Chapter 15
A New World
The Roman authorities organised the provinces in a way that was natural to them. They came from the Mediterranean world of city-states and they imposed a similar system on Britain. Each tribal area become the territory (civitas) of a town where resided the authorities responsible for governing that territory. These authorities were the tribal aristocracy who continued in their natural role. But, initially, they were responsible under Roman guidance for setting up the town and for paying for its construction.
In Britain there were fifteen of these towns, generally referred to as civitas capitals. Other major settlements were those places that received a charter of independence from the Roman authorities either at the beginning of the Roman period or later. These could be referred to as cities to distinguish them from the civitas capitals and other lesser towns. Most important and receiving the senior charters were the coloniae, homes of retired soldiers and probably the most authentically Roman environments in the whole province. Camulodunum was the first and one recollects the trouble that was caused by the expropriation of the lands for the territorium where the soldiers’ farming plots were situated outside the town. Eventually there were four coloniae: Lincoln, Gloucester and York were added to the list.
Municipia status was a less honoured charter and it is probable that this was awarded to two places in the province - London and Verulamium. The rest of the urban centres were the civitas capitals and possibly other settlements like Bath that might by courtesy be called towns although they shared few of the usual urban characteristics.
Civitas capitals were Canterbury and Verulmium (also a municipia), Chelmsford, Caistor-by-Norwich, Chichester, Winchester, Silchester, Cirencester, Dorchester, Exeter, Wroxeter, Caerwent, Carmarthen, Brough-on-Humber and Aldborough. Some were built on the sites of the Iron Age oppida like Silchester and Verulamium, others overlay the sites of early forts or fortresses like Cirencester or Leicester.
The provincial administration and the provincial council were based at Camulodunum (Colchester). This council, made up of elected representatives from the civitates, served the imperial cult, elected the chief priest and arranged all the ceremonies and festivities connected with it. An imperial cult temple was built at Camulodunum and dedicated to the Emperor Claudius, conqueror of Britain, after his death.
Later, the provincial capital and the administrative departments were moved to London and, presumably, the provincial council moved with them. One can judge from the role of the provincial councils in the Roman world how inextricably bound up with the Roman state was the state religion for most of the duties of the provincial councils were concerned with it. This is further demonstrated by the requirement on every Roman citizen to make an annual sacrifice to the Roman gods. Perhaps when London became the provincial capital an imperial cult temple was built there but so far no firm evidence of it has appeared in excavations in the City of London.
In Britain, most important romanising influence was the Roman army. For a considerable period before the move into Wales and, later, into the north, units were based in the south of Britain. During that period, they founded and built the early colonia at Camulodunum which was later sacked and burnt by Boudicca, constructed roads and bridges, brought in Roman coinage and depended upon local suppliers for their food and raw materials, a process that introduced Roman business methods to small British entrepreneurs who soon began to procure and/or manufacture on behalf of the military. When the army moved forward new areas fell under the influence so that in time most parts of Britain were romanised to a greater or lesser degree.
There were other newcomers apart from the army. European entrepreneurs of various kinds would see Britain as a marketing opportunity for their skills and they would include masons, architects, hairdressers, tailors, cooks, language teachers and so on, all eager to introduce the uncultivated Britons to the ‘good life’. Various constructional skills were completely lacking amongst the British, amongst them masonry building and the making of roads. Presumably these skills would be learnt while working as labourers for the military or from the entrepreneurs mentioned above.
Roman masonry building styles were derived from the Greek via the Etruscan and Volscian architects but it was more advanced, employing arcades and vaults and, later, domes, using brick and concrete very widely and building at a greater speed. This speed is best demonstrated in the larger structures like Hadrian’s Wall. Round-headed openings for doors, windows and arches were universal while columns, copied from the Greeks, were used for support and also, attached to wall faces, for decoration. Large buildings in this country included basilicas, temples, bath buildings, amphitheatres and military structures like the later Saxon Shore forts although not all of them were erected with an eye to aesthetic effect.
It used to be said that the Romans were more successful as engineers than as architects but this is not very fair and it is more correct to say that they were at their best in a combination of the two arts as in the Pantheon in Rome with its enormous concrete dome or in the great imperial palaces like Split on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea which was built by the Emperor Diocletian.
In Britain a good deal of the building carried out by the natives in the Roman style was still mainly in traditional timber using ceramic roofing tiles or, in certain areas, stone roofing tiles as in the valley of the Bristol Avon where slabs of pennant sandstone were available. Necessarily, openings in the wall for doors, windows etc were square when timber was used. Timber-framed walls were placed on dwarf stone walls which kept them out of the damp and allow archaeologists to see the outlines of the vanished structures. In the best buildings, floors were tiled or even laid with figured mosaics.
Roman road networks demonstrate very well the military strategy of the invading forces. A road from the main beachhead at Richborough ran through a triumphal arch and the growing port and on through north Kent to the crossing of the Thames at London, thence roads radiated to the north to Lincoln, to the Midlands, to the west and the south-west with the Fosse Way running NE-SW through the early frontier zone.
From there roads were pushed into North Wales, into South Wales, then to the north from Lincoln up the eastern side of the Pennines and along the western side from Chester to Carlisle. It is quite clear that this was a purely military network and, curiously, very similar to the railway map of Britain. Civilian use of the roads was a secondary function but one which probably proved to be of greater importance to the province.
Roads varied in their construction. In some places on the Pennines, the natural rock was used as the road surface, elsewhere, on marshy ground, brushwood was thrown down as a raft foundation. But the commonest method was to clear a strip of land defined by a ditch on each side for drainage purposes. Material dug from the ditches was heaped on the strip, making sure that the layer had an adequate camber, and large stones placed on top as a foundation. These were topped with several centimetres of gravel as a road surface, Continuous use of the road with iron-tyred vehicles and shod animals would soon compact the gravel into a durable surface.
Evidence of Roman bridges has been found at Aldwinkle on the Nene where iron-shod wooden piers were used to support the bridge but in other areas masonry piers and abutments were used. The bridges themselves in Britain were always built of timber. Evidence of the position of London Bridge has been found and the supports also seem to be of timber (Watson, Brigham and Dyson). Where a stream was shallow enough, fords were used and these were often paved to allow vehicles to use them. Waggoners would often prefer to use a ford than a bridge as the water helped to keep the wooden wheels tight.
Roman milestones are common items of study of the archaeology of roads. Often they do not state the distance to any place, they simply mark the route of the road. Others are more informative; they can record the name of the Emperor thus providing us with a date, and the distance to wherever as well as marking the line of the road. The following are examples of these more useful inscriptions:
a) for the Emperor Caesar Marcus Florianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus, one mile.
b) for the Emperor Caesar Marcus Flavonius Victorinus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus, pontifex maximus, with tribunican power, father of his country, from Lindum (Lincoln) to Segelocum (Littleborough), 14 miles.
c) for the Emperors - Caesar Vibius Gallus and Gaius Veldumnianus Volusianus, Pius Felix Augustus, from Eboracum (York), 22 miles.
d) m.p.LIII (m = milia = one thousand, p = passum = paces), so the distance was 53 Roman miles. (Collingwood)
Military surveyors laid out the roads working from suitable sighting positions and building within discrete straight strips between each sighting station. Using this system they were able to achieve very direct routes. The Fosse Way, for example, never deviates more than 10km either side of a straight line joining its terminals.
Roads were used by marching troops, military vehicles and the official postal service with relays of horses that needed posting stations where they could be rested or changed. Towns were located at the nodal points of the routes and each had a mansio, a government hostel where official travellers could spend the night, refresh themselves, eat, bathe and have their horses looked after. Excavations in Romano-British towns come across these establishments, built near a gate, and having a surprisingly large amount of accommodation. An example is at Silchester which stands by the south-eastern gate and consists of three wings set around a large courtyard some 50m wide. Each wing contained a number of rooms for guests, some of them having underfloor heating, and to the east was a large bath-suite and latrine. The mansio could certainly have accommodated at least fifty guests at one time.
Evidence for the presence of the army consists of remains of all the things mentioned above but there are also tombstones, both of serving soldiers and of veterans and of their family members. They tend to be the most impressive of the tombstones found in the province probably because they were usually put up by people from the Mediterranean regions who had a tradition of literacy that the Britons, of course, at first did not have. No tombstones survive to us from Iron Age Britain so these are the forerunners of all succeeding tombstones.
Inscriptions on Roman tombstones make no mention of religion. They are simply commemorative and are usually written as a formula. More prestigious military tombstones often carry a standardised carving, depicting a mounted Roman auxiliary soldier riding down an enemy that lies under his horse’s hoofs. Legionaries could have portraits or full-figure representations of themselves like the very fine example of a centurian’s stone in the Colchester Museum.
Examples of inscriptions on tombstones are also interesting because they can give information about the military units and, if they are veterans, of their families and relationships with the native Britons:
a) (Here lies) Julius Valens, Veteran of the Second Augustan Legion. He lived 100 years. His wife Julia Secundina and son Julius Martinus had this made.
The age of the retired soldier is interesting and so is the name of his spouse who seems to be second wife and, as soldiers were not allowed to marry until they retired, was probably British.
b) To the memory of Nectorelius, son of Vindex, aged 30, in the ninth year of his service. He was a Brigantian tribesman, serving in the Second Thracian Cohort.
Nectorelius was a Briton, a volunteer auxiliary soldier, serving in a unit that was originally raised in Greece.
c) To the memory of Barathes of Palmyra, Veteran, who lived 68 years.
d) To the memory of Regina of the Catevellaunian tribe, who died aged 30, freedwoman and wife of Barathes of Palmyra (who set this up). (In Palmyrene script: Regina, freedwoman of Barathes. Alas!)
These two tombstones clearly belong together. Apparently Regina, the British girl, was a slave of Barathes, who freed her and married her. It demonstrates how soldiers when they were discharged very often settled down in Britain instead of returning to their homelands.
e) To the memory of Placida, aged 55. This stone was set up by her husband in the thirtieth year of her marriage.
f) To the memory of Deuccus, aged 15. His brother set this up.
g) To the memory of Simplicia Florentina, a most innocent soul. She lived ten months. Her father, Felicius Simplex, soldier of the Sixth Legion, Victorious, set this up.
An illegitimate child since her father, a serving soldier, could not legally marry.
h) Julia Materna, aged 6. Julius Marcellinus set this up for his beloved daughter.
Notice the use of the family name incorporated in the names of all the family members.
Religious inscriptions set up by soldiers are found on altars which could be placed inside temple precincts or elsewhere. They were usually paid for by those who, for some reason or the other, were grateful to the god:
a) To the god Anocificus (this stone was set up) by Tineius Longus who, while serving as Prefect of Cavalry under the consular governor Ulpius Marcellus, by the decison of our Best and Greatest Emperors, was decorated with the Broad Stripe and promoted Quaestor.
Set up by a senior officer to his personal god on his promotion to a higher rank.
b) To the holy god Silvanus, the hunters of Barra set this up.
Set up by a hunting club to the woodland god.
c) To the god, Mars and to Victory, Aurelius Maximus (giving) this sacred offering at his own expense, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.
Set up in fulfilment of a promise made to the god as part of a request which the god has granted.
d) To Jupiter, Best and Greatest, the first Aelian Cohort of Dacians (set this up) under the command of Statius Langinus, the tribune.
Set up by a regiment of auxiliary cavalry.
There are also inscriptions surviving from buildings, often dedication stones or records of rebuildings and repairs:
a) From a temple in York.
To the holy god Serapis this temple was built from the ground by Claudius Hieronymianus, legate of the Sixth Legion, Victorious.
Claudius was the commanding officer of the regiment.
b) From Hadrian’s Wall.
In honour of the Emperors Lucius Septimus Severus Pius Pertinax Arabicus Adiabenicus Parthicus Maximus, three times Consul, Augustus and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius, twice Consul, Augustus and of Publius Septimus Gera, the noble Caesar, this gate and the wall fallen down in the passage of time, were restored from ground level by order of the governor, His Honour Alfenius Senecio, under the supervision of Oclatinus Adventus, Their Majesties’ Procurator, by the First Cavalry Cohort of the Vangiones, under their tribune Aemilius Salvius.
c) To the Emperor Antoninus Augustus Pius, Father of his Country, the reinforcements for the Second Legion, Victorious and the Twentieth Valerian Legion from the Two German Provinces, under Julius Verus, Governor of Britain (set this up).
(Collingwood)
Some of the equipment used by the military turns up in excavations. Bits of armour and helmets, sandals, swords, fragments of shields, and weapons like spears, swords and daggers have been found as well as the iron heads from ballista bolts and pieces of metal from horse harness. Today there is an organisation called the Ermine Street Guard who research and dress up in Roman military uniforms and demonstrate some of the artillery in use at the time.
Soldiers were the main disseminators of Roman coins that were produced in various denominations and in gold, silver and bronze. The ass was the smallest and lowest denomination bronze coin. The sestertius was also bronze but rather larger while the denarius was made of silver with a varying amount of copper. The gold coin was known as an aureus. A sestertius was worth four asses while the value of the other coins varied from time to time. (Askew)
Emperors used the coins as a means of recording and publicising important events and themselves and their families. Consequently, the designs on the reverse sides of Roman coins were changed very frequently and in one year the mint at Rome alone might issue the denarius with over a hundred different reverse types and the sestertius with over fifty. People must have examined each new coin type with interest and we know, for instance, that provincial hairdressers studied and copied the hair-dos on coins bearing the heads of the empresses.
Some of the events commemorated occurred in Britain, the Conquest of AD43 is on the reverse of a coin of Claudius and shows a triumphal arch erected in Rome with a statue of the mounted emperor on top and the words De Britann written across the design. A coin of Hadrian records his concern with the northern frontier: a figure of Britannia is armed and on guard watching over the frontier. A variation of this design was re-issued after the Antionine Wall was built.
Coins reflect the episode in the third century AD when Maximian, emperor in the West (Diocletian was emperor in the East at Constantinople in the divided empire of those days) appointed Carausius as admiral of the fleet defending both sides of the Channel against Saxon pirates. Accused of corruption, he defeated the army sent to arrest him and had himself proclaimed emperor in London. During his reign of six or seven years he struck several coins at different mints. On some of them he claimed Diocletian and Maximian as his brothers, on one type was his own portrait.
His reign came to an end when his chief minister, Allectus, murdered him in AD293 and proclaimed himself as an emperor. Eventually the emperor Constantius Chlorus arrived with an army and Allectus was defeated and killed. The remnants of Allectus’ army retreated on London and began to plunder the townsfolk but Constantius’ army arrived in time to save the city. A gold medallion was struck and showed Constantius wearing a laurel leaf on one side and on horseback on the other approaching the gates of London and being welcomed by the spirit of London. The abbreviation LON appears on the same side. In the foreground a galley is coming up the Thames carrying the rescuing troops.
Hoards of coins are found, sometimes in very large quantities, presumably buried for safekeeping in times of unrest. Most are silver coins but there are examples of gold coins hidden in this way. One hundred and sixty aurei were found in a bronze jug at Corbridge in Northumberland. They had been struck under various first- and second-century emperors and the latest in date belonged to Antoninus Pius so the hoard must have been buried round about AD160.
Coins are a common fieldwalking find on Roman sites. Most are bronze but a few silver coins are often found. The number of coins is a good indicator of the status of a site; a villa will yield up a good many more coins than a native site (farmstead) but the fact that coins are found on native sites shows how all-embracing was the market economy. They are also useful for estimating dates of the contexts in which they are found. However, it needs an expert to make the estimation since coins of different denominations remained in circulation for different periods of time. These factors have to be considered together so that a proper judgment can be made.
There were no banks in Roman Britain but money could be borrowed from wealthy traders at high rates of interest. It may be that some of the very large hoards were deposited by such plutocrats and they never had the chance to reclaim their wealth from their hiding-places. For more modest savers pottery money boxes are found with a slit in the top. They would have been broken open when it was time for the spending spree.
It is necessary to know something of the chronology of the Romano-British period in order to put archaeological discoveries into context. The following is an outline chronology of the period. Most Romano-British archaeological dating is done with the aid of Roman documentary sources and coins but radio-carbon dating of organic materials from archaeological contexts is used as well. Also there is the evidence of references to Britain taken from Roman documentary sources. All dates are AD.
43 Claudian invasion with four legions under Aulus Plautius.
Defeat of Caractacus and capture of Camulodunum.
Campaigns in the west (legio II Augusta under Vespasian, in the Midlands (XX valeria and XIV Gemina) and in the east (IX Hispana).
47 Ostorius Scapula, governor, controls all territory to the Trent and Severn.
49-50 Foundation of Colonia Victricensis at Camulodunum.
Mendip lead mines already in Roman hands.
Invasion of South Wales.
51 Caractacus, finally defeated in North Wales, flees to Cartimandua, Quuen of the Brigantes, and is surrenderd to the Romans.
C.55 Didius Gallus, governor, intervenes on the side of Cartumandua in Brigantian civil war.
60 Suetonius Paulinus, governor, attacks Angleseay.
Icenian revolt under Boudicca suppressed after sack of Camulodunum. Londinium and Verulamium.
66 One legion (XIV Gemina) withdrawn from Britain.
68 Army in Britain refuses to join the governor, Trebellius Maximus, in revolt against Emperor Galba.
69 Romans fail to prevent the defection of the Brigantes.
71-74 Petrilius Cerealis, governor, with a new legion (II Adutrix) conquers the
Brigantes.
Legionary fortess at Eburacum (York).
74-78 Sextus Julius Frontinus, governor, subdues Wales and plans garrisons
there. Legionary fortresses at Isca (Caerleon) and Deva (Chester).
78 Cn. Julius Agricola, governor, completes the conquest of North Wales and Anglesey.
79 Consolidation of the Brigantian conquest.
81 Agricola advances to the Forth-Clyde line.
83-4 Agricola advances north and defeats the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius. Roman fleet circumavigates Britain.
Legionary fortress at Inchtuthil
84-5 Agricola recalled by Domitian.
86 One legion (II Adiutrix) withdrawn from Britain.
c.90 Legionary fortress at Inchtuthil evacuated.
90-6 Foundation of Lindum Colonia at Lincoln
96-8 Foundation of Colonia Nervia Glevensis at Gloucester.
99-100 Legionary fortess at Isca and many auxiliary forts rebuilt in stone.
Scottish forts evacuated.
c.103 Legionary fortress at Deva rebuilt in stone.
107-108 Legionary fortress at Eburacum rebuilt in stone.
c.117 Revolt in north Britain.
122 Hadrian visits Britain.
Legio IX Hispana replaced by VI Victrix.
Construction of Hadrian’s Wall from Tyne to Solway begun by Aulus Platorius Nepos.
139-142 Q Lollius Urbicus, governor under Emperor Antoninus Pius, advances into
Scotland and builds the Antonine Wall across the Clyde-Forth isthmus.
155 Rebellion in north Britain suppressed by C. Julius Verus.
Antonine Wall temporarily evacuated and Hadrian’s Wall.
Recommissioned.
161-165 Forts rebuilt by Calpurnius Agricola.
Antonine Wall finally evacuated.
180-184 Further revolt in north Britain subdued by Ulpius Marcellus.
193 On the assassination of Emperor Commodus, Pertinax, lately governor of Britain, is chosen emperor by the Praetorian Guard but is quickly killed. Empire auctioned to Didius Julianus who is defeated by Severus.
196-197 Clodius Albinus, governor of Britain, takes troops from Britain to fight for the
throne but is defeated by Severus.
Raids on Britain by the Maetae, a new confederacy of tribes living north of Hadrian’s Wall.
197 Virius Lupus restores the situation and rebuilds many forts.
205-208 Rebuilding of Hadrian’s Wall by Alfenus Senecio.
Britain divided into two provinces.
208 Severus, Geta and Caracalla arrive in Scotland and prepare for northern campaigning.
209 Severus and Caracalla campaign in Scotland and receive the surrender of the Caledonians.
210 Revolt of the Maetae and second Scottish campaign.
211 Emperor Severus dies at York.
Withdrawal to Hadrian’s Wall and reorganisation of southern Scotland as a protectorate.
212 Caracalla extends Roman citizenship to all freeborn provincials.
259-274 Britain a part of the Gallic Empire of Postumus and his successors who had
rebelled against the Emperor Gallienus.
275-287 Saxon pirates in the Channel.
287 Carausius, commander of the British fleet, usurps the title of Emperor in Britain and northern Gaul and is temporarily recognised by Diocletian and Maximian.
293 Constantius as Caesar reconquers Carausius’ continental possessions.
294 Carausius murdered by Allectus who succeeds him.
296 Britain restored to the legitimate emperors by Constantius who crosses the Channel and defeats and kills Allectus.
Barbarian inroads in the north.
Some forts on Hadrian’s Wall and legionary fortress at Eburacum and Deva rebuilt.
Emperor Diocletian’s reorganisation divides Britain into four provinces, separates the military from the civil administration and institutes new military posts.
306 Constantius, now emperor, with his son Constantine, campaigns in
307 Scotland.
308 Death of Constantius and proclamation of Constantine as new
Emperor at York.
313 Edict of Milan grants toleration to the Christian church.
314 Three British bishops attend the Council of Arles.
330 Roman Empire divided into two. Constantinople made capital of the eastern half which becomes the senior partner. Western Emperor subordinate to the Eastern emperor.
343 Emperor Constans visits Britain and pacifies the Scottish tribes.
360 Julian, Caesar (emperor in the West) sends Lupicinus to repel raids of Scots (from northern Ireland) and Picts from Scotland.
364 Picts, Scots, Attacotti and Saxons raiding Britain.
367 Great invasion of Picts, Scots and Attacotti (either Irish or from the western isles) aided by Saxon pirates and a simultaneous attack on Gaul by the Franks from east of the Rhine.
Treachery in Hadrian’s Wall garrison. Nectaridus, Count of the Saxon Shore killed and Fullofaudes, Duke of Britain, routed. (Holders of the new military posts mentioned in 296).
369 Count Theodosius, sent by Emperor Valentinian I, clears Britain of invaders and restores Hadrian’s Wall.
Signal stations built on Yorkshire coast.
Fifth British province (Valentia) established.
383 Magnus Maximus (Duke of Britain) revolts and conquers Gaul and Spain from Emperor Gratian with troops taken from Britain.
388 Maximus defeated at Aquileia (northern Italy) by Theodosius.
395 General Silicho improves the defence of Britain.
407 Constantine III, a usurper, strips Britain of troops for his conquest of Gaul and Spain.
410 Emperor in the West Honorius tells the civitates in Britain to arrange for their own defence.
417 Possible dispatch of mobile Roman force to south-eastern Britain.
429 First visit of Bishop St Germanus.
c.445 Second visit of Germanus.
c.446 Last appeal of the Romano-Britons to the leader in the western Empire, Aetius.
Some of the events listed above can be identified with archaeological discoveries. This is certainly true of construction, reconstructions and refurbishings of buildings that have left remains behind them. Problems arise when we attempt to identify historical personages or political events with the archaeology. But we have more success with this in the Romano-British period than with earlier times because we do have inscriptions that can be helpful.
Many archaeological finds admit of several interpretations and this is particularly true when one is discussing attribution to particular individuals in cases where there is no form of inscription. Here is an interesting excerpt from a discussion about the attribution of luxurious early villas found in south-eastern Britain in the early years after the Roman Conquest. It comes from the book ‘The Coming of Rome’ by John Wacher on pages 96-97.
‘.....it is probably right to conclude that the few early villas of substance were the properties of people already in possession of good capital resources. The palatial residence of Fishbourne, near Chichester, has been linked with the client king of the southern Atrebates, Cogidubnus, and there are many features of the building which well might justify such a conclusion, but for the fact that it was barely completed before the supposed date of his death. Less certainty attaches to the other splendid building at Eccles in west Kent, but if it is right to associate the Kentish kingdom with Adminius as has been suggested on coin evidence, it is not impossible that it was he who built it. As the only known ally of Rome amongst the hostile Catuvellauni, it is more than likely that he returned to Britain in the wake of the Roman army. But such men would already be in possessed of considerable fortunes, which may have been supplemented by their services in the Roman cause, and, providing the inclination was there, they could have equipped themselves with splendid country houses in the latest fashion. The contrast comes when we consider Prasutagus, the client king of the Iceni, who, despite his supposed wealth, does not seem to have felt the need for such outward display of pro-Roman enthusiasm, for no villa of this class or early date has yet been found in Norfolk. We must not forget, either, the possibility that these early villas were the result of the investment of foreign capital in a new province on the part of merchants, who saw the opportunity to buy themselves into the land-owning classes.’
Although it is fascinating to make these links with people in the past, it is not wise to try to do so until you have Wacher’s wide knowledge of both archaeology and Roman history. It is better when beginning in the subject to regard what is found as a being characteristic of a class of evidence and see these palatial buildings as demonstrating the wealth that was available in Britain soon after the Conquest or the standard of building that was being achieved or the quality of materials that were being used or the importance that was being attached to wealth and prestige amongst the subject peoples.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. ‘When they make a wilderness, they call it peace’. Tacitus’ well-known quip about the conquest of Britain contains more than a grain of his inherent cynicism. So was the conquest a good thing? What benefits did the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, bring to Britain?
As we have seen, the Conquest took the best part of a century to be accomplished so that benefits would have appeared sooner in some parts of the province than in others. As the army advanced northwards gradually more and more areas were released from military control and handed over to the local authorities drawn from the local British aristocracy. Eventually, by the early second century, almost all the lowland areas were organised into fifteen civiates mostly formed from the original Iron Age tribal units. This was the true beginning of the Pax Romana.
Peaceful conditions allowed the economy to improve, both internally from the better communications and the introduction of a stable coinage and externally from the improved contacts with merchants and markets abroad. The great advantage of the coinage was that it provided low denomination coins that could be used in the smallest transactions and in the most local of market-places. This was a general ‘good’ that affected almost everybody for in those days everybody was a entrepreneur even if he was only growing a few cabbages for the market alongside the food that he needed to feed his family.
But those who benefitted most from the Roman occupation were the better-off who could afford to use the building techniques, the amenities and the literacy that came with Roman rule. On the whole it is these improvements that we can see most clearly in the archaeological record. The peasants’ few extra cabbages don’t figure largely unless he uses the proceeds to build a better farmhouse or buy a few Roman trinkets for his wife.
So, on the whole, it is the middle classes who are most visible to us today. We excavate their villas and their town houses. And we catalogue the Roman cooking utensils that their slaves used in their kitchens. And we find their hair-pins and their brooches. And we think how persuasive the Roman life-style must have been to bring about this change from the ways of the Iron Age. But we are forgetting that we are looking at only a small segment of the British population. There were a million other Britons who were leading a way of life that was little changed from that of the Iron Age. They are not invisible in the archaeological record but are not all that exciting. An excavation of a Romano-British farmstead does not uncover a glamorous picture. No mosaics, wall-paintings or hypocausts.
But, in the end, the Roman occupation of Britain was an irrelevance since it contributed almost nothing to the development of Britain. After the Romans left one can say, with a good deal of truth, that the Britons carried on where they had left off at the end of the Iron Age with the distant descendants of its rulers still in charge.
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