It is presented by the late Terry Jones, who of course was part of Monty Python but later became a wonderful writer and documentary maker.
I love Terry, not just because of the way he presents but also because he reminds me a lot of my dad.
This episode is about the history of cities, how people adapted to living in them and what we can learn from our ancestors.
A few highlights;
I love hearing about how we have skyscrapers today and then having them compared to the centuries old towers of Italy and Yemen.
Terry also speaks of the Roman apartment blocks, we recently chatted about them here on Twitter.
There's mention of one of these towers having 8th floors!
Most documentaries and movies only show us the villas and pretty side of Roman life, Terry shows us one of the apartment blocks and reminds us that most people lived like that!
Wait what, an ox fell from the 4th floor?!
Terry tells us the story of Nero fiddling as Rome burned is totally untrue, yay Terry, fighting fake history!
Archimedes screw, the reason most of my country is no longer sea!
Concrete is quite old, the Pantheon's dome (2nd century AD) is still one of the largest in the world!
It is a myth that the recipe for concrete was lost after the Roman era btw, sorry Terry, got to correct you there.
The technology of making specific types of concrete was lost, but regular old concrete/cement remained in use during the middle ages.
The Taxi-meter, also 2000 years old!
Terry reminds us that although Gutenberg was responsible for a revolution in printing, he did not invent the technique of printing with moveable type, we have the Chinese to thank for that.
Another ancient invention; fast food, the snack-bar... and the hamburger!
Street lighting... yep also around since ancient times!
Ephesus, Antioch & Rome had their own street lighting.
And here, a portable gas light!
It's a lovely documentary to watch, quite funny and educational.
Full of little facts you can use to impress your friends with.
And as Terry concludes; "we're no cleverer than our ancestors".
So enjoy it, Magellantv has made it available for free for me to share with you, go check it out, enjoy;
Let me know what you think, you can see it here for free: magellantv.com/series/ancient…
Isometric sketch of a sauna stove made by master builder Heinrich Schickhardt in connection with the construction of a sauna in Stuttgart in 1616. Above the arches (A) there is space for the stone packing, on which water can be poured from the bathroom onto the stones through the openings (B). However, this stove is without the characteristic half-walls along the side walls, which are found in southern German saunas and in Næstved. After Tuchen 2003, p. 311 academia.edu/9791712/Badstu…
Yes I'm doing some random research and this is now a thread of what I find.
Nordic bathhouse, 1555.
Oven in middle, vat with water next to it, pipe bring the water to a basin, chap rinsing twigs for a thrashing, chap drinking from horn while enjoying cupping therapy.
Schachtafelen der Gesuntheyt, 1533, you know when nobody bathed...
Lovely image of a bathhouse.
Just so you know, if you see this guy in a video, the odds are high that you're about to be told something iffy.
Dr. Roy Casagranda is all over social media but his research abilities leave a little to be desired.
In short: street sewers were mostly for rain & other liquids, generally not serious icky waste.
They generally didn't throw their human waste out of the windows.
They made sure to keep their wells and water sources as free from pollution as they could.
Cholera wasn't a huge problem in Europe till the 19th century.
They drank lots of water, drank beer because it's more nutritious, tastier & more fun.
The alcohol level was very very low, so they weren't drunk all the time.
Medieval people washed, bathed, used soap, did laundry and tried to smell nice because they were terrified of bad smells.
They wore linen under their woollen clothing so they weren't always itching, also some wool was quite fine and smooth. fakehistoryhunter.net/2019/09/10/med…
Let's review another youtube video by The Infographics Show, yes that lot again... they have 14 million subscribers.
This one is called:
How Did Bubonic Plague (Black Death) Actually End?
It was seen by almost 5 million people...
Can you see the first error already?
Yes, of course.
The plague doctor with the bird beak mask wasn't around during the Black Death.
Also, the title is already misleading.
The Black Death was a specific outbreak of the bubonic (and pneumonic) plague, so Black Death & Bubonic Plague don't mean the same.
Mixing them up is like saying war in general is the same as the second world war.
Found another gem on the Dutch real estate website Funda, but it also made me angry because modern people have done modern stuff to it and somehow that's not a reason to put them in jail apperantly.
Weird.
Anyway, MEDIEVAL house!
Sort of. funda.nl/detail/koop/wo…
So although altered many times, it originally was built in the 14th century.
What do you reckon, are those tiles old?
The ceiling is gorgeous but the decor and that weird glass wall... ew.
Gorgeous fireplace, splendid ceiling, horrific kitchen.
When will they ever learn?
Old house = no do modern stuff!
NO.
Bad interior designer, bad owners, no treats.
I found several examples online but most of them mention no source, publication date or any other details that make the examples trustworthy, some claim to be from Penthouse.
They do appear genuine though.
This 1942 article was found by @RealDanGill, sadly I can't find the whole issue online so can't read what happens in the story:
One of the many things we think are weird/gross about the middle ages is the idea of people sharing their homes with animals, especially cattle.
But is this true?
Did they really have cows & sheep walking around their living room?
Let's research.
A thread.
I regularly hear this being mentioned as just another bit of evidence of how dirty & backwards medieval people were and that it's no wonder they got all those diseases, were covered in filth all the time, etc.
Especially this image is often used, it's nice but is it accurate?
Let's first think about it logically and rationally.
Would you like to have animals walking around your home?
Do you think medieval people wouldn't mind the feces & urine splattering on their precious belongings, clothing, bedding, etc?