must have collected coins as a hobby.
Commenting for the gods of the algorithm! Love your work and your voice is very soothing
Have never watched a Told In Stone video which wasn’t highly erudite and very entertaining.
Love your work & many thanks !
I love your channels and I hope you never stop making videos. thank u
“Nothing is new under the sun”
I only managed to saw your answer to my question today!! Thank you so much for answering and all your great work!!
Great Q&A! Is it true that the Roman Legions, when on campaign were issued measured amounts of opium for emergency medical use?
Thank you sir , very educational
Dude great topic I must say. Bravo. Such a great topic about the opium which applies to today nearly over 2000 years from the ancient Romans.
I visited Istanbul 2 months ago and loved the museum very much. I was a bit dissapointed the mosaics museum is closed due to restoration.
Addiction requires a supply chain which can ensure widely available access to addictive goods. For example: sugar and opium are totally natural, addictive substances. However they really became problematic when humans began extracting, purifying, and commercializing them.
Just doing my part by leaving a comment
Very intresting
Doug DeMuro getting in touch with his Roman roots 💪🏽
The mention of paintings made me wonder, have (m)any of those survived? Who would be famous painters from the era?
I have a question too. How accurate is John Maddox Roberts portrayal of Roman life and customs in his SPQR series?
What a curious mind this scholar has, and hiw symphatetic approach to history he unfolds. It would be fine that he devoted a video to speak of his conception of the historical reality.
I have a question for YOU, sir: What do you think about Robert Graves and his curious perspectives on the ancient world?
When was the latest recognizably classical-looking building (columns, marble,etc.) build in the West and in the East? I’m sorry if it’s a stupid question, but I’m just curious about how the classical Roman style evolved into early Byzantine/medieval architecture. Love your content!
They're still being built?
It's a good question but it's more the Romans copying the Greeks, then on and on from there.
@@tomfitzsimmons6535the Greeks inherited from Persia, Persia inherited from Babylon. All was built by Babylon.
@@maggiemae7539 Greek architecture was inspired by Egyptians not Persians.
Best day of the week? Told in Stone Day! 👍🪨👍
Question: What do we know about the management and administration of Hellenistic royal households and the lives of royal slaves and servants?
interesting! what about roman/greek use of ephedra (soma)?
If opium was widely available I doubt very seriously that addiction didn't become a problem, as it has been in every other society where it is used. I'd guess that it just somehow never made it into the histories. Great Q, and A!
people back then were very closely united and respected nature. I doubt opium was a big problem because opium is a problem of the mind, a unfilled desire, anguish caused by the distance from desir, like wanting a meaningful relationship with a good woman, which is almost unheard of today…so the minds separation from heart and nature truncates spirituality and leaves men empty
Have you considered that addiction does not necessarily have to = problem? If a wealthy shop owner wanted to take opium every night and it was easily and cheaply available, there really is no problem, even though the shop owner would certainly be addicted in the sense that he would suffer if he were forced to stop. But he would have no reason or desire to stop, not in the absence of drug laws, would he? Just a thought.
It did make it into the histories only the spice route taught in our junior high history class was not actually cumin and coriander.. Look at the money it generates in it's current contraband state and imagine how much it must have made prior to the laws/restrictions set in the early 1900s. Sex, drugs and rock n roll... Heaven.
In ancient times they only ate the opium which makes it less addictive as less can be consumed. There are however references from ancient doctors who point out "weakening" from daily use.
The real problem with opium started when the technology for smoking it was discovered, and later when morphine was isolated from opium and could be used intravenously. Smoking and shooting allowed for more quantity to be consumed, making it more and more addictive.
Our understanding of drug use wasn’t as childish as it is today and why would addiction be a problem if you could treat your withdraw with a flower that grows everywhere
I recognize that thumbnail from an alleyway in San Francisco. Took me a minute but I found it in an old file from 2012. It seemed out of place but still caught my eye.
A question for a future episode: What were some of the contraptions used to entertain the crowd in the venatio/damnatio ad bestias animal spectacles?
If detailed maps were not available, how was the extent of the empire demonstrated for military or administrative purposes (especially to newly appointed governors etc.). I assume PG refers to parental guidance: "Now son, these are the accepted prerogatives of power".
I have a question: How important was the tin trade between the Romans and southwest Britian? Is there any way to quantify it? Thanks.
It was important since at least the time of the Phoenicians until post-Roman Britain (I recently watched a docu on alleged Tintagel = Camelot and they emphasized the tin trade and the post-Roman unusual Mediterraneanness of the site, born of trade).
In older times (Bronze Age) the core of the tin mining was almost certainly further south, NW Iberia, instead, and it was for sure the main source of such strategical mineral for the Mediterranean region, via the Nuraghic Sardinians (Sherden) in part but also the Mycenaean Greeks, who clearly had influence in SE Iberia (El Argar B) in those days.
Britain was part of the Roman Empire. Rome ruled the world.
Question: What was considered Roman and what Latin in the Roman Empire and how did it gradually shift to the Byzantine Greeks calling themselves and their language Roman?
His mother, wife and children came out, and plead with him: "Daddy chill!"
@4:31 a point of order most rabbi's in the 17th century in germany at least my area of expertise, and probably other places, tended to have other "middle class" jobs, like doctor lawyer scribe etc. in addition to their duties as rabbi.
This is right up my alley. I like ancient history, I like opium
Imagine being a vampire who actually witnessed Roman history and is watching this video. "That absolutely did happen. Coriolanus was a huge prick."
i had heard that body control was valued in roman society and that also they thought it more proper to drink wine diluted with water. i am wondering if social pressure not to be seen (even by oneself who presumably had the same values as the rest of society) as over indulging to the point of loss of body control might have been a strong force to keep opium usage moderate? when i saw the title i thought "well, maybe it was very rare so most people might not have any access to it" but you mentioned it was available in various forms to people. or maybe it's like how cocaine products were fine to buy at the drug store but society didn't collapse because of it...(unless there's a conspiracy to keep it secret from us.. 🙂)
Absolutely wrong. The Romans were drug addled, sex rituals, orgies all the time. Brothels everywhere. They had No values!
An important thing to remember is they didn't have drinkable water, so all the wine etc was hydration , hence why it was diluted or in medieval times porter. The point wasn't high alcohol content like today.
Question: what was the contraception like in Roman times? How effective was it?
Ancient Egyptians were known to utilize dried crocodile dung for the purpose of temporarily damming up the cervix and preventing pregnancy. Though I'm not sure if the practice was still commonplace or even around by the time Rome annexed Egypt. Would be interesting to know!
They commonly used poisonous herbs such as queen annes lace, henbane or rue to terminate early pregnancies. These herbs are actually effective at inducing misscariages, but the use of such herbs can be fatal due to blood loss.
They also used curretage methods to perform abortions. I imagine the consequences of that would be similar, and there would be a great risk of infection.
They also used pessaries to prevent conception. These could be anything from stones to the hulls of fruits. I doubt that these were effective at all.
They used sheep intestines
Lack of hygiene… but that didn’t stop ‘em.
Much Love from the Philippines.❤
Thoroughly enjoyed as always 🙂
Perhaps for next time - assuming the lives of most gladiators were brutal and short, who were the Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen of the Colosseum?
The first example you’ve given of a defector reminds me of what happens with Frank Pentagelli in the Godfather. (SPOILER ALERT) All it took to stop him from taking down Michael Corleone like the FBI had been hoping was for Michael to bring Pentagelli’s brother over from Sicily to simply show his face. Frank INSTANTLY turned against the FBI and said all the incriminating evidence he had said was a lie he came up with under duress. He just had to be reminded of his family. This is a fictional story, but it makes me wonder if your first example was the inspiration for that scene turning out the way it did.
The comment section is going wild. Somebody call the IT guy.
Opium - Roman spice melange
Imagine if ancient Rome had something like a crack epidemic. That would make for some interesting reading.
They did have a drug epidemic.
Were there stereotypes that the Western and Eastern Romans held about each other? If so, what were they?
Question:
Is there a historical link between the roman concept of "PATER FAMILIAS" and the later concept of "GODFATHER" in a mafia in italy?
No.
The link is psychological. Those who yearned to be beaten by a Big Daddy worshipped a Sky Father and later on played the Sugar Daddy or Angry Father as the whim took them. Those who longed for his knout called the Tsar the Little Father.
@@faithlesshound5621 I suppose you follow the uniformatarian idea that you can backdate modern concepts several thousand years to societies very different from any of those still around.
I'd say yes, most probably. It's fascinating, the further south in Europe you go how you meet Roman concepts in civic life. An example is "clientelisme" in French politics, which is very similar to the Roman concept of clients, even the word is the same!
Modern Marseilles, which was founded by Greeks, slang has "cacou" stupid, silly, small delinquent, which seems to come directly from Greek "kakos", bad boy, delinquent.
There was greater continuity in local life after the Fall of the Western Empire than we tend to think.
Another example is Saint Gervase of Auxerre, who went to Rome twice (more than 1000 km) at a time we see as chaotic, proving it was perfectly possible to get there and back and survive handily.
@@Songbirdstress when he was a boy, King Alfred the Great of Wessex was taken to Rome twice by his father. That would have been in the 830s.
i know you did a video on dentistry, what was other roman and greek hygiene like? bathing, soap, laundry, hair, etc.
Did the Roman’s keep track of family origins? Specifically the plebs?
Were all the Greek colonies absorbed into the Roman Empire? If not, what happened those few still independent?
I am thinking primarily of the Black Sea colonies.
When Rome sacked the Greeks they ruled the world. Rome was an empire
💯👍👏
What happened to the population of Rome during and after the fall of the empire in the West? Did they all flee to the East?
No. They stayed exactly where they were. There was no fall in the sense I think you mean. After 395 the emperor was mainly a figurehead, with officials such as Stilicho, Constantius and Aetius, actually running things, often with the title Patrician. The final emperor was a child, Romulus, who did nothing and his father Olympius was Patrician. In 476, the Roman general Odovacarius overthrew Olympius and made himself Patrician. He retired the little boy Romulus, who lived another sixty years in comfort on his landed estates.
The idea was for Odovacarius to become emperor. His uncle by marriage, Basiliscus, was emperor in the east, but by the time the ship from Ravenna reached Constantinople Basiliscus had himself been overthrown by Zeno, who Basiliscus had overthrown.
Zeno told Odovacarius that his emperor was Julius Nepos, who’d been ousted in 474. Odovacarius instead killed Julius in 480. In response the new eastern emperor, Zeno having died, sent Theodoric, one of his top generals, to kill Odovacarius, which he did.
Theodoric was an Ostrogoth, and ruled Italy from Ravenna as king and patriarch until the 530s. The senate continued, and last met in 611. The mayor of Rome, the urban prefect, was still going for many centuries and of course the bishop of Rome, the Pope, is still around. Consuls continued to be nominated until 541 in both east and west, but were then abolished to save money.
The east Roman generals Narses and Belisarius suppressed the Ostrogoths in the 540s and Italy, North Africa and part of Spain had Roman rule restored. However parts of Italy were brought under Lombard rule in 567. The rest of Italy including Rome, Ravenna, Bologna and in the south Naples and the foot remained Roman until after 1000.
So, there was no real fall of Rome as such. The famous book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ends in the year 1453.
@@Joanna-il2ur There was massive population decline during the 5th and 6th centuries of Rome. The City of Rome essentially became a ghost town.
@@Joanna-il2urthat is not true. They moved it to to the west.
3:51 Guess now I'll have to spend the next 5 hours researching Tiberius to dig up whatever you're referring to. Why won't you just tell us the naughty things he liked, we can take it
Tiberius went to live in the beautiful island of Capri, were even today you can visit the remains of his palace, google villa jovis to see it. He ruled the empire from there for years. When the emperor summoned someone, sometime it was to reward him, but if the emperor was displeased he had a habit of having the culprit thrown down from Capri majestic high cliffs into the sea below, a certain death sentence. Allegedly enemies of the emperor, slaves that displeased him and even ex lover were killed this way, but it’s not sure if these stories are real or exaggerated by roman historians that hated him.
@@dayros2023Caligula was way worse! He was mad!
Yes just like in 1900. 1970 and today
Is the Obelisk Osiris male organ???
Yes
UA-cam suggested this to me after I watched a video on homeless drug addicts in San Francisco...
I aspire to have the epitaph of "Less P.G. Pursuits." 😂😂🤣
It’s all fun and games until Tiberius brings out the fishes
Julius Cesar being Pontifex Maximus enabled him to override the effective suspension of the senate by opponents who could just claim they had witnessed a bad omen. The Pontifex function was so key that no emperor could do without it.
The post was for life, so Augustus had to wait until the exiled former triumvir Lepidus died before he could add it to his portfolio. It remained an imperial perquisite until one of the Christian emperors was persuaded to let the Bishop of Rome have it. Consequently it's the oldest priesthood held by the Pope. The PM was only the fifth highest priest until the other pagan priesthoods were swept away.
Damn Garrett, we gotta get u a new sock…things lookin a little shabby
How to turn a short into a ten minute history lesson on everything but the title subject.
Apparently you didn’t watch all the way….
Is it true there were no rats in Ancient Rome
I thought you would give us the story of Tarpeia..
3:25 no one cares about mastodon bones. These were “Human” bones. There are so many accounts is giants we should not be so quick to dismiss it. And not just taller than average, but two to three times larger. There have been swords found that were well beyond the size that an average size man could ever handle. As well as other artifacts that would give credence to the writings about giants.
Of course they did
I don't know how they built an empire and fought endless wars
Was the Roman taxation system for Roman citizens fair and transparent? Di you have to pay a tax on your slaves.
My 2 favorite things: opium & history!
same
Recreational opium …. Yummmy yummy 🤤 😊
Of course, drugs are old as humankind
They’re figs bro.
Figs and Wheat.
Addiction mainly stems from social stigma and isolation (see the Rat Park experiments for evidence). If there was no social stigma against consuming opium poppies, then Roman people would be unlikely to go through the stages that a modern day addict does, where they are hiding their use and being ashamed, which leads to self soothing through hgeavier use. I blame the victorian British, personally. IIRc thre was no concept of opium addiction in Chinese culture until they were under the heel of the British empire and there were thousands of socially powerful, dainty British gentlemen turning their noses up at opium users in a way they never would to their more familiar drunkards.
That's not exactly true. China has had horrible opium addicts for ever and a day. They got the opium from the middle east at least 10000 years ago. There were definitely addicts. Kinda in the same sense of where smoke there will be fire. The British made it worse because they were already prejudiced against Asians so they demonized them/the addicts to the point where they withdraw from society and go headlong into the dragon so to speak. Things haven't changed. People always try to escape what they cannot with things like drugs....I definitely have first hand experience in that field at least...
Rome had open drug fueled sex majik orgies
Of course you'd blame the British.
Blaming anyone else is throughly frowned upon these days lol.
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thanks for saying so
Used medicine
Evidence for recreational use of opium is unclear. No wonder: opium (and derivatives) is utterly boring.
Germanicas I dare say was raised Roman then turned on Rome.👍✌️
Eh? Who he?
It's hard to see how Germanicus, if that's whom you meant, "turned on Rome." He may have received Putin-like treatment from his subordinate Piso, who suffered the same from Tiberius.
@@faithlesshound5621 There was a hope that Ovid might be returned to public favour. He dedicated his last known work to Germanicus. When the prince was murdered by Piso that hope must have died. I don’t think Ovid was actually in exile in Scythia, but he was certainly out of social favour.
If Ancient Rome had Tesco and Marks and Spencer who would hold the greater market share?
Did they have Playboi Carti in Ancient Rome?
Did Rome invent Jesus?
Bro is not opium 🧛♂️
bro think he carti
I always chuckle when I hear your fake forced voice, trying to sound more academic, intellectual and smart.
Just use your everyday voice.
"About which the less said, the better" Disgusting. Shameful thing to say
U look like u past life was roman bro
Christian priest is a oxymoron. As priests are catholic wich is catholicism. Calling catholics Christians is like calling scientologists, mormans, jehova witnesses Christians.