Roman Britain Part 2 Pre-existing trade and the relationship between Rome and Britannia. We know of trade through Gaul and several writers discuss British hunting dogs. Grattius (63BC- 14AD), Strabo (64/63BC-24AD), Tacitus (56-120AD), Oppian (writing c.177ad), Nemesianus (writing in 283AD) and Claudian (370-404AD) all write about British hunting dogs suggesting a significant level of trade between the empire and Britannia. This was not just restricted to dogs however. Strabo also lists the following as the main exports of Britannia It bears grain, cattle, gold, silver, and iron. These things, accordingly, are exported from the island, as also hides, and slaves, and dogs that are by nature suited to the purposes of the chase; the Celti, however, use both these and the native dogs for the purposes of war too (Geography Book 4, Chapter 5). Hengistbury Head in Dorset became a major trading port during the late iron age; many Italian wine amphorae have been found there. Trade between Britons and the Gallic and Belgic tribes was one way in which the Romans would have known that the island was inhabited before the invasions of Julius Caesar. The Romans believed the world was round, but in a different way to us. The Romans, like the Greeks, thought the land-masses of Europe, Asia and Africa formed a circle that was surrounded by the Ocean (the sea god Oceanus). Britain was across this Ocean (or in it) and was therefore mysterious and perhaps that is also why Caesar decided to sail to it. We would imagine they would think it something like this: Despite the first emperor Augustus not following in Caesar s footsteps and invading Britain, he does make note in his Res Gestae (list of accomplishments) of a British warlord/ruler/leader (not clear) of the Britons Dumnobellaunus (Res Gestae 32) when listing ambassadors and suppliants sent to him from other nations. While this may not be evidence for the Britons welcoming Romans to Britannia, it certainly shows that there was some relationship, possibly even an alliance, between this British leader and Rome. Roman writers on Britannia and the Britons Written observations on Britain are few and far between and should be treated with some caution. Authors accounts often post-date the events and peoples they refer to by many years, or even generations, and are written from a point of ignorance. Therefore it should come as no surprise to find that they are often extremely prejudiced against the British people! ( some of it is rather amusing though.) On the Britons, Strabo had this to say: The men of Britain are taller than the Celti, and not so yellowhaired, although their bodies are of looser build. The following is an indication of their size: I myself,
in Rome, saw mere lads towering as much as half a foot above the tallest people in the city, although they were bandy-legged and presented no fair lines anywhere else in their figure. Their habits are in part like those of the Celti, but in part more simple and barbaric so much so that, on account of their inexperience, some of them, although well supplied with milk, make no cheese; and they have no experience in gardening or other agricultural pursuits. And they have powerful chieftains in their country. For the purposes of war they use chariots for the most part, just as some of the Celti do. The forests are their cities; for they fence in a spacious circular enclosure with trees which they have felled, and in that enclosure make huts for themselves and also pen up their cattle not, however, with the purpose of staying a long time. Their weather is more rainy than snowy; and on the days of clear sky fog prevails so long a time that throughout a whole day the sun is to be seen for only three or four hours round about midday. (Geography Book 4, Chapter 5). Caesar, Horace, Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Martial and Cassius Dio are just a few of the other sources writing about Britannia and Britons. A lot of focus is given to the remoteness of the island and its people. Caesar The inland part of Britain is inhabited by tribes declared in their own tradition to be indigenous to the island, the maritime part by tribes that migrated at an earlier time from Belgium to seek booty by invasion. Nearly all of these latter are called after the names of the states from which they sprang when they went to Britain; and after the invasion they abode there and began to till the fields. The population is innumerable; the farm-buildings are found very close together, being very like those of the Gauls; and there is great store of cattle. They use either bronze, or gold coins, or instead of coined money tallies of iron, of a certain standard of weight. In the midland districts of Britain tin is produced, in the maritime iron, but of that there is only a small supply; the bronze they use is imported. There is timber of every kind, as in Gaul, save beech and pine. They account it wrong to eat of hare, fowl, and goose; but these they keep for pastime or pleasure. The climate is more temperate than in Gaul, the cold seasons more moderate. (Gallic Wars, 5.12) By far the most civilised inhabitants are those living in Kent (a purely maritime district) whose way of life differs little from that of the Gauls. Most of the tribes in the interior do not grow corn but live on milk and meat, and wear skins. All the Britons dye their bodies with woad, which produces a blue colour, and shave the whole of their bodies except the head and the upper lip. Wives are shared between groups of ten and twelve men, especially between brothers and fathers and sons; but the offspring of these unions are counted as the children of the man with whom a particular woman cohabited first. (Gallic Wars, 5.14). Horace The monster-infested ocean that roars round far flung Britain (Odes, 4.14.47) and visit the Britons savage to guests (Odes, 3.4.33). Virgil The Britanni quite cut off from the whole world (Virgil, The Eclogues, 1.66). Pliny the Elder (talking about plant dyes) Both matrons and girls among the people of Britain staining the body all over (Natural History, XXII. 2). Martial Although born among the woad-stained Britons, how fully has Claudia Rufina the intelligence of the Roman people! (The Epigrams, Book 11. 53). Cassius Dio There are two principal races of the Britons, the Caledonians and the Maeatae, and the names of the others have been merged in these two. The Maeatae live next to the cross-wall which cuts the island in half, and the Caledonians are beyond them. Both tribes inhabit wild and waterless mountains and desolate and swampy plains, and possess neither walls, cities, nor tilled
fields, but live on their flocks, wild game, and certain fruits...they dwell in tents, naked and unshod, possess their women in common, and in common rear all the offspring. Their form of rule is democratic for the most part, and they are very fond of plundering; consequently they choose their boldest men as rulers...they can endure hunger and cold and any kind of hardship; for they plunge into the swamps and exist there for many days with only their heads above water, and in the forests they support themselves upon bark and roots, and for all emergencies they prepare a certain kind of food, the eating of a small portion of which, the size of a bean, prevents them from feeling either hunger or thirst (Roman History, LXXVII.12.1-4). What did the Romans bring to Britain? The term Romanisation is not considered to be that valid anymore, as we now view it as more of a synchronisation of Roman culture and the native culture, seen clearly in Britain with Sulis and Minerva at Bath. However, there were still plenty of achievements that the Romans brought across to Britain that we would have not seen arrive naturally for perhaps centuries. When writing the Agricola about his father-in-law, the governor of the island during the Flavian dynasty, Tacitus had this to say; Agricola gave private encouragement and public aid to the building of temples, courts of justice and dwelling-houses, praising the energetic, and reproving the indolent. Thus an honourable rivalry took the place of compulsion. He likewise provided a liberal education for the sons of the chiefs, and showed such a preference for the natural powers of the Britons over the industry of the Gauls that they who lately disdained the tongue of Rome now coveted its eloquence. Hence, too, a liking sprang up for our style of dress, and the "toga" became fashionable. Step by step they were led to things which dispose to vice, the lounge, the bath, the elegant banquet. All this in their ignorance, they called civilization, when it was but a part of their servitude. These last two sentences are, along with the speech by Calgacus, some of the most famous from Tacitus Agricola. The quote is also good evidence for how people lived and how Britannia was governed. Though the latter would probably change with each governor. Once a significant Roman presence had been set up on Britannia they could start importing their culture that Tacitus is commenting on above. They brought baths and hypocaust systems with them, especially useful with the colder weather in Britain. Their military campaigns led to a sizeable road
network spread across the country (though in many cases, they just metalled pre-existing iron age areterial routes) which the southern part of can be seen below: (Map can be found on http://pelagios.org/maps/greco-roman/. Our best evidence for Roman bathing culture is at Bath. A 2 nd century bath at Fishbourne Roman Palace can also be seen, amongst many other sites around Britain. The baths at the Palace are made up of; a caldarium (a hot room), a tepidarium (warm room), a plunge bath and a frigidarium (cold room). There are remains of aqueducts at both Lancaster and Dorchester, though the one in Lancaster is more complete. The Romans would have made towns and villages bigger and imported their own temples and buildings (a basilica and a Forum are beneath Leadenhall Market in London). Although the native Britons may well have used these facilities, life for many would have been fairly similar to before the invasion. There was someone new to pay taxes to and a centralised governmental figure as well as the local leader based on tribe. Due to the problems the Romans had conquering Caledonia there is an argument to be made for a North/South divide. The south was conquered and settled for the most part within a few decades of Claudius s invasion. The North was never truly conquered despite Agricola s attempts. That is not to say that there weren t important cities up North; Eboracum (York) was the location where Constantine was proclaimed emperor and where both his father Constantius I and the earlier emperor Septimius Severus died. Boudicca s revolt Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe, led a revolt in 60/1AD. Cassius Dio gives this description of her:...a terrible disaster occurred in Britain. Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to Rome. Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon the Romans by a woman, a fact which in itself caused them the greatest shame...but the person who was chiefly instrumental in rousing the natives and persuading them to fight the Romans, the person who was thought worthy to be their leader and who directed the conduct of the entire war, was Boudicca, a Briton woman of the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women...in stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of diverse colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch. This was her invariable attire. Roman History (LXII.1-2) The Iceni had a number of complaints about the local governmental figures taking advantage of their position to terrorise the populace. When the king of the Iceni died he named the emperor as one of his heirs alongside his own daughters in an effort to maintain the balance. Tacitus tells us however that Kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war, the one by Roman officers, the other by Roman slaves. As a beginning, his widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs were deprived of their hereditary estates as if the Romans had been given the whole country. The king's own relatives were treated like slaves. Annals 31. Boudicca rebelled; with the help of other tribes she marched on Camulodunum, where the Roman colonists asked for help from the procurator who sent troops up from Londinium. These were not enough to defend the town and it fell, with the Temple of Claudius being one of the last holdouts.
The 9 th Legion who were marching south from Longthorpe, were ambushed and defeated. Boudicca and her army marched on Londinium and Verulamium (St. Albans) which were besieged and abandoned by the defenders due to a lack of troops. The Governor of Britain at the time chose the site of battle and met the Britons at Mancetter (midway between London and Anglesey). The Britons were forced into a defile between hills. Despite this they fought bravely, using their chariots to scatter the Roman archers but their lack of breastplates meant they were driven back by arrows, then javelins and the charge of the infantry. The battle ended in a rout of the Britons and Boudicca s suicide through poison. Tacitus says It was a glorious victory, comparable with bygone triumphs. According to one report almost eighty thousand Britons fell. Our own casualties were about four hundred dead and a slightly larger number of wounded. Boudicca poisoned herself. Roman Sites in U.K. Bath is named after the Romans Baths there. The Roman town was called Aquae Sulis the waters of Sulis named after the shrine to the local Celtic goddess there. The Romans identified native Sulis with their own Minerva. Vindolanda Caerleon (Wales) Fishbourne Palace (near Chichester) Hadrian s Wall Antonine Wall Museum of London, British Museum many other museums across the country, especially those tied to a site. Many of the towns or cities ending in -cester will probably have a section of Roman wall somewhere. Or remains of a building or two. Any modern town that ends in -cester or something similar (like -chester or -exter) was once a Roman town or site of a camp. The ending of the modern word stems from castra meaning camp in Latin. Examples near us are Chichester (with Fishbourne Palace) and Portchester (the castle is medieval but built inside the walls of the Roman fort). There are exceptions to the rule, like London and Bath. Statue of Constantine outside York Minster Statue of Nerva in a shopping centre in Gloucester Hardknott Fort in the Lake District Silchester Caerwent (Wales) London Sites o Tomb of the Girl outside the Gherkin o Roman Wall, best section in a carpark under London Wall Road o Statue of Trajan o Mithraeum rebuilt on Queen Victoria Street, currently being moved back to original site, opening in October o Amphitheatre remains under Guildhall Art Gallery o Billingsgate Roman House and Baths o Leadenhall Market, under the barbers are the remains of the basilica of Londinium
James Heath 2017