The BEST Preserved Roman Colony in the World

Timgad was a Roman city built for retired veterans of the Roman army. It is located on the edge of the Sahara Desert, in modern day Algeria.

It is the best preserved Roman colony in the world, with a perfectly preserved grid plan, a forum, a theater, a triumphal arch, temples, bath houses, and even a library.
Many Roman colonies had a similar grid like pattern, but Timgad gives us the best idea of how such Roman colonies looked like, simply because it is so well preserved.

It had a forum, a theater, a temple to Jupiter, a triumphal arch, bath houses, markets, and even a public library. Timgad had all the trappings of a typical Roman city. It was like a miniature Rome, but far from the city of Rome, on the edge of the empire.

The video will show you all the monuments at the site, but also discuss how Rome rewarded its retired veterans and set them up in colonies such as Timgad.

Written, edited, and narrated by Jordan Amit

Special thanks to Milosh Kitchovitch for providing the ground shots of Timgad. His Youtube and instagram handle is: @milosh9k

#romans #romanarchitecture #archaeology #roman #archaeological #archaeologicalsites #archaeologicalsite #timgad #algeria #ancienthistory #ancientromans #ancientstory #ancientcivilizations #ancient #romanempire #romanemperor #romanarmy #romanart #romana #veterans #veteran #soldiers

[parkerhughes]

Populating colonies with battle hardened veterans as a first line of defense is genius.

[emmawilde]

An entire city made for veterans? So no homeless veterans in tents on the sidewalk? Wow.

[slyster]

This is the content Youtube was made for. Thanks.

[pyrrhus]

I'm from algeria and im glad you are covering this, algeria has many roman ruins like literally many and still many to discover sadly our country is not focusing on archeology

[billbissenas]

As a 30 year U.S. Navy veteran, I appreciate the generosity of the empire with regard to its veterans.

[eriktopolsky]

Algeria needs to promote its wonderful sites more... We often forget how historical it is and that it was part of the same empire like the west for long time

[jimmeltonbradley]

My home town in Britain was a Roman Colonia. Unfortunately, permanent occupation since then has obliterated everything except the standard north south, east and westgate streets which cross at the centre of the city. Its great to see somewhere where the original layout has survived.

[miloshk]

Great video, and story of this ancient city. Well narrated, congratulations!

[hassle-freehandyman]

I’m Algerian leaving abroad and I enjoy this type of historical videos. My home town is Called Tebessa and it’s also a Roman city. I’m hoping you do a video on it. Thank you

[honiahakaa]

Hey algerian here, just wanted to say it's not just in timgad we have many other places literally all around north and mid algeria :)

[AniwayasSong]

I had never even heard of this ruin!
Thank you
AS an American Veteran, permanently disabled, I find the way my current Govt. & 'Crew' treat us to be beyond reprehensible, but won't say further, here. Just hearing/learning about ancient Rome, for all it's faults/defects, treating theirs so much better? wow

[gunner]

I grew up in a village built on a Roman garrison town. This looks so familiar. We used to play in the old Roman barracks and the amphitheatre. We used to find coins and charms all the time. The Roman baths was found at the bottom of our garden. Now there is a ghostly swimmer in the museum built around it.

[gerrad]

A city of veterans, you'd certainly behave yourself in the taverna haha.

Incredibly well presented and informative video. Thanks for this!

[Rafs-on-the-roof]

Watching documentaries on Rome always serves as a reminder of how crazy advanced it was for its time. It’s incredible to think about, especially considering how long it existed and how long it took for nations to reach that level of sophistication again

[codycasey]

Roman veteran retirement: nice simple clean home in a quiet neighborhood.

U.S. veteran retirement: street corners, alleyways, and vans down by the river.

[whalhard]

Man I would like to see that in it's full glory.

[EndingSimple]

Looks like these Roman soldiers got a better deal than our current soldiers do today .

[lumejames]

The dedication to quality is clear. It really shows in the videos.

[pbohearn]

Excellent presentation about a little known ancient Roman colony site. I live in Portugal and I have visited a couple of towns that have pretty significant archaeological findings harkening back to ancient Rome. One being evora, in central Portugal, . its centerpiece is a temple to Dianá. the other Merida in Spain, which apparently was the capital of Iberia during the age of the Roman Empire. There’s so many places that are just treasures of ancient cultures. It fascinates.me.

[Askani-son]

Fun fact: the French Foreign Legion has similar place in south of France for those who serve 20 years instead of the common 5 year contract. They also train and work in Algeria to this day.