Roman Britannia
A Brief History of Roman Britain
Ever since I was a child, I've always been fascinated by the Roman Empire.
Yet Britain's Roman heritage always felt somewhat uninspiring and provincial compared to the ruins of Rome, Pompeii, Constantinople Baalbek or Tiddis.
But a recent trip to Bath changed that all for me. Although most Roman structures in Britain have fallen into complete and utter ruin, the stories they tell are no less fascinating than anywhere else.
Indeed in the last few days I've gone down a complete rabbit hole on the subject. I learnt about the Algerians who colonized Scotland, the Syrians who manned Hadrians Wall, and about the true location of King Arthur’s Camelot.
More than anything else, however, I was enchanted by the strange and unique fusion of Roman and Celtic civilizations that Roman Britannia produced.
Its a fascinating story, and one that I hope you nerd out on as much as me.
Enjoy!
A Discovery of Julius Caesar
Much as Christopher Columbus is often credited with ‘discovering’ the already heavily populated Americas, Roman sources credit Julius Caesar with ‘discovering’ Britain.
Of course, Caesar wasnt actually even the first European to make it to the island. Britain had traded with the Mediterranean for millenia, and as early as the 4th century BC, the Greeks began to call this strange island ‘Albion.’
The island was closely linked with other celtic communities like those in Gaul, and there was a sophisticated craftsmanship as evidenced by the Battersea shield, thrown into the Thames as an offering on the eve of the Roman Conquest.
Nonetheless, in 55BC, Julius Caesar ordered two legions and calvary to cross the channel and invade the mysterious island of Britannia.
A storm put his plans at bay, and it wasnt until 54BC that a more organised invasion force landed. But nonetheless, it marked a historic moment in the history of Britain. For the first time, a European power ruled over a portion of the island.
Civil war erupted in Rome just a few years later, however, and after sailing back to Rome, Caesar ended the Roman republic, became the first Roman dictator, and was then killed by a group of conspirators including his friend Brutus. Britain was abandoned soon after.
It was only a century later, in 43AD, that the Emperor Claudius would finally order a full scale invasion of Britain.
Aware that his grip over power was feeble, Claudius knew he needed a propaganda coup to stay in power. And what greater coup than conquering a land that even Caesar hadn't been able to conquer.
Roman ships arrived once more on British shores in the late summer, and in the following months, as many as 40,000 legionaries marched into the Thames Valley, and so began the conquest of Britain.
British tribes were subdued one by one and then, that autumn, Emperor Claudius himself marched down the thames, accompanied by the first troupe of elephants to ever greet British shores.
Claudius then formally received the surrender of the Celtic elders, before returning to Rome for a victory parade.
Southeast Britain was now under Roman rule, and over the following century, Roman legions would continued expanding their reach until almost all of the island except for the Scottish highlands fell under the thumb of Rome.
The End of the Druids
It was under the Governorship of Gaius Suetonius Paullinus’s (57-61AD) that the attacks on the Druids began.
Long the caretakers of Britain's sacred groves, these mysterious figures seem to have been at the core of England's pre-Roman religion.
Under the new Governor, Roman legions attacked the Druid base on Anglesey. “Soldiers from the XIV and XX legions and auxilliaries crossed the Menai straights to face a frenzied crowd of women and armed men whipped up by Druids uttering strange incantations.” By the end of the battle “the crowd was annihilated and the Druids sacred groves wiped out.”
Soon after, disaffected Britons began to rally around a young woman called Boudicca - today considered a national hero in Britain - who was said to be planning a resistance to the Roman onslaught.
Boudicca was the queen of the Iceni tribe and when her husband had died, Boudicca had been flogged by Roman troops, and her daughters raped.
Shortly afterwards, she led a revolt against Roman rule, and within weeks her troops were pouring out of East Anglia and attacking Roman positions across the south of Britain, attacking Roman Colonists wherever they were found.
Boudicca and her rebels even sacked Londinium - modern London - yet by the end of the year, the Romans achieved a decisive victory over the queen in the midland, in a battle apparently killing 80,000 Britons and just 400 Romans.
No tribe in the South of Britain ever rebelled again and shortly afterwards, the old celtic order of the Druids disappeared from the record.
The Great Reconstruction
One of the best places to get a sense of the Roman arrival is at Bath.
Bath was sacred long before the Romans and in 1st century BC, the region was ruled by a tribe called the Dobunni who worshipped the thermal spring godess Sulis. England's Druids apparently used the springs to communicate with the underworld, "but the Goddess would first have to be placated with offerings".
By 44AD, soon after Claudius’ invasion, the region around Bath would have fallen under Roman occupation. Indeed between 50-60 AD, Roman tombstones begin appearing around Bath.
Then, soon after Boudicca's rebellion, the local Celtic Godess of the thermal spring - Sulis - was identified with the Roman Godess Minerva and a massive new temple was built to her beside the thermal spring, “perhaps as a symbol of reconciliation".
"The Romans were sensitive to the gods and goddesses of those they conquered. These native deities were powerful forces who demanded respect. It was only the influential Druids, with their human sacrifices and, more worryingly, their ability to stir up trouble for the Romans, who had to be annihilated. Thus Sulis and her Sacred spring remained while the landscape around them began to change."
The temple to Sulis Minerva was a classical masterpiece, supported by corinthian columns and reached only by a flight of steps. The gorgeous statue of Sulis Minerva is utterly extraordinary.
The pediment of the temple depicted a head - possibly a Gorgon or Oceanus/Neptune. Bizzarely we actually have no idea. Whatever the case "the temple pediment, like the sanctuary it dominated, is a brilliant evocation of the fusion of native and Roman and, perhaps more than any other icon, represents the unique character of Roman Britain."
Then, an enormous bath house was constructed around the springs. Its the most dramatic Roman public building to survive in Britain, with walls three metres high, and perhaps the only surviving building worthy of Rome itself.
Today the bath is arguably England's best preserved Roman site, and the best preserved Roman bathing complex in Northern Europe.
The baths quickly became one of the sacred centres of Roman Britain, and some of the more intriguing remains in the city are the lead curses that were thrown into the bath as petitions to Sulis-Minerva. There were also animal sacrifices and augurs to foretell the future using the animals entrails.
The surrounding settlement was soom known as Aquae Sulis (the waters of Sulis) although Ptolemy refers to Aquae Calidae. It was a major site of pilgrimage and it attracted people from across the empire.
One of the earliest gravestones found is of Antigonus, a man from Nicopolis in Greece. Later graves belong to men from Germany and Syria and Algeria. This was evidently a very international place.
The Rise of Roman Britannia
By around 100AD, the Roman province of Britannia stretched as far north as Perthshire in Scotland.
Britannia's first capital was a city in Essex called Camulodunum - modern Colchester. It is possible that the Arthurian legend of Camelot may be rooted in memory of Britain's Roman capital, whos enormous amphitheatres, vaulted baths and classical temple to the Emperor Claudius would have stunned all visitors.
Roman villas were built across the new province, complete with mosaic floors and classical columns.
Few buildings from Roman Britain survive in their entirety, yet it is clear that Roman Britannia was treated like any other province, and it was soon completely integrated into empire. Roman forts and pharos lighthouses soon dotted the landscape.
At the same time, the first personifications of Britannia were carved into stone.
The first image actually comes from modern Turkey, in a town known as Aphrodisias. Here, Emperor Claudius commisioned a sculpture to commemorate his conquest of Britain
Soon after, in 138AD, we begin to see familiar images of Britannia appearing on coins. This image would later become the basis for the image of Britannia the conquerer that was exported across the world during the British Empire
Crucially, the art that began to emerge took on a fusion of Roman and Celtic forms. Just see the extraordinary Crosby Garrett Helmet, that feels like a strange mix between a Roman legionary mask and a leprechaun.
Or take the Mildenhall Treaures, fascinating blend of Celtic and Roman imagery.
The Algerians Colonize Scotland (Sort of)
By the time of the Emperor Hadrian, England and Wales had been completely pacified, and new Roman “colonies” were being established at places like Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester and York.
The Caledonian tribes of modern Scotland, however, proved more troublesome.
So in 122AD, Emperor Hadrian ordered the erection of a massive new wall, to separate Roman Britain off from the tribes to the North. Crucially, “The design of the wall shows that it was not an impenetrable frontier, but allowed supervised movement.”
The Romans didn't respect this wall as a border however, and instead continued to push further north to the Firth of the Forth.
Then, in 138, Governor Quintus Lollius Urbicus was sent to “drive back the barbarians” and build “another wall, of turf.”
For me, this is one of the most exciting and unexpected moments in British history because Quintus Lollicus Urbicus was Britain's first - and to my knowledge only - African ruler.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Travels of Samwise to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.