How the Romans conquered Britain

1. The Romans arrive

Around 2,000 years ago, Britain was ruled by tribes of people called
the Celts. But this was about to change. For around a century, the
Roman army had been building an Empire across Europe. Now it
was coming for Britain! In AD43, the full might of the Roman army
landed on the beaches in Kent. Over the next year it battled inland,
storming through hillforts and chopping down anyone who stood in their
way. The Romans wanted Britain's precious metals. They called the land
Britannia, which meant 'land of tin'. However, they weren't just a
destructive force - they built new forts, new settlements and roads. They
spread their culture, language and laws.
2. Why did the Romans invade Britain?

Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans first arrived in Britain. Although that was way
back in the past, many clues still survive which tell us what life was like during
Roman times.
From the remains of ancient forts to the jewellery, letters and household items still
being dug up by archaeologists today. We can find out brilliant details of what they
ate, what their homes looked like and even what they did for fun.
And thanks to a book written all those years ago by the famous Roman
commander, Julius Caesar, we also know one reason why the Romans wanted to
come to Britain in the first place - they wanted to make use of the amazing natural
resources to be found here.
Caesar wrote, "The Britons have a huge number of cattle, they use gold coins or
iron bars as their money, and produce tin and iron." That description helps to
explain why Caesar and his army decided to pile over here to Britain to try to
invade. Rome wanted to get its hand on all those British resources to make itself
even richer.
Back then, before the Romans invaded, we didn't have one king or queen ruling
over the nation. Britain was made up of different groups, or tribes, known as the
Celts or native Britons.
We get an idea of what the native Britons looked like thanks to a description of
them in here. But do remember, of course, they were Caesar's enemy, so his
opinion might be a little bit one-sided. "All Britons used woad to dye their bodies a
blue colour, which makes them terrifying when they are fighting in battle."
The Celts also put lime in their hair to make it stiff and thick, which made them look
even more ferocious. "They used their chariots in battle, steering them in all
directions while hurling their weapons, generally causing the enemy to separate
apart. Then one of the warriors leaps from the chariot and fights on foot."

It was all just too much for Caesar. He invaded the country
twice, but he never actually managed to take over. That would
have to wait until 100 years later when the Emperor Claudius
tried again and this time, he succeeded. And that is how we
became part of the Roman Empire.
 3. Who conquered Britain?
Julius Caesar - 55 and 54BC In 55BC,
a fleet of ships carrying 20,000 Roman soldiers arrived on the Kent coast. At
their head was Julius Caesar, - Rome's greatest general! Waiting for them
on the beach were thousands of Celtic warriors. The Romans struggled to
land and stormy seas wrecked their ships. Caesar had underestimated the
Britons (and their weather) and he was forced to return home. The next year,
he was back with 50,000 soldiers. This time the Romans were too strong.
They defeated many tribes and marched all the way to the River Thames.
After three months of fighting, the Romans left Britain to stop a rebellion in
Gaul.

Caligula - AD40 In
the spring of AD40, the Emperor Caligula made a bizarre attempt to invade
Britain.His army was all ready to cross the English Channel to Britain. Then
things got a bit strange. Roman historians say Caligula changed his mind about
invading and ordered his men to collect seashells instead. He took these back
to Rome and claimed he had conquered the ocean. It's a bit difficult to know
what actually happened, because a lot of Roman historians didn't like Caligula.
He was often represented as insane and cruel, so they might have exaggerated
things.

Claudius - AD43

Nearly a hundred years after Julius Caesar first tried to invade Britain, the
Emperor Claudius finally succeeded. This time the Romans were here to stay!
They brought with them new weapons, like huge catapults called ballistas. Claudius
himself even turned up with a troop of war elephants to make sure the battle was
won. But Britain wasn't conquered overnight. It took around 30 years of fighting for
the Romans to control most of southern Britain.

How did the Celts fight back?

4. Transcript (PDF 145 Kb)
5. When the Romans invaded, the Celtic tribes had to decide whether or not to
fight back. If they made peace, they agreed to obey Roman laws and pay
taxes. In return, they could keep their kingdoms. However, some Celtic
leaders chose to fight.
6. After years of heavy taxes and the Romans taking their land, some Celtic tribes
were desperate for revenge. In AD60, one leader who chose to fight was Queen
Boudicca of the Iceni tribe. She raised a huge army and went on a rampage,
burning the Roman towns of Colchester and London, before heading north to St
Albans.
 7. When the Roman army heard about this, they turned back from their campaign
in Wales to face Boudicca. Even though the Romans were outnumbered by
Boudicca's 200,000 warriors, they were better trained and had better armour.
Both sides clashed in a fierce battle, but the Romans won.
8. Was Boudicca's rebellion a success?
9. Find out what happened when Queen Boudicca faced the Roman
army.
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13. Transcript (PDF 196 Kb)

Where next?
Viewpoint: The time Britain slid into
chaos
25 May 2012

From the sectionMagazine

The social unrest, economic gloom and austerity in Europe today

mirrors one of the greatest crises in British history, says the historian
Michael Wood.

The news from Europe is getting worse by the day. Economic gloom across the
continent and multiple crises in the currency zone.

With rising unemployment and inflation there are riots in the streets with
forecasts of anarchy in some parts of western Europe.
And along with the simmering discontent there is a worrying rise of radical
groups and populist right wing movements. In the fringes, secessionists are
pushing for independence, indeed for the break up of the whole European order
under which we have all lived secure and comfortable for so long.

At home in Britain there are worrying signs in every town - cuts in public
services have led to closures of public baths and libraries, the failure of road
maintenance, breakdowns in the food supply and civic order.

Anti-austerity protests in Rome

While political commentators and church leaders talk about a "general decline
in morality" and "public apathy", the rich retreat to their mansions and country
estates and hoard their cash.

It all sounds eerily familiar doesn't it? But this is not Angela Merkel's eurozone -
it is Roman Britannia towards the year 400, the period of the fall of the Roman
Empire.

In some places the fall seems to have been especially hard.

In Long Melford in Suffolk for example, in a communal dig for our new BBC Two
series, the incredible richness of Roman finds in almost every test pit becomes a
total blank from the 5th Century.

If people were still there they weren't using coins, or wheel-made pottery, and
they certainly weren't shopping for luxuries. As Dr Carenza Lewis of Cambridge
University puts it: "It's almost wiped out - as far as the pottery goes you could
hold post-Roman Long Melford in your hand - with a bag of chips!"
Find out more
Michael Wood's The Great British Story: A People's
History begins on Friday 25 May on BBC Two at 21:00 BST
Read Michael Wood's blog
Or catch up later via iPlayer

By the early 5th Century in Britain, currency stopped being used altogether.

"It became a century of make do and mend," says archaeologist Peter Liddle on
Burrough Hill in Leicestershire.
Some towns survived - Carlisle for example still had a town council and a
working aqueduct in the 7th Century - but in most of them, with the rubbish
piled up in the streets and the civic buildings left to decay, eventually the
people left.

The British went back to an Iron Age rural farming economy. The population
declined from its four million peak to maybe only a million, devastated by the
great plagues, famines and climate crises of the 500s.

In the countryside life went on, but with barter and self-sufficiency, out of which,
building from the bottom, our medieval and modern societies eventually
emerged.

So is there anything to be learned now from Britain's experience then?

Things to do
Find activities related to the Great British Story

Of course it was a long time ago, and conditions were very different. Modern
mass democracies are much more complex than the Roman world.

But history tells us that complex societies do collapse. And the great constant,
along with climate and economic forces, is human nature. Societies, then and
now, are made by people, and they are often brought down by people.

Rome in the 4th Century had been a great power defended by a huge army. A
century later the power and the army had gone.

Instead the West was ruled by new barbarian elites, Angles and Saxons,
Visigoths and Franks. And nowhere were these changes more dramatic than on
the very fringe of the Roman world in Britain.

Edward Gibbon, in his great book Decline and Fall, famously blamed the
collapse not only on the barbarians, but on Christianity. He thought it had
undermined society with its focus on another, better world.

Modern historians, though, see it differently, and some of their ideas seem
startlingly relevant to us now.
The fall of Rome serves to remind us that complex societies can,
and do, break down

First was the widening gulf between the social classes, rich and poor. When rich
and poor start to live completely different lives this leads (then as now) to the
poor opting out of the state. All studies today show that society is happier when
the gap between rich and poor is reduced.

Widen it and you affect the group ethos of society, and also the ability to get
things done through tax.

In the Roman West real wealth lay more in land and property than in finance
(though there were banks) - but in the 300s the big land-owning aristocrats who
often had fantastic wealth, contributed much less money than they had in the
past to defence and government.
That in turn led as it has today to a "credibility gap" between ordinary people
and the bureaucrats and rich people at the top.
Roman Britain
The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD

The invasion affected Britain's language, culture, geography and

architecture
Read more: An Overview of Roman Britain

Not surprisingly then, many people - especially religious groups - tried to opt out
altogether.

Other strands in the collapse of the Roman West are more difficult to quantify,
but they centre on "group feeling", the glue that keeps society working together
towards common goals. Lose that and you get a kind of nervous breakdown in
the social order, which leads to what archaeologists call "systems collapse".

The British historian Gildas (c 500-570) in his diatribe against contemporary

rulers in the early 500s, looking back over the story of the Fall of Roman Britain,
lists the military failures, but behind them he speaks bitterly of a loss of nerve
and direction, a failure of "group feeling".

Gildas talks about right-wing politicians advocating glibly attractive solutions

that appealed to the populace while "any leader who seemed more soft, or who
was more inclined to actually tell things as they are, was painted as ruinous to
the country and everyone directed their contempt towards him".

Gildas also singles out his leaders' sheer ineptitude and bad judgement,
recalling some governments and financiers in today's banking crisis.
Monty Python's view

And what have the Romans ever given us in return?

The aqueduct?

Oh. Yeah, they did give us that. That's true, yeah.

And the sanitation.

Yeah, the sanitation. Remember what the city used to be like?

I'll grant you the aqueduct and sanitation, the two things the
Romans have done.

And the roads.

Obviously the roads. The roads go without saying, don't they? But
apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct and the roads...
 Irrigation. Medicine. Education.

Yeah, yeah, all right, fair enough.

From The Life of Brian

"Everything our leaders did to try to save the situation ended up having the
opposite effect. Society became prey to corrosive quarrels and dissensions,
anger towards the rich, and political opportunism was rife that made no
distinction between right and wrong."

Another element Gildas saw as being crucial was the major influx of newcomers
from the continent - Angles, Saxons and Jutes who had already been employed
in the country as security guards, mercenaries, field workers and street
cleaners.

These people now took advantage of the lack of central order to create small
regional sub-Roman kingdoms in eastern Britain. Only ever a minority,
nonetheless they would have a tremendous effect on our culture as they were
the ancestors of the English and most of us in Britain speak their language
today.

A very interesting development at the end of Rome was the gradual emergence
of the distinctive regional identities, which still underlie our modern British
society.

This kind of thing often happens in history in times of crisis, as in the Balkans in
the 1990s. Wales in particular is a very interesting case where Roman culture
continued long after the conventional end of Rome.

The south Welsh heartland of Glamorgan and Gwent had been heavily
Romanised and there in the 500s sub-Roman Christian Welsh kingdoms
emerged which still used Latin and which like many areas in western Britain
continued to see themselves as Roman long after the end of empire.

Llantwit Major in the Vale of

Glamorgan was occupied during Roman times for about 350 years

Go into the fabulous church of Llantwit Major and in its carved stones with their
Latin script you can see that Romanitas, "Roman-ness", was cultivated by their
rulers and churchmen long into the Dark Ages.

Their kingdoms were the direct successors of the south Welsh provinces of the
Roman empire.

So, the Roman Empire didn't fall everywhere or all at one time. Indeed you
could argue that the last part of the Roman Empire to fall anywhere was
Gwynedd in the English conquest of 1282.
 Standing in Llantwit, the Dark Age stones testify to the long, slow, almost
imperceptible process of change in history, by which one world becomes
another.

Rome wasn't built in a day and it didn't fall in a day either. Its shadow still falls
on us, a memory imprinted almost like genetic information, a memory to which
we all belong.

And is its fall also a distant mirror of our present crises?

Well, the fall of Rome serves to remind us that complex societies can, and do,
break down. There is rarely one reason. Rather, there are multiple causes that
come together in a perfect storm, as they did around 400AD.

But in time society recovers, for societies after all are made by people, and one
guesses that the ones that recover quickest are the ones which are most
adaptive, and perhaps too the ones with the strongest sense of identity and
history - the strongest sense of "group feeling".
What happened to Roman Britain?
From the 2nd century A.D. Roman Britain found itself under attack from people who
lived outside the Roman borders. The Romans thought these people were not
civilised and called them barbarians . The Roman army and navy defended Britain.
By the 5th century A.D. barbariantribes were attacking other parts of the Roman
Emperor Honorius decided that the Roman legions in Britain were needed
elsewhere. He sent a letter to the people of Britain telling them the soldiers had to
leave. They must fight the Anglo-Saxons and invaders on their own. In AD 410 the
last Romans left.
What was Britain like before the Romans?
Before the Romans invaded, Celts lived in Britain. There were lots of
differenttribes ruled by kings or chiefs. Chiefs often fought one another. A chief
would lead his warriors into battle inchariots pulled by horses. For defence against
enemies, they built forts on hilltops. These hill-forts had earth banks and wooden
walls.
In Celtic Britain there were no towns. Most people were farmers living in villages.
They made round houses from wood and mud, with Thatched roofs. There were no
roads. People travelled by boats on rivers, or along muddy paths. Some British
Celts crossed the sea to trade with other Celts in the Roman Empire.

An Overview of Roman Britain

By Dr Mike Ibeji
Last updated 2011-02-17
 Did ordinary people suffer under a tyranny, when Rome seized power in Britain, or were there advantages
to foreign rule? Dr Mike Ibeji explores the realities of British life at the time of the Romans.

On this page

Striving to be Roman

Roman invasion

Romans in Britain

Boudiccan rebellion

Religion of the Romano-Britons

Importance of Britain

Find out more

Print this page

Striving to be Roman

The Roman invasion of Britain was arguably the most significant event ever to happen to the British Isles.
It affected our language, our culture, our geography, our architecture and even the way we think. Our
island has a Roman name, its capital is a Roman city and for centuries (even after the Norman Conquest)
the language of our religion and administration was a Roman one.

In the wake of the Roman occupation, every "Briton" was aware of their "Britishness".

For 400 years, Rome brought a unity and order to Britain that it had never had before. Prior to the
Romans, Britain was a disparate set of peoples with no sense of national identity beyond that of their
local tribe. In the wake of the Roman occupation, every 'Briton' was aware of their 'Britishness'. This
defined them as something different from those people who came after them, colouring their national
mythology, so that the Welsh could see themselves as the true heirs of Britain, whilst the Scots and Irish
were proud of the fact that they had never been conquered by Rome.

Yet perhaps Rome's most important legacy was not its roads, nor its agriculture, nor its cities, nor even its
language, but the bald and simple fact that every generation of British inhabitant that followed them - be
they Saxon, Norman, Renaissance English or Victorian - were striving to be Roman. Each was trying to
regain the glory of that long-lost age when Britannia was part of a grand civilisation, which shaped the
whole of Europe and was one unified island.

The truth about Roman Britain is much more subtle and surprising...

I am usually asked five questions whenever people talk to me about Roman Britain, and they find the
answers profoundly surprising. People's view of Rome is of a grand, monolithic dictatorship which
imposed its might upon an unwilling people, dictating how they lived, how they spoke and how they
worshipped. They see the Romans as something akin to the Nazis (which is hardly surprising since the
fascists tried to model themselves on Rome). The truth about Roman Britain is much more subtle and
surprising, and serves to show why on the one hand their legacy has endured so long, and on the other,
why their culture vanished so quickly once they departed from these shores.

Top

Roman invasion

Roman soldiers Rome invaded Britain because it suited the careers of two men.
The first of these was Julius Caesar. This great republican general had conquered Gaul and was looking
for an excuse to avoid returning to Rome. Britain afforded him one, in 55 BC, when Commius, king of
the Atrebates, was ousted by Cunobelin, king of the Catuvellauni, and fled to Gaul. Caesar seized the
opportunity to mount an expedition on behalf of Commius. He wanted to gain the glory of a victory
beyond the Great Ocean, and believed that Britain was full of silver and booty to be plundered.
His first expedition, however, was ill-conceived and too hastily organised. With just two legions, he failed
to do much more than force his way ashore at Deal and win a token victory that impressed the senate in
Rome more than it did the tribesmen of Britain. In 54 BC, he tried again, this time with five legions, and
succeeded in re-establishing Commius on the Atrebatic throne. Yet he returned to Gaul disgruntled and
empty-handed, complaining in a letter to Cicero that there was no silver or booty to be found in Britain
after all.

He needed the prestige of military conquest to consolidate his hold on power.

Caesar's military adventurism set the scene for the second exploitation of Britain - by the Emperor
Claudius. He was to use an identical excuse to Caesar for very similar reasons. Claudius had recently
been made emperor in a palace coup. He needed the prestige of military conquest to consolidate his hold
on power. Into this situation came Verica, successor to Commius, complaining that the new chief of the
Catuvellauni, Caratacus, had deprived him of his throne.

Like Caesar, Claudius seized his chance. In AD 43, he sent four legions across the sea to invade Britain.
They landed at Richborough and pushed towards the River Medway, where they met with stiff resistance.
However, the young general Vespasian forced the river with his legion supported by a band of 'Celtic'
auxiliaries, and the British were routed.
Vespasian marched west, to storm Maiden Castle and Hod Hill with such ruthless efficiency that the
catapult bolts used to subdue them can still be dug out of the ground today. Hod Hill contains a tiny
Roman fort from this time, tucked into one corner of its massive earthworks. Meanwhile, Claudius
arrived in Britain to enter the Catuvellaunian capital of Colchester in triumph. He founded a temple there,
containing a fine bronze statue of himself, and established a legionary fortress. He remained in Britain for
only 16 days.

...Rome was prepared to defend her new acquisition to the death.

It took another 30 years to conquer the rest of the island (bar the Highlands). Once in, Rome was prepared
to defend her new acquisition to the death. Yet Britain was originally invaded not for its wealth, not for
strategic reasons, not even for ideology, but for the plain and simple reason that it furthered a politician's
career. It has been said that Rome conquered an empire in a fit of absent-mindedness. Britain is a case in
point.

Top

Romans in Britain

The Roman fort and settlement of Vindolanda The Roman empire was based on two
things: lip service to the emperor, and payment to the army. As long as you acknowledged the imperial
cult and paid your taxes, Rome did not really care how you lived your life.
In one respect, there were very few 'Romans' in Britain. There were Batavians, Thracians, Mauretanians,
Sarmatians: all brought in through service in the army, and all eventually granted citizenship and a packet
of land after their 25 years' service. They settled all over Britain, becoming naturalised British citizens of
the Roman Empire, erecting a wealth of inscriptions which attest to their assimilation and prosperity.
Most of them settled in or near the fort where they had served, staying close to their friends. Gradually,
these urban settlements outside the fort grew into townships, which were eventually granted municipal
status. In certain cases, such as Colchester ('the Colonia by the camp'), the city was an official colony of
veteran soldiers imposed upon the local population; but usually the evolution was more generic. Chester
(or 'the camp') is an example of this. Standing on the city walls, you can still look down upon the remains
of the amphitheatre that stood outside the military camp. In this way, the army acted as the natural force
of assimilation.

The evidence for what life was like in these places has largely been eradicated by the cities' urban sprawl,
but in more remote areas, like at Vindolanda up on Hadrian's Wall, you can still see just what the original
Roman settlement looked like. Vindolanda housed several units in its history, among them the Ninth
Batavians - from whom a large pile of correspondence was found written on thin wooden writing tablets,
deposited in one of their rubbish tips. There were over 200 of these writing tablets dating to AD 95-115.
Mainly official documents and letters written in ink, they are the oldest historical documents known from
Britain.
...empty days, relative discomfort, boredom and loneliness.

Among them is a set of letters between Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of the camp commander, and her friend
Claudia Severa, wife of the commander at Housesteads, around ten miles up the road. They paint a
picture of life on the frontier very much like that of a British officer's wife on the north-west frontier: full
of empty days, relative discomfort, boredom and loneliness. Life for the ordinary people of the vicus or
village seemed a little more interesting than that of the upper classes, but it remained harsh and
unforgiving. One soldier complains of being beaten with rods; another refers disparagingly to the local
British population as 'Brittunculi' (little Britons).

In the third century AD, marriage for soldiers was permitted, and the vicus, where their concubines had
always lived, was rebuilt in stone. They constructed a beautiful little bath-house where the soldiers could
relax, and a guest-house called amansio, with six guest-rooms and its own private bath suite - for
travellers on official business - along the wall. The vicus at Housesteads was rebuilt at the same time
(incidentally, an excavation of one of its houses uncovered a murdered couple hidden under the
floorboards). By this time, all adults in the empire had been granted blanket citizenship and the 'Romans'
in Britain had become fully assimilated with their British neighbours.

Top

Boudiccan rebellion

A mosaic at the Roman villa of Fishbourne, first occupied in AD 43 The best way to
understand how Rome controlled her provinces is to look at why that control broke down in AD 60. The
Boudiccan revolt was caused not because the Iceni were opposed to Roman rule, but because they had
embraced it too whole-heartedly.
Rome controlled its provinces by bribing the local elite.

Rome controlled its provinces by bribing the local elite. They were given power, wealth, office and status
on condition that they kept the peace and adopted Roman ways. If you took a Roman name, spoke Latin
and lived in a villa, you were assured of receiving priesthoods and positions of local power. The quid pro
quo was that you were expected to spend your money and influence in providing Roman amenities for
your people, newly civilised in the literal sense that Roman towns and cities were founded for them to
live in. In Britain, physical evidence of this process can be seen in inscriptions at the colonia of
Colchester and in the palace of the client king Cogidubnus at Fishbourne, with its spectacular mosaics.

However, new provinces brought with them new markets and unscrupulous speculators eager to fleece the
unwary. It was like the introduction of the free market to the post-communist world, and the worst sharks
were in the Imperial Household itself. Vast loans were granted at ruinous rates of interest to the British
aristocracy, by the likes of Seneca, the emperor Nero's tutor and adviser. At the same time, those who had
been made priests of the Imperial Cult at Colchester found it an expensive task.

...Boudicca was flogged and her daughters were raped.

It was at this point that Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, died. In his will, he left half of his kingdom to the
emperor Nero, hoping in this way to secure the other half for his wife, Boudicca. However, the imperial
procurator, Decianus Catus, was aware that Nero viewed a half-share of an estate as a personal snub, and
moved to sequester the lot. At the same time, he sent in the bailiffs to act on the loans outstanding and
allowed the local centurions to requisition provisions for the army. When the royal family resisted these
moves, Boudicca was flogged and her daughters were raped.

...the Ninth Legion was massacred when it tried to stop the rebels...

There could be only one consequence. The humiliated Iceni rose up in revolt, joined by other East
Anglian tribes who had similar grievances. They could not have picked a better time. The governor,
Suetonius Paullinus, was in Anglesey, subduing the druids, with most of the army of the province. What
remained of the Ninth Legion was massacred when it tried to stop the rebels, and Colchester, London and
Verulamium were razed to the ground. The black earth of the destruction layer and mutilated tombstones
attest to the ferocity of the British assault. With just 200 men to defend him, Decianus Catus fled to Gaul
at their approach.

Paullinus rushed back from Anglesey to deal with the revolt. The site of the final
battle is still disputed, but the form it took is well described (Tacitus provides a graphic depiction of the
whole revolt). Boudicca was defeated and committed suicide shortly afterwards. The punitive expedition
into Iceni territory was halted when it was feared that further reprisals would harm future imperial
revenues. Meanwhile Catus was replaced by Classicianus, a Romanised Gaul from Trier, who took a
softer approach. His tombstone can be found in London, which became the new provincial capital at this
time.
Top

Religion of the Romano-Britons

Both Rome and Britain had polytheistic religions, in which a multiplicity of gods could be propitiated at
many levels. At one end of the spectrum were the official cults of the emperor and the Capitoline Triad:
Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, linked to other Olympian gods like Mars. At the other end, every spring, every
river, every cross-roads, lake or wood had its own local spirit with its own local shrine. The Romans had
no problem in combining these with their own gods, simply associating them with the god(s) or
goddess(es) who most resembled them.
 Coins found at the Roman baths at Bath At Bath, the famous temple bath complex was
founded on the site of a local shrine to the water goddess Sul of the hot springs. She was linked to
Minerva, for her healing qualities, but images of other gods and goddesses were also set up in the temple,
most especially Diana the Huntress, to whom an altar was dedicated.
Over 6,000 coins were cast as offerings into the waters of Bath, along with vast quantities of lead or
bronze curse tablets, asking Sulis-Minerva to intercede on behalf of the worshipper. These were also
nailed up on poles within the temple precinct and provide an interesting glimpse into the everyday (and
not so everyday) lives of the people who visited the shrine. This did not just happen in Bath: two hundred
curse tablets were recovered from the temple to Mercury at Uley - approximately one third of all such
tablets known in the empire - and others were found elsewhere:

'May he who has stolen VILBIA from me become as liquid as water... who has stolen it or her. Velvinna,
Exsupereus, Verianus, Severinus, A(u)gustalis, Comitianus, Minianus, Catus, Germanilla, Jovina.' (Bath)
'To Minerva the goddess of Sulis I have given the thief who has stolen my hooded cloak, whether slave or
free, whether man or woman. He is not to buy back this gift unless with his own blood.' (Bath)
'Uricalus, Docilosa his wife, Docilis his son and Docilina, Decentinus his brother, Alogiosa: the names of
those who have sworn at the spring of the goddess Sulis on the 12th of April. Whosoever has perjured
himself there you are to make him to pay for it to the goddess Sulis in his own blood' (Bath)
'I curse him who has stolen, who has robbed Deomiorix from his house. Whoever stole his property, the
god is to find him. Let him buy it back with his blood or his own life.' (Bath)
At the windswept hill-fort site of Lydney, where a temple was erected to the god Mars-Nodens in the
fourth century, another curse tablet was found, which reads:

To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and promises half its value to Nodens. Among those named
Senecianus, let none enjoy health until he brings it back to the temple of Nodens. - curse renewed.
It seems likely that both Silvianus and Senecianus had gone to Lydney for its healing properties. Both no
doubt stayed in the adjacent mansio (much like the well-preserved guesthouse at Vindolanda), from which
no doubt the latter walked off with Silvianus's ring. A further wrinkle is added by the find of a beautiful
hexagonal ring bearing an image of Venus in the nearby Christian church at Silchester, on which was
inscribed: 'Senecianus, may you live in God.' Is it too much to surmise that seeking protection against the
curse upon him, Senecianus turned to the new religious power which the Emperor had recently adopted as
the new state religion? Since the curse was renewed, the ring obviously stayed lost.

Top

Importance of Britain
 The Colosseum at Rome People are always tempted to view Britain under the Romans as
a backwater province of Rome - of little importance to the empire and offering even less profit. Yet
throughout its history, Roman Britain acted as a proving ground for aspiring politicians and a powerbase
for usurping emperors. Set aside arguments over whether Britain was 'profitable' or not (it certainly was
when Julian used it to supply Germany in the 360s!), for such calculations never mattered to the empire.
Britain was a frontier province, which contained three legions for most of its chequered history. As such,
it was important.
Britain was invaded because it could further a Roman's career. It was conquered for similar reasons. The
Boudiccan Revolt was only possible because the governor, Paullinus, was pursuing military glory against
the druids. His distinguished subordinate and eventual successor Agricola founded a very respectable
career, including a consulship in Rome, on subduing the rest of Britain.

According to Tacitus, he was only prevented from conquering Scotland by the envy of the emperor
Domitian and the half-finished legionary fortress at Inchtuthil tends to corroborate reports of a hurried
withdrawal on imperial orders (though Domitian did have a German war on his hands for which he
needed troops). Domitian's father, Vespasian, had begun an illustrious senatorial career with command of
the legion that won the Battle of Medway and took Maiden Castle. He had ended it as emperor.

Scotland remained a holy grail for the Romans...

Scotland remained a holy grail for the Romans, and once the emperor Hadrian had marked out the
boundaries with a prestige project of his own, it became a legitimate target for conquest. Hadrian's
immediate successor Antoninus Pius had a go, as did Septimius Severus and the father of the emperor
Constantine, Constantius Chlorus.

...Britain was an excellent base from which to mount a rebellion.

Constantine proved what many Roman generals before him had realised - that Britain was an excellent
base from which to mount a rebellion. When his father died at York in AD 301, the troops immediately
acclaimed him as emperor, and he used the British army as the core of the force with which he finally
conquered the empire. At the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, he scrawled the Chi-Rho symbol of Christianity
onto his soldiers' shields, and won a miraculous victory. In gratitude, he made Christianity the official
religion of the Roman Empire, and at the Council of Nicea established the Nicene Creed of the Catholic
Church. In one respect, you could say that Britain was the birthplace of Roman Catholicism.

Its loss was the first ominous death knell of Rome.

In AD 410, the civitates of Britain sent a letter to the emperor Honorius, asking him to come to their aid
against the Saxon invaders. He wrote back telling them to 'look to their own defences', and Roman
influence in Britain was officially ended. The very fact that the citizens of Britain appealed to the Roman
emperor for help says much about their self-perception as citizens of the empire, and the fact that the
emperor could not oblige says much about the pressure he was under. Britain had already 'looked to her
own defences' in AD 259 under the Gallic Empire and AD 284 under Carausius, and both times she had
been brought back into the fold. Britain had been conquered to satisfy the need of an individual Roman
emperor. Once taken, the imperial image required that it should be held onto tenaciously. Its loss was the
first ominous death knell of Rome.

Top

Find out more

Books

Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier by Alan K Bowman (British Museum Press,
1998)

Roman Britain by Peter Salway (Oxford Paperbacks, 2000)

Places to visit

Museum of London Roman Londinium exhibition Museum of London, London

Wall, London EC2Y 5HN. Tel: 020 7600 3699

Roman Vindolanda Chesterholm Museum, Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland,

NE47 7JN. Tel: 01434 344277

Housesteads Roman Fort Haydon Bridge, Hexham, Northumberland, NE4 76NN.

Tel: 01434 344 363

Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens Salthill Road, Fishbourne, Chichester,

Sussex, PO19 3QR. Tel: 01243 785859

The Roman Baths Stall Street, Bath, BA1 1LZ. Tel: 01225 477785

The Roman Way to Building a Career

By Dr Mike Ibeji
Last updated 2011-02-17

How important was Britain to the careers of the Romans who were posted here -
was it like being sent to Siberia or being sent to Paris? Britain was used as a base
 for usurpers throughout its history with the Roman Empire: why and when did they
arrive, and how successful were they?

On this page

Roman politics

Caesar

Augustus

Caligula and Claudius

Vespasian

Paulinus

Find out more

Print this page

Roman politics

We tend to think of Britain at the time of the Romans as a remote outpost on the
edges of the Roman empire - a troublesome but unimportant backwater province,
rather like the Hindu Kush in the British Raj. A posting here would surely mean
uncomfortable conditions and dangerous assignments, in a downward-spiralling
career. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Right from its first involvement
in Roman politics, Britain was a dynamic, militarised territory which attracted some
of Rome's best and most ambitious men, who were on their way to the pinnacle of
achievement.

Military glory provided the greatest boost to any Roman's prestige...

To understand this, you must understand the way that Roman politics worked.
Rome's political system was based upon competition within the ruling elite.
Senators competed fiercely for public office, the most coveted of which was the
post of Consul. Two were elected each year to head the government of the state.
Even in the imperial period this was maintained, though in fact true power lay with
the emperor and his extended household.
 During the Republic, the post of Consul was a quasi-military one: the
Consuls were the commanders-in-chief of the Roman army, so military experience
was of paramount importance to a Roman's political career. Military glory provided
the greatest boost to any Roman's prestige and once again this carried over into
the Empire. Military triumphs boosted your career, military service made you
eligible for a wide range of profitable postings and for non-citizens, 25 years in the
army was a guaranteed way of gaining citizenship for you and your family.
It is unsurprising then that Britain, a large island that was never fully conquered,
should be seen as a land of opportunity to Romans with ambition. In fact during the
imperial period, Britain was the only province in the entire empire that had a
permanent garrison of more than two legions. Throughout most of its history,
Britain contained three legions: IX Hispana followed by VI Victrix in York, II Augusta
in Caerleon and II Adiutrix followed by XX Valeria Victrix in Chester.

Top

Caesar

Bust of Julius Caesar

The first Roman to seize the opportunities for glory provided by Britain was Julius
Caesar. Having essentially conquered Gaul by 56 BC, he found himself in a position
where he was compelled to return to Rome and disband his army, unless he could
find an excuse to stay in the field. He found that excuse in Britain. By claiming that
the British tribes had helped the Gauls he had just cause to invade. In fact, as his
own writings and the letters he sent to Cicero indicate, he was much more
interested in the glory he would gain for crossing the Great Ocean and in the wealth
of silver rumoured to be on the island, than in any so-called security risk.

His first invasion in 55 BC seriously underestimated the British and was a near
disaster. His second expedition in 54 BC was more successful but by then he had
received the accolades he desired and was complaining to Cicero that the rumours
of silver were greatly exaggerated. He pulled out of the island, exacting tribute and
hostages and concentrated on pacifying the troublesome tribes of Gaul before
crossing the Rubicon with his army and returning to Rome as its most powerful son.
His power and prestige were so great, in fact, that his enemies were forced to
assassinate him, sparking the civil war that destroyed the Republic.

Top

Augustus

One might legitimately ask why, if Britain was such a land of opportunity, Caesar's
ultimate successor Augustus had no interest in it. Strabo makes it perfectly clear
that despite the perceived wealth of the country, Augustus did not think that it was
worth conquering. These comments have often been used to argue that Britain was
not economically viable to the Empire. Yet to argue this is to misunderstand the
way the Roman system worked. Cost did not come into it, except as a reason to
justify inaction.

Augustus did not think that it was worth conquering...

There was nothing to be gained for Augustus in invading Britain. Caesar had
already won the prestige for crossing the Great Ocean and claiming to have settled
the country. There was more kudos then in conquering Germany north of the Elbe
or beating up on Rome's favourite enemy, the Parthians (the precise geographical
equivalent of modern-day Saddam bashing) than in belittling his adoptive father's
claims. It was not until the German frontier was closed by the disaster of AD 9 in
which Varus lost three legions at Teutoberger Wald and Parthia became too strong
to seriously contemplate war that any Roman emperor could seriously contemplate
a return to Britain.

Top

Caligula and Claudius

Bronze head of the Emperor Claudius

In AD 39, Caligula amassed a large army on the Rhine in preparation for an
invasion of Britain. However, at the last minute, he changed his mind and ordered
the troops to gather cockle shells from the beach instead, claiming in his Quixotic
way to have won a great triumph over Neptune. The story is probably apocryphal
but I like to think that the cabal of officers who assassinated him two years later
still bore a grudge from this embarrassment on the Rhine.

In his place they elevated his uncle, Claudius, who by virtue of his stutter had been
passed over as a fool. Claudius was no such thing and he understood that in order
to survive he needed a triumph.

Claudius was no fool and he understood that in order to survive he needed

a triumph.

In the monolithic nature of Roman military bureaucracy, the army assembled for
Caligula's abortive invasion was still largely intact and kicking its heels on the
Rhine, so it made perfect sense to use it for its original purpose.

Top

Vespasian

The Claudian invasion of AD 43 was the making of several Roman careers, not least
that of a young legionary commander called Vespasian. At the decisive Battle of
Medway it was he who crossed the river at the head of both his legion and a band
of 'Celtic' auxiliaries, and routed the Britons. Whilst Claudius arrived to gather his
laurels on the back of an elephant in Colchester, Vespasian marched west to storm
Maiden Castle and Hod Hill with such ruthless efficiency that the catapult bolts used
to subdue them can still be dug out of the ground to this day.

The reputation he established on this campaign overrode his disgrace at having

fallen asleep during one of the new Emperor Nero's recitals later in his career and it
bought him the command of three legions in the Jewish war of AD 66.

Otho was killed by Vitellius who was in turn killed by Vespasian, who
became emperor.

This placed him in a perfect position to challenge for the imperial purple during the
civil war of AD 69, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. His two main rivals
were Otho (supported by the ex-governor of Britain, Suetonius Paulinus) and
Vitellius (supported by the British legions). Otho was killed by Vitellius who was in
turn killed by Vespasian, who became emperor.

Top

Paulinus

The governorship of Suetonius Paulinus, the ex-governor of Britain whose support

tipped the balance in favour of Otho at the start of the war, illustrates what those
who received a posting in post-invasion Britain hoped to gain out of it. Tacitus says
that when Paulinus arrived in Britain 'He was ambitious to achieve victories as
glorious as his rival Corbulo's reconquest of Armenia.' Consequently, he planned to
attack the isle of Anglesey, which was controlled by druids and provided a refuge to
those disaffected Britons ousted by the inexorable Roman conquest.

Britain was at this time very much a wild frontier ...

Britain was at this time very much a wild frontier, with all the opportunities for glory
that this entailed; so wild, in fact, that while the governor was away in Wales the
province erupted into the Boudiccan Revolt. This had been prompted by the over-
zealous exploitation of the natives by those in power. Centurions assigned to supply
saw a chance for profiteering and veteran colonists established at Colchester were
only too willing to steal land from the natives in an attempt to make a killing on the
new frontier. Instead, it was they who were massacred in their thousands.

Paulinus quelled the revolt with ruthless efficiency but his methods were frowned
upon by the new procurator (finance official), Classicianus. Classicianus' influence
was such that he could have Paulinus removed from office. Yet Paulinus' prestige
had been so enhanced by his sojourn in Britain that even though he had a high
profile on the wrong side in the ensuing civil war, he was untouched by the purges
that followed. Classicianus meanwhile became so rich as procurator that he could
afford a tomb as big as a small house, which can now be found in the British
Museum.

Top

Find out more

Books

The Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius, translated by HM Bird, introduction by

Tamsyn Barton (Wordsworth Editions, 1997). Suetonius was a biographer and court
official, born in AD 69; this work tells of the Roman emperors - their habits, loves
and intrigues - from Julius Caesar to Domitian.

Links

BBC Schools: The Romans. The site has a long list of Roman emperors,
presented in chronological order.

Places to visit

Colchester Castle Museum Castle Park, High Street, Colchester, CO1 1TJ. Tel:
01206 282931 and 282932
 Once the capital of Roman Britain, Colchester experienced devastation during the
Boudiccan rebellion. Beneath the castle are the remains of the Temple of Claudius,
which can still be seen.

Viewpoint: The time Britain

slid into chaos
25 May 2012

From the sectionMagazine

The social unrest, economic gloom and austerity in Europe today

mirrors one of the greatest crises in British history, says the historian
Michael Wood.

The news from Europe is getting worse by the day. Economic gloom across the
continent and multiple crises in the currency zone.

With rising unemployment and inflation there are riots in the streets with
forecasts of anarchy in some parts of western Europe.

And along with the simmering discontent there is a worrying rise of radical
groups and populist right wing movements. In the fringes, secessionists are
pushing for independence, indeed for the break up of the whole European order
under which we have all lived secure and comfortable for so long.

At home in Britain there are worrying signs in every town - cuts in public
services have led to closures of public baths and libraries, the failure of road
maintenance, breakdowns in the food supply and civic order.
 Anti-austerity protests in Rome

While political commentators and church leaders talk about a "general decline
in morality" and "public apathy", the rich retreat to their mansions and country
estates and hoard their cash.

It all sounds eerily familiar doesn't it? But this is not Angela Merkel's eurozone -
it is Roman Britannia towards the year 400, the period of the fall of the Roman
Empire.

In some places the fall seems to have been especially hard.

In Long Melford in Suffolk for example, in a communal dig for our new BBC Two
series, the incredible richness of Roman finds in almost every test pit becomes a
total blank from the 5th Century.

If people were still there they weren't using coins, or wheel-made pottery, and
they certainly weren't shopping for luxuries. As Dr Carenza Lewis of Cambridge
University puts it: "It's almost wiped out - as far as the pottery goes you could
hold post-Roman Long Melford in your hand - with a bag of chips!"
Find out more
Michael Wood's The Great British Story: A People's
History begins on Friday 25 May on BBC Two at 21:00 BST
Read Michael Wood's blog
Or catch up later via iPlayer

By the early 5th Century in Britain, currency stopped being used altogether.

"It became a century of make do and mend," says archaeologist Peter Liddle on
Burrough Hill in Leicestershire.

Some towns survived - Carlisle for example still had a town council and a
working aqueduct in the 7th Century - but in most of them, with the rubbish
piled up in the streets and the civic buildings left to decay, eventually the
people left.

The British went back to an Iron Age rural farming economy. The population
declined from its four million peak to maybe only a million, devastated by the
great plagues, famines and climate crises of the 500s.
In the countryside life went on, but with barter and self-sufficiency, out of which,
building from the bottom, our medieval and modern societies eventually
emerged.

So is there anything to be learned now from Britain's experience then?

Things to do
Find activities related to the Great British Story

Of course it was a long time ago, and conditions were very different. Modern
mass democracies are much more complex than the Roman world.

But history tells us that complex societies do collapse. And the great constant,
along with climate and economic forces, is human nature. Societies, then and
now, are made by people, and they are often brought down by people.

Rome in the 4th Century had been a great power defended by a huge army. A
century later the power and the army had gone.

Instead the West was ruled by new barbarian elites, Angles and Saxons,
Visigoths and Franks. And nowhere were these changes more dramatic than on
the very fringe of the Roman world in Britain.

Edward Gibbon, in his great book Decline and Fall, famously blamed the
collapse not only on the barbarians, but on Christianity. He thought it had
undermined society with its focus on another, better world.

Modern historians, though, see it differently, and some of their ideas seem
startlingly relevant to us now.
The fall of Rome serves to remind us that complex societies can,
and do, break down

First was the widening gulf between the social classes, rich and poor. When rich
and poor start to live completely different lives this leads (then as now) to the
poor opting out of the state. All studies today show that society is happier when
the gap between rich and poor is reduced.

Widen it and you affect the group ethos of society, and also the ability to get
things done through tax.

In the Roman West real wealth lay more in land and property than in finance
(though there were banks) - but in the 300s the big land-owning aristocrats who
often had fantastic wealth, contributed much less money than they had in the
past to defence and government.

That in turn led as it has today to a "credibility gap" between ordinary people
and the bureaucrats and rich people at the top.
Roman Britain
The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD
 The invasion affected Britain's language, culture, geography and
architecture
Read more: An Overview of Roman Britain

Not surprisingly then, many people - especially religious groups - tried to opt out
altogether.

Other strands in the collapse of the Roman West are more difficult to quantify,
but they centre on "group feeling", the glue that keeps society working together
towards common goals. Lose that and you get a kind of nervous breakdown in
the social order, which leads to what archaeologists call "systems collapse".

The British historian Gildas (c 500-570) in his diatribe against contemporary

rulers in the early 500s, looking back over the story of the Fall of Roman Britain,
lists the military failures, but behind them he speaks bitterly of a loss of nerve
and direction, a failure of "group feeling".

Gildas talks about right-wing politicians advocating glibly attractive solutions

that appealed to the populace while "any leader who seemed more soft, or who
was more inclined to actually tell things as they are, was painted as ruinous to
the country and everyone directed their contempt towards him".

Gildas also singles out his leaders' sheer ineptitude and bad judgement,
recalling some governments and financiers in today's banking crisis.
Monty Python's view

And what have the Romans ever given us in return?

The aqueduct?

Oh. Yeah, they did give us that. That's true, yeah.

And the sanitation.

Yeah, the sanitation. Remember what the city used to be like?

I'll grant you the aqueduct and sanitation, the two things the
Romans have done.

And the roads.

Obviously the roads. The roads go without saying, don't they? But
apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct and the roads...

Irrigation. Medicine. Education.

Yeah, yeah, all right, fair enough.

From The Life of Brian

"Everything our leaders did to try to save the situation ended up having the
opposite effect. Society became prey to corrosive quarrels and dissensions,
anger towards the rich, and political opportunism was rife that made no
distinction between right and wrong."

Another element Gildas saw as being crucial was the major influx of newcomers
from the continent - Angles, Saxons and Jutes who had already been employed
in the country as security guards, mercenaries, field workers and street
cleaners.

These people now took advantage of the lack of central order to create small
regional sub-Roman kingdoms in eastern Britain. Only ever a minority,
nonetheless they would have a tremendous effect on our culture as they were
the ancestors of the English and most of us in Britain speak their language
today.

A very interesting development at the end of Rome was the gradual emergence
of the distinctive regional identities, which still underlie our modern British
society.

This kind of thing often happens in history in times of crisis, as in the Balkans in
the 1990s. Wales in particular is a very interesting case where Roman culture
continued long after the conventional end of Rome.

The south Welsh heartland of Glamorgan and Gwent had been heavily
Romanised and there in the 500s sub-Roman Christian Welsh kingdoms
emerged which still used Latin and which like many areas in western Britain
continued to see themselves as Roman long after the end of empire.

Llantwit Major in the Vale of

Glamorgan was occupied during Roman times for about 350 years

Go into the fabulous church of Llantwit Major and in its carved stones with their
Latin script you can see that Romanitas, "Roman-ness", was cultivated by their
rulers and churchmen long into the Dark Ages.

Their kingdoms were the direct successors of the south Welsh provinces of the
Roman empire.

So, the Roman Empire didn't fall everywhere or all at one time. Indeed you
could argue that the last part of the Roman Empire to fall anywhere was
Gwynedd in the English conquest of 1282.

Standing in Llantwit, the Dark Age stones testify to the long, slow, almost
imperceptible process of change in history, by which one world becomes
another.
 Rome wasn't built in a day and it didn't fall in a day either. Its shadow still falls
on us, a memory imprinted almost like genetic information, a memory to which
we all belong.

And is its fall also a distant mirror of our present crises?

Well, the fall of Rome serves to remind us that complex societies can, and do,
break down. There is rarely one reason. Rather, there are multiple causes that
come together in a perfect storm, as they did around 400AD.

But in time society recovers, for societies after all are made by people, and one
guesses that the ones that recover quickest are the ones which are most
adaptive, and perhaps too the ones with the strongest sense of identity and
history - the strongest sense of "group feeling".
Overview: Roman Britain, 43 - 410 AD
By Dr Neil Faulkner
Last updated 2011-03-29

Conquered for vanity, half-heartedly Romanised and eventually abandoned to its fate, Roman Britain
represents a fascinating microcosm of the rise and fall of an empire.

On this page

Why Britain?

Invasion and conquest

Occupation

Romanisation

Decline

The fall

Find out more

Print this page

Why Britain?

Why did the Romans invade Britain in 43 AD? Their empire already extended from
the Channel coast to the Caucasus, from the northern Rhineland to the Sahara.
The great age of conquest had ended a few decades before. Three legions had been
destroyed in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest by rebellious German tribesmen in 9
AD, and the emperor Augustus concluded that the empire was overextended and
called a halt to new wars of conquest.

Britain was an afterthought. It was not about economics. Rome's rulers were
already the richest men in history. Nor was it about military security. The Channel
was as effective a frontier as one could wish for.

Claudius needed to secure his throne. What better than a glorious military
victory in Britain?

The invasion of Britain was a war of prestige. The 'mad' emperor Caligula had been
assassinated in 41 AD, and an obscure member of the imperial family, Claudius,
had been elevated to the throne. The new emperor faced opposition from the
Senate, Rome's House of Lords. Claudius needed a quick political fix to secure his
throne. What better than a glorious military victory in Britain?

The army was the core of the Roman state. In a few centuries, it had transformed
Rome from a small city-state into the greatest empire of antiquity. Its conquests
more than paid for themselves in booty, slaves and tribute. War was highly
profitable.

Roman culture reflected this, valuing military achievement above all else. Roman
leaders had to prove themselves first and foremost as army commanders. And
where better for Claudius to prove himself than in Britain?

Top

Invasion and conquest

Bronze statue of Boudicca located at Victoria Embankment, London

A century before, in both 55 and 54 BC, Julius Caesar had invaded Britain with the
aim of conquest. But revolt in Gaul (modern-day France) had drawn him away
before he had beaten down determined British guerrilla resistance.

Britain had remained free and mysterious, dangerous, exotic. In the popular
Roman imagination, it was a place of marsh and forest, mist and drizzle, inhabited
by ferocious blue-painted warriors. Here was a fine testing-ground of an emperor's
fitness to rule.

For the Claudian invasion, an army of 40,000 professional soldiers - half citizen-
legionaries, half auxiliaries recruited on the wilder fringes of the empire - were
landed in Britain under the command of Aulus Plautius.

Archaeologists debate where they landed - Richborough in Kent, Chichester in

Sussex, or perhaps both. Somewhere, perhaps on the River Medway, they fought a
great battle and crushed the Catuvellauni, the tribe that dominated the south east.

Boudicca, queen of the Iceni tribe, came close to expelling the invaders

Then, in the presence of Claudius himself, they stormed the enemy capital at
Camulodunum (Colchester).

But resistance continued elsewhere. Pushing into the south west of Britain, the
Romans fought a war of sieges to reduce the great Iron Age hill forts of the western
tribes. Driving through and beyond the Midlands, they encountered stiffening
opposition as they approached Wales, where the fugitive Catuvellaunian prince,
Caratacus, rallied the Welsh tribes on a new anti-Roman front.

Wales took decades to subjugate. Before it was done, the east of Britain exploded
in 60-61 AD. Bitterness against Roman oppression had driven Boudicca, queen of
the Iceni tribe, into a revolt that came close to expelling the invaders.

Later, under the provincial governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Romans occupied
northern Britain, reaching what is now called the Moray Firth in 84 AD. This, though
short of total victory, was to be the high water mark of the Roman empire in
Britain.

Top

Occupation

Elsewhere, the empire's frontiers were under attack. Reinforcements were needed.
Troop numbers in Britain had to be reduced.

A phased withdrawal was carried out from the far north, eventually bringing the
army to a line that stretched across modern Northumberland from Newcastle-upon-
Tyne to Carlisle on the Solway. This was the line along which Hadrian's Wall was
constructed in 120s and 130s AD.

Symbolic lines were drawn across the map. On one side civilisation, on the
other barbarians
Here, and across the empire, the Romans were drawing symbolic lines across the
map. On one side 'civilisation', on the other 'barbarians'. On the ground, the lines
were made real in stone, earth and timber.

The line stretched for 73 miles across northern Britain a ditch, a thicket of spikes,
a stone wall, a sequence of forts, milecastles and observation turrets, and a
permanent garrison of perhaps 8,000 men.

The rest of the Roman army was also stationed in the west and the north - in lonely
auxiliary forts in the Welsh mountains, the Pennines, or the Southern Uplands of
modern Scotland; or in one of the big three legionary fortresses at Isca Silurium
(Caerleon), Deva (Chester) and Eboracum (York).

Here, through some 350 years of Roman occupation, the army remained dominant.
Settlements of craftsmen and traders grew up around the forts, sustained by army
contracts and soldiers' pay. Local farms supplied grain, meat, leather, wool, beer,
and other essentials.

But change was limited. The land was impoverished and sparsely populated, and
the army took what little surplus there was, so there were few of the trappings of
Romanised life.

Top

Romanisation

It was only in the lowland zone south and east of a rough line from Lincoln to
Exeter where parts of Britain began to look distinctly Mediterranean.

When the army moved forward, the politicians took over. Iron Age tribal centres
were redesigned as Roman towns, with regular street-grids, forums (market
squares), basilicas (assembly rooms), temples, theatres, bathhouses,
amphitheatres, shopping malls and hotels.

The models of town planning and public architecture were Roman, but the people in
charge were not. The towns were built by local gentry, who, in the space of a
generation or two, converted themselves from Celtic warriors and druids into
Romanised gentlemen.

Instead of foreign overlords stirring up resentment, the native elite ran

things on Rome's behalf

Britains upper classes had found a new style. Blue paint and chariots were out.
Gaulish wine and the Greek myths were in. To be successful, to look sophisticated,
you now had to project rank and status in the 'empire' fashion.
For the rulers of the empire, changing the culture of conquered elites was good
politics. The empire was ruled from the towns, where councils formed of local
gentry were responsible for tax-collection and keeping order in the surrounding
countryside. It was government on the cheap, but it was still highly successful.

Instead of an influx of foreign overlords stirring up resentment, the native elite ran
things on Rome's behalf. And in gratitude for having their power and property
preserved, they proved loyal servants. The evidence is in the enthusiasm with
which they Romanised.

Most of the twenty or so Roman towns had a full set of public buildings by the mid-
second century AD. Already many of the gentry had started building town houses
and country villas. From this time onwards there was a full-scale housing boom at
the top end of the market.

Big towns like Verulamium (St Albans) and Corinium (Cirencester) soon had fifty or
more grand houses and dozens of villas within a day's ride of the centre.
Companies of mosaic layers, fresco painters and potters sprang up to feed the
boom in luxury living, and the shipping lanes, rivers and roads were busy bringing
in such specialities as fish sauce from Spain, Rhineland glassware, and Pompeian
bronzes.

Top

Decline

The Hinton St Mary Mosaic, 4th century AD, Dorset, England

It could not last. The empire had been buoyed up by war booty. The end of
expansion meant the end of subsidy. The emperors ratcheted up taxes. They
conscripted labour. They allowed the army to 'live off the land' as it marched across
the empire.

The bloated imperial elite, the quarter-million-strong army, the thousands of miles
of frontier to be guarded - it was a huge burden on the people of the provinces, a
burden that was slowly eating away at the empire's economic vitality.

Society became apathetic, civic spirit dwindled, and the towns continued to
decline
In the meantime, Rome's enemies were getting stronger, especially the Germans
and Goths of central Europe, who threatened the Rhine and Danube frontiers.

By the mid-third century AD, the great boom was over, and resources were
ploughed into defence. Walls were built around the towns, turning them into
fortresses. Inside, a slow decline had begun. Public buildings were boarded up and
old mansions crumbled and became overgrown with weeds.

Later attempts from above to revive the towns were ineffective. The Roman
emperors of the later empire were more dictatorial and ruthless, aiming to
centralize and streamline administration, and to dragoon the people into supporting
the defence effort.

Embracing Christianity was part of this programme - evidenced in Britain by a

handful of late Roman churches found in excavation, some mosaics with Christian
images, an occasional silver spoon or cup inscribed with Christian motifs.

But government policy generated little enthusiasm. Society became apathetic, civic
spirit dwindled, the towns continued to decline, and even the villas eventually
succumbed.

Top

The fall

Britain was repeatedly raided by Anglo-Saxons in the south east, Irish in the
west, and Picts in the north. New coastal forts were built to meet the threat, but
the troops were stretched too thin to hold the line for long.

Then, when Italy itself was attacked, some troops were withdrawn from Britain
altogether to defend the homeland.

By about 425 AD, Britain had ceased to be in any sense Roman

The end of empire is always messy, and Roman Britain was no exception. No clear
decision to 'decolonise' Britain was made. Instead, the garrison was run down over
a generation, and then the remnant was simply cast adrift to fend for itself.

Army pay - represented by finds of Roman coins - ceased to arrive. The soldiers
presumably 'demobilised' themselves, drifting off to make a living as outlaws,
mercenaries, or farm labourers. The Romanised elite lost whatever residual control
they still retained over the land and the people who worked it.

By about 425 AD at the latest, Britain had ceased to be in any sense 'Roman'.
Towns and villas had been abandoned, the only pottery was homemade, barter had
replaced money and the mosaic and fresco workshops had all closed.
Britain had entered a new age outside the empire, apart from the continent, an age
without Roman tax collectors and landlords, and an age of turmoil and uncertainty
in which new polities and new identities had yet to be forged.

Top

Find out more

Books

Eagles over Britannia: The Roman Army in Britain by Guy de la Bedoyere (Tempus,
2003)

Roman Britain: A New History by Guy de la Bedoyere (Thames and Hudson, 2006)

Hadrian's Wall by David Breeze and Brian Dobson (Penguin, 2000)

The Ending of Roman Britain by Simon Esmonde Cleary (Batsford, 1989)

The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain by Neil Faulkner (Tempus, 2004)

The Romanisation of Britain: An Essay in Archaeological Interpretation by Martin

Millett (Cambridge University Press, 1992)

My Roman Britain by Richard Reece (Cotswold Studies, 1988)

A History of Roman Britain by Peter Salway (Oxford University Press, 1997)

Top

About the author

Dr Neil Faulkner is an honorary lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, University

College London. He is editor of the popular magazines Current
Archaeology and Current World Archaeology, and has written four books,
including The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain and Apocalypse: The Great Jewish
Revolt against Rome. His TV appearances include Channel Fours Time Team, BBC
TWO's Timewatch, and Channel Five'sRevealed.

Top

Peoples of Britain
By Dr Simon James
Last updated 2011-02-28
 Simon James asks just who were the Britons - and did the Celts ever really exist? Uncover the fascinating
ethnic and cultural history of the peoples of Briton, and assess the impact of the many invaders of
Britain's shores.

On this page

Introduction

First peoples

Before Rome: the 'Celts'

Britain and the Romans

The 'Dark Ages'

Conclusion

Find out more

Print this page

Introduction

The story of early Britain has traditionally been told in terms of waves of invaders displacing or
annihilating their predecessors. Archaeology suggests that this picture is fundamentally wrong. For over
10,000 years people have been moving into - and out of - Britain, sometimes in substantial numbers, yet
there has always been a basic continuity of population.

Before Roman times, 'Britain' was just a geographical entity and had no political meaning and no
single cultural identity.

The gene pool of the island has changed, but more slowly and far less completely than implied by the old
'invasion model', and the notion of large-scale migrations, once the key explanation for change in early
Britain, has been widely discredited.

Substantial genetic continuity of population does not preclude profound shifts in culture and identity. It is
actually quite common to observe important cultural change, including adoption of wholly new identities,
with little or no biological change to a population. Millions of people since Roman times have thought of
themselves as 'British', for example, yet this identity was only created in 1707 with the Union of England,
Wales and Scotland.
Before Roman times 'Britain' was just a geographical entity, and had no political meaning, and no single
cultural identity. Arguably this remained generally true until the 17th century, when James I of England
and VI of Scotland sought to establish a pan-British monarchy.

Throughout recorded history the island has consisted of multiple cultural groups and identities. Many of
these groupings looked outwards, across the seas, for their closest connections - they did not necessarily
connect naturally with their fellow islanders, many of whom were harder to reach than maritime
neighbours in Ireland or continental Europe.

It therefore makes no sense to look at Britain in isolation; we have to consider it with Ireland as part of
the wider 'Atlantic Archipelago', nearer to continental Europe and, like Scandinavia, part of the North Sea
world.

Top

First peoples

The first 'Britons' were an ethnically mixed group From the arrival of the
first modern humans - who were hunter-gatherers, following the retreating ice of the Ice Age northwards -
to the beginning of recorded history is a period of about 100 centuries, or 400 generations. This is a vast
time span, and we know very little about what went on through those years; it is hard even to fully answer
the question, 'Who were the early peoples of Britain?', because they have left no accounts of themselves.
Throughout prehistory there were myriad small-scale societies and many petty 'tribal' identities...

We can, however, say that biologically they were part of the Caucasoid population of Europe. The
regional physical stereotypes familiar to us today, a pattern widely thought to result from the post-Roman
Anglo-Saxon and Viking invasions - red-headed people in Scotland, small, dark-haired folk in Wales and
lanky blondes in southern England - already existed in Roman times. Insofar as they represent reality,
they perhaps attest the post-Ice Age peopling of Britain, or the first farmers of 6,000 years ago.

From an early stage, the constraints and opportunities of the varied environments of the islands of Britain
encouraged a great regional diversity of culture. Throughout prehistory there were myriad small-scale
societies, and many petty 'tribal' identities, typically lasting perhaps no more than a few generations
before splitting, merging or becoming obliterated. These groups were in contact and conflict with their
neighbours, and sometimes with more distant groups - the appearance of exotic imported objects attest
exchanges, alliance and kinship links, and wars.

Top

Before Rome: the 'Celts'

 The defeated Iron Age tribes of Britain At the end of the Iron Age (roughly
the last 700 years BC), we get our first eye-witness accounts of Britain from Greco-Roman authors, not
least Julius Caesar who invaded in 55 and 54 BC. These reveal a mosaic of named peoples (Trinovantes,
Silures, Cornovii, Selgovae, etc), but there is little sign such groups had any sense of collective identity
any more than the islanders of AD 1000 all considered themselves 'Britons'.
Calling the British Iron Age 'Celtic' is so misleading that it is best abandoned.

However, there is one thing that the Romans, modern archaeologists and the Iron Age islanders
themselves would all agree on: they were not Celts. This was an invention of the 18th century; the name
was not used earlier. The idea came from the discovery around 1700 that the non-English island tongues
relate to that of the ancient continental Gauls, who really were called Celts. This ancient continental
ethnic label was applied to the wider family of languages. But 'Celtic' was soon extended to describe
insular monuments, art, culture and peoples, ancient and modern: island 'Celtic' identity was born, like
Britishness, in the 18th century.

However, language does not determine ethnicity (that would make the modern islanders 'Germans', since
they mostly speak English, classified as a Germanic tongue). And anyway, no one knows how or when
the languages that we choose to call 'Celtic', arrived in the archipelago - they were already long
established and had diversified into several tongues, when our evidence begins. Certainly, there is no
reason to link the coming of 'Celtic' language with any great 'Celtic invasions' from Europe during the
Iron Age, because there is no hard evidence to suggest there were any.

Archaeologists widely agree on two things about the British Iron Age: its many regional cultures grew out
of the preceding local Bronze Age, and did not derive from waves of continental 'Celtic' invaders. And
secondly, calling the British Iron Age 'Celtic' is so misleading that it is best abandoned. Of course, there
are important cultural similarities and connections between Britain, Ireland and continental Europe,
reflecting intimate contacts and undoubtedly the movement of some people, but the same could be said
for many other periods of history.

The things we have labelled 'Celtic' icons - such as hill-forts and art, weapons and jewellery - were more
about aristocratic, political, military and religious connections than common ethnicity. (Compare the later
cases of medieval Catholic Christianity or European Renaissance culture, or indeed the Hellenistic Greek
Mediterranean and the Roman world - all show similar patterns of cultural sharing and emulation among
the powerful, across ethnic boundaries.)

Top

Britain and the Romans

 Almost everyone in Britannia was legally and culturally 'Roman' The Roman
conquest, which started in AD 43, illustrates the profound cultural and political impact that small numbers
of people can have in some circumstances, for the Romans did not colonise the islands of Britain to any
significant degree. To a population of around three million, their army, administration and carpet-baggers
added only a few per cent.
The future Scotland remained beyond Roman government, although the nearby presence of the
empire had major effects.

The province's towns and villas were overwhelmingly built by indigenous people - again the wealthy -
adopting the new international culture of power. Greco-Roman civilisation displaced the 'Celtic' culture of
Iron Age Europe. These islanders actually became Romans, both culturally and legally (the Roman
citizenship was more a political status than an ethnic identity). By AD 300, almost everyone in 'Britannia'
was Roman, legally and culturally, even though of indigenous descent and still mostly speaking 'Celtic'
dialects. Roman rule saw profound cultural change, but emphatically without any mass migration.

However, Rome only ever conquered half the island. The future Scotland remained beyond Roman
government, although the nearby presence of the empire had major effects. The kingdom of the Picts
appeared during the third century AD, the first of a series of statelets which, during the last years and
collapse of Roman power, developed through the merging of the 'tribes' of earlier times.

Top

The 'Dark Ages'

Were the 'Celts' displaced or absorbed by the invaders? In western and

northern Britain, around the western seas, the end of Roman power saw the reassertion of ancient
patterns, ie continuity of linguistic and cultural trends reaching back to before the Iron Age. Yet in the
long term, the continuous development of a shifting mosaic of societies gradually tended (as elsewhere in
Europe) towards larger states. Thus, for example, the far north-western, Irish-ruled kingdom of Dalriada
merged in the ninth century with the Pictish kingdom to form Scotland.
It was once believed that the Romano-British were slaughtered or driven west by hordes of
invading Anglo-Saxons, part of the great westward movement of 'barbarians' overwhelming the
western empire.
The western-most parts of the old province, where Roman ways had not displaced traditional culture, also
partook of these trends, creating small kingdoms which would develop, under pressure from the Saxons,
into the Welsh and Cornish regions.

The fate of the rest of the Roman province was very different: after imperial power collapsed c.410 AD
Romanised civilisation swiftly vanished. By the sixth century, most of Britannia was taken over by
'Germanic' kingdoms. There was apparently complete discontinuity between Roman Britain and Anglo-
Saxon England; it was once believed that the Romano-British were slaughtered or driven west by hordes
of invading Anglo-Saxons, part of the great westward movement of 'barbarians' overwhelming the
western empire. However, there was no such simple displacement of 'Celts' by 'Germans'.

Top

Conclusion

Britain has always absorbed invaders and been home to multiple peoples How
many settlers actually crossed the North Sea to Britain is disputed, although it is clear that they eventually
mixed with substantial surviving indigenous populations which, in many areas, apparently formed the
majority.
As with the adoption of 'Celtic' cultural traits in the Iron Age, and then Greco-Roman civilisation, so the
development of Anglo-Saxon England marks the adoption of a new politically ascendant culture; that of
the 'Germanic barbarians'.

Contrary to the traditional idea that Britain originally possessed a 'Celtic' uniformity which first
Roman, then Saxon and other invaders disrupted, in reality Britain has always been home to
multiple peoples...

Perhaps the switch was more profound than the preceding cases, since the proportion of incomers was
probably higher than in Iron Age or Roman times, and, crucially, Romano-British power structures and
culture seem to have undergone catastrophic collapse - through isolation from Rome and the support of
the imperial armies - some time before there was a substantial presence of 'Anglo-Saxons'.

In contrast to Gaul, where the Franks merged with an intact Gallo-Roman society to create Latin-based
French culture, the new Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in Britain, although melded from indigenous and
immigrant populations, represented no such cultural continuity; they drew their cultural inspiration, and
their dominant language, almost entirely from across the North Sea. Mixed natives and immigrants
became the English.

Contrary to the traditional idea that Britain originally possessed a 'Celtic' uniformity, which first Roman,
then Saxon and other invaders disrupted, in reality Britain has always been home to multiple peoples.
While its population has shown strong biological continuity over millennia, the identities the islanders
have chosen to adopt have undergone some remarkable changes. Many of these have been due to contacts
and conflicts across the seas, not least as the result of episodic, but often very modest, arrivals of
newcomers.

Top

Find out more

Books

Iron Age Britain by B Cunliffe (BT Batsford Ltd / English Heritage, 1995)

Life in Iron Age Britain by M Herdman (Harrap, 1981)

Britain and the Celtic Iron Age by S James and V Rigby (British Museum Press,
1997)

Iron Age Farm: The Butser Experiment by P Reynolds (British Museum Publications,
1979)

Places to visit

Castell Henllys Iron Age Fort. See reconstructed roundhouses, built upon
original Iron Age foundations.

Butser Ancient Farm, a centre for research into prehistoric and Roman
agricultural and building techniques.

Andover Museum of the Iron Age

Roman conquest of Britain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the conquest begun in AD 43. For other Roman invasions of Britain,
see Caesar's invasions of Britain and Carausian Revolt.
Roman conquest of Britain.

The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43

under Emperor Claudius, whose generalAulus Plautius served as first governor of Roman
Britain (Latin: Britannia). Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions,
planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. In common with
other regions on the edge of the empire, Britain had enjoyed diplomatic and trading links
with the Romans in the century since Julius Caesar's expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, and
Roman economic and cultural influence was a significant part of the British late pre-
Roman Iron Age, especially in the south.
Between 55 BC and the 40s AD, the status quo of tribute, hostages, and client
states without direct military occupation, begun byCaesar's invasions of Britain, largely
remained intact. Augustus prepared invasions in 34 BC, 27 BC and 25 BC. The first and
third were called off due to revolts elsewhere in the empire, the second because the Britons
seemed ready to come to terms.[1] According to Augustus's Res Gestae, two British
kings, Dubnovellaunus and Tincomarus, fled to Rome as supplicants during his reign,
[2]
andStrabo's Geography, written during this period, says that Britain paid more in customs
and duties than could be raised by taxation if the island were conquered. [3]
By the 40s AD, the political situation within Britain was apparently in ferment.
The Catuvellauni had displaced the Trinovantes as the most powerful kingdom in south-
eastern Britain, taking over the former Trinovantian capital of Camulodunum (Colchester),
and were pressing their neighbours the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Julius
Caesar's former ally Commius.[4]
Caligula planned a campaign against the Britons in 40, but its execution was bizarre:
according to Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, he drew up his troops in battle formation
facing the English Channel and ordered them to attack the standing water. Afterwards, he
had the troops gather seashells, referring to them as "plunder from the ocean due to
the Capitol and the Palace".[5]
 Modern historians are unsure if that was meant to be an ironic punishment for the soldiers'
mutiny or due to Caligula's derangement. Certainly this invasion attempt readied the troops
and facilities that would make Claudius' invasion possible three years later. For example,
Caligula built a lighthouse at Bononia (modern Boulogne-sur-Mer) that provided a model for
the one built soon after atDubris (Dover).

Contents
[hide]

1 Claudian preparations

2 Crossing and landing

3 River battles

4 (4460)

5 (6078)

6 Campaigns of Agricola (7884)

o 6.1 Scotland before Agricola

o 6.2 Agricola in Caledonia

7 (8496)

8 Failure to conquer Caledonia

9 See also

10 Citations

11 References

12 Further reading

Claudian preparations[edit]
[show]
V

Roman invasion and

occupation of Britain
Three years later, in 43, possibly by re-collecting Caligula's troops, Claudius mounted an
invasion force to re-instate Verica, an exiled king of the Atrebates.[6] Aulus Plautius, a
distinguished senator, was given overall charge of four legions, totalling about 20,000 men,
plus about the same number of auxiliaries. The legions were:

Legio II Augusta

Legio IX Hispana

Legio XIV Gemina

Legio XX Valeria Victrix

The II Augusta is known to have been commanded by the future emperor Vespasian. Three
other men of appropriate rank to command legions are known from the sources to have
been involved in the invasion. Cassius Dio mentions Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, who probably
led the IX Hispana, and Vespasian's brother Titus Flavius Sabinus the Younger. He wrote
that Sabinus was Vespasian's lieutenant, but as Sabinus was the older brother and
preceded Vespasian into public life, he could hardly have been a
military tribune.Eutropius mentions Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus, although as a former
consul he may have been too senior, and perhaps accompanied Claudius later.[7]

Crossing and landing[edit]

Main article: Site of the Claudian invasion of Britain
The main invasion force under Aulus Plautius crossed in three divisions. The port of
departure is usually taken to have been Boulogne, and the main landing
at Rutupiae(Richborough, on the east coast of Kent). Neither of these locations is certain.
Dio does not mention the port of departure, and although Suetonius says that the
secondary force under Claudius sailed from Boulogne, [8] it does not necessarily follow that
the entire invasion force did. Richborough has a large natural harbour which would have
been suitable, and archaeology shows Roman military occupation at about the right time.
However, Dio says the Romans sailed east to west, and a journey from Boulogne to
Richborough is south to north. Some historians[9] suggest a sailing from Boulogne to
the Solent, landing in the vicinity of Noviomagus (Chichester) or Southampton, in territory
formerly ruled by Verica. An alternative explanation might be a sailing from the mouth of
the Rhine to Richborough, which would be east to west.[10]

River battles[edit]
British resistance was led by Togodumnus and Caratacus, sons of the late king of the
Catuvellauni, Cunobeline. A substantial British force met the Romans at a river crossing
thought to be near Rochester on the River Medway. The battle raged for two days.
Hosidius Geta was almost captured, but recovered and turned the battle so decisively that
he was awarded the "Roman triumph."
The British were pushed back to the Thames. The Romans pursued them across the river
causing them[who?] to lose men in the marshes of Essex. Whether the Romans made use of
an existing bridge for this purpose or built a temporary one is uncertain. At least one
division of auxiliary Batavian troops swam across the river as a separate force.
Togodumnus died shortly after the battle on the Thames. Plautius halted and sent word for
Claudius to join him for the final push. Cassius Dio presents this as Plautius needing the
emperor's assistance to defeat the resurgent British, who were determined to avenge
Togodumnus. However, Claudius was no military man. Claudius's arch says he received
the surrender of eleven kings without any loss,[11] and Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars says
that Claudius received the surrender of the Britons without battle or bloodshed. [12] It is likely
that the Catuvellauni were already as good as beaten, allowing the emperor to appear as
conqueror on the final march on Camulodunum. Cassius Dio relates that he brought war
elephants and heavy armaments which would have overawed any remaining native
resistance. Eleven tribes of South East Britain surrendered to Claudius and the Romans
prepared to move further west and north. The Romans established their new capital at
Camulodunum and Claudius returned to Rome to celebrate his victory. Caratacus escaped
and would continue the resistance further west.

(4460)[edit]

Roman campaigns from AD 43 to AD 60.

Campaigns under Aulus Plautius, focused on the commercially valuable southeast of Britain.

The Roman Empire in 54.

Vespasian took a force westwards subduing tribes and capturing oppida as he went, going
at least as far as Exeter which would appear to have become an early base for the Leg. II
Augusta [also in 2010 two separate temporary legionary fortresses dated at about the time
of Vespasian were partly excavated by Exeter City Archaeological Unit at St Loyes on the
Roman Road between Isca and Topsham] and probably reaching Bodmin.[13] The Legio IX
Hispana was sent north towards Lincoln (Latin: Lindum Colonia) and within four years of
the invasion it is likely that an area south of a line from the Humber to the River
SevernEstuary was under Roman control. That this line is followed by the Roman road of
theFosse Way has led many historians to debate the route's role as a convenient frontier
during the early occupation. It is more likely that the border between Roman and Iron Age
Britain was less direct and more mutable during this period however.
Late in 47 the new governor of Britain, Publius Ostorius Scapula, began a campaign
against the tribes of modern day Wales, and the Cheshire Gap. The Silures of southeast
Wales caused considerable problems to Ostorius and fiercely defended the Welsh border
country. Caratacus himself was defeated in the Battle of Caer Caradoc and fled to the
Roman client tribe of the Brigantes who occupied the Pennines. Their
queen, Cartimandua was unable or unwilling to protect him however given her own truce
with the Romans and handed him over to the invaders. Ostorius died and was replaced
by Aulus Didius Gallus who brought the Welsh borders under control but did not move
further north or west, probably because Claudius was keen to avoid what he considered a
difficult and drawn-out war for little material gain in the mountainous terrain of upland
Britain. When Nero became emperor in AD 54, he seems to have decided to continue the
invasion and appointed Quintus Veranius as governor, a man experienced in dealing with
the troublesome hill tribes of Anatolia. Veranius and his successor Gaius Suetonius
Paulinus mounted a successful campaign across Wales, famously destroying
the druidical centre at Mona or Anglesey in AD 60 at what historians later called the Menai
Massacre. Final occupation of Wales was postponed however when the rebellion
of Boudica forced the Romans to return to the south east. The Silures were not finally
conquered until circa AD 76 when Sextus Julius Frontinus' long campaign against them
began to have success.

(6078)[edit]
Following the successful suppression of Boudica's uprising, a number of new Roman
governors continued the conquest by edging north. Cartimandua was forced to ask for
Roman aid following a rebellion by her husband Venutius. Quintus Petillius Cerialis took his
legions from Lincoln as far as York and defeated Venutius near Stanwick around 70. This
resulted in the already Romanised Brigantes and Parisii tribes being further assimilated into
the empire proper. Frontinus was sent into Roman Britain in 74 AD to succeedQuintus
Petillius Cerialis as governor of that island. He subdued the Silures and other hostile tribes
of Wales, establishing a new base at Caerleon for Legio II Augusta (Isca Augusta) and a
network of smaller forts fifteen to twenty kilometres apart for his auxiliary units. During his
tenure, he probably established the fort at Pumsaint in west Wales, largely to exploit
the gold deposits at Dolaucothi. He retired in 78 AD, and later he was appointed water
commissioner in Rome. The new governor was Gnaeus Julius Agricola, made famous
through the highly laudatory biography of him written by his son-in-law, Tacitus.

Campaigns of Agricola (7884)[edit]

Agricola's campaigns.

Northern campaigns.
Roman military organization in the north.

The Roman Empire in 96.

Arriving in mid-summer of 78, Agricola found several previously defeated peoples had re-
established their independence. The first to be dealt with were the Ordovices of north
Wales, who had destroyed a cavalry ala of Roman auxiliaries stationed in their territory.
Knowing the terrain from his prior military service in Britain, he was able to move quickly to
defeat and virtually exterminate them. He then invaded Anglesey, forcing the inhabitants to
sue for peace.[14] The following year he moved against the Brigantes of northern England
and the Selgovae along the southern coast of Scotland, using overwhelming military power
to re-establish Roman control.[15]
Scotland before Agricola[edit]
Details of the early years of the Roman occupation in North Britain are unclear but began
no earlier than 71, as Tacitus says that in that year Petillius Cerialis (governor 7174)
waged a successful war against the Brigantes,[16] whose territory straddled Britain along
the Solway-Tyne line. Tacitus praises both Cerialis and his successor Julius
Frontinus (governor 7578), but provides no additional information on events prior to 79
regarding the lands or peoples living north of the Brigantes. The Romans certainly would
have followed up their initial victory over the Brigantes in some manner. In particular,
archaeology has shown that the Romans had campaigned and built military camps in the
north along Gask Ridge, controlling the glens that provided access to and from theScottish
Highlands, and also throughout the Scottish Lowlands in northeastern Scotland. In
describing Agricola's campaigns, Tacitus does not explicitly state that this is actually a
return to lands previously occupied by Rome, where Roman occupation either had been
thrown off by the inhabitants, or had been abandoned by the Romans.
Agricola in Caledonia[edit]
Tacitus says that after a combination of force and diplomacy quieted discontent among the
Britons who had been conquered previously, Agricola built forts in their territories in 79. In
80 he marched to the Firth of Tay (some historians hold that he stopped along the Firth of
Forth in that year), not returning south until 81, at which time he consolidated his gains in
the new lands that he had conquered, and in the rebellious lands that he had re-conquered.
 In 82 he sailed to either Kintyre or the shores of Argyll, or to both. In 83 and 84 he moved
[17]

north along Scotland's eastern and northern coasts using both land and naval forces,
campaigning successfully against the inhabitants, and winning a significant victory over the
northern British peoples led by Calgacus at the Battle of Mons Graupius.[18]
Prior to his recall in 84, Agricola built a network of military roads and forts to secure the
Roman occupation. Existing forts were strengthened and new ones planted in northeastern
Scotland along the Highland Line, consolidating control of the glens that provided access to
and from the Scottish Highlands. The line of military communication and supply along
southeastern Scotland and northeastern England (i.e., Dere Street) was well-fortified. In
southern-most Caledonia, the lands of the Selgovae (approximating to
modern Dumfriesshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright) were heavily planted with forts,
not only establishing effective control there, but also completing a military enclosure of
south-central Scotland (most of the Southern Uplands, Teviotdale, and westernTweeddale).
[19]
In contrast to Roman actions against the Selgovae, the territories of
the Novantae, Damnonii, and Votadini were not planted with forts, and there is nothing to
indicate that the Romans were at war with them.

(8496)[edit]
Agricola was recalled to Rome by Domitian. His successors are not named in any surviving
source, but it seems they were unable or unwilling to further subdue the far north. The
fortress at Inchtuthil was dismantled before its completion and the other fortifications of
the Gask Ridge in Perthshire, erected to consolidate the Roman presence in Scotland in
the aftermath of Mons Graupius, were abandoned within the space of a few years. It is
equally likely that the costs of a drawn-out war outweighed any economic or political benefit
and it was more profitable to leave the Caledonians alone and only under de
jure submission.

Failure to conquer Caledonia[edit]

Main article: Scotland during the Roman Empire
Roman occupation was withdrawn to a line subsequently established as one of the limes of
the empire (i.e. a defensible frontier) by the construction of Hadrian's Wall. An attempt was
made to push this line north to the River Clyde-River Forth area in 142 when theAntonine
Wall was constructed. This was once again abandoned after two decades and only
subsequently re-occupied on an occasional basis.
The Romans retreated to the earlier and stronger Hadrian's Wall in the River Tyne-Solway
Firth frontier area, this having been constructed around 122. Roman troops, however,
penetrated far into the north of modern Scotland several more times. Indeed, there is a
greater density of Roman marching camps in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe as a
result of at least four major attempts to subdue the area.
The most notable was in 209 when the emperor Septimius Severus, claiming to be
provoked by the belligerence of the Maeatae tribe, campaigned against the Caledonian
Confederacy. He used the three legions of the British garrison (augmented by the recently
formed 2nd Parthica legion), 9000 imperial guards with cavalry support, and numerous
auxiliaries supplied from the sea by the British fleet, the Rhine fleet and two fleets
transferred from the Danube for the purpose. According to Dio Cassius, he inflicted
genocidal depredations on the natives and incurred the loss of 50,000 of his own men to
the attrition of guerrilla tactics before having to withdraw to Hadrian's Wall. He repaired and
reinforced the wall with a degree of thoroughness that led most subsequent Roman authors
to attribute the construction of the wall to him. It was during the negotiations to purchase
the truce necessary to secure the Roman retreat to the wall that the first recorded
utterance, attributable with any reasonable degree of confidence, to a native of Scotland
was made (as recorded by Dio Cassius). When Septimius Severus's wife, Julia Domna,
criticised the sexual morals of the Caledonian women, the wife of a Caledonian chief,
Argentocoxos, replied: "We consort openly with the best of men while you allow yourselves
to be debauched in private by the worst".[20] The emperor Septimius Severus died
at York while planning to renew hostilities, and these plans were abandoned by his
son Caracalla.
Later excursions into Scotland by the Romans were generally limited to the scouting
expeditions of exploratores in the buffer zone that developed between the walls, trading
contacts, bribes to purchase truces from the natives, and eventually the spread of
Christianity. The degree to which the Romans interacted with the island of Hibernia is still
unresolved amongst archaeologists in Ireland. The successes and failures of the Romans
in subduing the peoples of Britain are still represented in the political geography of the
British Isles today.

Roman Britain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (September 2008)

PROVINCIA BRITANNIA

provinces of the Roman Empire

AD 43c.410

England & Wales within the Roman Empire.

Capital Camulodunum
Londinium

Historical era Classical antiquity

- Annexed by Claudius AD 43

- Severan Division c.197

- Diocletian Division c.296

 - Withdrawal c.410

Today part of England

Wales

Part of a series on the

History of the
British Isles

Prehistoric period

Prehistoric Britain

Prehistoric Ireland

Prehistoric Mann

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Medieval England

Medieval Scotland

Medieval Wales

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 High medieval Ireland

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Early modern Britain

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United Kingdom since 1707

Republic of Ireland since 1922

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By region

British Isles [show]

United Kingdom [show]

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Roman Britain (Latin: Britannia or, later, Britanniae, "the Britains") refers generally to the
period of Roman rule over areas on the island of Great Britain from AD 43 to 409 or 410.[1]:129
131[2]
 Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars.[3][4] The Britons had
been overrun or culturally assimilated by other Celtic tribes during the British Iron Age and
had been providing aid to Caesar's enemies. He received tribute, installed a friendly
king over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were
called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In AD 40, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at
the Channel only to have them gather seashells. Three years later, Claudius directed four
legions to invade Britain and restore an exiled king over the Atrebates.[5] The Romans
defeated theCatuvellauni but then organized their conquests as the Province of
Britain (Latin: Provincia Britannia). By the year 47, the Romans held the lands southeast of
the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects
of Boudica'srebellion, but the Romans expanded steadily northward. Under the 2nd-century
emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two wallswere built to defend the Roman province
from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never directly
controlled. Around 197, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two
provinces: Upper and Lower (Britannia Superior andInferior).[6] During the Diocletian
Reforms at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the
direction of a vicar who administered the Diocese of the Britains.[7] A fifth
province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the
Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the
control of imperial usurpers and Imperial pretenders. The final withdrawal from
Britain occurred around 410, after which the native kingdoms are considered to have
formed Sub-Roman Britain.
Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as
the Romans introduced improvedagriculture, urban planning, industrial production,
and architecture. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain
in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and
occasional epigraphicevidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor.[1]:46,323

Contents
[hide]

1 History

o 1.1 Early contact

o 1.2 Roman invasion

o 1.3 Roman rule is established

o 1.4 Occupation and retreat from southern Scotland

o 1.5 3rd century

o 1.6 Diocletian Reforms

o 1.7 4th century

o 1.8 End of Roman rule

o 1.9 Sub-Roman Britain

 2 Themes

o 2.1 Trade

o 2.2 Economy

o 2.3 Government

o 2.4 Town and country

o 2.5 Religion

2.5.1 Pagan

2.5.2 Christianity

3 Environmental changes

4 Legacy

5 See also

6 References

7 Further reading

o 7.1 Iron Age background

o 7.2 General works on Roman Britain

o 7.3 Historical sources and inscriptions

o 7.4 Trade

o 7.5 Economy

o 7.6 Provincial government

o 7.7 Provincial development

o 7.8 The Roman military in Britain

o 7.9 Urban life

 o 7.10 Rural life

o 7.11 Religion

o 7.12 Art

8 External links

History[edit]
Early contact[edit]
Main article: Caesar's invasions of Britain
Britain was not unknown to the Classical world. As early as the 4th century BC,
the Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin.[8] The Greeks refer to
the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and place them somewhere near the west coast of
Europe.[9]The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 5th century
BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. But it was regarded as a place of mystery,
with some writers even refusing to believe it existed at all.[10]
The first direct Roman contact came when the Roman general and subsequent
dictator Julius Caesar made two expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BC as an offshoot of his
conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons had been helping the Gallic resistance. The first
expedition, more a reconnaissance than a full invasion, gained a foothold on the coast
of Kent but, undermined by storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry, was unable to
advance further. The expedition was a military failure, but was at least a political success.
The Roman Senate declared a 20-day public holiday in Rome in honour of the
unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgian tribes
on returning to the continent.[11]
In his second invasion, Caesar took with him a substantially larger force and proceeded to
coerce or invite many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return
for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus,
was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether the
tribute agreed was paid by the Britons after Caesar's return to Gaul with his forces. [12]
Caesar had conquered no territory and had left behind no troops, but had
established clients on the island and had brought Britain into Rome's sphere of political
influence.Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never
favourable,[13] and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy
and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claims that taxes on trade brought in
more annual revenue than any conquest could.[14] Likewise, archaeology shows an increase
in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain.[15] Strabo also mentions British kings who
sent embassies to Augustus and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he
received as refugees.[16] When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm
during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they were sent back by local rulers, telling tall
tales of monsters.[17]
Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two
powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and
the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius.[18] This policy was followed until 39 or
40, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned
an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it had even left Gaul. [19]
[20]
When Claudius successfully invaded in 43, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler,
this time Verica of the Atrebates.
Roman invasion[edit]
Main article: Roman conquest of Britain
Landing of the Romans on the Coast of Kent - from Cassell's History of England, Vol. I - anonymous
author and artists

Conquests under Aulus Plautius, focused on the commercially valuable southeast of Britain.

The invasion force in 43 was led by Aulus Plautius.[21] It is not known how many Roman
legionswere sent; only one legion, the II Augusta, commanded by the future
emperor Vespasian, is directly attested to have taken part.[22] The IX Hispana,[23] the XIV
Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix)[24] are attested in
60/61 during the BoudicanRevolt, and are likely to have been there since the initial
invasion. However, the Roman army was flexible, with units being used and moved
whenever necessary, so this is not certain. Only theLegio IX Hispana is likely to have
stayed there, as it is attested as being in residence at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a
building inscription there dated 108, before its eventual destruction fighting in the East,
likely during the Bar Kokhba revolt.[25]
The invasion was delayed by a mutiny of the troops, who were eventually persuaded by an
imperial freedman to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond
the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed
at Richborough inKent, although some suggest that at least part of the invasion force
landed on the south coast, in the Fishbourne area of West Sussex.[26]
The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni and their allies in two battles: the first, assuming a
Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of the
Catuvellaunian leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to
continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who
arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the
Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). The future
emperor Vespasian subdued the southwest,[27] Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of
several territories,[28] and treaties were made with tribes outside the area under direct
Roman control.
Roman rule is established[edit]
Roman invasion of Britain

Roman campaigns 4360

Agricola's campaigns

Further information: Romano-British culture

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now
Wales. The Silures,Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders
and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional
minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led
by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius
Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and
defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their
queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was
brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph
persuaded the emperor to spare his life. However, the Silures were still not pacified, and
Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of
British resistance.[29]
In 6061, while Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning in Wales, the
southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. Boudica was the widow
of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports
that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the
remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome
responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence,
Rome punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined
by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed
the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Suetonius Paulinus rode to London,
the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was
destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people
are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Suetonius regrouped with two of the
three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being heavily
outnumbered, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long
afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness.[30][31][32] During this time, the Emperor
Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.[33]
There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in
Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the
Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against
him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left
in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two
appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on
the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[34][35] Frontinus extended Roman
rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as
the gold mines at Dolaucothi.
In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of
Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus,
conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated
the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in northern Scotland.[36] This was the
high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled
from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans retired to a more defensible line along
the ForthClyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.
For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on
the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the
province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this
province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 155 AD

Occupation and retreat from southern Scotland[edit]

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even
the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman
forts south of the ForthClyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged, although others appear to
have been abandoned. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native
settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating
growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing
tablets from the fort atVindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90110. These
tablets provide vivid evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman
Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and
military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.
Around 105, however, there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the
tribes of the Picts ofAlba: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains
and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating
hostilities at least at that site. There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary
reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is
mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. However, Trajan's Dacian Wars may
have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the
forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the
habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources
to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of
the Stanegate at the SolwayTyne isthmus around this time.
Hadrian's Wall viewed fromVercovicium

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign (117): a rising in the north which
was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his
famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall,
known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier.
Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought
the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio
IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates
considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the
shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.
In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to
the ForthClyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the
military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.
The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155157,
when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans
moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius
Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was
abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings
to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic
frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the
benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from
Scotland at this time, however: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven
smaller outposts until at least 180.
During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall,
Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in
the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time
indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in
Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were
reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.
In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia,
probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was
breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in
what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius
Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to
be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried
to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky
to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination:
they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis,
a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to
legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have
Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.
The future emperor Pertinax was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially
successful in regaining control. However, a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was
attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded
Commodus as emperor in 192.
3rd century[edit]
The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war.
Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged,
including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of
Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also
controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival
Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support againstPescennius
Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised however, Severus turned on his ally in
Britannia though it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already
preparing for war.
Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set
up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive.
Although Albinus came close to victory, Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the
British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and
perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment.
Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain
security, the province required the presence of three legions; but command of these forces
provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere,
however, would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against
uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.
The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's
absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy
peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily
distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome
were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207
describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction".
In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject although the Maeatae clearly did not
consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial
expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old.
Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's
Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to
sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a
victory, however, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage
sonsCaracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.
Northern campaigns, 208211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops
moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a
route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern
tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians
on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little
appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the
Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again
become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the titleBritannicus but the title meant little with regard
to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire.
Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, again went to war. Caracalla left
with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his
brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.
As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious
governors in Britain by dividing the province intoBritannia Superior and Britannia Inferior.
This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide
little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the
number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string
of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the
following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.
During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian
invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these
troubles, although increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic
Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of
this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.
Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the
Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid
punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was
crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the
British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops
of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.
The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was
a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death
sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having
abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He
consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while
Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy
peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293,
the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel
port of Gesoriacum(Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked
Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his
treasurer,Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and
defeated Allectus in a land battle.[37][38][39][40]
Diocletian Reforms[edit]

One possible arrangement of the late Roman provinces, withValentia between the walls.

Another possible arrangement, with other possible placements ofValentia noted.

Main articles: Britannia I, Britannia II, Flavia Caesariensis, Maxima

Caesariensis and Valentia (Roman province)
As part of the Diocletian Reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as
a diocese under the administration of the Prefecture ofthe Gauls based at Augusta
Treverorum (Trier). It is certain that the diocesian vicar was based at Londinium;[citation
needed]
that Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals; and that the territory
was divided up into smaller provinces to reduce the ability of any given official to rebel; but
further details remain unclear. The early-4th century Verona List, the late-4th century work
of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all
list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II,Maxima
Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by
a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources, however, list a fifth
province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank.
[41]
Ammianusmentions Valentia as well, describing its created by Count Theodosius in 369
after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a recreation of a
formerly lost province,[42] leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province
under another name and others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory
abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.
Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely
on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the
imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles.
Unfortunately, the list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including
a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate
Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium).[43] The error is variously
emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia,[44]Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun.,
[45]
and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni[46] (all various names of Colchester);
[47]
Gale[48] and Bingham[49]offered colonia Lindi and Henry[50] Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln);
and Bishop Stillingfleet[51] and Thackery read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an
original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon).[52] On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon
who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.
In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of
the early British church established by the legendarySS Fagan and "Duvian". He
placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum"
(Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia"
(Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London);
"Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in
"Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews.[53][54] Modern scholars
generally the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is
beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the
antiquity of its church for political reasons. A common modern reconstruction places the
consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the
diocesan vicar; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but
moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact
recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of
Maxima, with its capital placed atLindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the
bishops list from Arles;[55] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum
(York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester);
beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere
Street.
4th century[edit]
Constantius Chlorus returned in 306, aiming to invade northern Britain. The province's
defences had been rebuilt in the preceding years, and although his health was poor
Constantius wished to penetrate into enemy territory. Little is known of his campaigns, and
there is little archaeological evidence for them. From fragmentary historical sources it
seems he reached the far north of Britain and won a great battle in early summer before
returning south to York.
Constantius remained in Britain for the rest of the time he was part of the Tetrarchy, dying in
York in July 306. His son, Constantine I, was at his side at that moment and assumed his
duties in Britannia. Unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus, he succeeded in using his base in
Britannia as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne.
In the middle of the century, for a few years the province was loyal to the
usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat
and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched
his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters.
The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius
Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason,
the vicariusphysically attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but
in the end he committed suicide.
As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east
and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts was already being built, starting around
280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when a general assault
of Saxons, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on
Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate in 367. This crisis, sometimes called the
Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius with a
string of military and civil reforms.
Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt
at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel.
Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against
the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it
appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids
and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British
troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were struggling after the
catastrophic battle of Adrianople in 378. Around 396 there were increasing barbarian
incursions into Britain, and an expedition possibly led by Stilicho brought naval action
against the raiders. It seems peace was restored by 399, although it is likely that no further
garrisoning was ordered; and indeed by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the
war against Alaric I.
End of Roman rule[edit]
Main article: End of Roman rule in Britain

Roman Britain in 410

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a
widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. However, consistent
archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-
evaluation, though some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an
end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of
defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "black earth" deposits indicating
increased horticulture within urban precincts.[56] Turning over the basilica at Silchester to
industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in
the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.[57] The abandonment of some sites is now believed to
be later than had formerly been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not
destroyed. There were growing barbarian attacks, but these were focused on vulnerable
rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Great
Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote inGloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around
this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy, although
many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint
Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new
buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban
centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester,
remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.
Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and
coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of
economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers
and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 38387.
Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, although it never attained the levels of
earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, although minted silver and gold coins
from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being
spent. By 407 there were no new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely
that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Pottery mass production
probably ended a decade or two previously; the rich continued to use metal and glass
vessels, while the poor probably adopted leather or wooden ones.
Sub-Roman Britain[edit]
Main article: Sub-Roman Britain

King Arthur is a legendary figure ofSub-Roman Britain who is said to have fought Saxon invasions

Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attack on all sides towards the end
of the 4th century, and troops were too few to mount an effective defence. The army
rebelled and, after elevating two disappointing usurpers, chose a soldier, Constantine III, to
become emperor in 407. He soon crossed to Gaul with an army and was defeated
by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a
commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was
apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled
the Roman civilian administration (although Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic
rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of
the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai). A
letter from the Emperor Honorius of 410 has traditionally been seen as a rejection of an
appeal for help by the cities of Britain, but it was probably addressed
to Bruttium or Bologna.[58] With the higher levels of the military and civil government gone,
administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and small warlords gradually
emerged all over Britain, still aspiring to Roman ideals and conventions. Laycock has
investigated this process of fragmentation and emphasised elements of continuity from the
British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods to the kingdoms that formed in the post-
Roman period.[59]
By tradition, the pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts and
Irish, though archaeology has suggested some official settlement as landed mercenaries as
early as the 3rd century. Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may well have begun
much earlier even than that. There is recorded evidence, for example, of
Germanic auxiliaries being brought to Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries to support the
legions. The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually
led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time many Britons fled
to Brittany (hence its name). A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the famous Groans
of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for
assistance against Saxon invasion in 446; another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after
which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester andGloucester fell and the Saxons reached
the western sea.
Most scholars reject the historicity of the later legends of King Arthur, which seem to be set
in this period, but some such as John Morrissee it as evidence behind which may lie a
plausible grain of truth.

Themes[edit]
Trade[edit]
See also: Trade between Iron Age Britain and the Roman world
During the Roman period Britains continental trade was principally directed across the
Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, though
there were also more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. [60][61][62] The most important British
ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in
trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of
the river Scheldt.[60][61] During the Late Roman period it is likely that theshore forts played
some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions. [60][63]
Imports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware)
from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and
the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul
in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean
and Brittanyin barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae;
lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products.
[60][61][64][65][66][67][68][69][70]
Britains exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have
included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports
probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin
would have been re-exported back to the continent as well. [60][68][69][71]
These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and
contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the
island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. [60][71] Up until the mid-
3rd century, the Roman states payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more
products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by
the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.[60][71]
It has been argued that Roman Britains continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD
and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the
population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman
states desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. [68][70][71]
[72]
Evidence has, however, been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman
Britains continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD
onwards.[60] This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide
crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.[60]
From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and
extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period;
however, vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is
historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during
the mid-4th century.[60][69][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81] During the latter part of the Roman period British
agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly
played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the
northwestern continental Empire.[60][69][75] This came about as a result of the rapid decline in
the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more
goods for export), and because of Germanic incursions across the Rhine, which appear to
have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul. [60][75]
Economy[edit]
See also: Roman economy and Mining in Roman Britain

Industrial production in Roman Britain

Development of Dolaucothi Gold Mines

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine was probably first worked by the
Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine
developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic
mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail.
Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping
away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-
setting and the ore removed for crushing and comminution. The dust was washed in a
small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggetscollected in riffles. The
diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century.
When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The
evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army
engineers.
The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin
mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a
fee. Although mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), the Romans
introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise
the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as
well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was
supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially
impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although
mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it
had to wait until these areas were subdued.
Although Roman designs were most popular, rural craftsmen still produced items derived
from the Iron Age La Tne artistic traditions. Local pottery rarely attained the standards of
the Gaulish industries although the Castor ware of the Nene Valley was able to withstand
comparison with the imports. Most native pottery was unsophisticated however and
intended only for local markets.
By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce
extending into the non-Romanised north. The design of Hadrian's Wall especially catered to
the need for customs inspections of merchants' goods.
Government[edit]
Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of
the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons were placed under the
Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governorswho were
members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected
often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a
governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility
such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the
public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in
important legal cases. When not campaigning he would travel the province hearing
complaints and recruiting new troops.
To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain
appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of
incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing
them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-
raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and
in time of war probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands
carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a
network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to
Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers
provided clerical services.
Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by
London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation
in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms,
into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalitiessuch as
Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic
or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs.[82]The
various civitas sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty
to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need,
and to worship the imperial cult.[82]
Town and country[edit]
Britannia as shown on the Tabula Peutingeriana

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements,
many of which still survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public
building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Though place names survived
the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been
at pains to signal the expected survivals, archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman
towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby,[83] the very idea of a town as a
centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman
Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.
Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were
formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the
construction of public buildings.[84] The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns"
grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not
small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic
feature of a place of any importance.[85]
Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are
listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

Alcester (Alauna)

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis)

Roman public baths (thermae) inBath (Aquae Sulis).

Brough-on-Humber (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta)

Caernarfon (Segontium)
 Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Cesaromagus) C

Chester (Deva Victrix)

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum)[86] C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium)
 Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum)

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C
Further information: List of Roman place names in Britain
Religion[edit]
Pagan[edit]

Artist's reconstruction of Pagans Hill Roman Temple, Somerset

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, [87] were
outlawed by Claudius,[88] and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from
destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey).[89] However, under Roman
rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often
conflated with their Roman equivalents, like MarsRigonemetos at Nettleham.
The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain
European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head
and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the
differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the
Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is
widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman
temple to Claudius atCamulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt
of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist
peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.
Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation.
The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the
soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's
Wall (theRudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon
Mithraeum).
Christianity[edit]

Fourth century Chi-Rho fresco fromLullingstone Roman Villa, Kent, which contains the only known
Christian paintings from the Roman era in Britain.[90]

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has
been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester.[91] It consists of an
anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by
academics whether the "word square" is actually a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of
the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain.[92] The earliest confirmed written
evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he
described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts
of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". [93] Archaeological
evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small
timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been
found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort atRichborough. The Icklingham font is made
of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same
site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th century church and associated burial ground was
also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the
construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery.
The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th
century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall
paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th century cemetery at Poundbury with its
east-west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early
Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly
common in pagan contexts during the period.
The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as
evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the
Council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three
bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly
a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early
church structures are far to seek.[94] The existence of a church in the forum courtyard
of Lincolnand the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are
exceptional.[83] Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is
believed to have died in the early 4th century (although some date him in the middle 3rd
century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in
the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state
religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief
labelled a heresy by the church authorities Pelagianism was originated by a British
monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.
A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely
publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during
Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man
called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic
record of Christianity in Britain. However, this translation of the letter was apparently based
on grave paleographical errors, and the text, in fact, has nothing to do with Christianity, and
in fact relates to pagan rituals.[95]

Environmental changes[edit]
The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare
Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera),[96] said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms
and legs,[97] and the edible snail Helix pomatia.[98] There is also some evidence they may
have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. TheEuropean
rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been
introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066.[99]

Legacy[edit]

Roman roads

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which
continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also
built water supply, sanitation and sewage systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as
London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the
Romans.
Britain is the largest European region of the former Western Roman Empire whose majority
language is neither:

A Romance language (although English, descended from the speech of Germanic

tribes which arrived after the Romans had left Britain, has had a heavy influence from
French, due primarily to the Norman conquest of England), nor

A language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants, though Welsh exists as a

living minority language, with many borrowings from Latin, such
as llaeth ("milk", latte in modern Italian), ffenestr ("window", finestra in modern Italian).
 Fragmentary use of Cornishlasted into the early modern period and the language has
been seeing a renaissance since the late 20th century.

See also[edit]
Ancient Rome portal

Celtic Studies portal

United Kingdom portal

Prehistoric Britain

Britannia (disambiguation)

End of Roman rule in Britain

Governors of Roman Britain

Roman client kingdoms in Britain

History of the British Isles

Romano-British culture

Sub-Roman Britain

Roman sites in the United Kingdom

Mining in Roman Britain

Dolaucothi Gold Mines

Scotland during the Roman Empire

Romano-Celtic temple
 The Celts

The Roman Conquest of Britain

The first Roman

invasion of Britain was launched by the great republican general Julius
Caesar in 55 BC. Caesar was then leading the Roman armies in Gaul
and the Britons had been sending aid to their kinsmen the Celts of
Gaul.
 Caesar landed about 6 miles from Dover in present day Kent, and
in the summer of 55 BC fought several battles with the Celtic tribes of
southern Britain, he returned the following summer defeating the
British tribal chief Cassivellaunus. After exacting a promise of tribute
from the defeated tribes, Caesar left Britain to to put down the rebellion
in Gaul.

Nearly a century later, in 43 A.D. the Emperor Claudius required a

public relations coup to secure his shaky position and therefore
decided to undertake an invasion of Britain. Caratacus, king of
the Catavellauni tribe, which occupied the area to the north of the River
Thames, invaded the territory of his neighbours the Atrebates, whose
ruler, Verica, fled to Rome and appealed for aid providing Claudius with
the excuse he needed to invade.

Claudius sent four legions to Britain, embarking from Boulogne and

landing at Richborough in modern Kent, Claudius' forces launched a
three pronged attack on the Celts of Britain. The southern prong,
consisting of the Second Legion, commanded by the future Emperor
Vespasian marched through Sussex and Hampshire, the lands of the
Atrebates tribe, who were friendly to Rome.

The Durotriges tribe of Dorset offered the first real opposition to the
Romans. The invaders took the hill fort of Hod Hill, and built a military
camp in one corner of the enclosure, the remains of which can still be
seen today. Then they pushed on to present day Exeter. The Celtic
tribesmen made a stand at the huge earthworks of Maiden Castle in
Dorset but were defeated with such ruthless efficiency that the catapult
bolts used to subdue them can still be dug out of the ground today.
 The two other Roman prongs
of attack marched west towards north Wales and north to York. By the
summer of 43 AD Claudius himself was able to land in Britain, he
entered the Catuvellaunian capital of Camulodunum (Colchester) in
triumph and received the submission of twelve British chieftains. By 47
AD the Romans had conquered the whole of South Britain and claimed
Britain as part of the Roman Empire.

Caractacus, chief of the Catuvellauni adopted guerrilla tactics to

resist the Roman general Aulus Plautius. He and his brother
Togodumnus lost much of the south-east after being defeated in two
crucial battles on the rivers Medway and Thames. Some tribes,
realising that the end was near, made peace with the invaders, but
Caractacus fought on.

After Togodumnus was slain and resistance to the Romans

collapsed in the South-East of England, Caractacus established
himself with the Dubonni tribe, He then went on to lead the fierce
Silures and Ordovices of Wales against Plautius' successor as
governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula. The Romans marched on Wales
and Caratacus proceeded north in attempt to join forces with the fierce
Ordovices of North Wales. He was finally defeated at the battle of Caer
Caradoc by Scapula in 51A.D in the mountains of North Wales in the
territory of the Ordovices. With the capture of Caratacus, much of
southern Britain from the Humber to the Severn was pacified and
garrisoned throughout the 50s.

The first Roman capital of the new province of Britannia was

established at Colchester. However, the Romans to realised the
strategic importance of the River Thames as a communication and
transport highway. A small existing settlement, Londinium (London),
was built up to become a trade and administrative centre. The name
"Londinium" is thought to be pre-Roman (and possibly pre-Celtic).

Before the arrival of the Roman legions in Britain, the area

consisted of open countryside and marshland traversed by streams
such as Walbrook. Londinium was established at a point where the
River Thames was narrow enough to build a bridge, but deep enough
for ships to sail into. The remains of a huge Roman pier base for a
bridge were discovered in 1981, close to the modern London Bridge.
Early Roman London occupied a relatively small area, roughly
equivalent to Hyde Park in size at 350 acres. Londinium became the
hub at the centre of a major network of roads constructed primarily to
the movement of troops and administrative communication. They also
oversaw the expansion of trade that swiftly made London the most
important town, and eventually the capital, of the new province of
Brittania.

The Romans adopted a policy in Britain that had been extremely

successful elsewhere, rather than conquer by force, they established
"client kingdoms" on the borders of territory they directly controlled.
This meant that some Celtic tribes, in return for not being overrun,
agreed to ally themselves to Rome. Treaties with tribes in the north
and in East Anglia provided buffer areas while the process of subduing
resistance elsewhere was ongoing.
 The Druids, the only
men powerful enough to organise opposition to Roman rule throughout
the Celtic tribes, were outlawed. In AD 60 the Roman general Gaius
Suetonius Paulinus, in attempt to break the power of the druids,
crossed the Menai Strait, to attack the druids who had rallied in their
stronghold of the Island of Mona or Ynys Mon (Anglesey) off the
mainland of North Wales where they made a last stand against the
conquering legions of Rome and attempted to defend themselves by
using magical arts. After theRoman victory at the battle of Mona, many
of the druids were massacred, no quarter was given and the shrine
and the sacred groves were destroyed. The surviving Druids fled to
Ireland taking with them the Bardic Mantle to avoid disclosure and their
ritual observances and magical arts went underground. The massacre
led to Boudicca's Revolt as Paulinus attack on Mona left the rest of the
country open to attack.

Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni tribe, who occupied roughly what is

now Norfolk, ruled as an independent vassal of Rome. Prastagus died
in around 59 AD, bequeathing his lands jointly to his daughters and the
Roman Emperor, however the lands of the Icceni were annexed to
Rome and when his widow Bouddica protested she was flogged, her
daughters were raped.

In the year 60 or 61 A.D., when the Roman governor, Gaius

Suetonius Paulinus, was conducting a campaign against rebels the
Druids on Anglesey in north Wales, Boudica and the Iceni, in alliance
with the Trinovantes and other neighbouring tribes, rose in revolt
against the rule of Rome. Striking at symbols of the hated Roman
occupation, the British rebels marched on the poorly defended Roman
colony of Camulodunum (Colchester), which was the the former capitol
of the Trinovantes, the city was totally destroyed.

Hearing news of the

uprising, Suetonius marched hastily along Watling Street to Londinium
(London). Londinium was strategically abandoned to the rebels who
burnt it down, no prisoners were taken and no mercy was shown, all
those left within the city were slaughtered.

The victorious rebels then turned on Verulamium (St Albans), a city

largely populated by Britons who had cooperated with the Romans,
which was also destroyed. While Boudicca's exultant army continued
their assault in Verulamium, Suetonius regrouped his forces, gathering
an army of almost ten thousand men. He clashed with the Celtic army
at an unidentified location, probably in the West Midlands , somewhere
along the Roman road now known as Watling Street. By the end of the
day 80,000 Iceni lay dead on the battlefield.

As a result of the rebellion, the Romans strengthened their military

presence in Britain and also lessened the oppressiveness of their rule.
By 75 AD the Romans defeated the last of the resistant tribes in the
north making all of England and Wales part of the Roman Empire. The
Roman Governor of Britain, Agricola, attempted to conquer Scotland in
79 AD but was unsuccessful.

The Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122 AD and ordered the

construction of Hadrian's Wall between England and Scotland to keep
out the warlike Picts andScots. Construction probably commenced on
the wall in 122 A.D. and was largely completed within eight years.

The Celts

Religion of the Celts

The Celtic religion, druidism, was closely tied to the natural world
and they worshipped their gods in sacred places like lakes, rivers, cliffs
and bushes. The moon, the sun and the stars were especially
important, the Celts thought that there were supernatural forces.
 The Iron Age Celts were
polytheistic, they had many gods and goddesses which were
worshipped through sacrifice to appease them. Some of the more
famous are Arawn, Brigid, Cernunnos, Cerridwen, Danu, Herne, Lugh,
Rhiannon and Taranis. Some of these, like the Dagda, the all-father,
Danu, the mother goddess and Brigid or Brigantia, goddess of light,
are of more ancient origin than the Celts themselves, and are survivals
from the Neolithic cultures of Western Europe.

Cernunnos, the horned god of the underworld, is depicted with

stag's antlers on the "Pillar of the Boatmen", constructed by Gaulish
sailors in around 14 AD it was discovered in 1710 within the
foundations of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, site of ancient
Lutetia, the civitas capital of the Celtic Parisii. Depictions of wild boar
tending to Cernunnos, have also been discovered at a Neolithic site at
Durrington Walls in England. Belatucadros or Belatucadrus, a god of
war, was worshipped in northern Britain, particularly in Cumberland
and Westmorland and was equated by the Romans with the god Mars.
Belatucadros is known from about 28 inscriptions in the vicinity of
Hadrian's Wall.

Celtic mythology was based the earth goddess and fertility religion,
which was common throughout the ancient world, merged with an
emphasis on the Otherworld, accessible through their priests, the
druids, known as derwydd to the Welsh, whose origins stretch into the
far reaches of antiquity. The Druids prohibited the written recording of
their beliefs, and believed that such knowledge could only be
transfered orally. Accordingly our information on their belief system
derives from the Greco-Roman writers and conjectures based on late
recordings of Irish and Welsh mythology.
 The druids believed in the immortality of the soul, and believed that
the souls of the dead were reincarnated. Caesar stated "The principal
point of their doctrine", says Caesar, "is that the soul does not die and
that after death it passes from one body into another." At every birth,
the Celts mourned the death of a person in the Otherworld who had
made the new birth possible. The Roman writer Diodorus thought that
Celtic warriors were so courageous in battle because they
believed that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a definite
number of years they live a second life when the soul passes into
another body

The Druids claimed to foretell the future by meditation, study of the

flight of birds, interpretation of dreams, and by the pattern of sticks
thrown to the ground. The Celts sacrificed animals, and sometimes
even humans, to their gods. Many Roman writers wrote in horror about
the Celtic custom of human sacrifice and classical writers provide
harrowing descriptions of "blood-drenched altars" in sacred groves.
Bodies have been found in places of spiritual importance such as
wetlands, One particularly famous victim may have been Lindow Man,
who was discovered in 1984. The Romans outlawed the practice of
human sacrifice, but during the revolt of Boudicca, the Iceni performed
sacrifices to the Goddess of revenge, Andraste. The Celts also
sacrificed weapons to their gods by throwing them into lakes, rivers
and bogs.
 Both Julius Caesar and the
geographer Strabo mention the wicker man human sacrifices of the
Druids of Gaul, having devised a colossus of straw and wood, throw
into the colossus cattle and wild animals of all sorts and human
beings, and then make a burnt-offering of the whole thing- Strabo.
Caesar recorded that some of the Celts built effigies of a man out of
sticks and placed living men inside, then set them on fire to pay tribute
to the gods. "Others have figures of vast size, the limbs of which
formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the
men perish enveloped in the flames. They consider that the oblation of
such as have been taken in theft, or in robbery, or any other offense, is
more acceptable to the immortal gods; but when a supply of that class
is wanting, they have recourse to the oblation of even the innocent -
Caesar. The ritual burning of Wicker Men was performed particularly at
Beltaine (May) to mark the rite of spring.

The main centre of the druids in Britain was the Isle of Anglesey,
known as the island of Mona or Yns Mon, off the coast of North Wales,
where they made their final stand at the time of the Roman invasion of
Britain.
 The Celtic Calendar

The Celtic calendar was lunar based, and had thirteen months.
When required, additional days were added at the new year. The day
was seen as commencing after sunset, so the Celtic year began with
the arrival of the darkness.

The decline in the strength of the sun at the end of summer was a
source of anxiety for early man and the lighting of the winter fires was
an attempt to aid the sun on its journey across the sky as it descended
into the realm of the underworld. At Samhain (summer's end), modern
1 November, the Celtic feast of the dead was celebrated, when the
barrier between the world of men and the Otherworld was believed to
have thinned, allowing contacts between the spirits and humans.
Ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were
warded off. Bonfires were lit and the Celts wore costumes and masks
to disguise themselves as harmful spirits as a means of avoiding harm.
The festival survives to the present day as All Hallow's Eve or
Halloween and tthe term Samhain is still used in modern Irish to refer
to the month of November.

The light half of the year started at Bealtaine (1 May), the halfway
point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, which was
a day for dance and song, today Midsummer's Eve. Lughnasadh, held
on 1 August was seen as the wedding of the Sun god Lugh to the
Earth goddess, which caused the ripening of crops. The church
transformed this into an offering from the first fruits of the year, the first
loaves baked from the new wheat were offered at the Loaf Mass,
which became corrupted to Lammas. 2 February was known as Imbolc
(lambs' milk) because the lambing season began. It was also called
Brigantia for the Celtic female deity of light, due to the Sun's being
halfway on its advance from the winter solstice to the spring equinox.
 The Celts

The Last Stand of the Druids

The Celtic
Religion believed that the environment had magical links and practiced
ritual and sacrifice to appease their many deities, including human
sacrifice. Their god lay in the water of fast-flowing streams, and the
Sacred Oak and Mistletoe. The moon, the sun and the stars were
especially important, the Celts thought that there were supernatural
forces. and worshipped the time of the tide and the changing of the
seasons. Their sacred places were situated in woods or simple groves.

Often the victims which they sacrificed to their gods would be

imprisoned in a wooden effigy or Wicker Man, and burned alive.
Another form of sacrifice was known as the threefold death, where
the victim would be subjected to near strangulation and virtual
drowning before finally being stabbed to death. The Druids, or priestly
class, were the only tribe members allowed to carry out these
ceremonies, it was also believed that they could foretell the future. The
Druids were also responsible for the telling of the sacred myths, whose
legacy lives on today in traditional Celtic literature.

Julius Caesar encountered the Druids during his conquest of Gaul

from 58 to 49 BC. They were the only men powerful enough to
organise opposition to Roman rule throughout the Celtic tribes. After
the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 A.D., the Druids were outlawed.

In AD 60 the Roman general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, in attempt

to break the power of the druids, crossed the Menai Strait, to attack the
druids who had rallied in their stronghold of the Island of Mona off the
mainland of North Wales (Anglesey) where they made a last stand
against the conquering legions of Rome and attempted to defend
themselves by using magical arts, Tacitus left a description of the
Battle of Mona:-

"On the shore stood the opposing army with its densest array of
armed warriors. Between the ranks dashed women, attired in black like
the Furies with their hair disheveled, waving burning brands. All around
them were Druids lifting up their hands to heaven and pouring forth
dreadful implications. Our soldiers were so petrified by the unfamiliar
sight that as if their limbs were paralyzed, they stood motionless,
exposed to wounds. Until at last, urged by their general not to quail
before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onward,
smote down all resistence, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his
own brands."

After their victory at the battle of Mona, many of the druids were
massacred, no quarter was given and the shrine and the sacred
groves were destroyed. The surviving Druids fled to Ireland taking with
them the Bardic Mantle to avoid disclosure and their ritual observances
and magical arts went underground. The massacre led to Boudicca's
Revolt as Paulinus attack on Mona left the rest of the country open to
attack.

The Llyn Cerrig Bach Iron Age Hoard

 The Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard consists
of over a hundred and fifty items of bronze and iron discovered at the
Cors yr Ynys bog at the southern margin of Llyn Cerrig Bach, a small
lake in the north-west of Anglesey. The items were discovered at the
time of the Second World War during the construction of the RAF
airfield at Valley, Anglesey, by workmen digging peat from the site.
They may have been placed in the lake as votive offerings. The hoard
is considered to be one of the most important collections of La Tne
style metalwork discovered in the British Isles, and the most important
in Wales

The first object to be unearthed was an iron gang chain, which was
used for slaves. This was caught up in the teeth of a harrow and was
not at first identified as being ancient. It was attached to a tractor and
used to pull lorries out of the mud. Although around 2,000 years old,
the chain apparently adequately performed this function. Identification
of the chain prompted a thorough search of the area which resulted in
the discovery of a large number of other objects, mainly of iron but
some of bronze or copper alloy. A total of 181 artefacts are known to
have been recovered.

The superb collection includes seven swords, six spearheads,

fragments of a shield, part of a bronze trumpet, two gang chains,
fragments of iron wagon tyres and horse gear. In addition, blacksmith's
tools, fragments of two cauldrons, iron bars for trading and animal
bones were found. The location is said to be an important centre for
the Ancient Celtic Druids. Some of the offerings may have been made
in response to the threat from the Romans.

Most of the items found at Llyn Cerrig Bach can be seen in the
National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. The range and size of the Llyn
Cerrig Bach collection is of great importance to our understanding of
Iron Age weaponry, metalworking, tools and the development of art-
styles.

The Celts

Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni

Boudicca, or Boadicea as she

was known to the Romans, was the wife of Prasutagus, ruler of
the Iceni tribe, who occupied roughly what is now Norfolk. Boudica was
described by contemporaries as tall with flowing red hair below her
waist, She was also said to have had a harsh voice and piercing glare,
and wore a large golden neck ring, a multi coloured tunic, and a thick
cloak fastened by a brooch.
 After the Roman conquest of southern England in 43 A.D.,
Boudicca's husband Prastagus ruled over the territories of the Iceni as
an independent vassal of Rome. The Roman procedure at the time
was that when a vassal king died the Romans took over the area. On
his death in around 59 A.D., Prasutagus tried to side-step this by
bequeathing his lands jointly to his daughters and the Roman Emperor,
however the lands of the Icceni were annexed to Rome and when
Boudica protested she was flogged, her daughters were raped and the
Romans seized the wealth of many of the Iceni.

In the year 60 or 61 A.D., when the Roman governor, Gaius

Suetonius Paulinus, was conducting a campaign against rebels on
Anglesey in north Wales, a stronghold of the Celtic druids who were
making their last stand there, Boudica and the Iceni, in alliance with the
Trinovantes and other neighbouring tribes, rose in revolt against the
rule of Rome.

Striking at symbols of the hated Roman occupation, the British

rebels marched on the poorly defended Roman colony of
Camulodunum (Colchester), which was the the former capitol of the
Trinovantes, the city was totally destroyed. The Roman Procurator,
Decianus was forced to flee. The Britons besieged the temple to the
former emperor Claudius for two days, regarded by the local native
population as a citadel of everlasting tyranny, it finally fell after which
the city was methodically demolished. Quintus Petillius Cerialis led the
Legio IX Hispana, in attempt to relieve the city, but suffered an
overwhelming defeat with his infantry totally annihilated.

Hearing news of the uprising, Suetonius marched hastily along

Watling Street to Londinium (London). Londinium was strategically
abandoned to the rebels who burnt it down, no prisoners were taken
and no mercy was shown, all those left within the city were
slaughtered. Modern archaeology has revealed a thick red layer of
burnt debris covering coins and pottery dating before AD 60 within the
bounds of Roman Londinium. Skulls dating from the Roman-era
unearthed in the Walbrook in 2013 were potentially linked to victims of
the rebels.

During the revolt of Boudicca, the Iceni performed sacrifices to the

Celtic Goddess of revenge, Andraste. Dio Cassius describes a scene
in which Boudicca released a hare from her gown - "Let us, therefore,
go against (the Romans), trusting boldly to good fortune. Let us show
them that they are hares and foxes trying to rule over dogs and
wolves." When she (Boudica) had finished speaking, she employed a
species of divination, letting a hare escape from the fold of her dress;
and since it ran on what they considered the auspicious side, the
whole multitude shouted with pleasure, and Boudica, raising her hand
toward heaven, said: "I thank you, Andraste, and call upon you as
woman speaking to woman ... I beg you for victory and preservation of
liberty."

The victorious rebels then turned on Verulamium (St Albans), a city

largely populated by Britons who had cooperated with the Romans,
which was also destroyed. In the three settlements destroyed, between
seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed.

While
Boudicca's exultant army continued their assault in Verulamium,
Suetonius regrouped his forces, gathering an army of almost ten
thousand men. He clashed with the Celtic army at theBattle of Watling
Street, fought at an unidentified location somewhere along the Roman
road now known as Watling Street. Most historians favour a site in the
West Midlands. A site close to High Cross in Leicestershire has also
been suggested, on the junction of Watling Street and the Fosse Way.
Suetonius was heavily outnumbered by the Celts, but chose an
advantageous position with dense woodland protecting his rear and a
narrow defile in front.

Boudicca proudly addressed her army from her war chariot, stating
that their cause was just, and the gods were on their side. She
stressed that she, a woman, was resolved to win or die rather than live
in slavery to the Romans.

At the opening of the battle, the Romans killed thousands of Celts

with volleys of heavy javelins known as pila as they charged uphill on
the Roman lines. The Romans then advanced in a wedge formation,
the Britons made attempts to flee, but were impeded by the presence
of their own families, whom they had stationed in a ring of wagons at
the edge of the battlefield, and were slaughtered. Tacitus provides an
account of the final battle that relates the women running about
frantically, hair wild, naked and screaming. By the end of the day
80,000 Iceni lay dead on the battlefield.

Much of our information regarding Boudicca is sourced from two

Roman writers, Publius Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 56-117) and Cassius
Dio (A.D. 150-235). The Roman historian Tacitus reported that Boudica
poisoned herself rather than be taken prisoner, though in the Agricola
which was written almost twenty years prior, he mentions nothing of
suicide and attributes the end of the revolt to socordia ("indolence");
Dio states she fell sick and died and was given a lavish funeral. As a
result of the rebellion, the Romans strengthened their military presence
in Britain and also lessened the oppressiveness of their rule.

Arcaeological Evidence of Boudicca's Revolt

A thick
layer of red soot has been unearthed in modern Colchester, a survival
from the time when Boudicca set the city ablaze. The George Hotel, on
High Street has a glass pane in its basement which reveals the
distinctive burnt red clay. A archeaological dig at Colchester found
evidence to suggest every house had been carefully levelled, one by
one, by the Iceni.

This archaeological layer is known as Boudicca's Destruction

Horizon, with burnt artifacts from the period, many of which are
displayed at Colchester Castle Museum, which now occupies the site
of the Roman Temple of Claudius. A head from a bronze statue of the
Emperor, which is thought to have come from the temple, was found at
Rendham in Suffolk and is now housed in The British Museum.

An archaeological excavation at Gryme's Dyke, Colchester, a

Roman controlled earthwork, provided graphic evidence of the harsh
treatment the Romans meted out to the native inhabitants of
Colchester. Six humans skulls were unearthed, one of which displayed
a deep gash, the result of a heavy sword blow to the head. Another of
the skulls exhibited a severe fracture caused by a blunt instrument
such as a sword pommel, in both cases the injuries that had been
inflicted on these individuals had proved fatal. Further tests revealed
that these were the remains of native Celts. It is believed that the
heads had been impaled on stakes erected within the earthwork
enclosure to act as a deterrent to others.

Verulamium Museum
has reconstructions of Roman rooms, an impressive Roman and Iron
Age archaeological collection of national and international significance
including, among other treasures, weapons and armour of the period, a
suit of Iron Age chain mail buried with the chieftain of the Catuvellauni
tribe and a Roman helmet.

In common with Colchester, the main evidence for Boudicca's revolt

in London is the presence of a charred archaeological layer dating to
before 60 A.D. within the bounds of Roman Londinium. The layer,
which is up to 30 cm thick in some areas, includes the remains of
buildings burnt down by the rebels.

In the 1860s, excavations uncovered a large number of blackened

Roman skulls, and almost no other bones, in the bed of the Walbrook,
a subterranean river in London. It was a common custom of the Celts
at the time to decapitate the enemy and keep their heads. It is thought
that the Walbrook Skulls, may be the heads of some of the Londoners
massacred by Boudicca.

Cockley Cley, 3 miles South West of Swaffham, in Norfolk, has a

reconstruction of an Iceni Village, which recreates the life of the Iceni in
Britain just before the invasion of the Romans around 2000 years ago.

The Snettisham Hoard was unearthed in Norfolk between 1948 and

1973. The hoard consists of metal, jet and over 150 gold torc
fragments, over 70 of which form complete torcs, dating from BC 70.
Though the hoards origin is unknown, it is of sufficient high quality to
have been royal treasure of the Iceni. The Roman historian Dio
Cassius, described Boudica wearing a magnificent gold neck ring. This
was almost certainly a torc.

The Celts

Iron Age Hillforts in Britain

Hill forts existed in Britain from the Bronze Age, but the majority of
British hillforts date from the Iron Age, when they reached their heyday,
between 700 BC andthe Roman conquest of 43 AD. Varying from mere
mounds to huge ramparts, these Dark Age fortresses dot the British
landscape, vestiges of an age of warriors, sacrifice and ritual and
murderous retribution. These large defensive enclosures protected by
a series of steep ditches, can usually be found occupying prominent
hilltop positions. In times of attack the local populace may have sought
refuge within the hillforts.
 There are over
2,000 Iron Age known hillforts in Britain, standing sentinel to a bygone
age of tribal warfare, nearly 600 of them are situated in
Wales. Danebury Hill Fort which lies around 12 miles from
Winchester, is the most thoroughly investigated hillfort. Maiden
Castle in Dorset is the largest, covering 45 acres with huge earth walls
rising to around 6 metres, even by modern standards, Maiden Castle is
a massive earthwork. In the Iron Age, Maiden Castle was occupied by
the Durotriges tribe, who inhabited the areas of modern Dorset, south
Wiltshire, south Somerset and Devon east of the River Axe.

Liddington Castle in Wiltshire was one of the earliest hill forts in

Britain, sometimes cited as the location of the fifth century Battle of
Mount Badon, it is situated on a commanding high position close to
The Ridgeway. The earthworks consist of an oval bank of timber and
earth fronted by a ditch, with entrances on the east and west sides. A
palisade of wooden posts may have lined the top of the bank.

Warfare between the Celtic tribes of Britain could be brutal, bloody

and savage as an excavators of theFin Cop hillfort near the village of
Ashford-in-the-Water in Derbyshire found when they made a gruesome
discovery. An Iron age mass grave at the site of the fort contained the
unceremoniously buried remains of only women and children, nine
skeletons of women, one of whom was pregnant, four babies, a toddler
of around two years old and a single teenage male who was found in a
in a crouched position. Women, babies and children had either been
stabbed or strangled, stripped of possessions and thrown into the ditch
that encircled the fort. There was a total absence of adult males, whom
it is assumed were either killed in battle or pressed into military service
or sold for slaves by their captors.
 The skeletons were discovered in a section of ditch around the fort.
The fort's stone wall had been broken up and the rubble used to fill the
400 metre perimeter ditch, where the skeletons were found. Their
attackers then toppled a thirteen foot high limestone wall over their
bodies, covering the mass grave with rocks and soil. Animal bones,
also buried in the ditch, suggest the fort's inhabitants kept cattle, sheep
and pigs.

A further skeleton
dating to the same time period, which belonged to a child, was
discovered in a cave below the site in 1911 and could be related to the
same event. The archaeologists are puzzled by the apparent absence
of adult males at Fin Cop. None of the victims displayed fatal trauma
on their bones, and it seems most likely that the cause of death was
soft-tissue wounds. There were no personal possessions buried with
them, suggesting the captors removed any valuables. Seven of the
skeletons have been radiocarbon dated to between 410-40 BC.

Dr Clive Waddington, who directed the two-year dig for

Archaeological Research Services, commented "In recent years there
has become an almost accepted assumption that warfare in the British
Iron Age is largely invisible. Hill forts have been seen as displays of
power, prestige and status rather than places with a serious military
purpose". He added For the people living at Fin Cop the hurriedly
constructed fort was evidently intended as a defensive work in
response to a very real threat.

The grim discoveries at Fin Cop have reopened the debate on the
purpose of hill forts. For the people living here, the hurriedly
constructed fort was evidently intended as a defensive work in
response to a very real threat. The ditches and fort were never
finished. They had started to make a second wall but that wasnt
completed. You can tell that it was a hasty thing they were trying to
rapidly build it and it was not done on time. Significantly, Fin Cop was
probably not the only settlement to have been destroyed by attackers.
For just a few miles way, at Bakewell, another fortified settlement
appears to have met a similar fate.

After the Roman conquest, the Romans occupied some of the

hillforts, such as the military garrison at Hod Hill, and the temple at
Brean Down, but others were destroyed and abandoned. Where
Roman influence was less strong, such as in Ireland and northern
Scotland, hill forts were still constructed and used for several more
centuries.

Cadbury
Castle in Somerset, thought by some to be the Camelot of Arthurinan
legend is the largest amongst the forts reoccupied following the end of
Roman rule, to defend against the onslaught of the Anglo-Saxons.
Partially articulated remains of between 28 and 40 men, women and
children at Cadbury Castle were thought to implicate the Cadbury
population in a revolt in the 70s although this has subsequently been
questioned. The Romano-British cemetery byPoundbury
hillfort contains Christian burials of the fourth century.

The Wansdyke was a linear earthwork which connected to the

existing hill fort at Maes Knoll, which defined the Celtic-Saxon border in
south-west England during the period 577652 AD. It consists of a
ditch and embankment, with the ditching facing north. There are two
main parts, an eastern dyke which runs between Savernake Forest
and Morgan's Hill in Wiltshire, and a western dyke which runs from
Monkton Combe to the ancient hill fort of Maes Knoll in Somerset.
 Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a massacre involving
hundreds at Ham Hill hillfort near Yeovil. Some of the bodies, which
were predominantly women, were stripped of their flesh or chopped up.
The remains unearthed have cut marks, often in multiple rows, and
occurring at the ends of important joints. It is as if they were trying to
separate pieces of the body, according to Dr Marcus Brittain, the
Cambridge archaeologist and head of the excavation. The remains are
said to date from the 1st or 2nd century AD.

The massacre remains unexplained, but occurred at around the

start of the Roman invasion of Britain. Evidence of Roman military
equipment in the form of large ballista bolts, has been found among
the bodies. One theory in attempt to explain the mystery is that the
Romans executed people in keeping order between the Celtic tribes,
but its unlikely that they did the defleshing because the gruesome
practice is rarely associated with them. Defleshing was linked to Iron
Age Britons who often placed the skulls of their enemies on doorways.

The Celts

Roman Britain
 Following the
aborted attempts to invade Britain by Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC,
the British Isles remained largelyundisturbed by the Roman Empire for
nearly a century until the Emperor Claudius' Invasion of Britain in 43
AD.

Claudius' invasion witnessed the defeat of the Catuvellauni

tribe under the brothers Togodumnus andCaractacus, in battle on the
river Medway and on the Thames, after which the Romans advanced
on the Catuvellaunian capital of Camulodunum (Colchester). The
future emperor Vespasian subdued the southwest and Cogidubnus,
chief of the Regneses tribe, was set up to rule several territories as a
vassal king of Rome.

Vespasian then marched west, and stormed the hill forts of Maiden
Castle and Hod Hill defeating the Britons there with ruthless efficiency.
Having gained control of the south of Britain, the Romans marched
west into the area now known as Wales. There they encountered the
Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli tribes, who opposed the invaders
fiercely. The Silures were led by the renegade Caratacus, who had fled
into Wales to continue a guerilla campaign against the Roman
Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula.

Caractacus was finally defeated in battle in 51 AD and after being

betrayed to the Romans by his fellow Briton Cartimandua, Queen of
the Brigantes,with whom he had sought refuge, was taken to Rome as
a prisoner, where he spent the rest of his years. Venutius of the
Brigantes, the ex-spouse of Cartmandua, then led a further rebellion
against Roman rule in the north of England.
 In 6061, while
Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was engaged in a campaign
against the Silures of Wales, the Iceni tribe of Norfolk, led by their
outraged Queen, Boudica rose in revolt. Allied to the Trinovantes, they
destroyed the Roman town of Camulodunum (Colchester) many of the
towns inhabitants were mercilessly slain. Londinium (London), beame
the next target of the exhultant rebels, followed by Verulamium (St.
Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people were reported
to have been massacred in the three setttlements before Boudica's
forces were finally defeated in the Battle of Watling Street.

69 AD, the "Year of four emperors", when the Emperor Nero had
died and a struggle broke out in Rome to decide who would be his
successor, witnessed further turmoil in Britain. A civil war was being
fought in Rome, leading to an inability unable to control the legions in
Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes again raised the banner of revolt.
After Vespasian was appointed Roman Emperor, Quintus Petillius
Cerialis marched against the Brigantes while Sextus Julius Frontinus
was dispatched to deal with the Silures.

Frontinus succeeded in extending Roman rule throughout South

Wales. Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes and an ally of Rome, was
evacuated to the newly constructed Roman fort at Chester, leaving
Venutius in control of a kingdom at war with Rome. Venutius ruled
Brigantia as an independent kingdom briefly. Eventually he was
defeated by the Romans, after which they ruled the Brigantes directly.

Under Roman rule the Britons adopted Roman customs, law and
religion. During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an
extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later
centuries, they also constructed water supply, sanitation and sewage
systems. Urban settlements outside the Roman forts gradually grew
into towns. Many of Britain's cities, such as London (Londinium),
Manchester (Mamucium) Chester (Deva) and York (Eburacum), were
founded by the Romans. The earliest phases of towns, dating to the
mid first century, reveal timber strip buildings, houses and shops, as
well as stone public buildings such as temples and administrative
headquarters.

Londinium was established in around 50 AD as a major commercial

centre for the Roman Empire. The name is said to derive from pre-
Roman, and possibly even pre-Celtic origins. At the time of its
foundation, early Roman London occupied a relatively small area,
roughly equivalent in size to Hyde Park at 350 acres (1.4 km2). Its
length has been estimated as running from the Tower of London west
to Ludgate at about one mile (1.6 km); and from London Wall in the
north to the Thames bank, around half a mile.
 The main evidence for
Boudicca's revolt in London is the presence of a charred
archaeological layer dating to before 60 A.D. within the bounds of
Roman Londinium. The layer, which is up to 30 cm thick in some
areas, includes the remains of buildings burnt down by the rebels. In
the 1860s, excavations uncovered a large number of blackened
Roman skulls, and almost no other bones, in the bed of the Walbrook,
a subterranean river in London. It was a common custom of the Celts
at the time to decapitate the enemy and keep their heads. It is thought
that the Walbrook Skulls, may be the heads of some of the Londoners
massacred by Boudicca.

The London Wall, a defensive wall around the landward side of the
city, was constructed between the years 190 and 225, it was one of the
largest construction projects ever embarked on in Roman Britain. The
wall measured around 5 km (3 miles) long, 6 metres (20 feet) high, and
2.5 metres (8 feet 2 inches) thick. The remains of an amphitheatre
have been uncovered in north London, some of which is still visible
beneath the Guildhall. Roman London also had several bath houses or
Thermae and several important temples.
 The Catuvellaunian fortress at Camulodunum (Colchester) had
been turned into a civilian settlement by 49 AD. The settlement was
populated mainly by retired soldiers, large public buildings were
erected, including a theatre and a senate house. The Temple of
Claudius was built to worship the Emperor, probably after his death in
54 AD, when he was deified, it was totally destroyed during the
rebellion of Boudica.

The head of a life-size bronze statue of Claudius was discovered in

the River Alde in 1907, at a site around 30 miles from Colchester and
on the southern edge of Iceni territory, it could possibly have been
broken from a statue in the temple by Boudica's forces and carried off
as a trophy, although concrete evidence to support this theory is
lacking. The town was later rebuilt and enclosed by a substantial
defensive wall.

A thick layer of red soot has been unearthed in modern Colchester,

a survival from the time when Boudicca set the city ablaze. The
George Hotel, on High Street has a glass pane in its basement which
reveals the distinctive burnt red clay. A archeaological dig at Colchester
found evidence to suggest every house had been carefully levelled,
one by one, by the Iceni. This archaeological layer is known as
Boudicca's Destruction Horizon, with burnt artifacts from the period,
many of which are displayed at Colchester Castle Museum, which now
occupies the site of the Roman Temple of Claudius.

An archaeological excavation at Gryme's Dyke, Colchester, a

Roman controlled earthwork, provided graphic evidence of the harsh
treatment the Romans meted out to the native inhabitants of
Colchester. Six humans skulls were unearthed, one of which displayed
a deep gash, the result of a heavy sword blow to the head. Another of
the skulls exhibited a severe fracture caused by a blunt instrument
such as a sword pommel, in both cases the injuries that had been
inflicted on these individuals had proved fatal. Further tests revealed
that these were the remains of native Celts. It is believed that the
heads had been impaled on stakes erected within the earthwork
enclosure to act as a deterrent to others.

The city of Chester, known to the Romans by the name of Castra

Deva, began life as a fort occupied by the 20th Legion (Valeria Victrix).
The original fort on the River Dee was probably established during the
early campaigns of governor Publius Ostorius Scapula against the
Deceangi in north-east Wales sometime around AD47/48, during the
Roman advance northwards. For more than three centuries Chester
was one of the most important military bases in the Roman Empire.
 The
Roman Amphitheatre at Chester dates from around 86 AD and is the
largest yet excavated in the whole of the British Isles. It was
constructed shortly after the establishment of the fort to provide an
entertainment centre and training ground for the troops of the 20th
Legion stationed there. It is semi circular in form as only half of the
structure has been excavated. The structure consisted of a 40 feet (12
metre) high stone ellipse, 320 feet (98 metres) along the major axis by
286 feet (87 m) along the minor. The exits are positioned along the four
points of the compass. Evidence of eight vaulted stairways, known as
vomitoria, has been uncovered, which opened directly on to the street
and served as entrances to the auditorium.

As was the fashion with most Roman forts of the era, the
amphitheatre was placed at the south east corner of the fort. Unlike
other smaller, more basic amphitheatres in Britain, the one in Chester
had proper seating for about 10,000 spectators on two storeys and
about it stood a complex of dungeons, stables and food stands.

A stone block with iron fittings was discovered at the centre of the
Chester amphitheatre, which dates back to about AD 100. It is similar
to one depicted in a third century mosaic found at a Roman villa at
Bignor, West Sussex, which depicts two gladiators fighting. Gladiator
fights were hugely popular and aroused deep passions. Gladiators
were often prisoners of war or condemned slaves, reprieved and
trained for the arena. Combat gave them literaly a new chance to win a
new life by showing skill and courage, even in defeat and reinforced
the Roman military ethos.

At the Roman town of Aquae Sulis (Bath), an impressive bath-

house was built around natural hot springs, on a site which had been a
shrine of the Celts, dedicated to their goddess, Sulis. The Romans
identified the goddess with their goddess Minerva and encouraged her
worship. The Roman Baths now house a museum collection of
outstanding quality and international significance.

In the years which followed, the Romans subdued more of Britain,

the Ordovice tribe was conquered in 78 AD by Gnaeus Julius Agricola,
father-in-law of the historian Tacitus. The Romans referred to Scotland
as Caledonia, a name derived from the Pictish tribe Caledonii. Agricola
went on to defeat the Caledonians at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in
Scotland, in 84 AD, but soon after was recalled to Rome. The Romans
then withdrew to a more defensible line along the Forth-Clyde isthmus.

Hadrian's
Wall was built as a defence against the warlike Pictish tribes of
Scotland and marks the northern boundary of the Roman Empire, it
was built following a visit to Britain by the emperor Hadrian in 122 A.D.
and remains today a fitting memorial to an Emperor distinguished for
his architectural ambitions. Construction probably commenced on the
wall in 122 A.D. and was largely completed within eight years. The
work was carried out by the Second, Sixth and Twentieth legions,
normally based in York, Chester and Caerleon.
 The wall was not patrolled by soldiers from Rome, but by second
line troops called auxiliaries, these soldiers were recruited from the
continent and were well trained. They would have come from as far
afield as Africa and Asia as well as Europe, with some British recruits
also stationed there. Running for forty-five miles from the east,
Hadrian's Wall was constructed of stone and turf. The stone wall had
two outer faces of dressed stone, containing a centre of rubble. The
remaining thirty-one miles of the Wall in the west was built of turf. The
turf wall, constructed from turf blocks, was built either from the
prepared ground or upon a bed of cobbles. There was a large ditch
with attendant earthworks to the south, called the Vallum.

During the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161) the border was

extended north to the Forth-Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall
was constructed around the year 142. The first Antonine occupation of
lowland Scotland was brought to an end as a result of the Brigantian
revolt of 155-157, which forced the Romans to move their troops south.
The rebellion was put down by Governor Cnaeus Julius Verus. The
following year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it
was abandoned.

By the end the third century, Christianity was becoming a minority

faith in Britain but pagan beliefs were still adhered to by the majority of
the population. In 304 the Emperor Diocletian rescinding the legal
rights of Christians and demanded that they comply with traditional
Roman religious practices. In 304, St. Alban, a Roman patrician,
became the first British Christian Martyr. St Alban, a recent convert to
Christianity, provided refuge for Amphibalus, a priest who was being
pursued by the Romans, after refusing to make an offering to the
Roman gods, he was executed at Verulamium (St Albans). Less than a
decade later, the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and
made the religion legal throughout the Roman Empire.

Between 388 and 400 AD the Roman Empire came under attack
from barbarian hordes of Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals and
Franks, soldiers stationed in Britain were recalled to Rome. In 410, the
civitates of Britain sent a letter to the emperor Honorius, requesting aid
against the invading Saxons. He repllied advising them to 'look to their
own defences', Roman influence in Britain was officially ended.

Celtic Britain (The Iron Age - 600 BC - 50 AD)

BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR

Who were they?
The Iron Age is the age of the "Celt" in Britain. Over the 500 or so years
leading up to the first Roman invasion a Celtic culture established itself
throughout the British Isles. Who were these Celts?

For a start, the concept of a "Celtic" people is a modern and somewhat

romantic reinterpretation of history. The Celts were warring tribes
who certainly wouldnt have seen themselves as one people at the time.
The "Celts" as we traditionaly regard them exist largely in the
magnificence of their art and the words of the Romans who fought
them. The trouble with the reports of the Romans is that they were a
mix of reportage and political propaganda. It was politically expedient
for the Celtic peoples to be coloured as barbarians and the Romans as a
great civilizing force. And history written by the winners is always
suspect.

Where did they come from?

What we do know is that the people we call Celts gradually infiltrated
Britain over the course of the centuries between about 500 and 100 B.C.
There was probably never an organized Celtic invasion; for one thing
the Celts were so fragmented and given to fighting among themselves
that the idea of a concerted invasion would have been ludicrous.

The Celts were a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language,

religion, and cultural expression. They were not centrally governed, and
quite as happy to fight each other as any non-Celt. They were warriors,
living for the glories of battle and plunder. They were also the people
who brought iron working to the British Isles.

The advent of iron

The use of iron had amazing repercussions. First, it changed trade and
fostered local independence. Trade was essential during the Bronze Age,
for not every area was naturally endowed with the necessary ores to
make bronze. Iron, on the other hand, was relatively cheap and
available almost everywhere.
Hill forts
The time of the "Celtic conversion" of Britain saw a huge growth in the
number of hill fortsthroughout the region. These were often small ditch
and bank combinations encircling defensible hilltops. Some are small
enough that they were of no practical use for more than an individual
family, though over time many larger forts were built. The curious thing
is that we don't know if the hill forts were built by the native Britons to
defend themselves from the encroaching Celts, or by the Celts as they
moved their way into hostile territory.

Usually these forts contained no source of water, so their use as long

term settlements is doubtful, though they may have been useful indeed
for withstanding a short term siege. Many of the hill forts were built on
top of earlier causewayed camps.

Celtic family life

The basic unit of Celtic life was the clan, a sort of extended family. The
term "family" is a bit misleading, for by all accounts the Celts practiced
a peculiar form of child rearing; they didn't rear them, they farmed
them out. Children were actually raised by foster parents. The foster
father was often the brother of the birth-mother. Got it?

Clans were bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes,
each of which had its own social structure and customs, and possibly its
own local gods.

Housing
The Celts lived in huts of arched timber with walls of wicker and roofs
of thatch. The huts were generally gathered in loose hamlets. In several
places each tribe had its own coinage system.

Farming
The Celts were farmers when they weren't fighting. One of the
interesting innovations that they brought to Britain was the iron plough.
Earlier ploughs had been awkward affairs, basically a stick with a
pointed end harnessed behind two oxen. They were suitable only for
ploughing the light upland soils. The heavier iron ploughs constituted an
agricultural revolution all by themselves, for they made it possible for
the first time to cultivate the rich valley and lowland soils. They came
with a price, though. It generally required a team of eight oxen to pull
the plough, so to avoid the difficulty of turning that large a team, Celtic
fields tended to be long and narrow, a pattern that can still be seen in
some parts of the country today.
The lot of women. Celtic lands were owned communally, and wealth
seems to have been based largely on the size of cattle herd owned. The
lot of women was a good deal better than in most societies of that
time. They were technically equal to men, owned property, and could
choose their own husbands. They could also be war leaders,
as Boudicca (Boadicea) later proved.
Language
There was a written Celtic language, but it developed well into
Christian times, so for much of Celtic history they relied on oral
transmission of culture, primarily through the efforts of bards and
poets. These arts were tremendously important to the Celts, and much
of what we know of their traditions comes to us today through the old
tales and poems that were handed down for generations before
eventually being written down.

Druids
Another area where oral traditions were important was in the training
of Druids. There has been a lot of nonsense written about Druids, but
they were a curious lot; a sort of super-class of priests, political
advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators. They had their own
universities, where traditional knowledge was passed on by rote. They
had the right to speak ahead of the king in council, and may have held
more authority than the king. They acted as ambassadors in time of war,
they composed verse and upheld the law. They were a sort of glue
holding together Celtic culture.

Religion
From what we know of the Celts from Roman commentators, who are,
remember, witnesses with an axe to grind, they held many of their
religious ceremonies in woodland groves and near sacred water, such as
wells and springs. The Romans speak of human sacrifice as being a part
of Celtic religion. One thing we do know, the Celts revered human
heads.

Celtic warriors would cut off the heads of their enemies in battle and
display them as trophies. They mounted heads in doorposts and hung
them from their belts. This might seem barbaric to us, but to the Celt
the seat of spiritual power was the head, so by taking the head of a
vanquished foe they were appropriating that power for themselves. It
was a kind of bloody religious observance.

The Iron Age is when we first find cemeteries of ordinary peoples

burials (in hole-in-the-ground graves) as opposed to the elaborate
barrows of the elite few that provide our main records of burials in
earlier periods.
The Celts at War
The Celts loved war. If one wasn't happening they'd be sure to start one.
They were scrappers from the word go. They arrayed themselves as
fiercely as possible, sometimes charging into battle fully naked, dyed
blue from head to toe, and screaming like banshees to terrify their
enemies.

They took tremendous pride in their appearance in battle, if we can

judge by the elaborately embellished weapons and paraphernalia they
used. Golden shields and breastplates shared pride of place with
ornamented helmets and trumpets.

The Celts were great users of light chariots in warfare. From this
chariot, drawn by two horses, they would throw spears at an enemy
before dismounting to have a go with heavy slashing swords. They also
had a habit of dragging families and baggage along to their battles,
forming a great milling mass of encumbrances, which sometimes cost
them a victory, as Queen Boudicca would later discover to her dismay.

As mentioned, they beheaded their opponents in battle and it was

considered a sign of prowess and social standing to have a goodly
number of heads to display.

The main problem with the Celts was that they couldn't stop fighting
among themselves long enough to put up a unified front. Each tribe was
out for itself, and in the long run this cost them control of Britain.

Druids

BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR

In simple terms the Druids were the priests of the Celtic tribes in
Britain. But to state that fact does not convey the breadth of their
influence in Celtic society. The Druids were a sort of super-class of
priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators among the
Celtic tribes.
They had their own universities, where traditional knowledge was
passed on by rote (i.e. memorized). Druids had the right to speak ahead
of the king in council, and may in some situations have held more
authority than the king. They acted as ambassadors in time of war, they
composed verse and upheld the law. They were a sort of glue holding
together Celtic culture.
We know that the Druids used both animal and human sacrifice, and
that many of their observances centred on oak groves and water. The
Isle of Anglesey, in present-day Wales, was a centre of Druidic practice.
The Druids as we know them today exist largely in the words of the
Romans. The trouble with the reports of the Romans is that they were a
mix of reportage and political propaganda. It was politically expedient
for the Celtic peoples to be coloured as barbarians and the Romans as a
great civilizing force.
Certainly the Romans seem to been genuinely horrified by the instances
of human sacrifice among the Druids. In 61 AD the Romans exterminated
the Druids of Anglesey, effectively destroying druidism as a religious
force until a form of druidism was revived in the 19th century.
Related:
Celtic Britain
Roman invasion

Roman Britain - the Roman Invasion

BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR

Caesar's Summer Vacation

In 55 B.C. Julius Caesar, then general of the Roman armies in Gaul,
decided that it would be a good move to try a little summer invasion of
Britiain. It may have been a move intended to gain prestige back home
in Rome, but it was a move that made sense. The Celts in Gaul had been
receiving aid from their close relations in southern England. British Celts
may even have fought with related tribes in Gaul against the Romans.
Certainly J. C. complained that defeated Gauls would slip away to
Britain to regroup. Tackling the British Celts made sense in the battle to
secure Gaul for Rome.
Caesar's invasion proved successful but inconclusive. Landing in present
day Kent, he did battle with several tribes that summer, and did very
well, thank you. The following summer he returned for more, easily
defeating the first real historical British figure we know of, King
Cassivellaunus. Remember that British "kings" at this time were really no
more than tribal chiefs. There was no such thing as a unified "Britain",
and there was no such thing as a unified Celtic army to meet the Roman
advance.
Julius Caesar left after two summers fighting, exacting a promise of
tribute from the defeated tribes, but it was not for another century
that Rome would try to extend its influence in England. In the
meantime, however, the contacts between the Roman Empire and Celtic
Britain grew. Trade flourished, and it is suggested that some Celtic
princes were sent to Rome to be educated.
One important social change that occurred at this time was that
kingship became hereditary, rather than a post awarded to the best war
leader. This change was to have disastrous consequences; several
princes fled to Rome to appeal for help in succession squabbles. Rome
was happy to use this as a convenient excuse for invasion.
The Pretext
In 43 A.D. Claudius became Emperor of Rome. Needing a public relations
coup to secure his tenuous position (nothing ever changes in politics,
does it?) he decided to revive the dream of expanding the Empire to the
British Isles. The pretext was conveniently provided by Caratacus, king
of the Catavellauni tribe. Caratacus invaded the territories of the
Atrebates, whose king, Verica, fled to Rome and appealed for help.
Claudius was quite happy to respond.
Britain was regarded with some mystical awe by the Romans, and at
first Claudius' troops, 40,000 of them, refused to disembark from the
invasion boats. Once they screwed up their courage, however, they
made a good job of it, sweeping up from the landing place at
Richborough in modern Kent in a three pronged attack. We know more
about the southern prong, at least partly because it was commanded by
a future Emperor of Rome, Vespasian.

The fight in the South

Vespasian's 2nd Legion marched through Sussex and Hampshire, the
lands of the Atrebates, who were friendly to Rome, meeting their first
real opposition from the Durotriges tribe in Dorset. They overran the hill
fort of Hod Hill, and in an unusual move, built their military camp in
one corner of the enclosure, where it can be seen today. Then they
pushed on to present day Exeter, capturing twenty hill forts in all.

Maiden Castle
A grim reminder of this invasion is still to be seen at Maiden Castle in
Dorset, where the Romans left behind a war cemetery full of enemy
remains. The Celtic inhabitants had attempted to defend the fort with
the aid of some 54,000 sling stones brought up from Chesil Beach, but
this primitive artillery was no match for the discipline and experience of
the Roman legions.

The two other prongs of attack pushed towards north Wales and north
to York. By summer Claudius himself was able to land and receive the
submission of twelve chieftains.

Tribal Troubles
The plan at first was to limit the conquest to the lowlands of modern
England, so a border was established by 47 A.D. along the route of the
Fosse Way, the great Roman road running from Exeter to Lincoln. It was
a nice idea, but the Romans weren't through dealing with their old
friend Caratacus, who had fled to Wales. With the help of the Silures in
the south-east and the Ordovices in the north, Caratacus made life on
the frontier unpleasant. The Romans had little choice but to deal the
troublesome tribes.

Caratacus and his warriors were defeated in a battle near Snowdonia in

51 A.D., and Caratacus himself fled north to the territory of the
Brigantes. The Brigantian Queen, Cartimandua, hopeful of staying on
good terms with the Romans and keeping her own territories in the
bargain, promptly handed him over to the invaders. He was sent to
Rome and publicly displayed as a prisoner. There he is said to have
uttered the lines, "Why do you, with all these grand possessions, still
covet our poor huts?"

The new capital (s)

The first Roman capital of the new province of Britannia was at
Colchester. It didn't take the Romans long, however, to realize the
strategic importance of the Thames river as a communication and
transport highway. A small existing settlement was built up to become a
trade and administrative centre. The Romans called it Londinium. We
know it today asLondon.

London became the hub at the centre of a major network of roads built
primarily to serve troop movement and administrative communication.
Not entirely by accident they also served the expansion of trade that
quickly made London the most important town, and eventually the
capital, of the new province of Brittania.

Client Kingdoms
The Romans followed the formula in Britain that had been so successful
elsewhere; rather than try to conquer with force, they established
"client kingdoms" on the borders of territory they directly controlled.
Basically this meant that certain Celtic tribes, in return for not being
overrun, agreed to ally themselves to Rome. Treaties with tribes in the
north and in East Anglia created buffers on the frontiers while the
process of mopping up resistance continued.

Dealing with the druids

Part of this mopping up took the form of eradicating the Druids. By the
standards of their time the Romans could be tolerant of the religions of
the peoples they conquered. However, the Druids represented not just a
religious hierarchy, but real political and administrative authority
among the Celts. And to give the Romans their due, they seem to have
been genuinely horrified by what they considered the grisly and
uncivilized practices of the Druids.

The Romans were big on the benefits of the civilization they were
bringing to the people they conquered. They saw themselves as on a
mission to expand the Empire and bring the Roman way of life to all the
poor souls bereft of its benefits. Curiously, this is the same attitude
later employed by those who built the British Empire.

oudicca's Revolt (Boadicea)

BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR

 Statue of Boudicca,
Westminster, London

Trouble in Anglia
In 60 A.D., while Roman troops were busy in the final battle with
the Druids on Anglesey Island (Wales), trouble arose in East Anglia. To
understand what happened, you have to go back to the idea of client
kingship. The Iceni tribe, centred in the modern Norfolk, had reached
an accommodation with the Romans, keeping their own territory in
exchange for not making a fuss.
Beginnings of the Revolt
The Iceni king, Prasutagas, decided that it would be prudent to make
his will assigning half of his personal property to the Roman emperor.
When he died the Roman officials decided to interpret his will as a
submission to the Roman state, so they moved to appropriate all of the
Iceni lands and disarm the tribe. Prasutagas's widow, Boudicca (or
Boadicea as she is sometimes known) protested. The Romans had her
flogged and her daughters were raped. This high handed treatment of
an ostensible ally had predictable results. Queen Boudicca raised the
Iceni and the neighbouring Trinivantes tribe in revolt against Roman
rule.
The Course of the Conflict
They struck at symbols of the Roman occupation, and they weren't
gentle. The capital at Colchester was burned, as was London and
Verulamium, near modern St.Alban's. Boudicca's treatment of her
enemies was fierce and she must have given the Romans a terrific scare.
One legion was so terrified that they refused to move against her. She
was eventually brought to bay at an unknown site by a much smaller
force of Roman troops. The battle turned against her when the Celts
became entangled with their own camp followers and were massacred.
Boudicca herself took poison rather than face capture.
Consequences of the Revolt
The upshot of the Boudiccan revolt was that Iceni territory was ravaged
and much of the province was put under military rule. There is a
tendency to think of Boudicca as a great patriotic leader of the British,
perhaps the first national heroine. But, honestly, she isn't a very
appealing character. She exacted indiscriminate and ferocious
vengeance on many of her fellow British Celts who had the misfortune
to live in the wrong place.
Related:

Roman Britain - villas, baths and daily life

BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR

Carrawburgh Temple of Mithras

Northumberland

The Roman occupation unquestionably had an effect on Britain, but it is

easy to overstate how widespread the effect was. Although the form of
life changed for some people, the essence of Britain Celtic society was
altered very little. Why? Let's have a look.
Administration
One of the first things the Romans did was to involve the conquered
tribes in the administration of the province. They set up administrative
centres according to traditional tribal territories, and involved the
tribal aristocracies in the decision making process. This was standard
Roman practice, and a wise one. They made the conquered people
responsible for their own administration within a Roman framework. It
was part of their plan to bring the benefits of civilization, Roman style,
to other peoples. It worked, for the way to prestige and social
advancement was through the Roman bureaucracy.
Towns
What did the Romans do in Britain? Well, for a start, they encouraged
the growth of towns. The Romans saw urban life as the epitome of
sophisticated civilization. They encouraged the growth of towns near
their army bases, and established special towns as settlements for
retired soldiers. They encouraged the ruling class of Celtic aristocrats to
build town dwellings, and they made the towns centres of vibrant
commercial activity. As elsewhere in the Empire, the local "councils" in
the towns were encouraged to build civic buildings as a mark of
civilization. There was no standard plan to adhere to, so there was a
great deal of local variety in the way that the towns interpreted the
Roman ideal.

The Romans built towns in lowland areas, such as at fords across rivers,
in contrast to the earlier Neolithic and Iron Age practice of sticking to
the slopes and higher ground above the valleys. Town boundaries, unlike
military forts, were not laid out in rigid rectangles or squares, but they
did contain a regular grid-like network of streets. Most towns were
walled, though at first the walls would have been no more than earthen
banks with ditches. By the 3rd and certainly the 4th century the earthen
banks were replaced by stone and masonry. The centre of a Roman town
was a forum, or civic centre. Usually an open square or rectangle with
colonnades, the forum gave access to the basilica, or town hall. It was
here that courts of justice were held, though it could also be used as a
merchants assembly.

Town life was a real social revolution for the largely rural Celtic society.
Those who aspired to the wealth and prosperity that came with the
Roman occupation threw themselves into life in the towns.

Wroxeter Roman Town,

Shropshire

Public Baths
Every town had public baths. The baths were a Roman institution, and
most town dwellers would have attended daily before their evening
meal. They were open to both sexes, though at different times of day,
and served as a combination health club, healing spa, and meeting
place. The order that people went through the baths seems to have
been up to the individual, though they were generally arranged in the
order of exercise area, disrobing area, cold, warm, and hot rooms.
Some baths further divided up the hot rooms into steam and dry heat
areas.
Public Entertainment
Many towns also offered the entertainments of the theatre and
amphitheatre. The theatre, an open air tiered clam-shell, would have
offered fare from classical plays, pantomime, and religious festivals.

The amphitheatre, an open air oval, would have appealed to a less

discriminating taste, offering gladiatorial combats, contests between
men and animals, and public executions. The number of theatres and
amphitheatres in Britain is small, so these particular entertainments
may not have been so popular.
Roman Roads
Joining the towns together were the Roman roads. Over the course of
the occupation the Romans built over 9600 kilometres of roads in
Britain. Although, contrary to reputation, they weren't always straight,
they were amazingly well built, and made troop movement and later
the movement of commercial goods much easier. The imperial posting
service, used by Roman officials, maintained inns and relays of horses at
intervals of 30 to 50 kilometres along the roads.

The roads were literally highways, raised up on a cambered bank of

material dug from roadside ditches. They were constructed in several
layers, the final layer generally being gravel or flint, and reached from
4 to 8 metres wide. Click here for a more thorough look at Roman roads

Villas
Aside from the towns, the other sign of Romanised civilization was the
growth of villas. In Latin the word villa means simply, "farm", so
technically villas were any form of rural agricultural dwelling built in a
Roman style. In practice, though, when we speak of villas we mean the
country estates of the Romanised British elite. Although at first the
conquered tribal aristocracy may have been drawn into towns, it wasn't
long before they began a "back to the land" movement.

Most large villas are built quite close to major urban centres, generally
within ten miles, so the owners were never very far from the centre of
affairs. Villas were more than fancy houses, though; they were centres
of rural industry and agriculture. In one complex they could hold the
landowner and his family, overseers, labourers, storehouses, and
industrial buildings. Although some may have been strictly the centre of
large farms, others included industry in the form of pottery and
metalworking.

Individual houses were as different then as they are now, but the villas
followed some general patterns. They were half-timber frame houses on
stone foundations, one story in height, capped with slate or clay tiled
roofs. Underfloor heating systems were universal, though in one
intriguing case the system was never fired up. Tile floors were common,
and most larger villas contained at least one room with a mosaic floor.
Walls may have been decorated with mosaics or painted scenes.
Furniture was made of wood, in patterns similar to Roman style
throughout the Empire. Many villas also had separate bath houses.

The golden age of the villa in Britain was in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
After that they fell into disuse or were taken over for other purposes.

Trade
Industry in various forms was encouraged by the Romans. In their bid for
the veneer of civilization the elite of Britain imported Roman wine,
jewellery, and pottery. In return they exported cattle, grain, lead, iron,
tin, and, curiously enough, hunting dogs. The local pottery industries
throughout Britain flourished, as did ironworking. The large standing
Roman army in Britain, as many as 40,000 troops for long periods of
time, was a natural market energizer for British industry, and the
extensive Roman road network helped speed the transport of goods
throughout the island.

The observant reader (this means you) will have noticed that most of
the talk so far has been about how the upper classes lived. Certainly,
most of the remains that have been excavated and analyzed pertain to
them. How did the rest of the British Celts manage? Probably with a
great shrug.

Despite the growth of towns and bureaucracy and all the other
essentials of civilization that came with the Roman conquest, the lot of
the majority was unchanged. Britain was an agricultural province,
dependent on small farms. The lives of the farmers changed very little.
They still built round Celtic huts and worked the same fields in the same
way. Their standard of living changed little, if at all. Despite the veneer
of Roman civilization, Britain was still largely a Celtic, or even a
Neolithic society.

Hadrian's Wall

BY DAVID ROSS, EDITOR

Hadrian's Wall
near Twice Brewed, Northumberland

Probably the most famous Roman remain in England is Hadrian's Wall. It

is not by any stretch the most northerly point of the Roman advance;
they reached as far north as modern Aberdeen. It isn't even the most
northerly wall built by the Romans in Britain. That honour goes to
theAntonine Wall, an earthwork defense between the firths of Clyde
and Forth. It is, however, an impressive engineering feat, and well
worth visiting.
Emperor Hadrian
The Emperor Hadrian came to the imperial throne in 117 A.D. He
decided that the Empire needed securing, not expanding, and in 122 he
gave the order to build a wall across the northern frontier. Build it they
did; eighty miles worth, following the northern escarpment of the
valleys of Tyne, Irthing, and Eden between Newcastle and Carlisle.
Construction
The original construction took six years to complete, during which time
plans were altered several times. The building was done by members of
three vexillations - temporary legion subunits - working from east to
west, and it has been estimated that they used more than a million
cubic metres of stone in its completion. This was not a weekend
project. The wall was manned until sometime around 400 A.D.
Forts along the Wall
The wall itself was eight to ten feet wide and fifteen feet high, with a
rampart walk and six foot high parapet. There are over eighty mile forts
spaced, yes, every mile, with a kitchen and barracks for a small
garrison. In between the mile forts two observation towers were built,
resulting in lookouts every third of a mile for the entire length of the
wall. In addition to the mile forts there were seventeen larger forts
holding from 500 to 1000 troops, infantry or cavalry, or a mixture of
both. These forts were built into the wall, with large gates on the north
face flanked by stone towers.

Hadrian's Wall

The Ditch
To the south of the wall the Romans dug a wide ditch, or vallum, with
six foot high earth banks. Why a ditch to the south when the threat was
to the north? Most likely the Romans were afraid that the Brigantes
tribe of northern England might join with the tribes of Lowland Scotland
to make trouble. This way troops manning the wall could control, or at
least observe, traffic going both directions. It is just as well, for the
Brigantes remained rebellious long after Britain was nominally in Roman
hands.
Civilian settlements
One other point of note about the wall concerns the growth of civilian
settlements close to the major legionary forts, to the south of the
ditch. These settlements, or vici, sprawled in unplanned confusion, in
contrast to the regulation army forts.

In the later years of the Empire, when the wall was allowed to lapse, it
appears that some of the civilians moved into the forts. Finds have been
made of women's rings inside the barracks area. Several possible
reasons for their presence come to mind, but the least said about that,
the better.

Where to visit
The central sections of the wall remain in good condition and worth
visiting. The forts ofChesters, Corbridge, and Housesteads offer good
viewing, while the section of wall between Housesteads and Great
Chesters is the most wildly evocative in terms of scenery. There are
several sections where the Wall is very well preserved, notably
near Cawfields, Gilsland,Birdoswald, and Haltwhistle. There are forts
at Sewingshields and Vindolanda, and a restored Mithraic temple
at Carrawburgh.

The Hadrian's Wall National Trail now follows the course of the Wall
through fabulous countryside, giving visitors the opportunity to walk in
the footsteps of the Roman legionnaries who manned this outpost of the
Roman Empire so many years ago.

To get a better idea of all the places to see along the course of the
Wall, see our list ofHadrian's Wall attractions, and for a more in-depth
look at Hadrian's Wall, see our feature article here.
HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES
Prehistory
Romans in Celtic Britain
Celtic tribes and Caesar
Celtic Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
Boudicca and the Iceni
Campaigns of Agricola
Emperors building walls
Britannia
Britannia in decline
Christian kingdoms
The process of union
Ireland uneasy
Devolution

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Celtic tribes and Caesar: 55-54 BC

It is not known precisely when the Celts first enter Britain in

their steady expansion outwards from central Europe.
ButCaesar states, in his own account of his campaigns, that
they have been migrating across the Channel since at least the
2nd century BC.

Caesar makes his first tentative excursion to Britain in August

of 55 BC. He lands on the coast of Kent, meeting considerable
opposition from the cavalry and war chariots of the
neighbouring Celtic chieftains. After staying long enough to
demonstrate to the British the strength of a Roman legion, he
returns in September to Gaul.

During the winter Caesar builds 600 new ships. He sails again,
in July of 54 BC, with five legions and 2000 cavalry. They are
sufficient to bring him north of the Thames into the territory of
Cassivellaunus, the tribal chieftain chosen to lead the British
forces. Caesar easily captures the Celtic leader's primitive
stronghold, and removes from it a large herd of cattle. But by
the time he sails away again, in September, little has been
achieved - except that Cassivellaunus has agreed to a treaty
and has promised an annual tribute. It is unlikely that any
tribute is paid.

The Celtic chieftains of Britain have almost exactly a century

before they are again disturbed by the Romans.

Celtic Britain: 1st century BC - 1st century AD

The Celtic kings of southern Britain make good use of the years
following Caesar's incursions. His failure to do more than come
and see, without conquering, convinces them that the Channel
is a safe defence. The natural extremity of the Roman empire
is the coast of Gaul.

Even Gaul is hard for the Romans to hold. After Caesar's

conquest of Gaul there are several uprisings by local
chieftains. They are encouraged in this by the Celtic chieftains
of Britain, their kinsmen and - against Rome at least - their
natural allies. Yet increasing contact with Roman civilization is
at the same time bringing wealth and sophistication to Britain.

The Celts of Britain benefit, through trade, from the proximity

of Roman Gaul. It is a familiar pattern of international
commerce that raw materials move inwards from the primitive
extremities of a region, in return for manufactured goods sent
back from the centre.

Across the Channel from Britain go gold, silver, iron, grain,

wool, hides and cattle (a list to which a contemporary author,
Strabo, adds hunting dogs and slaves). Back from Rome come
glass, jewellery and other luxuries.

The rulers of the Celtic tribes of Britain become, during this

period, more prosperous and more powerful - but, in most
cases, no more friendly to Rome. The tendency is personified
in a chieftain regarded by the Romans, during the reign
ofAugustus, as the king of Britain.

The Romans call him Cunobelinus; his Celtic name is

Cunobelin; he is famous in English as Cymbeline. He may be
either the grandson or great grandson of Cassivellaunus, who
faced Caesar's invasion. In a reign of about thirty-five years
Cymbeline cunningly avoids provoking the Romans, while
offering them no concessions. The man is clearly dangerous.
The conquest of his large offshore island is increasingly seen in
Rome as a necessary task.

The event which finally precipitates the invasion is the death of

Cymbeline soon after AD 40. One of his sons, Amminius,
known to be pro-Roman, has recently been exiled by the
stronger anti-Roman faction at Cymbeline's court. Amminius
goes to Rome for help, during the reign of the
emperor Caligula. When Cymbeline dies, two other sons -
known to be anti-Roman - inherit his power. They are
Caractacus and Togodumnus.

By the time the Romans are ready to invade, in AD 43,

Claudius has recently been chosen as emperor. With a
reputation for feebleness, he needs a striking success of some
kind. He takes a personal interest in the campaign against
Britain.

The Roman conquest of Britain: AD 43-51

Four Roman legions land in Kent in AD 43. The two sons

ofCymbeline attempt to hold them at the Medway but are
defeated (an engagement in which Togodumnus is killed,
leaving Caractacus in sole command of the British forces). The
Britons then retreat beyond the Thames, at which point the
Romans call a halt in their pursuit. They are waiting for the
public-relations part of the exercise.

A few weeks later the emperor Claudius reaches the southern

bank of the Thames, in the region of what is now London, with
fresh troops and even a few elephants. He is here to lead the
advance on Caractacus' capital at Camulodunum, or
Colchester.

There is little further opposition, for the Celtic troops - without

breastplates or helmets - are no match for the solid weight of
aRoman legion, advancing like a human tank. The emperor
enters Colchester in triumph, cheered by his army. Later a
temple is erected here to Claudius as a god; its site is now
Colchester Castle.

After the rapid defeat of Caractacus, chieftain of the Belgae in

southeast Britain, other Celtic tribes quickly come to terms
with the Romans. Some are accepting defeat. But others, such
as the Iceni in East Anglia, already have friendly relations with
the Romans - preferring them to the Belgae. Rome leaves such
chieftains in power, as allies.

The result is that in the short space of four years the whole of
southern Britain is safely under Roman control. In AD 47
Roman troops are able to build a raised road, with a ditch on
either side, defining the northern edge of this safe territory.
Known as the Fosse Way, it stretches from Lincoln to south
Devon.

But beyond the Fosse Way there is trouble for the Romans in
the shape, once again, of Caractacus. He has escaped alive
from his defeats. Now he is organizing resistance among the
Welsh tribes. Caractacus himself is captured in AD 51, but the
Romans are unable to subdue the Welsh for another thirty
years.

Like all barbarian kings captured by the Romans in war,

Caractacus - accompanied by his wife and daughter - is taken
back to Rome. The family is to be displayed before the Roman
crowd in the triumphal celebration of the conquest of Britain.

Normally, as with Vercingetorix a century earlier, the captive

king would then be executed. But the Noble bearing of
Caractacus, and his powerful speech to the assembled crowd,
so impress the emperor that Claudius spares his life and that
of his family. He provides them with a villa in Rome, where
they live a guarded but honourable existence.

Boudicca and the Iceni: AD 60-61

The only major threat to Roman dominance of southern Britain

derives from their own heavy-handedness.

The Iceni, a tribe of Celts occupying what is now Norfolk, have

been allies of the Romans. Their king, Prasutagus, has no male
heir. In an attempt to ensure a good relationship between his
family and the Romans, he leaves a will dividing his wealth
between his two daughters and the emperor Nero. It does not
have the desired effect. On his death, in AD 60, his kingdom is
annexed by the Romans; his family is humiliated; and the
lands of the tribe are plundered. But the Romans have not
taken account of his widow. In Latin they spell her Boadicea.
Her Celtic name is Boudicca.

Boudicca launches an uprising in which she is soon joined by

other Celtic tribes. All have good cause for resentment at the
behaviour of Roman soldiers and Roman settlers in their
territories. Together they attack Colchester, destroying the
Roman garrison which attempts to defend itself in the newly
completed temple to Claudius. They plunder many other rich
settlements before moving on to ravage Verulamium (now St
Albans) and London. According to Tacitus, 70,000 are killed.

Eventually the Romans gather together an army of about

10,000 men to confront the tribes - now busy in another
cause, the quest for loot.

Tacitus paints a touching picture of the Celtic tribesmen milling

about in confusion as they face the solid Roman formation on
the battlefield. Their families have arrived in carts to watch the
encounter. Boudicca dashes among her people in a chariot,
accompanied by her two daughters - whose rape by Roman
soldiers, according to Tacitus, has sparked off the crisis. The
harangue to the troops which Tacitus puts into the mouth of
the queen begins: 'We British are used to Woman
commanders in war'.

But she cannot prevail. Tacitus claims that after a crushing

defeat she takes poison. Hers is the last serious uprising in
southern Britain. The attention of the Romans can be turned to
Wales.

The campaigns of Agricola: AD 77-84

Little progress is made in pacifying Wales until the arrival in

Britain of Agricola. More is known of Agricola than of any other
Roman general of comparable stature, because he takes the
wise precaution of having a historian as a son-in-law. Agricola's
appointment as governor of Britain and the marriage of his
daughter to Tacitus occur in the same year - AD 77.

Agricola rapidly succeeds in conquering the Welsh tribes, even

in Anglesey. To consolidate his gains he stations the 20th
legion in an encampment on the river Dee. Castra Devana
('camp on the Dee') becomes one of the most important
Roman strongholds in Britain. Its modern name, deriving from
'Castra', is Chester.

In AD 78-9 Agricola brings the north of England under Roman

control. In 80 he establishes a line of defensive outposts across
Scotland's narrowest point, between the Clyde and the Forth.
In the following three years he presses steadily further north
into the wilds of Caledonia (the Roman word for Scotland, from
the name of its leading tribe). Finally, in AD 83, he wins a
major victory over the Caledonii at an unidentified place called
Mons Graupius - probably almost as far north as Aberdeen.

Meanwhile Agricola has also very effectively governed the rest

of Britain. It has been an impressive seven years. It is lucky
indeed that there is a historian in the family to record
them.

Tacitus explains that his father-in-law has to deal in Britain

with people 'living in isolation and ignorance' who are therefore
'prone to fight'. As a distraction Agricola introduces the Celts to
the trappings of Roman luxury. Yet baths and sumptuous
banquets, the historian candidly admits, are merely another
aspect of Britain's enslavement.

In the same vein, the son-in-law reveals that Agricola dreams

of conquering Ireland. He believes that it could be controlled
by a single legion, and that it would be 'easier to hold Britain if
it were completely surrounded by Roman armies, so that
liberty was banished from its sight'. It never happens. Ireland
(or Hibernia), alone in western Europe, remains free of the
Romans.

Emperors building walls: AD 122-142

 Water has until now provided the natural
boundaries of the Roman empire in Europe - the Atlantic,
the Rhine and the Danube. With the invasion of Britain,
followed by the failure to conquer the whole island, another
form of frontier against northern barbarians becomes
essential.

It is provided by the emperor Hadrian, who visits Britain in

122. Deciding that the advances made by Agricola far into
Caledonia are untenable, he orders the construction of a
defensive barrier stretching seventy-five miles from coast to
coast across the north of what is now England. Hadrian's
Wallremains even today a massively impressive structure. It
takes the Romans only about eight years to complete it.

In subsequent years the Romans again push north of the wall,

encouraging Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius to order the
construction of another barrier further into Caledonia. The
Antonine Wall, built from about 142, is an earthwork on stone
foundations across the narrowest part of Britain - the forty
miles between the Clyde and the Forth.

This further line proves impossible to hold, so Hadrian's Wall

becomes the northern frontier of Roman civilization. Its
existence, and the Roman presence south of it, has a profound
influence on the histories of England and Scotland - though
the border between them is eventually established a little to
the north.

Britannia: 2nd - 4th century AD

Hadrian's Wall, established from the 2nd century AD as the

frontier of Roman rule in the British Isles, enables England
and Wales (as they will later become) to settle down together
as Britannia, the most northerly Roman province.

On the whole the Celtic chieftains of Britain adapt willingly to

Roman customs and comforts. They learn to live in villas, they
speak Latin, they benefit from trading links with the empire
(British wheat and wool are much in demand), and they
become Roman citizens. The tribal centres develop into thriving
Roman towns, around the forum (market place)
and basilica(town hall).

Towns of this kind, serving as the capitals of

British tribal rulers enjoying Roman support, include
Winchester, Dorchester, Cirencester and Canterbury. London
develops at the same period, but as a centre of trade at the
focal point of the network of Roman roads. Bath, with its hot
springs, becomes Britain's first resort.
Different in kind are the essentially Roman headquarters of
Chester, Caerleon and York (where Constantine is proclaimed
emperor in 306). These are the permanent bases of the Roman
legions in Britain. Other modern cities, including Lincoln,
Colchester and St Albans, derive from Roman municipalities -
founded for new settlers, such as men retiring from the
legions.

Roman Britain never achieves the prosperity or

sophistication of Roman Gaul, and it has the disadvantage of
being cut off from the centre whenever Gaul is controlled by
rebellious Roman armies or invading barbarians. Even so,
Britain has much in common with other provinces of the
empire. It has its great villas (a palace at Fishbourne,
discovered in 1960, is one of the grandest, with superb mosaic
floors). And it has its choice of the empire's rival religions.

By the late 3rd century Mithras and Jesus Christ compete for
attention. In 314 the winning side, the Christians, are
sufficiently well organized to send three bishops from Britain to
a council in Gaul.

Britannia in decline: 5th - 6th century AD

The decline of Roman Britain is like the withering of a limb at

the extremity of an ailing body. In unsettled times, in the late
4th century, western emperors withdraw legions from Britain
for their own local purposes. Once Gaul is in the hands
ofbarbarian rulers in the 5th century, blocking the route from
Rome, no new replacements arrive.

The Roman British find themselves extremely vulnerable. They

have defences in the north, but none in the southeast - the
direction of Rome, and supposedly secure. It is from this
undefended side that danger comes. German tribes moving
south and west into Gaul have Britain in their sights.

The main threat is from two tribal groups pressing southwest

from the Baltic coast. They are the Angles and the Saxons. The
subsequent Anglo-Saxon basis of England, and of the English
language, speaks for their success.

The Romanized Celts, deprived of their Roman legions, prove

unable to resist these more primitive and ferocious intruders -
though their struggle is personified in a legendary hero, King
Arthur. By the 6th century the Celtic chieftains are confined to
mountainous Wales. The fertile plains of England are occupied
now by Angles, Saxons and other German tribes from roughly
the same area, such as Jutes and Frisians. Their chieftains set
about establishing themselves as regional kings.

Read more:http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?
ParagraphID=dkf#ixzz3bArA9mhN
 1. THE CONQUEST OF BRITAIN

2. THE WALL

3. THE FORTS

4. HOUSESTEADS

5. Life On Hadrian's Wall

By the death of the Emperor Domitian in AD 96, Britain had been a Roman
province for over half a century but the conquerors found it exceedingly difficult
to establish their control. The divine Claudius' initial victories in AD 43 had
been due to the training and professionalism of the

imperial legions coupled with some

astute political manoeuvring among the fractious natives. Many tribes willingly
offered themselves up as Roman clients to preserve their own territory and to
reap the benefits of Roman friendship but with the accession of Nero things
changed dramatically for the worse. A corrupt and oppressive provincial
administration led to the rebellion of the Iceni queen Boudicca in AD 60 and the
destruction of key Roman settlements at Colchester (Camulodunum), London
(Londinium) and St. Albans (Verulamium). Although the revolt was quickly and
brutally put down, the new province was devastated and both sides were utterly
exhausted. This, coupled with civil war in Rome brought offensive operations in
Britain to a halt, with the north and the west still unsubdued. As for Boudicca,
her statue (right) now stands on the Thames Embankment, at the heart of the
city she once obliterated.
With the accession of Vespasian to the imperial throne in AD 68 (the Year of
the Four Emperors), stability returned to the empire and a more vigorous policy
was adopted. In AD 77, Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed as governor and
within three years he had launched campaigns into Wales, Cumbria and
Scotland. The tribes of Scotland proved stubborn opponents and it took a series
of campaigns to pacify the country.

View of Bennachie from Easter Acquhorthies

The decisive battle was fought against the Caledonians at Mons

Graupius (possibly Bennachie in Aberdeenshire), a hard-fought Roman victory.
However, the defeated survivors escaped deep into the highlands where they
would prove very difficult to pacify. Then, before the process was complete,
Agricola was recalled by Domitian and regular campaigning was wound down. A
line of fortifications, centred around a big legionary base at Inchtuthil, known as
the Gask Frontier was established to control the exits to the glens which ran up
into the highlands from Strathmore in Perthshire and to keep the tribes bottled
up. Eventually this forward position was abandoned as war on the other
frontiers of the Empire led to the withdrawal of one of the four legions stationed
in Britain and the Roman presence in Scotland was limited to the area now
known as the Borders, south of the Forth-Clyde line.
The Roman Army in Britain
 When Claudius invaded Britain in AD
43 he took four full legions of Roman troops with him together with an equal
number of auxiliary troops (including the bulk of the cavalry) from the
provinces perhaps 40,000 men altogether. By the 80's, the number had been
reduced by a quarter with the withdrawal of one legion. The remaining three

were based at Caerleon, Chester and York and

formed what was to become the normal garrison of the province.
The legion was the basic unit of the imperial army and consisted of about 5,400-
6,000 men, all Roman citizens, under the command of a legate, a member of the
Senatorial class appointed by the Emperor. Each legion was accompanied by an
equal number of auxilia, non-citizens who provided cavalry and light troops, in
containing 6 centuries of 80 men each (although from the end of the first
century the first cohort had double centuries of 160 men each). There were also
120 mounted troops to act as messengers and scouts. The officers included 60
centurions and 6 tribunes.
Claudius' original force consisted of the II Augusta, the VIIII Hispana (not a
typo), the XIV Gemina, and the XX Valeria Victrix. Of these, only the II Augusta
was still serving in Britain in the fourth centurythe others were replaced by
other units over the years or, in the case of the VIIII Hispana, withdrawn
altogether.
 The Roman fort at Hard Knot, Cumbria

Roman Forts
One of the hallmarks of the Roman army and the key to its success was the art of
military engineeringroads and bridges to move men at speed over large
distances, marching camps and fortified bases to protect them on campaign. To
consolidate their grip on conquered territory, they simply made them
permanent. A major fort was under construction at Inchtuthil near Dundee
when the order came to withdraw from Scotland. The plan, which covers an area
of 22 hectares can still be seen in aerial photos.
The Greek historian Polybius, writing in the second century BC, gives the best
description of a typical Roman marching camp:
Whenever the army on the march draws near the place of encampments, one
of the tribunes and those of the centurions who are in turn selected for this
duty go ahead and survey the whole area where the camp is to be placed. They
begin by determining the spot where the consuls tent should be pitched... and
on which side of this space to quarter the legions. Having decided this, they
first measure out the area of the praetorium. Next they draw the straight line
along which the tents of the tribunes are set up, and then the line parallel to
this, which marks the starting-point of the encampment area for the troops. In
the same way they draw up the lines on the other side of the Praetorium.... All
this is done with little loss of time and the marking out is an easy task, since all
the distances are regulated and are familiar. They then proceed to plant flags;
the first on the spot where the consuls tent is to stand, the second on that side
of it which has been chosen for the camp, a third at the central point of the line
on which the tribunes tents will stand, and a fourth on the parallel line along
which the legions will encamp. These latter flags are crimson, but the consuls
is white. The lines on the other side of the praetorium are marked sometimes
with flags of other colours, sometimes with plain spears. After this they
proceed to lay out the streets between the various quarters, and plant spears
to mark each street. The result is that when the legions on their march have
arrived near enough to get a good view of the site, the whole plan quickly
becomes familiar to everyone, as they can reckon from the position of the
consuls flag, and get their bearings from that. Everyone knows exactly which
street and in which part of that street his tent will be situated, since every
soldier invariably occupies the same position in the camp.
(Historia VI 41)
The Roman fort was essentially a marching camp translated to more permanent
materials.

Inchtuthil was a typical fort of the period, of the sort that could be found
throughout the empire. Roman soldiers were drilled until they could build them
in their sleep. Their layout looks like a playing card, rectangular with rounded
corners. The interior was arranged around a cruciform of two intersecting roads
known as the via principalis and the via praetorium. Normally, the latter ran
directly to the Headquarters Building (Principia) while the former ran across its
front. The commanding officer's quarters (Praetorium) was located next door.
Also nearby was the Officers Quarters (Domi Tribunorum), the Hospital
(Valetudinarium), Granaries (Horrea) and Workshops (Fabrica). The Barracks
(Centuriae) were arranged in neat rows all around the central area. The troops
were still living in a temporary camp and construction of some of the buildings,
most notably the Praetorium and the bath house, had not yet begun when the
site was abandoned.
These buildings will be examined in more detail when we take a close look at
some of the fortresses along the Wall.
Trajan
 In AD 96 the reign of Domitian came to an end with the
death of the emperor in a palace coup, apparently organized by his own wife.
Although, according to the historian Suetonius, Domitian's final years
amounted to a reign of terror, by and large he had been a very capable ruler.
He had actively suppressed many of the abuses which had caused discontent in
the provinces and had drafted leading provincials into the Senate of Rome. The
reign of Nerva (AD 96-8) marked the beginning of the period known at the Five
Good Emperors. He began the practice of appointing his successor from among
the best available men, whatever their origins. Nerva chose a military man,
Marcus Ulpius Traianus (AD 98-117), as his heir. Trajan was a provincial, born
in Italica in Spain to an Italian father and a Spanish mother, and had made a
career in the military. It was the support of the army that was key to his
selection.
Trajan was a very aggressive emperor and carried the boundaries of the empire
to its greatest extent. In the East he wrested Armenia and Mesopotamia away
from the Parthian kings of Persia and in the West he added Dacia (Rumania)
across the Danube. All of this activity on other fronts meant that the final
conquest of Britain was going to have to wait for a while. There was a general
pull-back of troops from beyond the Forth-Clyde Isthmus and a substantial
reduction of troop strength in southern Scotland. The new provincial frontier
ran along the Stanegate (Saxon for stone road) linking Corbridge and Carlisle,
which dominated the two military routes to the north, one on either side of the
Pennines.
 The Roman Empire in the time of Trajan

Trajan continued the Flavian policy of Romanisation in the subjugated parts of

Britain, promoting the growth of cities and civic values among the British ruling
class. Imperial patronage was responsible for a sudden flowering in
monumental public architecture. In London (Londinium), a new and much
larger basilica was built and a new forum laid out to serve as the administrative
centre of what was by now the provincial capital. By the time of his death in AD
117, Trajan had won a great deal of respect for the Principate among the native
population.
The Stanegate Frontier
Trajan's pursuit of a more forward policy meant that he thought of the current
frontier as a springboard to further operations in the north, to regain control of
territories recently abandoned and to complete the conquest of the island. The
main legionary bases at Corbridge in the east and Carlisle in the west guarded
the two main routes to the north. The Stanegate road was designed to link the
two and provide a quick means of moving troops from one front to the other. It
was to be protected by a system of forts, fortlets and watchtowers.
Unfortunately, there has only been a very limited amount of research conducted
on the forts along the road and, in the absence of accurate dating, it is
impossible to be certain whether or not they were all contemporary. They were
apparently of the standard turf-and-timber type that characterized the conquest
period when the emphasis was on speed of construction. Those that have been
excavated, Corbridge and Vindolanda, were later rebuilt in stone and much of
the earlier material has been lost.

Stanegate at Corbridge

At Vindolanda, the soggy remains of a large fort, possibly dating to the time of
Agricola, with a turf wall and timber palisade were uncovered beneath the later
structures. The waterlogged deposits produced large amounts of organic
material in and near what may have been the Commander's house. Large
numbers of animal bones were recovered along with wooden implements and
textiles. More than 200 shoes in a variety of styles and sizes (including women's
and children's)all made at the site. Over 400 wooden writing tablets were also
found in 3 separate deposits (90-100 AD; 100-105 AD; and 105-120 AD). The
texts mainly consist of official reportsrecords of supplies issued or requested
and letters. They indicate that the IIIrd and IXth cohorts of Batavian auxiliaries
formed the garrison of the fort and there are records of their provisions, duty
rosters, advances on pay and all of the other details of garrison life. One official
report refers to the natives:
the Britons are unprotected by armour. There are very many cavalry. The
cavalry do not use swords nor do the wretched Britons (Brittunculi) take up
fixed positions in order to throw their javelins.
 Modern Brittunculi at Vindolanda Fort

An exceptional letter gives rare glimpse into life on the frontier. It was written to
Sulpicia Lepidina, the wife of Flavius Cerialis, the garrison commander, by
Claudia Severa, the wife of Aelius Brocchus who must have commanded a
nearby garrison:
Claudia Severa to her Lepidina, greetings. On the third day before the Ides of
September (i.e. the 10th), sister, for the day of the celebration of my birthday, I
give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us, to make the day
more enjoyable for me by your arrival, if you come.
Give my greetings to your Cerialis. My Aelius and my little son send you their
greetings.
[then, in a second handpresumably her own, rather than a secretary's]
I shall expect you, sister. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to
prosper, and hail.
[on the outside]
To Sulpicia Lepidina (wife) of Glavius Cerialis; from Severa.
Other fortifications along the frontier consist of regularly spaced forts, similar to
Vindolanda, about every 6 kilometres, supported by small fortlets and
watchtowers. These do not seem to have been intended to serve as a linear
defence but simply to protect the highway between Carlisle and Corbridge.
There is no evidence of contemporary fortifications to the west of the former or
to the east of the latter.
Hadrian
Publius Aelius Hadrianus (AD 117-138) was another Spaniard and a relative by
marriage of Trajan. Hadrian too was a military man but he gave up the
expansionist policies of his predecessor and abandoned his conquests in the
East. After nearly 500 years of continuous expansion, the emphasis now
shifted to the defence of the Empire. The
result was nearly a century of peace and prosperity throughout the Roman
World. The emperor himself undertook protracted tours of inspection leading to
reforms of both the civil and military organization of the provinces.
Britain, which had proved rather troublesome and was still not completely
subdued, received an imperial visit in AD 122. The problem of the northern
frontier had remained unresolved and there is some evidence to suggest Roman
setbacks in the region. He appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos, his close friend, as
the new governor. But with only three legions available Legio II Augusta,
Legio VI Victrix and Legio XX Valeria Victrix it was decided that it was
impossible to control all of Scotland and still garrison Wales and the Pennines.
The decision was made to establish a continuous curtain wall from the mouth of
the Tyne to Solway Firth. The choice of this line (rather than the much shorter
Forth-Clyde line) was presumably dictated by the need to provide support
should trouble break out further south.

1. THE CONQUEST OF BRITAIN

 2. THE WALL

3. THE FORTS

4. HOUSESTEADS

5. Life On Hadrian's Wall

Since the aim was to speed the movement of troops, the Stanegate road ran
along the river valleys, avoiding the hills wherever possible, and was dominated
by higher country to the north. So it was decided to construct the permanent
barrier a mile or so in that direction, taking advantage of the long ridge of folded
volcanic rock known as the Whin Sill. In places, there are steep faces up to 60
metres high on the northern side and the passes through it are easy to control.
The chosen line involved a number of river crossings but Roman soldiers were
experts at building bridges The Stanegate was still useful for moving troops and
supplies therefore it was decided to use the existing forts as permanent bases for
the troops who were to defend it.
The Hadrianic Wall began at the Pons Aelius (modern Newcastle) where a new
bridge named after the emperor had just been built across the Tyne. From there
it follows a low ridge north of the river to Chesters, where it crosses the
Northern Tyne, and then along the line of the Whin Sill. In general it keeps to
the high ground and, after crossing the Irthing at Castlesteads, runs parallel to
the north bank of the river all the way to Stanwix (Carlisle). From the River
Eden, it follows the south shore of the Solway Firth for 14 miles, ending at the
Irish Sea near Bowness. The total distance of the original plan was 111
kilometres or some 76 Roman miles.

Northern face of the Peel Crags with the Wall running along the
crest
Construction
The first version of the Wall was built using two principal types of material.
There was to be a stone wall running from Newcastle to the crossing of the river
Irthing some 45 miles to the west near Castlesteads. Then a turf wall continued
the line to Bowness. It was most likely the local availability of suitable building
materials that determined the result. At one mile intervals, small

fortlets known as
milecastles were built on the inside face of the wall. Between each pair of these
were two equally spaced towers or turrets which also faced inwards.
According to surviving building records and inscriptions, the Wall was built in
sections, each the responsibility of one of the three legions (II Augusta, VI
Victrix and XX Valeria Victrix). Archaeologically this can be seen in the
differences in plan among the various milecastles and turrets. Each legion
would do a 5-6 mile stretch of wall and then move to a

new locationat some points the slightly offset join

where two work parties met can still be seen (right). Although the stone wall
was apparently intended to be 3 metres thick throughout its length (judging
from the stone foundations), this often was not the case and long stretches are
on a narrower gauge (about 2 metres or less). The reasons for this change in
plan are not clearperhaps the extra thickness was deemed excessive for the
amount of work required. The milecastles and turrets were clearly built first
because in many instances they were provided with a projecting stub of the
wider gauge bonded to the narrower gauge of the Wall. The turf section of the
Wall was on a much broader base (6 metres), with milecastles and turrets built
of stone eventually the whole system was rebuilt in stone. Where practicable a
ditch ran in front of the curtain wall-but often the ground was too hard or the
slope sufficiently steep to render one unnecessary
The stone walls themselves were well-built, with a rubble core between facings
of dressed stone set in lime mortar. Although nowhere do the walls survive to
their full height, the evidence (from preserved stretches of stairways; etc.)
suggests that the rampart was 3 to 4 metres high. There was undoubtedly a
stone parapet wall, of the type depicted in contemporary illustrations, with
crenellations at the top along with a walkway. The turf sections of the wall were
thicker because of the nature of the material which was simply cut pieces of turf,
stacked neatly on top of the cobblestone foundations. This was the material
normally used by soldiers to construct their marching camps and forts. In fact,
some of the features of the Hadrianic fortsthe rounded corners and internal
towersare more appropriate to turf than to stone.

Reconstructed Wall at Wallsend

Bridges
In order to complete the defences, three major bridges had to be built over
intervening rivers. These were at Willowford, Chesters and Carlisle and traces of
their abutments remain. Roman engineers built bridges from one end of their
empire to the other, and they built them to last. Many, such as the one at
Cordoba (below), which has Roman foundations at any rate, are still used
today.
 The Roman Bridge at Cordoba

The bridge at Chesters carried the Wall over the river Tyne on a series of eight
closely spaced piers. The piers supported vaults and were 3 metres across, the
same gauge as the wall foundations, indicating that there was probably a
parapet and walkway at the top. At Willowford, where the Wall crossed the
Irthing, a single large abutment (right) survives to a height of a few courses
suggesting a similar but shorter bridge which had been remodelled on at least
two subsequent occasions. Virtually nothing remains of the bridge over the
Eden River at Carlisle, however.
Milecastles & Turrets
At intervals of one Roman mile, a series of small fortlets were built to house the
troops that were assigned the duty of patrolling that particular stretch of wall
and, in most cases, to serve as a gateways for local traffic. The stone versions
measured about 15 x 18 metres while the turf ones were somewhat larger.
 Milecastle at Cawfields

Each milecastle contained one or two stone or timber barracks-the number and
size depending on the strength of the unit manning them, which could range
anywhere from about 15 to 35 dozen men. There was also an oven, usually in the
northwest corner and a staircase to give access to the ramparts. It is assumed
that there was a tower above the gate but, since none of them have survived
higher than a few courses of masonry, it is impossible to prove. All of the
milecastles were rectangular in shape with rounded corners.

Some of them have their long axis running away from the Wall while others run
parallel to it, reflecting the preferences of different legions involved in the work.
This probably also accounts for the slight differences in the construction of the
gates-two sets of doors in each gate or one.
The turrets, such as the one at Peel Crags shown left, all of which were made
out of stone, are very much smaller than the milecastles. They were about 6
metres square and were set about 2 metres into the thickness of the Wall. There
were no proper accommodations, only a staircase leading to the ramparts.
Traces of hearths and cooking pots have been found, however, indicating that
some home comforts were provided. In some cases the staircases were made out
of stone but in others they must have been timber since no trace has survived.

The Rudge Cup, which commemorates the Wall,

appears to depict turrets two storeys high with a crenellated parapet at the top
(right). It is shown outlined against a red background in the illustration below.
A height of about 8 metres for the turrets would probably not be far off the
mark and would provide sentries with a good, uninterrupted view to the north.
The Purpose of the Wall
The Wall was probably begun in AD 122, the year of Hadrians tour of
inspection, and completed within a couple of years. According to the ancient
sources, it was designed by the emperor to serve as a barrier, separating
Romans from barbarians but the evidence on the ground shows that things were
not quite that simple. For one thing, it cut across the territory of the Brigantes, a
tribe subject to Rome, so it did not mark the limits of Roman control. They
maintained a network of outposts and forts north of the Wall. In addition, they
maintained a number of outposts north of the Wall at Birrens, Netherby and
Bewcastle (see map)a dedication to the goddess Brigantia was found at
Birrens, suggesting it was within tribal territory.

View north from Corbridge

For a barrier, it was fairly open with gates every mile, which allowed the locals
to move easily back and forthas long as they were not bent on cattle-raiding or
some such. Their movements were monitored, however, as they moved through
the checkpoints, paying whatever tolls or duties were required. If large bodies of
hostiles gathered beyond the Wall, patrols from the milecastles and the forts to
the north should have picked up intelligence of it and raised the alert. Should
the tribesmen approach the Wall, their movements would be observed from the
turrets which also served as signal towers to call up reinforcements. However,
the earliest garrisons of the forts are a mix of infantry and cavalry so it is clear
that military thinking was more offensive than defensive. The intention was to
move their forces north of the Wall and confront any invaders before they
reached it.
The Wall would not have been very effective as a fighting platform since,
allowing for the thickness of the parapet wall, the walkway would have been too
narrow to allow soldiers to freely move behind one another and the only access
points would have been from the turrets and milecastles, which were about 500
metres apart. The turrets and milecastles are set behind the Wall, making them
useless for enfilading fire. It is only much later, in the fourth century AD, that a
Maginot mentality set in and the defences become static.
Another factor that cannot be overlooked is the propaganda value of such an
enormous undertaking. The local tribes must have been awestruck by the
apparent power and might of Rome. In addition, morale among the troops must
have risen when they saw the care with which the emperor, an old soldier
himself, looked after their security and comfort.
The Cumbrian Shore
The system was continued (but without the Wall) on the Cumbrian coast, south
of the Solway Firth for a at least another 26 miles (41 kilometres). There were
small Milefortlets every mile with a pair of turrets in between-evidently to
prevent unauthorised landings by sea. The fortlets had turf ramparts and, with
one larger exception, were about the same size as the ones on the Wall. The
barracks buildings and gate tower were made of timber but the intervening
turrets or watchtowers were of stone. Forts existed at Maryport and Beckfoot,
which were about 10 kilometres apart on the coast, and at Bowness, at the
western terminus of the Wall (see map). Observation and monitoring of traffic
across Solway Firth seems to have been the main function of the troops
manning these posts. Determined sea borne invaders could easily sail south to
circumvent the defences.

1. THE CONQUEST OF BRITAIN

2. THE WALL

3. THE FORTS

4. HOUSESTEADS

5. Life On Hadrian's Wall

It has been argued that the original intention was that the troops who manned
the Wall would be permanently based in the Stanegate forts and that small
detachments would be sent to man the milecastles on a rotating basis. Support
for this position lies in the fact that a number of forts overlie a pre-existing
milecastle or turret. However, in the case of Housesteads, the fort was
apparently built after the broad foundations of the Wall but before it was
completed on the narrower gauge. The fact that there was already a turret on the

site may have been a simple

matter of planning errorit was a huge and complex project after all.
It is hard (although not impossible) to believe that Roman generals would opt
for a plan with so many liabilities. In the first place, the road often diverged
some distance from the Wall and for long stretches the River Irthing or the Eden
separated the two. This would have made it unnecessarily difficult to move
troops up to the Wall in an emergency. Then, when they got there, they would
have been faced with the problem of funnelling large numbers of men through
relatively narrow openings. In any case, there is very little interval between the
commencement of the Wall and the completion of the first forts, so it is
probably safe to assume that they were part of the original plan.
Sixteen forts are known, running from South Shields at the mouth of the Tyne to
Bowness on Solway Firth. From inscriptions we know that Benwell and Halton
Chesters were built during the governorship of Aulus Platorius Nepos which
ended in AD 126 but others may have been completed sometime later. Although
they varied in their details and size, ranging from 1.35 to 3.75 hectares in area,
the forts were normally of the 'playing card' typerectangular with rounded
corners.
 GoogleEarth View of Chesters (note Bath House on
left bank of the river, opposite the bridge abutment)

They were essentially the standard marching camp, with the

usual praetorium; principia, barracks, etc. (see the plan of Wallsend, below),
but permanent. They also possessed certain additional structureslatrines,
granaries, workshops, hospitals and bath housesthat the camps lacked. The
ramparts were usually of stone backed by a sloping earthen bank although
occasionally they were made of turf and timber. In fact, the playing card shape
is more appropriate to the latter which were very vulnerable at the corners. The
fort was usually surrounded by a ditch with a V-shaped profile but that was not
always the case sometimes the steepness of the slope made one unnecessary.
 Ground Plan of Wallsend Fort

The size of the forts depended on the number and composition of the units
usually a cohort of infantry (480 men) or an ala of cavalry (500 or 1,000 men +
mounts) but mixed units were not uncommon. Obviously, the cavalry units
would require much more space because of the horses. The largest fort, Stanwix,
was home to at least part of the ala Petriana millaria, one of the larger units. In
typical military fashion, the new forts were fairly evenly spaced along the length
of the Wall (between 5 and 9 Roman miles), with no apparent regard for
natural strong or weak points in most casesalthough river crossings could not
be ignored. Where possible, they lay astride it so that three of their four gates
opened to the north enabling the garrison to move out rapidly should
circumstances require. Their positioning (and the nature of their defences)
suggests that they were not meant to serve as defensive strongholds but as
fortified bases for launching pre-emptive strikes. The Roman army of the time
was simply not organized or equipped to fight a defensive war.
Gateways & Streets
Normally there would have been four double-portalled gatewaysone midway
along each of the short walls and one about one-third of the way along each of
the long sides, where the via principalis, ran through the fort. The gates were
protected by flanking towers and there were a number of turrets, generally
spaced halfway between each gate. As was the case along the Wall,
 they projected inwards
and had little military value beyond serving as watchtowers. They did not
provide flanking fire covering the face of the curtain wall nor were they suitable
to mount artillery, such as ballistas and the like.
The main gate was the porta praetoria. From here the via praetoria ran straight
to the front of the headquarters building, the principia, which stood just about
at the centre of the site. On either side of the principia were the commanding
officers quarters, the praetoria, and the granaries, or horrea. Along the front of
these buildings and at right angles to the via praetoria ran the via
principalis, which linked the two side gates the porta principalis sinistra and
the porta principalis dextra. Behind the main buildings and parallel to the via
principalis was the via quintana, while running from the rear of
the principia and continuing the line of the via principalis was the via
decumana, which led to the porta decumana. The area between the buildings
and the ramparts, the intervallum, was kept clear to permit rapid movement of
troops.
The Principia (Headquarters Building)

The headquarters building

was divided into three main sectionsa courtyard with verandahs on three
sides, a basilica, typically consisting of a nave and one aisle, and a range of
rooms at the rear of the building. The entire garrison could assemble there if
need be. The main hall of the basilica was illuminated by clerestory windows
high in the walls. At one end, the left-hand one as you entered, was thetribunal,
a platform from which the commanding officer would address his troops. The
room at the rear of the building was the aedes, the shrine where the units
standards were kept along with other religious and ceremonial objects. The

room was open at the front,

separated from the nave by a screen wall of decorated slabs of stone (such as the
one that survives at Vindolanda with an iron grill.
The rooms to either side of the aedes were the offices of the adjutant
(cornicularius) and the standard bearers (signiferi). At Chesters among other
places, the rooms next to the shrine had counters with iron grillwork, which
were the only access to the inner office next door. Thesigniferi were responsible
for pay and to handle any banking needs the legionaries might have. A set of
stairs in the shrine gave access to a basement strong room where, among other
things, the pay for the legionaries was kept.

The Praetorium at Vindolanda

The Praetorium (Commandant's House)

The house of the commanding officer was based on the typical Mediterranean
atrium house favoured by the Roman ruling classesno concessions at all were
made to local conditions. Villas were designed to provide shade and escape from
the heat, and consequently the living quarters
 were arranged around an open courtyard. As
commanding officersand their familiescame and went, the building would
have been modified and remodelled to suit the new occupants. Common
modifications were the building of hypocausts (sub-floor heating systems) and
the addition of a bath-house, so that the family would not have to mingle with
the common soldiers. All of this remodelling means that it is difficult to
reconstruct what when on in the various parts of the house. A bedroom in one
phase of occupation may have been converted to a kitchen in another. Its fairly
obvious that the domestic areas would have been closest to the hypocausts.
Bathrooms would have been provided with proper drainage and have been
identified at a number of sites on the basis of paved floors and clay piping
systems. The kitchen would have been in the back corner of the building,
preferably on the downwind side, where its ovens and braziers provided
additional heat. The domestic suites consisted of reception rooms, dining rooms
and sleeping quarters for the family and for important guests other
commanding officers, provincial officials and the governor himself on occasion.
The Valetudinarium (Hospital)
The identification of the fort hospital is not quite as straightforward as the
others. The location varies and there is little to distinguish many of the ones that
have been identified from workshops. The Valetudinarium at Housesteads is the
only one that has been thoroughly explored.
Horrea (Granaries)
The granaries (there was normally a pair) are fairly easy to identify. They were

buttressed buildings
with raised floors set on a series of piers or low walls with openings to permit
the circulation of air underneath. The reconstruction of the superstructure is
somewhat speculative. A central aisle with rows of bins on either side seems
plausible but then so does sacks of grain in one big room. There was normally a
loading bay at the via quintana end of the building. Provisions would have been
purchased locally as far as possible, but many items (such as the ever popular
fish sauce) would have had to be imported. Transport was normally by wagons
drawn by oxen, which was very expensive.
Barracks and Stables

The rest of the

fort was taken up by barracks for the men and stables for the horses. Typically,
Roman barrack buildings, such as the one,left, at Chesters, were based on the
tent lines of the camp. The basic unit of the Roman army was
the contuberniumof 8 men. They were essentially a mess unit, sharing a single
tent and cooking their meals in common. In the permanent fort, each of these
units was assigned a room in a centuriae, a barrack block designed to
accommodate a century of men. Normally that meant a total of ten rooms. On
the march, a large box tent was set up for the centurion and in the barrack block
he would have occupied the additional large set of rooms at the end of the
building nearest the ramparts. These were spacious enough for his family and
servants. Each of the other rooms was sub-divided into a small front room
(arma) where the soldiers kept their equipment and a rear room (papilio) for
sleeping.
Barracks often faced each

other, their slope roofed

verandahs designed so that water would run off into a common drain. The
earliest ones were probably made entirely of timber but most of them were
eventually rebuilt with stone foundations if not entirely in stone.
The arrangements were a little different for cavalry units where two turmae of
32 men each were housed in 8 rooms. Since there would have been two officers
(decurions) to house, each of these had his own suite often at opposite ends of
the building. No obvious stables have been identified perhaps the horses were
kept in modified barracks buildings nor has anything like a vehicle park for
the various carts and wagons required by the unit.
Other Buildings
A garrison of several hundred men needed more than just food and lodging.
Communal latrines and bath houses were absolutely necessary, not only for
sanitation and hygiene but for socializing

as well the Romans

were not particularly squeamish about their bodies and bodily functions. A good
set of latrines has been investigated in the south-eastern corner of the ramparts
at Housesteads, taking advantage of the natural drainage.
Because of the inherent danger of fire in the bath houses, these tended to be
located outside the fort. There is a particularly well preserved example at
Chesters (click the link, right).
The Vicus
As the forts became permanent fixtures, civilian settlements (vici) grew up
outside their walls with a variety of establishments to look after the needs of the
men. A satellite image showing the settlement outside the fort at Vindolanda is
shown above. Legionaries were forbidden to marry, so none of them had wives
with them. This meant that in addition to buying their own needles and thread
the men had to find companionship and entertainment elsewhere.
Workshops, taverns, gambling dens and brothels have all been identified.
The Vallum

Sometime after construction of the forts

had begun, a decision was made to add another element to the defensive system
known today as the Vallum. It was an earthwork, consisting of a flat-
bottomed ditch 6 metres across and 3 metres deep, flanked by a pair of linear
banks, themselves about 6 metres wide, set back 9 metres from the top of the
ditch.
It runs east to west at varying distances from the Wall and was clearly built after
the forts since it swerves to avoid some of them. The ditch was crossed by
causeways (controlled by gates) to allow access to the forts and seems to have
been designed, in part, as a barrier to the south. Civilian traffic would
presumably cross at one of these causeways and then make their way to one of
the milecastles to pass through the Wall (it is hardly likely that they would have
been allowed to drive their herds through the forts). The Vallum severely
restricted the number of routes through the Wall that the local tribesmen could
usefrom about 78 to perhaps 15thus giving the army much more control
over their movements. It may have been constructed in response to an emerging
threat from the south but, unfortunately, we do not know the details.

1. THE CONQUEST OF BRITAIN

2. THE WALL

3. THE FORTS

4. HOUSESTEADS

5. Life On Hadrian's Wall

VERCOVICIUM

Because of its position on the Whin Sill ridge, Housesteads

(ancient Vercovicium) is one of the better-preserved on the Wall. It was located
by a major gap in the ridge, the Knag Burn (see photo) which also provided a
reliable source of water. There had been a turret (36B) on the site immediately
before the construction of the fort but this was immediately dismantled.
Vindolanda, which it presumably replaced, was only some 3 kilometres away.
The site is an awkward one with high ground to the west and a pronounced
slope to the south. The Wall runs along the edge of the ridge and there was no
room to build the fort astride it. Instead, the Romans were forced to simply
attach it to the south face so that only one of its gates opened to the north.
Among the advantages of the locationwas the fact that there was a more than
adequate supply of building materials within a few kilometres of the site-
sandstone for the blocks and limestone for mortar. The remains of a numbre of
old quarries and Roman lime kilns have been found in the immediate vicinity of
the fort.
The actual Roman name of the site is
arguable. Borcovicium or Borcovicus occurs in the Notitia Dignitatum, a fifth
century document listing all Roman outposts in Britain, which places it
between Brocolitia (Carrawburgh) and Vindolanda. However, another, much
later document, the Ravenna Cosmology (seventh century) document, names a
place called Velurtion. Whereas a dedicatory inscription actually found on the
site suggests the name probably began VER hence,Vercovicium. The exact
meaning of the name is uncertain too. It may derive from a Celtic term meaning
the hilly placeor the place of the effective fighters but we cannot be sure.
The fort covers some 2 hectares (ca. 180 x 110 metres) and was probably built by
members of the Legio II Augusta. After the refurbishment of the fort in ca.
AD200, it was garrisoned by an auxiliary cohort, the Cohors I Tungrorum, from
Belgica, but it is not known if they were present earlier.

THE DEFENCES

The stone ramparts were

very narrow (1.3 metres) but they were backed by an earthen embankment held
in place by a retaining wall six or so metres away. This to provide access to the
top and create a reasonable fighting platform for the defenders. Like the Wall,
they were made of stone blocks bonded with lime mortar and set into a rubble
core. The quarry for the sandstone blocks lay only a few hundred metres away
and there was a lime-kiln nearby to produce the mortar. The remains of a set of
stairs in the southeast corner, of which four courses survive, suggest the walls
were just over 4 metres high.
There were four gateways, set between flanking towers, on each of the four sides
those on the east and west sides were offset slightly north of centre while
those on the long walls were well to the east. Each of them consisted of a pair of
arched portals, supported by central piers at the front and the rear, and was
flanked by a pair of towers containing guard rooms. Fragments of architectural
decoration show that a windowed gallery ran above the arches, although how it
was roofed is conjectural. Roofing tiles have been found at some gates but these
could belong to later modifications. At Housesteads, the gates were recessed
slightly from the face of the ramparts and each was secured by two sets of
double doors.
 Housesteads. The East Gate

The East Gate, the Porta Praetorium, was the main entrance to the fort and led
directly to the headquarters building. A broken relief figure of the Roman
goddess Victoria, was found just inside the gate, probably one of a pair of divine
figures set in niches above it. The South Gate (Porta Principalis Dextra) and the
North Gate (Porta Principalis sinistra) were used by troops and others seeking
to pass through the fort and the Wall. The West Gate, the Porta Decumana, was
where the supply wagons arrived on their way to the granary and workshops.
Those with business in the fort would arrive and state their business or present
their credentials to the sentry at the gate. Then they would either proceed or be
conducted to one of the guard rooms in the flanking tower while their bona fides
were checked.
 GoogleEarth View of Housesteads

There were turrets at the corners of the fort with doorways at ground level but it
is debatable whether or not there were staircases leading up to the ramparts
since ovens filled up most of the ground floor in at least two of them. A drain ran
through the ramparts from the northeast tower, presumably for a latrine. When
the fort was built, there were only two interval towers, one on each of the long
walls to the west of the gates. The others that appear on the plan were not added
until the fourth century when the Picts became a threat to Roman security. The
turrets, like those on the Wall, were probably about 10 metres high, rising a
storey or two above the parapet walk at the top of the ramparts. Their original
appearance is difficult to reconstruct due to later modifications but the best
evidence suggests that there was a crenellated parapet wall at the top.
In addition to the ones in the corner towers, bakehouses were located in
buildings just inside the ramparts and within the earthen embankmentwell
away from the wooden, thatch-roofed barracks. The rule seems to be one oven
for each barrack block. There were a number of water-tanks set into the base of
the rampart and in line with the retaining wall. They were lined with stone slabs
caulked with lead and sealed at the bottom by a waterproof mortar. Some of
them were placed against the rear walls of towers where they presumably caught
rainwater channelled off the roof while others apparently collected water that
ran off the paved roads. If the rainfall was insufficient, they could be topped up
by trips to the nearby burn. The two largest cisterns were in the northeast
corner and held 2,340 and 2,562 litres respectively.

THE BUILDINGS
Running around the inside of the defences was a strip kept clear of buildings
known as the via sagularis (literally 'cloak street' but it also was a military term
for an assembly point). Within it were all of the principal buildings of the fort.
The central block, at the intersection of the via principalis and the via praetoria,
contained all of the administrative buildings. These are described more fully in
the links below.

The Principia

The Praetorium

TheValetudinarium
 The Horrea

The Centuriae

The Latrines

The Bath House

As was the case at most forts, the baths at Housesteads were located outside the
fortin this case some 200 metres to the east, beside Knag Burn. There were a
number of good reasons for this. In the first place, space was at a premium
within the fort; secondly, the furnaces to heat the building and the water
represented a serious fire hazard; and finally, they required a lot of water so
building them by a stream or river made good sense. The bathhouse at
Housesteads are badly preserved but those at Vindolanda and Chesters give a
good idea of their layout and appearance.