Other empires to think about besides the Romans
Added 2024-05-17 15:35:50 +0000 UTCThis is in reference to the trend that was going around last year about how men apparently always think about the Roman empire. I give five suggestions of other empires that are also worth thinking about.
All images came from Wikimedia Commons.
Comments
I have the Morgan book here on my shelf. Saved it from my World History class years ago with Edward Malefakis!
Noah Zucker
2024-09-01 17:59:45 +0000 UTCTo get around this I’ve downloaded an airplay app on my TV that allows the playing of Patreon videos linked to my phone if that helps at all.
Silas Martin
2024-06-29 13:38:19 +0000 UTCI've thought about it, but I'm reluctant to since it's easy to get around the unlistedness of YouTube videos.
Premodernist
2024-06-23 01:45:25 +0000 UTCIt's arbitrary. There's no set definition. Basically it was an empire if it was kind of big. Back in the 2000s some historians were writing about the concept of empire in the abstract and they tried to make some definitions, but as with anything else there were different ways of defining it.
Premodernist
2024-06-23 01:34:07 +0000 UTCAny chance you could upload your patreon vids as unlisted YouTube vids on an alt channel? It would be nice to be able to pull them up on my TV and not be tied to Patreon
mroom
2024-06-18 00:14:05 +0000 UTCHow do historians decide whether to call something an “empire” or not?
Karl Voelker
2024-06-11 04:33:14 +0000 UTCYes, I agree. The Umayyads, the Abbasids and the Ottomans would all fit.
Premodernist
2024-05-30 23:47:37 +0000 UTCWouldn’t one of the Islamic empires fit the criteria here ? Like say the Ummayad or Ottoman, both (especially Ummayad) had insane historical figures, anyway I’m glad you picked other ones since I didn’t know as much about them
Hussain
2024-05-30 21:29:48 +0000 UTCEthiopian food is fantastic.
Premodernist
2024-05-29 03:12:58 +0000 UTCAlso wow when you mentioned the Chola empire using birds, that just screams out to me the story of Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utnapishtim : "On the seventh day, he sent a dove out to see if the water had receded, and the dove could find nothing but water, so it returned. Then he sent out a swallow, and just as before, it returned, having found nothing. Finally, Uta-napishtim sent out a raven, and the raven saw that the waters had receded, so it circled around, but did not return. Uta-napishtim then set all the animals free, and made a sacrifice to the gods." I guess all the ancients knew about bird behavior :)
Faraz Masroor
2024-05-24 04:16:24 +0000 UTCLove love love. Would love to hear you talk about ethiopian food lmao. But ethiopia is really cool. Never realized the significance of it as an "island of christianity" but its interesting that eg. Somalia and Djibouti are more muslim / Ethiopia wasn't converted to Islam...
Faraz Masroor
2024-05-24 04:02:16 +0000 UTCOmg he gave me a shoutout!
Faraz Masroor
2024-05-24 04:01:03 +0000 UTCFantastic, thank you!
Marek
2024-05-21 13:26:35 +0000 UTCI only know of general histories of Ethiopia, which tend to emphasize the modern period. You could maybe try The Ethiopians: A History by Richard Pankhurst. The first third of the book covers the ancient and medieval periods. Pankhurst was one of the top Western scholars of Ethiopian history. There's also The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia: A History by John Binns. I haven't read it, but it looks like it covers some religious history along with beliefs and practices. Binns is an Anglican clergyman rather than a specialist, but as far as I know it's the leading introduction to the religion in English.
Premodernist
2024-05-21 03:30:51 +0000 UTCFor the Mongols I'd recommend the book The Mongols by David O. Morgan. For the Inca, the book The Incas by Terence N. D'Altroy is really good. I recently started reading India: A History by John Keay and I'm enjoying it a lot.
Premodernist
2024-05-21 03:04:39 +0000 UTCThe Edo period is so fascinating. Such a rabbit hole.
Premodernist
2024-05-21 02:51:17 +0000 UTCI'll have to check that out. Thanks for the recommendation.
Premodernist
2024-05-21 02:49:42 +0000 UTCOkay, thanks, I've added it to my list of topics.
Premodernist
2024-05-21 02:48:53 +0000 UTCThe part about Ethiopian Christianity and its lineage is really interesting. Are there any recommended sources or books that provide a good overview?
Techscw
2024-05-20 01:31:00 +0000 UTCFascinating... I love it! In fact, I want to learn more about all of these empires. Could you recommend some accessible but well-researched books that let you learn more about non-Western history? It's difficult to know which books historians would view as legit but which aren't too overly scholarly for a beginner.
Marek
2024-05-19 11:04:12 +0000 UTCThe pony express reminds of the Japanese "shukuba" 宿場 or "shuku-eki" 宿駅 during the Edo period, which were basically post stations.
Elly Gis
2024-05-19 09:37:42 +0000 UTCHan’s attitude towards Xiang Yu is also interesting,he is kind like both Julius Caesar and Hannibal for Han Dynasty.
ty zj
2024-05-18 15:46:07 +0000 UTCi look ‘Roman Civilizations 101’ my senior year of college. best class ever
nina bennardo
2024-05-18 05:53:23 +0000 UTCYes, the Mongols. They conquered Russia I believe. Hitler and Napoleon tried and failed. On a side note, there’s a dramatic historical documentary-lite show on Netflix “Mehmet vs Vlad.” It was really fun to watch. Your vid on YY started me off. Now I’ve been deep diving ever since.
Bad Biscuitz
2024-05-18 00:57:46 +0000 UTCYes! Chinese history is crazy juicy. Omg, drama, violence, politics, and technology heaven.
Bad Biscuitz
2024-05-18 00:17:48 +0000 UTCGreat post! The obsession with the Romans on YouTube is boring. Your channel is original and I appreciate that. There are other fascinating and just as crazy empires in history. 😁
Bad Biscuitz
2024-05-17 23:37:44 +0000 UTCLooks like it's missing on the mobile site. I'll give it a try on my computer. I also have a video suggestion on a meta topic: your career as a historian and how you do research.
Brandon A
2024-05-17 19:46:15 +0000 UTCThank you! Patreon has auto-generated captions, but I don't know how good they are. There's a button in the lower right corner when the video is playing.
Premodernist
2024-05-17 18:46:45 +0000 UTCP.S. I love your videos and want them to be as accessible as possible
Brandon A
2024-05-17 16:03:32 +0000 UTCCan these monthly videos be uploaded to YouTube as unlisted videos? Patreon videos lack closed captions; YouTube will auto-generate them.
Brandon A
2024-05-17 15:59:50 +0000 UTCGreat!
ty zj
2024-05-17 15:38:13 +0000 UTC
