The Chronos Cataloga register of films on the ancient Mediterranean

The corrections ledger

Errors found in anything the channel has published, long films and Shorts alike, with the date each was found. Errors caught before publication are not listed here; catching them is what the checking is for.

An entry marked open means the video on YouTube still carries the error. Four of the open entries are Shorts whose correction has been written into The Verdict, a series now in production in which each film tries one famous claim against the ancient sources. When that episode goes out, or the title is changed, the entry here gets its date.

Entries, in the order found

  1. The title of Episode 1 on YouTube

    Was. The Origins Of Catastophe

    Is. The Origins Of Catastrophe

    C-01

    Found
    Corrected
    by

    The missing r was put back in the title on YouTube.

    Found on the channel’s weekly check of its own titles.

  2. Short: “The City Rome Erased in 17 Days (Carthage, 146 BC)”

    Was. Carthage was erased in 17 days.

    Is. The seventeen days of burning is not in Polybius or in Appian. It first appears in Florus, a late summary written for effect, and Orosius repeats it. The siege that ended the city took three years.

    C-02

    Found
    Status
    open

    The title still says “17 Days”.

    Found while researching a longer film that tests this claim against the ancient sources; it corrects the Short on air once it is published.

  3. Short: “The Fleet Rome Built in 4 Months (And Lost in a Day)”

    Was. Rome built the fleet in four months.

    Is. No ancient source gives four months. Polybius gives no time at all; the only ancient figure is Pliny’s tradition of a fleet afloat on the sixtieth day after the timber was felled (Natural History 16.192).

    C-03

    Found
    Status
    open

    The title still says “4 Months”.

    Found while researching a longer film on the same fleet. The correction is written into it, and it is not yet out.

  4. Short: “300 Spartans: The Final Stand at Thermopylae”

    Was. Three hundred Spartans made the final stand.

    Is. Herodotus says the Thespians and the Thebans stayed with the Spartans on the last day (7.222): seven hundred Thespians who refused to leave, under their commander Demophilos, and four hundred Thebans whom Leonidas kept as hostages.

    C-04

    Found
    Status
    open

    The title still says “300 Spartans: The Final Stand”.

    Found while reading Herodotus, in the Macaulay translation of 1890, for a longer film on the battle, which says this on air when it is published.

  5. Short: “The Empire the Greeks Called Tyranny Wrote the First Charter of Rights”

    Was. The Cyrus Cylinder is the first charter of rights.

    Is. The Cylinder records Cyrus taking Babylon in 539 BC, restoring its shrines and returning deported people, in the same terms earlier Mesopotamian kings used. It contains no idea of rights. The “first charter of rights” framing dates from 1971.

    C-05

    Found
    Status
    open

    The title still says “Wrote the First Charter of Rights”.

    Found while researching a longer film on the Cylinder. That film is not yet published; it will mark this Short as superseded.

  6. Short: “How they dug this 3,000 years ago” (the Tunnel of Eupalinos, Samos)

    Was. The tunnel was dug 3,000 years ago.

    Is. It was dug in the sixth century BC, about 2,550 years ago (Herodotus 3.60). The Short’s own description says “over 2,500 years ago”; the title is wrong.

    C-06

    Found
    Status
    open

    A corrected title is written but not yet applied.

    Found on a review of the channel’s Shorts.

  7. Short: “The Oldest Peace Treaty on Earth, Both Sides Swore They Won”

    Was. The oldest peace treaty, and both sides swore they won.

    Is. Older treaties exist, and no one swore to a victory in it; both kings claimed the battle of Kadesh in stone. What is unusual is that both copies survive, and each side’s copy holds the other king’s oath.

    C-07

    Found
    Status
    open

    The title still says “Oldest” and “Both Sides Swore They Won”.

    Found while researching a Chronos File film on the treaty, not yet published, which makes the correction in its narration.

  8. A plate in The Battle of Ecnomus, narrated for sleep

    Was. One side of the Roman wedge is labelled “triarii”.

    Is. In Polybius the two sides of the wedge are the first and second squadrons. The triarii are the fourth squadron, one long line behind the horse transports (1.26.12 to 1.26.15).

    C-08

    Found
    Status
    open

    The video still shows the label; the entry for the piece shows the order of battle as Polybius gives it.

    Found while the entry for the piece was checked against Polybius 1.26.

  9. The description of Episode 1 on YouTube

    Was. The Roman Senate argued for days, then voted to send an army across the sea.

    Is. Polybius says the Senate did not sanction the proposal, even at the end; the measure was passed by the people, who then gave the command to a consul (1.11.1 to 1.11.3).

    C-09

    Found
    Status
    open

    The description on YouTube still says so; the entry for the episode follows Polybius.

    Found while the entry for the episode was checked against Polybius 1.11.

Found an error that is not here? Write to dispatch@thechronoscatalog.com with the entry and the passage. How the checking works.

The Chronos Dispatch

One email when a new entry is filed, with the source notes that did not fit in it. Any error found in it later is recorded in the ledger above.

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