Life in Roman Britain by Ken Dark

Author:Ken Dark
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752482668
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

A businessman in London, AD 60

The Roman conquest began with an invasion of southern Britain. While the precise course of the invasion is controversial, it is certain that Roman control of what we would call southeast England was swiftly established. A more gradual conquest of other parts of what are today England and Wales took place during the first century. Resistance against Roman rule continued in parts of Britain for decades, although the greatest victories were in the rebellion led by Boudica in AD 60. London, Verulamium (by modern St Albans) and Colchester were burned, but Boudica was soon defeated by the Roman army and the revolt crushed. After the first century there was no longer any credible military resistance to the Empire in Britain, although probably antipathy remained. Quite how ‘anti-Roman’ the population of Roman Britain was is a topic of debate.

Roman traders and businesspeople were quick to move into the newly conquered province of Britannia (Roman Britain). They were present before AD 60 in the new towns established in eastern Britain, most importantly in London, the capital of Britannia, established in about AD 50. As the Roman Empire expanded its control over Britain commerce moved into new areas and further towns were established. This entrepreneurship existed in the context of Empire-wide Roman networks of patronage and links between important families, who had considerable resources to invest in Britain. Businesses took advantage of the profits to be made from agricultural productivity and natural resources (such as minerals) and from importing manufactured goods. For example, high-quality glossy red table pottery (called by archaeologists ‘samian ware’) from Gaul was shipped into Britain and sold in shops in the new towns of Roman Britain, as at London and Verulamium. To allow this maritime trade, wooden quays were constructed (examples of which have been found along the waterfront of Roman London) and warehouses built. A well-preserved wooden warehouse was excavated in the principal suburb of Roman London at Southwark, and that suburb was linked to the rest of the town by the first London bridge.

Typically, shops were long narrow buildings (called by archaeologists ‘strip buildings’) but other types of shop existed. There were also well-built Roman-style dwelling houses (‘townhouses’), some resembling those in Roman towns elsewhere in the Empire. These were the houses of the better-off local population, including people who may have grown wealthy from agriculture or commerce, from serving the state as judges or administrators, or as professionals such as lawyers or doctors. Even first-century houses in Roman London were sometimes large and lavishly decorated.

Major towns also had very impressive public buildings and town walls. Streets running from tower-like gates in the walls led to the town centre, which was dominated by a forum-basilica complex. The forum was a large open square lined with offices and sometimes fronted by shops facing onto one of the main streets; the basilica was a large roofed rectangular hall where civic business could go on whatever the weather. All of the main towns had forum-basilica

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