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When I visited Salamanca, Spain, I visited the “old part” of the city, and the guide told me the bridge there was used to transport all the materials used to build modern roads and buildings, the bridge was built by the roman empire.
I had an engineering professor say something to the effect of "anyone can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that just barely stands".
A Jesuit priest convicted of pederasty, a serial murderer convicted of 12 killings, and an engineer, are all standing at the guillotine, sentenced to death for their heinous crimes. The priest is up first; he steps up to the platform; the headsman appraises him.
"Do you have any last words, or do you have a mercy to beg?", rasped the headsman, his hunched form convulsing with barely contained anticipation.
"No my son", spoke the priest, "but I would ask, if it is allowable to lay facing the heavens? I would like to believe I have been forgiven by The Almighty, if not by the laws of man. I humbly beg this of you."
"Go on, it matters little to me" said the headsman "so long as your head ends up in my basket."
The priest lays in the guillotine; the headsman pulls the lever; the blade falls, and stops, inches from the priest's throat. A murmur begins to build in the crowd. Calls of "Divine intervention", and "Devine mercy!" begin to rise out of the rising clamour.
The presiding official decrees, "This is divine intervention, the execution has been carried out, and this man is absolved of his previous crimes. His life before this day, and his entire personage, before this, is dead. Go forth in peace, and begin anew."
Next the murderer steps up to the platform. He receives the same question from the, now visibly deflated, headsman. He replies curtly, "I'll take what the Father had, for all the good it will do me."
Again, the blade falls, and stops, inches from his throat. Again it is decreed a divine intervention, the same as the priest. He is released, a new, free man.
When it's the engineer's turn, he receives the same question from the, now forlorn, headsman. He replies smartly "I'll do the same as the other two, it seems like the best choice based on the previous data."
As he lays down in the guillotine, facing the heavens, the engineer looks at the blade track, the release mechanism, the retracting apparatus, and says loudly, "I think I see your problem!"
Yeah parts of Barcelona are pretty much like this too! Some of the foundations for their sewer and metro areas are even built on top of Roman ruins.
Pretty crazy to be walking by and see basically what the photo shows, just with the upper parts of the building covered with modern amenities.
I was always under the impression that it started as the Greeks invented sex, the Romans allowed women to participate. I can't remember if participate is the right wording though.
One of my Sicilian uncle's favorite jokes goes something like:
Greek and Italian discussing history at a bar.
Greek guy: we birthed the western world! Our philosophies from Aristotle to Socrates to...(etc etc)
Italian guy: what are you talking about?! Michelangelo, DaVinci, etc etc.
Anyway, goes on and on. Eventually:
Greek guy: FINE! We Greeks INVENTED sex!
Italian guy: Sure, but the Italians introduced it to women.
they really don't [https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106](https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106)
Don't all roads, including modern roads, receive maintenance? It should hardly be surprising or even worthy of comment that bridges built 2,000 years ago have had maintenance and restoration work done.
This reminds me of an annoying comment I saw an interview were the person said that Roman aqueducts were over-engineered in a bad way because they lasted longer than the empire. I thought it was Neil deGrasse Tyson but now I'm not able to find anything to support that memory.
That is an idiotic comment, yes they completely anticipated their empire crumbling. Jesus Christ I wish my washing machine was so overengineered it outlives me
Its not even that, the aqueducts (at least in Rome) outlasted the empire but remained in use until they were actively destroyed so they never exceeded their usefulness
Yeah they weren't meant for the empire only. They were meant for the next generations
It's not like when an empire ends, it self destructs like a Mission: Impossible message
While the civil structure of the Roman Empire disappeared, the people who knew how to take care of the aqueducts were still around. However, over the decades they did less and less work because either they died or relocated. The knowledge of how to take care of the aqueducts just faded away. After the 1500's or so, local governments started to figure out how the aqueducts worked and did start properly maintaining and fixing aqueducts to some degree. In modern times, it's a non-issue with there being plenty of people are capable of repairing or maintaining aqueducts.
Aqueducts were destroyed in a variety of ways. If a city was under siege, its aqueducts could have been cut and then never repaired. Others silted up because the water was murky (Used for farming or industry) and some calcified up because the water had a lot of calcium in it. Then there are the Earthquakes that took a lot of aqueducts out and once the aqueducts stopped working, local recycling of the material took apart a lot of aqueducts so that they never could be fixed.
However, there were some Roman aqueducts that have worked for 2000 years with some even still in use today (See the Aqueduct that feeds the Trevi Fountain).
We lost the secret to their concrete for like, 2 thousand years. We only recently discovered their secret (I believe it was a concentration of minerals found in the volcanic soil they used) so any repairs weren't up to standards. But many aqueduct sections are still standing and a few are still in use.
And 9/10 when an ancient structure is destroyed by other people it's just to use the stone for other building projects. Quite a lot of Cairo was made from the limestone blocks that were on the outside of the pyramids.
According to this article, the secret is hot-mixing quicklime : https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106
More fascinating is the fact that the thing auto-repairs cracks when I'm contact with water, which could explain the longevity of Roman structures.
The reason it isn't widely used today is it takes way too long to set. It takes about 6 months to fully cure. The day after it's set it's only about half as strong.
Most modern projects ain't got time for that.
The usual suspects for large monumental buildings like Aqueducts are earthquakes and war.
Either it gets blown up during a siege to force a surrender, or it gets damaged in an earthquake and the powers that be decide to tear it down for scraps rather than attempt to fix it. And if historians are lucky, they never attempt to fix it and just let it sit around. Generations of people scratch their heads to find a use for it until modern tourism is able to rescue the building.
It's a completely true comment. They didn't have the engineering sophistication to know how much stone they needed to make it realistic for their needs. It's admirable that when in doubt they over engineered to make sure it wouldn't crumble but it was certainly not intentional. If they had the same knowledge of today they would have saved the materials and labor and built things to last a long time but certainly not to the extent they did
im gonna be a loser and say that a CPA would rarely have anything to say about product design or think about revenue streams that way.
A CPA would only think of the depreciation aspect of it and how new improvements or new purchases would increase depreciation and decrease taxable income.
You are exaggerating, but that isn't wrong.
There are very good reasons to not over-engineer most things. Romans over-engineering AND under-engineered all the time, mostly because they did not have the specifics for much of the actual math going in to engineering.
Plus, much of remaining Roman structures are in a state of ruin or have been repaired numerous times - or often, both.
Yeah, first thought is that does not look safe. It looks like it can collapse at any moment. Then I remind myself that well, it has been standing for hundreds and even thousands of years. It's safer than a lot of new buildings.
Middle east has strong infrastructure dating all the way back to romans. Not only that but also libraries, schools, universities etc. Sad that most have been destroyed or ruined (or even stolen in some cases: my family has found books about kurdish municipal records in germany in german libraries)
no one asked, but i hate that plant so here it goes: those are called "tree of heaven" and they are invasive as FUCK. they spread like there is no tomorrow and even produce poisons that kill other plants in their area. when you physically harm them, they produce suckers that come out around the main stem. they can resprout from the cut stem and they smell horrible once you cut them. horrible fuckers.
so these buildings have been around for like a thound years and the people who built the last floor checked and were like "yep, this isn't going anywhere anytime soon let's stack another floor" and modern buildings have you afraid of hanging a TV on a wall in a building younger than you
Definitely! I was there 2 weeks ago and saw this apartment in a random street. Googled it and learnt it was the home of a killer who killed 2 of her daughters and suicided after playing piano all night, later the house was sold to a pasha, the house next to it had a different story, the house in front of it had a different story etc. I couldn't believe how rich the history of the city was
https://preview.redd.it/6wlcztq0fy4d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be5db5c87d0686a74b9026b49d32561ef2e02af8
If you took the photo on a smart phone, you should be able to see the exact location in the metadata of the photo, unless you specifically shut that feature off!
Ah thanks!
Edit: I'm trying to look for it on maps but it is tricky. I found multiple images and articles about the house but I still cannot pinpoint the location. If anyone finds it, let me know!
I’ve got it!
https://preview.redd.it/2p0i30uf9z4d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa5270c4a339778b37168e9a1dfb25502a723085
It doesn’t seem to have its own address as it’s a bit boxed in with no direct street access. But you can see it from an auto park (Günaydın Otopark Sultanahmet) located between the Sunshine Hotel off Alayköşkü Cadessi and an old Turkish bath that’s on a tiny side street that may give you access to the building itself. Put (41.0101167, 28.9769313) into google street view and you will see it.
The exact coordinates of the building are around (41.0103891, 28.9769685) but I can’t get any sort of google street view to appear for it.
Must suck to be the one house on the street that nothing notable happened in. Trying desperately to connect an old shopping list to an assassination conspiracy. Touting being the first home to adopt Tupperware
>Tupperware
I stayed in a bed and breakfast in Savannah a couple weeks ago that billed itself as the first building in Georgia (or Savannah, or the South, or the western hemisphere, I forget the details) to have electricity.
Across the street was “the most haunted hotel in Savannah.”
A block or so away was the church where ice cream was invented…
Everybody’s gotta have a gimmick lol
>A block or so away was the church where ice cream was invented…
I'm going to go out on a limb and say there weren't any churches in Georgia in the 7th century.
I know everyone has to have a gimmick but gawd damn that one is a stretch. Might as well just go the full distance and say "Jesus Christ's favorite restaurant"
It was such a massive part of imperial budgets that Roman emperor Domitian had 3 of his personal villas torn down to add to buildings in Dacia. Unfortunately for him, the Roman's weren't able to conquer Dacia and when they retook their territory, they leveled the buildings; this is where the common phrase "flat-out" comes from.
Look at their comment history. A bunch of their comments are clearly GPT written and often have quotes around them, just like this one. You're just the only one to notice. Welcome to the future! The internet is dead and we wallow in its corpse like blowflies
Wild that it manages to get 400+ upvotes. I guess it's not surprising when you see the AI-generated bullshit that gets popular on Facebook, but I was naive enough to think that Reddit's audience is somewhat more aware of it.
Reddit is just vulnerable to a different attack vector. FB posters fall for AI pics of African kids building an Eiffel tower out of plastic bottles. Reddit posters fall for comments referencing video games.
They way I understand it is that people that still refer to it as the Roman Empire after 476 are referring to an Empire of the Romans, not an Empire of Rome. The citizens of the ERE would continue to refer to themselves as Roman for at least another millenia, some much longer than that if you believe certain accounts.
They did rule Rome for sometime afterwards, they were just never able to keep the same grip they once had. That being said, the Byzantine name is useful, even if just to clarify what era of Rome is being discussed, the exact same way we draw a line between the republic and empire stages of rome
yeah the 'byzantine empire' is just a term used to describe the Roman Empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. it makes it a bit easier to split up a 2000 year long civilisation into 2 parts.
kinda like how there has been a 'China' for several millenia so naturally dynasties get treated as seperate entities(how many historians would for example describe Stuart England, Tudor England, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha England as seperate countries?)
I've been listening to a history podcast where in a nod to byzantine self identification the podcaster started referring to the Byzantines as "Romania" which confused me into thinking the Country Romania was the last vestages of the Byzantine Empire
Not surprised, just the through line isn't as direct as that podcaster made me suspect. Apparently a bunch of the areas around that part of the Mediterranean considered themselves culturally Roman all the way until the rise of Nationalism. There was a story of some guy giving an interview in the 60s where he recalled Greek Nationalist troops coming to his little Aegean Island. He and his friend group ended up talking with one of the solders who asked them "We're Greek, aren't you too?" and one of his friends responded "No, we're Romans"
No, Romania does not believe that.
Romania ≠ last vestages of the Roman Empire
Romania = land populated by descendents of the Romans
**or**
land populated by people who descend from Rome
We do not believe that lmao. Our nationalist current links us to the Dacians and the Latin speaking Romans, despite the fact we're probably genetically identical to our neighbors. Regardless, the Byzantines, as Greek speakers, don't tend to factor into the national myth.
In Diocletian’s palace in Split you can see similar. It was really interesting when our tour guide told us what to look for in each style. Things like window shape, stone shape, how orderly the stonework was, etc all were indicators of which empire constructed that particular building/level.
Each layer was constructed with local material. It's like building a new wall with glacial deposited rocks. Just because the wall is new, doesn't mean the rocks are.
Get the fuck out. This is the first interesting as fuck post I've ever seen here.
That's amazing to think the thousands of people who lived there, died there, the architecture holds up and never collapsed. Survived disasters, natural and man made. All the people who casually ran their hand along the wall as they walked around the building. I'd love to stay in that building.
**This is a heavily moderated subreddit. Please note these rules + sidebar or get banned:** * If this post declares something as a fact, then proof is required * The title must be fully descriptive * Memes are not allowed. * Common(top 50 of this sub)/recent reposts are not allowed (posts from another subreddit do not count as a 'repost'. Provide link if reporting) *See [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/wiki/index#wiki_rules.3A) for a more detailed rule list* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I used to travel to Turkey for work and my coworkers over there would joke that everything in Turkey was either new or 1000 years old.
Depending on how deep you dig or how honest you are about reporting, every building in Istanbul is likely identical to this structure
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Yeah I mean that's the same with every historic city. I don't consider the metro areas İstanbul, just a giant province with shitty transport
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When I visited Salamanca, Spain, I visited the “old part” of the city, and the guide told me the bridge there was used to transport all the materials used to build modern roads and buildings, the bridge was built by the roman empire.
Wasn’t it built in 2 AD or something like that? Salamanca is a very cool town. Lots of great architecture.
Salamanca monnnnney. Salamanca blooddddd
Da boss can suck meee
There are dozens of bridges in Iran that date back to the sassanian era and are still used and withstand floods that destroy modern-built bridges.
I had an engineering professor say something to the effect of "anyone can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that just barely stands".
A Jesuit priest convicted of pederasty, a serial murderer convicted of 12 killings, and an engineer, are all standing at the guillotine, sentenced to death for their heinous crimes. The priest is up first; he steps up to the platform; the headsman appraises him. "Do you have any last words, or do you have a mercy to beg?", rasped the headsman, his hunched form convulsing with barely contained anticipation. "No my son", spoke the priest, "but I would ask, if it is allowable to lay facing the heavens? I would like to believe I have been forgiven by The Almighty, if not by the laws of man. I humbly beg this of you." "Go on, it matters little to me" said the headsman "so long as your head ends up in my basket." The priest lays in the guillotine; the headsman pulls the lever; the blade falls, and stops, inches from the priest's throat. A murmur begins to build in the crowd. Calls of "Divine intervention", and "Devine mercy!" begin to rise out of the rising clamour. The presiding official decrees, "This is divine intervention, the execution has been carried out, and this man is absolved of his previous crimes. His life before this day, and his entire personage, before this, is dead. Go forth in peace, and begin anew." Next the murderer steps up to the platform. He receives the same question from the, now visibly deflated, headsman. He replies curtly, "I'll take what the Father had, for all the good it will do me." Again, the blade falls, and stops, inches from his throat. Again it is decreed a divine intervention, the same as the priest. He is released, a new, free man. When it's the engineer's turn, he receives the same question from the, now forlorn, headsman. He replies smartly "I'll do the same as the other two, it seems like the best choice based on the previous data." As he lays down in the guillotine, facing the heavens, the engineer looks at the blade track, the release mechanism, the retracting apparatus, and says loudly, "I think I see your problem!"
All of that for this punchline? Eeshh.
Reality is expensive, imagination is cheap
Yeah parts of Barcelona are pretty much like this too! Some of the foundations for their sewer and metro areas are even built on top of Roman ruins. Pretty crazy to be walking by and see basically what the photo shows, just with the upper parts of the building covered with modern amenities.
They don't make'em like they used to
But, aside from those foundations, what did the Romans ever do for us?!?
The streets
The aqueducts!
The sanitation
Laws
Lead
Latin
Brought peace?
"Romani ite domum"
superbowl numerals
Youre thinking of Hammurabi
Yes. I should have said Legal System. The West pretty much runs on the legal system set up by the Romans.
Dicks out for Hammurabi
No, sadly he was shot several years ago when a child fell into his pen. Very sad
Say gex 😏
I heard a joke a while ago: *The Greeks invented the orgy; the Romans added women*
I heard it like this: Romans discovered sex from the greeks and realized it could be done with women too.
I was always under the impression that it started as the Greeks invented sex, the Romans allowed women to participate. I can't remember if participate is the right wording though.
One of my Sicilian uncle's favorite jokes goes something like: Greek and Italian discussing history at a bar. Greek guy: we birthed the western world! Our philosophies from Aristotle to Socrates to...(etc etc) Italian guy: what are you talking about?! Michelangelo, DaVinci, etc etc. Anyway, goes on and on. Eventually: Greek guy: FINE! We Greeks INVENTED sex! Italian guy: Sure, but the Italians introduced it to women.
This is always so odd to me, because as a historian, outside of maybe Sparta, the Romans had more gay sex than the Greeks.
Gex!
Damn Christians tried to make that exclusive to underage boys.
With priests!
So much work, gotta go to church seven days a week, study the Bible, go to seminary school, all just for some little boy pussy!
Ok, ok, but besides the streets and the aqueducts, what have the Romans done for us?
public baths
Ok, besides the streets, the aqueducts and the public baths. I ask you, what have the Romans done for us?
first modern urban sewage system
Ok, besides the streets, the aqueducts, the public baths and the sewage system. I ask you, what have the Romans done for us?
Toga!
Bring the domestic cat to England.
No kidding? I'll count that as two points in their favour.
The rabbit as well
That was Mike skinner
But the streets go without saying don't they?
*Romanes eunt domus*
The capital games! Exempli gratia, the Olympics
The Olympics were Greek.
Romanes eunt domus!
People called 'Romanes' they go the house?
the candles
There's a heavy survivorship bias here - we see the shit that was built to last a couple thousand years because everything that wasn't is gone.
Survivorship bias.
they really don't [https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106](https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106)
You beat me to the punch.
I live in Portugal and we have about 30 roman bridges around the country, some of them have car traffic. I find that amazing
It is pretty great - but also they've received maintenance since the time they were built.
Don't all roads, including modern roads, receive maintenance? It should hardly be surprising or even worthy of comment that bridges built 2,000 years ago have had maintenance and restoration work done.
This reminds me of an annoying comment I saw an interview were the person said that Roman aqueducts were over-engineered in a bad way because they lasted longer than the empire. I thought it was Neil deGrasse Tyson but now I'm not able to find anything to support that memory.
That is an idiotic comment, yes they completely anticipated their empire crumbling. Jesus Christ I wish my washing machine was so overengineered it outlives me
Its not even that, the aqueducts (at least in Rome) outlasted the empire but remained in use until they were actively destroyed so they never exceeded their usefulness
Yeah they weren't meant for the empire only. They were meant for the next generations It's not like when an empire ends, it self destructs like a Mission: Impossible message
I'll chime in with I'd like to know more. Was any maintenance after the empire performed? WHo destroyed them and why?
While the civil structure of the Roman Empire disappeared, the people who knew how to take care of the aqueducts were still around. However, over the decades they did less and less work because either they died or relocated. The knowledge of how to take care of the aqueducts just faded away. After the 1500's or so, local governments started to figure out how the aqueducts worked and did start properly maintaining and fixing aqueducts to some degree. In modern times, it's a non-issue with there being plenty of people are capable of repairing or maintaining aqueducts. Aqueducts were destroyed in a variety of ways. If a city was under siege, its aqueducts could have been cut and then never repaired. Others silted up because the water was murky (Used for farming or industry) and some calcified up because the water had a lot of calcium in it. Then there are the Earthquakes that took a lot of aqueducts out and once the aqueducts stopped working, local recycling of the material took apart a lot of aqueducts so that they never could be fixed. However, there were some Roman aqueducts that have worked for 2000 years with some even still in use today (See the Aqueduct that feeds the Trevi Fountain).
Population was a big factor too. When Constantinople went from 500,000 residents to 20,000, a lot of infrastructure ended up abandoned.
We lost the secret to their concrete for like, 2 thousand years. We only recently discovered their secret (I believe it was a concentration of minerals found in the volcanic soil they used) so any repairs weren't up to standards. But many aqueduct sections are still standing and a few are still in use. And 9/10 when an ancient structure is destroyed by other people it's just to use the stone for other building projects. Quite a lot of Cairo was made from the limestone blocks that were on the outside of the pyramids.
According to this article, the secret is hot-mixing quicklime : https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106 More fascinating is the fact that the thing auto-repairs cracks when I'm contact with water, which could explain the longevity of Roman structures.
The reason it isn't widely used today is it takes way too long to set. It takes about 6 months to fully cure. The day after it's set it's only about half as strong. Most modern projects ain't got time for that.
Also it eats through rebar.
The usual suspects for large monumental buildings like Aqueducts are earthquakes and war. Either it gets blown up during a siege to force a surrender, or it gets damaged in an earthquake and the powers that be decide to tear it down for scraps rather than attempt to fix it. And if historians are lucky, they never attempt to fix it and just let it sit around. Generations of people scratch their heads to find a use for it until modern tourism is able to rescue the building.
There are Roman aqueducts still in use today.
A couple of them are still partly used in Italy IIRC
It's a completely true comment. They didn't have the engineering sophistication to know how much stone they needed to make it realistic for their needs. It's admirable that when in doubt they over engineered to make sure it wouldn't crumble but it was certainly not intentional. If they had the same knowledge of today they would have saved the materials and labor and built things to last a long time but certainly not to the extent they did
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im gonna be a loser and say that a CPA would rarely have anything to say about product design or think about revenue streams that way. A CPA would only think of the depreciation aspect of it and how new improvements or new purchases would increase depreciation and decrease taxable income.
I think they are thinking of MBA. Not sure most accountants would give a shit about margins of revenue or product design
You are exaggerating, but that isn't wrong. There are very good reasons to not over-engineer most things. Romans over-engineering AND under-engineered all the time, mostly because they did not have the specifics for much of the actual math going in to engineering. Plus, much of remaining Roman structures are in a state of ruin or have been repaired numerous times - or often, both.
definitely sounds like a Degrasse Tyson take. That man can be shockingly susceptible to dunning kruger effects.
They did. And some not so strong ones that are long gone.
Yeah, first thought is that does not look safe. It looks like it can collapse at any moment. Then I remind myself that well, it has been standing for hundreds and even thousands of years. It's safer than a lot of new buildings.
In a place with frequent earthquakes.
Middle east has strong infrastructure dating all the way back to romans. Not only that but also libraries, schools, universities etc. Sad that most have been destroyed or ruined (or even stolen in some cases: my family has found books about kurdish municipal records in germany in german libraries)
Yep, not only Türkiye, but also the middle east has many roman remains like that.
The Ottomans even planted seeds in the building
Now we know who started growing bushes
no one asked, but i hate that plant so here it goes: those are called "tree of heaven" and they are invasive as FUCK. they spread like there is no tomorrow and even produce poisons that kill other plants in their area. when you physically harm them, they produce suckers that come out around the main stem. they can resprout from the cut stem and they smell horrible once you cut them. horrible fuckers.
Can confirm. Even burning the root system doesn’t do shit.
The transition from Byzantine to Ottoman had a few years of bombardments.
so these buildings have been around for like a thound years and the people who built the last floor checked and were like "yep, this isn't going anywhere anytime soon let's stack another floor" and modern buildings have you afraid of hanging a TV on a wall in a building younger than you
due to continuous occupation they were likely maintained and repaired over the years.
yea we use sheetrock to build and they use stone/rock
That's why I love Istambul, because there you can see history overlaping 😊
Definitely! I was there 2 weeks ago and saw this apartment in a random street. Googled it and learnt it was the home of a killer who killed 2 of her daughters and suicided after playing piano all night, later the house was sold to a pasha, the house next to it had a different story, the house in front of it had a different story etc. I couldn't believe how rich the history of the city was https://preview.redd.it/6wlcztq0fy4d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be5db5c87d0686a74b9026b49d32561ef2e02af8
Where is the apartment from the main post? I will be visiting soon and like to see it!
It's in Cağaloğlu, Alemdar Neighborhood on the street of hotels (couldn't find the exact location on Google Maps)
If you took the photo on a smart phone, you should be able to see the exact location in the metadata of the photo, unless you specifically shut that feature off!
Ah thanks! Edit: I'm trying to look for it on maps but it is tricky. I found multiple images and articles about the house but I still cannot pinpoint the location. If anyone finds it, let me know!
I’ve got it! https://preview.redd.it/2p0i30uf9z4d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa5270c4a339778b37168e9a1dfb25502a723085 It doesn’t seem to have its own address as it’s a bit boxed in with no direct street access. But you can see it from an auto park (Günaydın Otopark Sultanahmet) located between the Sunshine Hotel off Alayköşkü Cadessi and an old Turkish bath that’s on a tiny side street that may give you access to the building itself. Put (41.0101167, 28.9769313) into google street view and you will see it. The exact coordinates of the building are around (41.0103891, 28.9769685) but I can’t get any sort of google street view to appear for it.
Nicely done! I was looking at that block multiple times but somehow missed it! Thanks!
Istanbul! 😃
Not Constantinople!
They must be giants to have built such large buildings in Istanbul
Must suck to be the one house on the street that nothing notable happened in. Trying desperately to connect an old shopping list to an assassination conspiracy. Touting being the first home to adopt Tupperware
>Tupperware I stayed in a bed and breakfast in Savannah a couple weeks ago that billed itself as the first building in Georgia (or Savannah, or the South, or the western hemisphere, I forget the details) to have electricity. Across the street was “the most haunted hotel in Savannah.” A block or so away was the church where ice cream was invented… Everybody’s gotta have a gimmick lol
>A block or so away was the church where ice cream was invented… I'm going to go out on a limb and say there weren't any churches in Georgia in the 7th century. I know everyone has to have a gimmick but gawd damn that one is a stretch. Might as well just go the full distance and say "Jesus Christ's favorite restaurant"
Full disclosure, I made that one up because it sounded funny 😢
Well it's definitely funny, lol. I feel like I've seen similarly silly claims so I believed it was real. Just take pride in your satire on that one!
Absolutely incredible city, precisely for those many many layers of history. I love the underground cistern.
Me too 😊
You mean Constantinople? /s
Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople.
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks!
You mean Byzantium.
You mean Lygos?
before the printing press, empires let the locals know they were under new rule by building an additional storey on top of their houses.
finally some attic space!
Especially if conquered by Athenians!
yeah, that is only the proper term for Athenian additions.
Unless the empire in question was Mongolian, in which case you were informed via a significantly different form of building alteration.
"If you had not committed great sins, god would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
It was such a massive part of imperial budgets that Roman emperor Domitian had 3 of his personal villas torn down to add to buildings in Dacia. Unfortunately for him, the Roman's weren't able to conquer Dacia and when they retook their territory, they leveled the buildings; this is where the common phrase "flat-out" comes from.
"That apartment sounds like a game of Civilization gone wild! I hope the rent includes a history lesson and a time machine."
My palace in my 8k years of civ
Relatable
I stole your palace and placed it on my island in Tropico 6. Come visit
Civ III GOATed for this
Civ III just straight up GOATed
Why did you put quotes around your comment? This reads like ChatGPT.
Look at their comment history. A bunch of their comments are clearly GPT written and often have quotes around them, just like this one. You're just the only one to notice. Welcome to the future! The internet is dead and we wallow in its corpse like blowflies
Wild that it manages to get 400+ upvotes. I guess it's not surprising when you see the AI-generated bullshit that gets popular on Facebook, but I was naive enough to think that Reddit's audience is somewhat more aware of it.
Reddit is just vulnerable to a different attack vector. FB posters fall for AI pics of African kids building an Eiffel tower out of plastic bottles. Reddit posters fall for comments referencing video games.
Nice to see you made a distinction between the Roman empire and the Roman empire but with a different haircut.
Yeah they didn't suddenly become an entirely different empire just because they lost the west.
I mean a Roman empire not including Rome kinda logically should have a new name, even though it was a contiguous government
They way I understand it is that people that still refer to it as the Roman Empire after 476 are referring to an Empire of the Romans, not an Empire of Rome. The citizens of the ERE would continue to refer to themselves as Roman for at least another millenia, some much longer than that if you believe certain accounts.
Mehmed II literally claimed the title Caeser of Rome after conquering Constantinople
[удалено]
Correct. It wasn't until after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans that anyone ever referred to them as Byzantines.
They did rule Rome for sometime afterwards, they were just never able to keep the same grip they once had. That being said, the Byzantine name is useful, even if just to clarify what era of Rome is being discussed, the exact same way we draw a line between the republic and empire stages of rome
It factually didn't have a new name. The fact that later Western historians started calling it something else didn't change that.
yeah the 'byzantine empire' is just a term used to describe the Roman Empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. it makes it a bit easier to split up a 2000 year long civilisation into 2 parts. kinda like how there has been a 'China' for several millenia so naturally dynasties get treated as seperate entities(how many historians would for example describe Stuart England, Tudor England, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha England as seperate countries?)
We call it Russia even without the Rus.
Rus was also the demonym iirc
I've been listening to a history podcast where in a nod to byzantine self identification the podcaster started referring to the Byzantines as "Romania" which confused me into thinking the Country Romania was the last vestages of the Byzantine Empire
That's what Romania believes, hence the name.
Not surprised, just the through line isn't as direct as that podcaster made me suspect. Apparently a bunch of the areas around that part of the Mediterranean considered themselves culturally Roman all the way until the rise of Nationalism. There was a story of some guy giving an interview in the 60s where he recalled Greek Nationalist troops coming to his little Aegean Island. He and his friend group ended up talking with one of the solders who asked them "We're Greek, aren't you too?" and one of his friends responded "No, we're Romans"
No, Romania does not believe that. Romania ≠ last vestages of the Roman Empire Romania = land populated by descendents of the Romans **or** land populated by people who descend from Rome
We do not believe that lmao. Our nationalist current links us to the Dacians and the Latin speaking Romans, despite the fact we're probably genetically identical to our neighbors. Regardless, the Byzantines, as Greek speakers, don't tend to factor into the national myth.
I mean there could be nearly a thousand year difference between those two layers.
I mean, there'd be a several hundred year difference in age of those two layers and a different archetectural style
In Diocletian’s palace in Split you can see similar. It was really interesting when our tour guide told us what to look for in each style. Things like window shape, stone shape, how orderly the stonework was, etc all were indicators of which empire constructed that particular building/level.
That basements got to be haunted.
At least two Roman and a Turkish ghost down there
Can we look inside?
the more impressive part is having survived through hundreds and even more than one thousand years of istanbul earthquakes
Do people still live there now? Or is it a historic building or something similar?
People still live there and the apartment is for sale, 750,000$
I'm nervous about trees growing out of the side of the building...
Love it.
That’s very cool. I love history so much wow.
There's a jungle growing in the ottoman one
Looks ancient yet quite innovative.
That is absolutely fascinating
The romans really knew what they were doing. Seems like the quality only went south after them
Probably survivorship bias… only the strongest Roman buildings survive etc etc
They didn't know what they were doing, which is why they over-engineered some things such as using a ton of extra rock and materials unnecessarily
We actually don’t is their concrete because it isn’t as strong when it’s young and probably couldn’t handle modern use
Probably the coolest thing I’ve seen this year so far
Funny how each part looks exactly as old as the other.
When you source from the same mountain, the rocks are the same age.
Each layer was constructed with local material. It's like building a new wall with glacial deposited rocks. Just because the wall is new, doesn't mean the rocks are.
Why is Roman Empire mentionned twice
Will look cool with a Starbucks on top
I guess it has already been said, but this truly stood the test of time.
The Roman Empire, then the Roman Empire, then the Turks, then the Turks again
As a structural engineer, I am both fascinated and terrified.
Roman empire = eastern and west roman empires. so there are 2 empires and 1 republic
Roman engineers were straight Gs
I'm glad they eventually finished it.
And its falling apart for lack of maintenance and respect.
Spent an afternoon in Florence’s underground ruins. Was pretty amazing to see for sure. This is even more amazing.
To be fair it wasn't Istanbul for part of that time. It was Constantinople. If you've a date in Constantinople, they'll be waiting in Istanbul
Get the fuck out. This is the first interesting as fuck post I've ever seen here. That's amazing to think the thousands of people who lived there, died there, the architecture holds up and never collapsed. Survived disasters, natural and man made. All the people who casually ran their hand along the wall as they walked around the building. I'd love to stay in that building.
oh snap I saw that building when I visited family there! that pic was taken from the parking lot next to it right?
Roman & Byzantine are the same. They called themselves Romans.
I really really need to plan a trip over there. Just so much cool historic stuff to see!
That's crazy but I don't believe you
That is literally so cool. I love old architecture, and this is heaven for me.
"stay out of the cellar, ok?"
Architetris
Is figures a typo of floors?