The Romans

Taffarel Jazmin.
They are considered one of the greatest empires in history. Their people were
originated from Rome in what is nowadays Italy. Rome was the head of the Roman
Empire; they had under their control those lands as well as lands from parts of
Europe (such as Greece, Spain and Gaul (France),), the Middle East and Africa.
The Roman Army that invaded Britain in 43 A.D. was made up of legionaries and
auxiliary soldiers from all over the Roman Empire.

Invasion and conquest

It is a common idea that the conquest in Britain was a war of prestige. The first
Roman ruler to try the conquest in Britain was Julius Cesar, in 55 BC. However,
when he was trying to conquer the territory, he had some problems in Gaul and he
failed to keep a hold of it and went back to Rome. (1)

A century later, in 43 AD, the Roman emperor, Claudius decided to invade Britain in
order to secure his throne for the reason that he was not the first option when the
Senate had to make a decision about who the next Emperor was going to be. He
wanted the glory and power the conquest in Britain could give him, and he wanted
to prove to the people of Rome that he was worthy. He was considered an obscure
member of the Royal Family due to his ill health, unattractive appearance and
clumsiness of manner (3).

Emperor Claudius, with the help of his main general Aulus Plautius, started the
conquest in Britain, which ended in the year 77 under Julius Agricola’s government.

Romanization
The native people of Britain who were conquered by the Romans are usually known
as the Britons. They were descendants from the people who had lived in this territory
for many generations. They are sometimes referred to as “Celts” and they spoke
similar Celtic languages.
At the time the romans won the conquest, their politicians took over and started to
make every decision over these people. Iron age tribal centres that had been part of
their culture for ages were redesigned as Roman Towns, with regular street-grids,
forums (market squares), basilicas (assembly rooms), temples, theatres,
bathhouses, amphitheatres, shopping malls and hotels. (1)
Culture
Britain was now under the power of Rome, but the people who had lived there for
ages were not. The towns were built by the local people who converted themselves
from Celtic warriors and Druids into Romanized gentleman in the space of a
generation or two. (1)

The Roman Empire basic laws had to do with the people paying their taxes and
acknowledging the imperial cult, and as long as that was respected, they did not care
how the Britons lived their life. Still, the Britons began to think of themselves as
Romans and in time started to change their language, their ways of life began to
resemble the romans as well as the modification of their towns and their trade
centres, which were reconstructed to resemble the Romans architecture.

Religion

Regarding religion, before the Romans, there was a nature-worship type of religion
with the head of this being the ‘Druids’, who were the Britons, and at that time, the
Celts priests. One of their sacred ceremonies was cremating their dead and
sacrificing animals. (4)

After the Romans, Christianity was the religion that most resonated within the
people. The Roman emperor Constantine “the great” saw this as an opportunity to
unite the kingdom and to achieve military success, so Christianity was tolerated. It
was his idea that, if people believed in only one God, it would be easier to control
them. (2)

The fall

Britain was being raided all the time by Anglo-Saxons in the southeast, Picts in the
north and Irish in the west. New fortresses were built to face the threat, but it did not
hold for too long. Then, when Italy itself was attacked, some troops withdrawn from
Britain altogether to defend the homeland, which left Britain unprotected and an
easier target than before. The end of this empire did not happen fast, and there had
been no clear vision to decolonize Britain, instead the romans influence in the
country was run down over a generation. The payment to the army also ceased to
arrive, and the soldiers started to drift off to make living outlaws as mercenaries or
farm labourers. The elite had lost all the control they had over the land. By the year
425 AD, Britain had stopped being ‘Roman’ in any sense. The towns had been
abandoned, money was replaced by barter and all the workshops had closed. Britain
was now entering a new era apart from the empire and the continent, an era where
they did not respond to Romans nor paid their taxes or served their lords, and started
to have a somewhat sense of independence. (5)

The Romans (mind map on

Thinglink)

Power Point presentation

(Slideshare Presentation)
References
Introduction) http://primaryfacts.com/1181/who-were-the-romans-and-
where-did-they-come-from/
1) Dr Neil Faulkner, BBC (2011).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/overview_roman_0
1.shtml
2) BC (2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/uk_1.sh
tml
3) Arnaldo Dante Momigliano. “Claudius Roman Emperor”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudius-Roman-emperor
4) BBC (2014)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/celts/factfile/religion.shtml
5) Dr Neil Faulkner, BBC (2011)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/overview_roman_0
1.shtml