Rome's Mountain of Ancient Garbage

Rome's Monte Testaccio, the ancient world's largest garbage dump, is estimated to contain 53 million broken amphorae.
I'd like to thank Through Eternity Tours for helping me access Monte Testaccio.

Check out my other YouTube channels, @toldinstonefootnotes and @scenicroutestothepast

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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Spanish olive groves
2:03 From olives to oil
3:47 The voyage to Portus
5:15 The emperor's oil
6:15 Up the Tiber
7:09 Romanis Magicae
8:02 The warehouse district
9:30 Monte Testaccio
11:12 Significance of a dump
11:46 Visiting Monte Testaccio

[willbuzzerd]

I can’t wait for my upcoming family vacation to experience in person the wonders of THE MOUNTAIN OF ANCIENT GARBAGE

[michaelmcnally]

Young me would not believe current me that a Roman garbage dump is more exciting than yet another description of the battle of Cannae

[steinway]

Hey everyone, this is Matthew Blair. I write "Romanis Magicae" and wanted to extend a HUGE thank you to Dr. Ryan and the channel for helping us out again! I've been a fan of the channel for a while now, and it's an honor to be a part of it.

We've put a lot of care and passion into this comic and we hope you can help us make the second issue a reality. We've got a lot of cool rewards and who knows, maybe Monte Testaccio will make an appearance in future issues :).

[jamesmoore]

I live in Cayman and we have Mount Trashmore here. Headed to Rome this fall and look forward to sharing this knowledge with my wife.

[dj-kqfz]

The amphora union really controlled the "single use only" narrative. The dump is amazingly similar (despite it being only one product) to landfills today, isn't it! Thanks!

[adamwelch]

big olive oil never cleans up there messes!🤦

[biggbeefer]

I was JUST visiting the large market right next to this hill on my trip to Rome and I was actually wondering what this hill was. I found it odd that there was a big hilltop in Rome with nothing on top of it. Then you drop this video, about this very hill, just a cool moment of the stars aligning

[waveydavey]

You still find giant amphora around rural areas of Spain and Portugal, I know they still used them to hold/carry water into the 1960's/70's. As to the age of some of them, it's hard to tell, the potters carried on making the classic shapes until recently.

[liamnacinovich]

Funny how some things never change. On Long Island we have ‘Merrick Mountain’ which is one the highest ‘peaks’ of our south shore and it’s a man made trash heap which we dubbed a ‘mountain’

[SubTroppo]

I am amazed that the hill is not freely open to tourists on a daily basis, and I didn't bother to make the phone call for the "if & when" guided tour . Instead I made do with an excellent lunch in a restaurant cut into the base of the hill, where through glass doors at the back one can see the stacked fragments. On request, the staff opened a glass door, and a cool breeze wafted in from the hill. Magical!

[MariaMartinez-researcher]

For a Chilean, Testaccio has a very special meaning. We have a famous musical piece called "El Mercado de Testaccio" - Testaccio Market.
The folk music group Inti Illimani was touring when the 1973 coup happened. Knowing of the artists that had been imprisoned or murdered, they stayed in Europe, settling in Italy until 1988, when they could come back.
You can find the song in YouTube.
The channel barcata has an old video recorded in situ.
The channel ChileVuelve has a 1982 version recorded on Swiss TV, where all the instruments can be seen.

[Perebynis]

Great Video again! For over one century, my home town had a flourishing porcelain industry. The steepest slope and tallest hill in the city still belongs to a trash heap that completely is made of "broken china": cracked plates and cups that didn´t survive the burning process, rejects, damaged forms, dummies etc. Nowadays it´s completely covered by trees and bushes. By sight you would not guess it´s origin.

[kevinhouse]

Thanks for that great breakdown of the olive oil journey.

[RushWasABand]

5:31 there is no noticable amount of protein in olive oil

[leoquesto]

Bravo. Roman organizational structures — societal, governance, architecture, military — have long been a source of fascination for me, their solutions for refuse, included. I often heard about Monte Testaccio in childhood. This is a very good overview.

[Elephantine]

Loved this one. Emperors and legions and gladiators are all very well, but a look at everyday life and commerce--and garbage dumps--is fascinating, too.

[Avraham]

I love how you build the story to explain why Monte Testaccio exists. You have always been an entertainingly informative channel. I really appreciate your work.

[urn]

that clears up why I saw so many weird stones piled up like that, during my early years around the Mediterranean

[patrickdoak]

You can see them in a restaurant built into this called Flavio al Velavevodetto in Testaccio. Pretty neat and a really good place to eat too!

[axeldeblois]

This guy is so good. This is the type of content history lovers die for.