10 Misconceptions About Ancient Greece

For centuries, Ancient Greece has been at the forefront of the discussion of history. We’ve recounted the stories of war, democracy, gods, Spartans, Trojans, and all things Greek in order to tell the epic story of this fascinating period in history. Greece, however, was built on mythology and the tales of gods and fantastical creatures. So much so that it’s seeped into every facet of Greek history.

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[scottnunnemaker]

Admittedly number 9 is one that makes sense, the statues and building are just as impressive with or without paint.

[brunofeitosafl]

I remember Carl Sagan in the Cosmos series talking about what humanity lost in the library of Alexandria, he imagines himself walking inside and reading it's texts. I was 12 at the time and it was amazing. A longing for knowledge that is very rare.

[martinstallard]

0:58 Greece wasn't a unified national
2:20 a devine love of colour
3:41 Spartans
4:59 pederastic mentorship in Ancient Greece
6:20 technological achievements underrepresented
7:19 Olympic torch lighting wasn't a Greek idea
8:22 Trojan war
9:18 Leonidas and the 300
10:57 the burning of the Alexandra library
12:19 a shaky somewhat uninspired history of democracy

[dinogoldie]

0:58 The nation state is a relatively new thing, not just re Greece.

[DonnaSnyder]

Am so glad you've suddenly begun to reappear in my feed.

[mihail]

Greeks aren't just from mainland Greece. We are from Anatolia and all over the eastern Mediterranean

[RobMacQ]

I'd add this to the list:

Many, possibly even most ancient Greeks did not live in what is now modern Greece. They lived all over the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea region.

[btetschner]

Very interesting and helpful.
Ancient Greece is so fascinating, what a time to live!
Thank you for the video.

[kevinmcqueenie]

The Trojan horse (whether historical or not) was intended as an offering to Poseidon for a safe Greek voyage home, not as a gift to the Trojans who if legend is to be believed, had to enlarge their city gate to get it inside.

[IrishMike]

I woke up still asleep but here's some Simon first thing so that's cool 😎

[Victory.Hammer]

however, the word translated "tyrrany" did not mean the same thing in ancient Greece as we use it today.

[gogreen]

Watch Michael Woods' series, "The Search for the Trojan War." It came out in the 1980s. While there have been more discoveries and theories about the legendary war between the Trojans and the Myceneans since then, the information presented in his program indicate to me the the tale of the Trojan War is based on historical events.
Btw, it's important to point out the vast differences between Bronze Age Greece and Classical Greece. The Trojan War was set in the former time period.

[crontemisto]

That bit about the library of Alexandria just replaces one misconception with another. No accounts of Caesar's attack mention the library, and there were various other mostly political reasons for the library's eventual downfall. It's also worth noting that every scroll that came in was copied and that copy was sent back out with whomever brought the original. Plus scholars regularly came to make copies of the existing texts to take home.

[Anglomachian]

Actually, Caesar only accidentally burned down a section of the library. The majority survived and the library was still in use for centuries. It’s decline is one of those things that is far more incremental than the grand destructive event people expect.

[jimlasswell]

Steven Pressfield's book Gates of Fire, though a novel admits it wasn't just the Spartans and Leonidas was 60 yoa.

[swiley]

Ok, I've tried to leave it alone but I just can't take it anymore! Decimate does not mean destroy. To decimate is to reduce by ten percent basically. It was a disciplinary measure used by the Roman army where by they would put ten percent of a unit to the sword to keep the others in line. Pretty sure Simon has discussed this on one of his many many channels.

[Peecamarke]

Can y’all PLEASE do more stuff about Africa?
I swear y’all do dozens of videos on European wars and cultures (from druids to Greece to knights, repeatedly featured in videos) but I can count your African culture videos on one hand 👋🏿 (and their mostly bout Egypt). How’bout videos on (and this is just a FEW ideas compared to what’s possible):

1. Gaez: An original African written script

2. The Kingdom of Kush and Nubia and the Role of Queens and matrilineal society in Kush empire. Wives were often sent to represent the empire.

3. Queen Amanarinas, whose Kushite pressure advanced on the Roman’s and Clashed until their negotiations favored the Kushites including removing the taxation of Kushite citizens in Egypt.

4. Or the Strange writing script connected to a Zimbabwe structure: A monolith was discovered in Zimbabwe that contained symbols similar to the ones in Egyptian structures and bird statues (despite them being in opposite sides of the continent). it’s possible they were for record keeping the cosmological study of Venus (251 days rotation total cycle is recorded as 583).

5. Or Nubian King Silco who was to ancient Nubia what King Arthur was to Britain.

6. King Piahki who was one of the Nubian pharaohs who completed the CONQUERING of Egypt and ushered in what many consider the “African renaissance”.

7. The great King Sundiata a.k.a “the Lion King” who was a mythical long lost hero King/Founder of Mali and savior of the oppressed Mandinka peoples. Comparable to Alexander the Great.

8. The Mysterious Land of Punt that was like the Atlantis of Africa.

9. Or Congo’s scholarly system of recording history on complex wooden devices called “Lukasa Memory Boards”. Contrary to the misconception of Congo being an illiterate place.

10. Black Caesar, who raided ships in the Florida Keys for almost a decade before joining Blackbeard aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge.

11. The Angola Queen Enzinga who stopped Portuguese thru clever strategy and navigation of alliances

12. ALSO the ancient Yuroba symbol system “Aroco”. Where natural objects were arranged on a string in a very specific pattern and sent from one person to the next in a parcel. Messages/Parcels functioned like pins or emoji. Arranged to convey meaning and messages when read in a specific sequence.

13. Founder King Changamire Dumbo Of the rasvi empire now Zimbabwe

14. Queen Amina- The Conquerer Queen
Expanded empire of Zaria in Northern Nigeria. Traveled throughout Housa Land with an entourage of warriors, taking male suitors like a harem, constructing earthen walls around her cities. under her rule state of Zaria became most powerful in housa land

15. Swihili commerce: trading and ship voyages including with China.

16. Queen Mwana Ikisi. Mother of the Thenashara or 12 swihili tribes of Mbasa

17. The Dohemi warriors who’re REAL life version of the Amazonian warriors.

18. Open war and the missile-like tactics of the Angolan peoples.

Some stuff can even be compared to Game of Thrones like:

like the Songhai empire could be comparable to the 7 kingdoms of Westeros. Including knights (Songhelian Knights) and succession wars not unlike GOT’s competing princes and bastards, including 7 wars including one that led to its conclusion with the empire being split between two princesses.

Or The Fulani of West Africa who could be comparable to the Dothraki. Occupying the largest stretch of sub Saharan Africa than any one ethnic group. From the Atlantic coast on the west to the Ethiopian coast on the east much like the Dothraki sea.

Like c’mon Toptenz after all these years how about you expand your research and branch out to other parts of Africa (that AREN’T Egypt)? 🤷🏿

[SekhmetScion]

Think I've seen a couple mentions of this while scrolling, but The Library of Alexandria was actually Egyptian in origin. Many of the scrolls were written by Egyptian priests and scribes, then later seized when the Greeks took over. A lot of the famous Greek pioneers got their work from Egyptians (the real founders of geometry, astronomy, medicine, academia).

[Sekonism]

Where are the footnotes? No mention of the references used?

[carlmagrath]

@ 13.00 why is that man wearing trousers? Is he a time traveller?