Hello! Casual re-relase of Episode 12 part 2 - the Nika Riots! Cue the robots! 🎉 Dive into the chaos of history with our latest episode on the Nika Riots! 🏛 Join us on 'Doomed to Fail' as we unravel the gripping tale of rebellion and mayhem in ancient Constantinople. 🌐 Get ready for a rollercoaster ride through the past! 🕰 #DoomedToFailPodcast #NikaRiots #HistoryUnleashed #PodcastTime #HistoricalMayhem #ListenNow #MustListen #PodcastAlert #HistoryPodcast #AncientHistory #GrippingTales #TimeTravelWithUs
Hello! Casual re-relase of Episode 12 part 2 - the Nika Riots! Cue the robots!
🎉 Dive into the chaos of history with our latest episode on the Nika Riots! 🏛 Join us on 'Doomed to Fail' as we unravel the gripping tale of rebellion and mayhem in ancient Constantinople. 🌐 Get ready for a rollercoaster ride through the past! 🕰 #DoomedToFailPodcast #NikaRiots #HistoryUnleashed #PodcastTime #HistoricalMayhem #ListenNow #MustListen #PodcastAlert #HistoryPodcast #AncientHistory #GrippingTales #TimeTravelWithUs
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
hi friends Taylor from Doom to fail
today we are re-releasing episode 12
part two just a reminder we're
re-releasing our first 26 episodes in
two parts CU each of those were two
stories in one and they got pretty long
so we're shortening them and bringing
them back to you you can always go back
and listen to the whole thing um in the
archive but this is episode 12 part two
on the na riots it is a riot that
happened in constant Nole Emperor Justin
was um rooting for one sports team in
the hip Drome
um and everybody else is rooing for
another it's a class Warfare story but a
lot of people actually really died so um
enjoy let us know if you have any
thoughts our Doom to fpod at gmail.com
thanks in a matter of the people of
State of California versus orthal James
Simpson case number ba09 and so my
fellow
Americans ask not what your country can
do for you ask what you can do for your
country
[Music]
short okay yeah it's great you should
watch it so okay so let's transfer over
to our history story and I
this week I don't know if it it came out
this week or if it's because of um you
talking about Nirvana but on Netflix I
found a three-part doumentary about
Woodstock
99 and I was like this is bananas this
is crazy I was like you know it's if you
don't know watch that documentary it's
you know trying to recreate Woodstock in
99 which did not work because like the
people who tended just like were a bunch
of [ __ ] there was tons of rioting
tons of sexual assault a lot of crimes
they like burnt the whole thing down and
I also was wondering like what is the
VIN diagram of dudes who were at
Woodstock 99 and dudes who are at the
insurrection on January 6th and I feel
like that might be in J Circle it's like
that kind of dude you know there so it's
it's definitely the same gene type like
if you go backwards like a couple
Generations they definitely shared an
uncle I think yeah I put definitely more
than five people were at both places yes
um I'm sure I'm sure there were so it's
super interesting and I was like can I
do what's like 99 I'm like Taylor go
back go back further so I was like what
are deadly riots and insurrections of
history and there's obviously a ton but
I found one that revolves around a
couple so there is a relationship in
this one and so I want to talk about the
NAC Riots of
532 so all the way back way back going
way back I listen I listened to one
YouTube video called deadly moments in
history the Nic riots a stuff you missed
in History Class A smithonian article um
just like information about this story
so it involved a couple Emperor
Justinian and his wife Theodora so
they're like big they like big players
in the story and we're in the Byzantine
Empire which is the Eastern Roman Empire
around the year 500 and they're actually
based in Constantinople I'll talk about
that in a second Emperor Justinian the
first was born in terium in Northern
Macedonia and if you're Dan Carin you
say macadonia I might go back and forth
I want do the Dan Carin one I'm going to
say I'm like really proud of you for
picking something where the names all
sound incredibly hard to pronounce
thank you Kudos thank you I'm gonna go
macadonia because that's what Dan Carlin
says but Justin was born in 482 ad he
was a like a poor humble person he grew
up speaking Latin instead of Greek Greek
was a language of the of the court so
this is like the Eastern Roman Empire is
like more Greek and then the Western one
is more Roman Italian Roman they speak
Latin so in in the end he does learn to
speak Greek in his court and I would
have to really study the you know the
way that they do like the lineage for
becoming Emperor but even though he's
humble and like doesn't come from Super
wealth his uncle is the Emperor and his
uncle is Emperor Justin which I like
laughed out like for an hour Justin like
I know there's like Justin Trudeau is a
world leader but like Emperor Justin I
just can't makes me laugh so king um
King bill or something yeah right it
just can't so Justin is his uncle and
when Justin dies Justinian becomes his
successor so um I don't know if it's
like just kind of like next best who's
like kind of related to you cuz I can't
imagine that these Emperors had zero
Sons but it definitely is like seems to
be handing off to nephews so it's
probably just like who around my circle
my family has like the most potential I
think probably that makes sense so yeah
so Justin died in 1527 and Justinian
became emperor Justinian married a woman
named Theodora she was born also into
humble origin but like actually humble
her dad was a bear Keeper in the
Hippodrome so that's
humble that's s like a humble upbringing
that sounds like an awesome upbringing I
mean yes awesome but I can't I don't
think he like made a lot of money being
a bear keeper but also it is awesome and
like maybe you got to hug bears which is
cool it's very cool so we'll talk about
the Hippodrome in a second but you know
I'm thinking like imagine you know being
a bear keeper obviously terrible things
happened to the Bears and also those
Bears probably killed a lot of people so
there like a lot going on in like with a
bear keeper you know what it's not like
a zoo I was romanticizing this a lot
more than you just laid it out I thought
you'd like right they would start
treating you like you're one of them and
like you could like go forward with them
and like you're a family together but I
guess there's probably a lot of abuse in
that yeah yes yes and you probably get a
bonus every time you're bear eats
someone you know I don't know but it's
definitely you're not like it's not a
sanctuary for Bears it's okay thank you
okay that's the way I was thinking
Sanctuary for Bears it's not a sanctuary
for Bears okay okay awful situation for
the I bet every the Bears are having a
bad time everyone's having a bad time
okay yes yes I don't approve
so so Theodora became an actress and a
dancer which is like we talked about
this before like an in like ancient
Roman times like an actress basically
was like the same level as a sex worker
in society she may have actually been a
sex worker that's unclear Some people
say that she was and that you know
before she met Justinian but they did
fall in love and they got married and
she became kind of a co-ruler with him
and she had a big influence in the
government so they're married they're in
charge there was a little bit of
conflict that has to do with religion
obviously it's a Christian Society at
this point Theodora was part of the sect
that believed that Jesus was many things
like also a ghost in a person again I
don't know and then most people thought
he was one thing like one entity
so that's like a big deal just like
another like reason to fight within
Christianity this one guy started so
much [ __ ] started so much [ __ ] so yeah
so there people are kind of mad about
that but it's not all religion and
politics and all those things there's
also Sports so this is a sport story
mostly so the biggest sport in in the
time is Chariot racing let's talk about
that in a second so
I love a sport Riot like I don't want to
be in one but I appreciate it when
Philadelphia tries to burn itself down
whether they win or lose you know like
that's hilarious the people like going
absolutely nuts like that sounds really
like it's fun in as long as no one dies
it sounds fun also did I mention that
we're in Istanbul which was
Constantinople and you know that song
why did they change it I can't say maybe
they liked it better that way he that S
no who is that was constant I have no
idea it's like a it's from like the 80s
or 70s I'll share if it's not Nirvana
I'm not going to recognize anything for
the next like month it's not it's not so
I do have a list of like what
Constantinople was called but it's gone
through a lot of changes but at this
point it's probably called New Rome at
the moment oh yes okay so it's called
iOS bizantium Augusta Antonia New Rome
Constantinople Constantine Istanbul so
now it's Istanbul but at this point it
was probably called New Rome okay so or
in Turkey like modern new turkey yeah
yeah which would have been back then
part of the like a much larger swath of
like the Ottoman Empire which I think
was one of the biggest Empires ever okay
right it goes over there too yeah um so
that's where we are in the middle of
Istanbul right now you can visit the
Hippodrome so the Hippodrome is like
such a cool word I don't even know what
to do like Hippodrome so the Hippodrome
is a place where you can watch races and
other games it still exists you can
still visit it it's huge it can hold
like 50 to 100,000 people it's a big
Stadium you could go in and like rent
cushions to sit on the on the on the
steps like the Hollywood Bowl you could
like rent a cushion and like sit on the
steps and and watch the races it's a
really really long oval a really thin
long oval in the middle there's like a
wall with statues that even had uh I
think still have an Egyptian obisk in
the middle of it so like beautiful
statues in the middle all Stone
is huge Stadium it's obviously not
there's no like safety measures you know
because it's in the year 500 what you do
is you race around the oval in your
chariot and it's very dangerous so
Chariot racing is one of the oldest
forms of sports it involves pulling a
two- whe Chariot driven by four horses
in in this case in the hipad drone at
this time so you're kind of standing on
your chariot and you're racing into
other people so like you can remember
this from Like Gladiator right didn't
they do that in Gladiator they did this
looks like a place you were meant to die
in yeah absolutely it's very like
spectator yeah you know yeah like I mean
even like the location of where they put
the things to draw your eyes like it's
meant to be like you're all in the
center of this thing and God help you if
you don't do the right thing in that
moment and we know that bears work there
so like obviously some other stuff
happens too involving your and like
eating people for sure for sure but
Chariot racing can be traced back to
ancient Egypt where the were used in
Warfare and hunting it became a very
popular form of entertainment and like a
religious ceremony it was considered a
good profession if you could like buy
your way out of slavery doing it so if
you like start a lot of them were people
races were slaves because a lot of
people died like right away I mean
imagine like you're you fall off your
chariot you get crushed by by horses but
people who didn't die and who continue
to do it will be able to eventually buy
their way out of slavery because they
would start to like make money that's
like the main thing there in the
Hippodrome there is is a spot for the
emperor to sit and that is connected to
the Palace by like an underground tunnel
that's how he gets there and he's always
like there around so I think this is
hilarious for some reason but in this
time there's four main factions of teams
and their names are the blues greens
Reds and whites like that's it there's
name color it's that kind of like the
Harry Potter houses except Lamer a
little bit yeah I guess I'd say more I
was GNA be like more death but there's
so much death in Harry Potter so yes
they weren't just sports teams they're
also social groups so you kind of like
choose yours and like you know be
hooligan like be like this is my like
I'm I'm the greens like you're the blues
like [ __ ] the blues all the things like
lots of fighting which again is Fun
sports fighting is fun as long as no one
gets hurt but people are about to get
hurt so I feel like I feel like in this
a it wouldn't be fun in this era because
there's no rules or laws and like people
right absolutely like now you get
prosecuted but like yeah yeah I mean
again to bring up Philly like that's
where you get punched in the face if
like your team beats Philly and you're
like in Philly but for the most part
it's fun that's that's also partially
why I have deliberately never been to an
Eagles game because yeah because it just
feels like a really bad place to be a
sports fan of a rival team absolutely
absolutely in this time the blues are
associated with the aristocracy because
like the emperor supports them they were
more traditional more like wealthy fans
and the greens were associated with the
lower classes intended to be more
populist they were like more Progressive
more people who like lived in the
suburbs like we're common people like to
the greens so at this time by the time
we're in this story it's really just the
greens and the blues those are like the
biggest the biggest two two sides the
greens don't like the queen and the king
or the emperor and Empress because they
like the blues so it's like a whole
thing like jinian and Theodora they
support the blues and so all the regular
people who are greens are also like mad
at the emperor so it's like a whole
thing there's also a lot happening with
like the emperor is taxing people for
Wars and taxing people to like build
suff for himself and people are hungry
and all like political unrest thing is
actually happening while this is
happening but it's going to kind of
culminate at this sports event on
January 10th 5:32 there's a mini Riot
and there's lots of riots like kind of
all the time but there's a mini Riot
between the The Greens in the Blues and
seven men get sentenced to death so two
of the men yeah so like the the emperor
is like stop fighting the leaders
sentenced to death
so no it was half Blues half seven like
it was mixed blues and greens
and when they do the execution they do
it by hanging and two of the men survive
because the scaffolding breaks and it's
one blue and one green so now they're
kind of together and saying like maybe
God is on our side like the side of the
people because the emperor wanted the
blues and greens to get like the leaders
of this this like mini Riot to get
killed but maybe now God's on our side
because he saved them I mean that tracks
yeah I mean but I think if I was the
emperor I'd say like now now you all
just have to each fight to the death and
whoever wins this is why I shouldn't be
a leader actually yeah no they didn't
they they they let them go now tensions
are like super high because people are
like wondering what the hell's going on
because of the way that that they those
like a green and a blue were saved
Justinian instead of like canceling
upcoming chariot races he continued to
have them and another thing about the
Hippodrome is like I said before like
that's how they got in the emperor and
empress and like the court would get in
through a secret tunnel from the palace
and like be in the Hippodrome on their
like up box again like think of
gladiator like they're up higher than
everybody else I have the picture up
right now like there's an obvious like
I'm assuming that the Hippodrome all has
like one kind of uh like from the top
level down looks the same except there's
one section of it that's like this white
Obelisk looking thing that looks like
it's connected to like a court area like
a Royal Court area so I would assume
that's where it is yeah like when you're
watching a game and you're like they
show you someone up at a box and you're
like okay fine that's not relatable yeah
but um this is the only space where the
common people ever really see the
emperor so it's also a time for like
political things so they like yell up to
him like we want less taxes and like a
lot of yelling and like chanting and
things that they want the emperor to
hear because he doesn't really see the
common people ever Mak sense so that
that happens these things as well so on
January 15 532 so 10 days after this
first mini Riot there's another race
planned for the day and it starts to uh
break out into another Riot there's 24
races planned they don't get to that
many people start to fight there's some
like fighting within the people watching
it starts to get bigger and bigger and
the fight spills over into the city the
crowd starts shouting NAA NAA which
means Victory conquer so that's why it's
called the niik riots because they are
trying to like overthrow the government
because now it's an Insurrection they're
trying to overthrow the emperor so all
these people all these tensions from the
sports and all these things are r
rampaging the city they're setting the
city on fire Constantinople is a burning
they're looting shops the palace was
besieged so they took over the palace it
was about to completely collapse and
Justinian was considering just leaving
at this point and everybody here is just
[ __ ] house hammered on wine right oh
yeah absolutely you gota be like be yeah
no water a belly full of wine wouldn't
make me want to like be active I think I
feel like beer is a good Riot beer and
whiskey are good rioting drinks yeah I
think Beer's a good Riot drink yeah but
really but all they really had was wines
so I imagine like everyone's kind of
stained with red wine and blood you know
like it's a whole thing could could you
imagine like if you were just like drunk
on cosmopolitans and like trying to flip
over like a car like it just what I
don't know it just doesn't have the same
tone to it no no but I'm sure straight
vodka inspired a lot of riots in Russia
so oh yeah it's different the city is
about to burn down the the is sopia is
burned so do you know what that is that
building never heard of it's um it is a
religious building in the middle of
constant Constantinople asemble it was
built before this time it started off as
a church like a beautiful Dome with
turrets it kind of looks like it has a
Taj Mahal look with like the Dome and
the four turrets it's really beautiful
on the inside I definitely did a paper
about it when I was studying our history
so like it's like a beautiful building
um it was burned down and they built a
new one after this and started off as a
church then is it called hag built as a
Sophia yeah y h AIG G A but I think it's
a Sophia and so it was built during the
Byzantine Empire during this time we
kind of refurbished after this fire as a
Christian Cathedral it was converted
into a mosque after the ottoman Conquest
that talked about in um 1453 so much
later it became a mosque and then the
Turkish repu took it over in 1935 and
turned it into a museum but in 2020 the
Turkish government took it back and now
it is a mosque it's beautiful I mean I'm
looking at the view of the inside the
Dome interior on on Wikipedia and it's
amazing looking yeah it's really really
beautiful so now it's in mosque but just
uh and it's one of those things I think
we actually talked about with the Taj
Mahal too where Christians are like it
was originally ours and they're like no
it's ours and people are kind of trying
to fight over who gets to worship there
I think people never change people never
change yeah
never never never change so by Sophia is
burning the city's burning on January
19th so four days after the start of the
riot the people choose another nephew of
Justin to be Emperor his name is hius
and they put hipas on the throne in the
Hippodrome and they're like we have a
new emperor so things look really really
bad for Justinian and Theodora and
they're thinking of leaving and she says
to him this is a quote and it's going to
be hard if you my lord wish to save your
skin you will have no difficulty in
doing so we are rich there is the sea
there two are our ships but consider
first whether When You Reach safety will
you regret that you did not choose death
in preference as for me I stand by the
ancient saying the purple is the noblest
winding sheet so she is like you have to
stay like you can't like we could run
away but like let's stay and fight for
our Empire what's the purple thing mean
purple is the color of Emperors it was a
hard color to come by so like they would
wear like purple capes oh and purple
shrouds so like Caesar wore purple like
purple was the color that you would wear
when you were in charge yeah she's
saying like be a leader yeah basically
exactly so he says I'm G to stay and I'm
Gonna Stand Tall on this and he had his
army led by General belisarius suppress
the riots and so here's some stuff that
happen so like I said before that there
was a mini Riot that started this
there's tons of riots during this time
we know a lot about this one because it
was was like heavily documented but
there probably were worse ones that we
just like don't know a ton about but
this is the one we know the most about
so belisarius takes his finally the the
Justinian says go he takes the troops
they go out and they just start like
killing the people who are rioting they
end up going to the Hippodrome so the
Hippodrome had become kind of a
sanctuary people are talking there the
new emperor they made hpus is there a
lot of families people just like kind of
hiding and trying to to stay in this
spot while the rest of the city's like
on fire and czy czy things are happening
but bellarus and his troops come in and
they kill everybody it's estimated they
kill 30,000 people inside the Hippodrome
that day so Taylor Sorry I'm confusing
some people here is this the current
Emperor who slaughtered his people or
the newly crowned Emperor EMP I have
they have such a disconnect there
because it's like I'm going to be a lead
I you know what I pictured I pictur this
like proud moment of like just like a
Gladiator movie of like the empress like
stealing the nerve of the emperor like
you can do this you are you are the
godsent you know king or whatever and
then he just like go just goes and kills
everyone like I I didn't see it going
that way well that's what happens and
that you know later you know it one of
the outcomes of this niik Riot is it
weakened the power of the faction so
like the blues and the grein of
political factions and it served as a
warning that the emperor would not
hesitate to use Force to to stop a
rebellion yeah so before maybe you were
like maybe he won't kill innocent people
to stop us from doing this it's like no
if you do this you get out of order like
we will come in with the Army and you
will get killed I I still don't think
that's leadership or good leadership
mean it's not great okay okay no it's
definitely real scary yeah yeah the
bellarus and his troops go in and they
kill 30,000 people in Hippodrome so like
think of the logistics and how gross
this is in the I read a SM smithonian
article and um they quoted an author
John Julius norwitch on his history of
Byzantium and he says quote within a few
minutes the angry shouts of the great
Amphitheater had given place to cries
and groans of wounded and dying men soon
those two grew quiet until the silence
spread over the entire Arena its sand
now sought in with the blood of its
victims so like [ __ ] T of people got
killed there yeah the outcome is that
you know the people kind of like they
stopped riding and and Justinian became
became powerful again like you said it
was a controversial decision you know
and it's been criticized by history
because a lot of the people were were
you know unarmed unarmed civilians but
it also has been like seen as necessary
as history to prevent future UPR
uprisings so it's kind of like in a
smaller scale like dropping the nuclear
bomb you know like do you do it to like
stop further war is that Justified I'm
trying to I'm trying to put this in
context that I would understand and and
because you brought up January 6th
already I'm like how would I feel if
like the National Guard or whoever just
like mowed people down as they like
entered the capital building then I was
like I really
feel I don't
know I know no I would feel terrible you
know like people are dumb but I you
can't do
that and but if if they did do that then
you definitely have like a whole new
feeling about the government where you'd
be like legitimately very very very very
scared yeah it's like it's like a
two-prong thing one is like the moral
implications are just doing that to
another human and then there's the like
democ de democracy ramifications like
what does that actually mean for the
country as a whole so yeah generally
probably not a good move no and but you
know it was for Justinian he got he was
still Emperor he was Emperor for another
33 years after this so he definitely Ely
like held on to his spot he wrote a
Justinian Code which is like something
that's a basis for law for a lot of
Europe still he rebuilt a Sophia did a
bunch of like stuff for like education
um with Theodora she died in 1548 he
lived longer he died in not 15 in 548
she died in 548 he died in 565 at the
age of 83 so he you know got to live a a
long life as Emperor he was succeeded by
his nephew Justin II and he had been
co-emperor for for a little bit and it
just kind of continues like you know
nephews and Sons and eventually you know
there's more more tragedy and you know a
thousand years later the Ottoman Empire
takes over all kinds of stuff happens in
this part of the world we'll probably
come back to it but that's the story of
Justinian and how he ordered 30,000
people at least to be murdered to
maintain power I don't know was that
good or bad I don't know was it what's
was Theodora the one who who kind of
convinced him to do it what was what
would their life have been like if they
weren't together was it always a powder
keg so I don't know let's think about
very bloody I'm gonna see what the
largest Rebellion death is in the world
okay 20 to 70 million whoa well that's
like over a long time not like a day uh
I don't know I don't know what this
Rebellion is typing what is that okay so
yeah that would have been over the
course of 16 years or 14 years that
would have been a long Rebellion okay
that sounds like a war that does not
sound like a one-day Rebellion
thing yeah um no this was like a it was
like five days so 5 days from the first
mini Rebellion five days later or 10
days so five days later is um the two
men survive the attempted hanging they
have another race um on the 15th that's
when the riots start and by like the
19th he has everybody killed so it
happens real fast wow it's a rough
January for the folks of Constantinople
yeah I'm kidding interesting I wonder if
those two guys made it out alive
completely it's a good question maybe
they had already left and been like like
get out of here while the iron is cool
yeah yeah I like it um can I make a
special request since you're the history
buff yeah okay I should probably know
more about my ancestry than I actually
do so can you do can you like do one on
Persia
like ancient pers lot stuff happened in
Persia yeah I've heard I think we've
been there a little bit well we were
kind of there well ancient Persia was
kind of like coming down during the um
into India for like the Taj Mahal there
was like Persian stuff in there but
let's definitely do more so I
see yeah it's so much of the same place
like yeah that part of the world
macadonia yeah that whole part of the
world just seems like there's like a
million ancient stories of things going
on so cool yeah I'll find some I mean
there's so much cool stuff that happened
down there so for sure do you have any
special requests from me
Taylor
um no I haven't thought about it but I I
will think about it this is a new
segment called special request Corner
special request Corner we also are
accepting special requests from you oh
I'm going to do the one my cousin sent
me one to look at and so yeah we any any
story of like you know something crazy
that happened let us know there could be
relationship involved there doesn't have
to be whatever changing premise We Will
We Will shift the premise in whichever
direction results in our imminent
Fame we're going to do this forever
until there are no more stories so
buckle up that is a scary we got to
screenshot you there terrifying buckle
up doing keep doing it there we go I got
it
perfect that's one um cool yeah find us
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has gone up the most which is really
really exciting nice so that's awesome
Please Subscribe tell your friends rate
review again you can turn the volume off
and just like let it run on the playlist
and just look the algorithm is don't no
the computers don't know put on your
phone yeah this is like probably the
last chance we're going to have to
outsmart the computers until chat gbt
takes over the world so I mean I say
we're going forever and that could be
like two more weeks so I know who knows
someone's going to invent a chat bot
that can create like just amazing
content I'm sure they can and also be as
Charming as us so it's over that I don't
think is possible but we'll see
hopefully that's the one thing we can
hang on to hopefully
English (auto-generated)
AllFor you