Life in Roman Britain

This tutorial is based on work done by the children at Crofton Hammond

Junior School in Stubbington, Hampshire, UK.

First of all, who were the Romans?

The Romans were the people from a city called Rome in what is now Italy.

Rome was the greatest city of its time. At one time it had nearly one million

people living there. The Romans were very clever and very good at

organising things.

What was the Roman Empire?

About 1,800 years ago Rome was the centre of a big empire. Roman soldiers

had conquered large parts of Europe and North Africa. The Roman army

would return to Rome and march through the city to show off all the riches

they had plundered from the people they had beaten. The Roman army was

skilled at fighting and defending the borders from attack and clever civil

servants governed each country.

Where was the Roman Empire?

The green bits show how far the Romans spread out over Europe.

Roman Towns

Also on this page:

Hypocaust

Mosaics

The Romans built towns all over

Britain as centres to administer the

people they had conquered. Veteran soldiers and Celtic Chieftains were

rewarded with houses in the towns and would hold important jobs in the law

courts or town councils.

Roman towns were very organised, with straight streets and neat rows of

buildings. The town plan might be based around a town forum - a large

building often with an open courtyard that was used by the people of the

town as a meeting place, a place to do business, discuss town matters and

hold markets.

This is an artists drawing of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum

(Silchester, Hampshire). In the centre you can see the forum. The roads

are laid out in a neat grid, and outside the town walls, there is the circular

amphitheatre.

This painting shows Calleva Atrebatum

again. This shows the market square

or forum.

Wealthy people lived in large attached

houses made from stone or brick

called villas.

Poor people, who were mainly celts,

worked as carpenters, potters, shopkeepers and craftsmen.

Wealthy people lived in large

detached houses, made of stone

or brick, called villas.

The homes of wealthy Romans

looked bare from the outside.

They were built to be private and

safe from burglars. So there

were very few outside windows.

The house faced inwards around a

courtyard. In Britain the Romans found it so cold that

they invented a sort of central heating called a

hypocaust.

But the insides were very colourful with bright

painted walls with murals and beautiful mosaics on the

floors.

The Hypocaust

Instead of a fire in each room, they had a special fire room built against an

outside wall. The floors were raised on pillars and the walls of the villa were

hollow. The heated air from the fire went to all the other rooms, through

these spaces under the floor and in the walls.

It was a very clever invention and after the Romans left, it was centuries

before the British people had central heating again.

This is a picture of the hypocaust at Rockborne in Hampshire. These pillars

(red) held up the floor and allowed the hot air to circulate underneath,

heating the room.

Mosaics

Wealthy Romans might decorate

their house with mosaics, floors

made of tiny, coloured clay pieces

that together made a wonderful

picture. They were called tesserae.

A wealthy Roman might have

chosen a design from a pattern

book, much like choosing wall paper

today! Also it is thought that many

of the designs might have arrived

pre-made, so all the workman had

to do was to stick them to the

floor!

The mosaic here shows a man and a giant eagle. It is made from thousands

of tiny tile pieces. They took a very long time to make.

Roman Entertainment

The amphitheatre was a very popular

location for entertainment.

This is what the amphitheatre at

Dorchester looked like. It was a simple

wooden enclosure, the audience sat on the

grassy banks around.

The audience had a lot of power over the

outcome of the gladiator battles. If they

waved their hands it meant the loosing

gladiator could live, if they made a thumbs down, he would die.

Gladiators

Gladiators were mainly slaves or prisoners and they had no choice - they

had to go and fight. In the amphitheatre, gladiators would fight with

animals and other gladiators. There were fake fights and then the

performance would finish with a real fight to the death.

In the Coliseum in Rome ( a huge building that held Gladiatorial fights)

2,000 men were killed in the first 2 weeks of it opening!

Theatres

The town was the centre for entertainment and people would come from

the countryside around the town to have a good time.

A town would have a theatre where people could see plays, mime, dancing

and concerts. The shows were free, paid for by wealthy townspeople who

wanted to become popular with ordinary people.

Chariot Racing

Chariot races in Roman Britain were held in fields, watched by spectators

on wooden seats. The chariots were pulled by two, four, or even eight

horses. Each race had seven laps. The chariots were often crashed.

Roman Baths

Every Roman town would have a public bath house. People would come each

day to wash, chat, exercise and relax.

The bathhouse had a large staff of slaves, heating water, carrying towels

and helping to clean the bathers.

The slaves would rub the bathers with olive oil and then scrape it off

(with any dirt) with a special scraper called a strigil.

Men and women were expected to keep clean and visit the baths every

day.

Men had to be clean shaven, which was painful and difficult as good

soap and razors hadn't been invented yet. It was a great relief when

Emperor Hadrian grew a beard so all the men could then copy him.

Lamplight

There was no electricity. The lamps were made of pottery and burned oil.

This might be olive oil if they could afford it (it was imported from Italy

where it was made). But most homes burnt tallow, made from animal fat.

The lamps gave a very dull, smokey light.

Roman Building

The Romans were extremely good at building things, roads, buildings,

bridges, walls....anything they needed.

They were very well trained, had lots of men to help and always did things

the best way, not trying to save time or money.

The Romans invented concrete which meant that they could build much

bigger buildings than anyone could have done before. They also used arches

a lot to make their buildings very strong.

On this page:

Hadrians Wall

Aqueducts

Roman Roads

How to build a Roman Road

Hadrians Wall

One of the most famous things that the Romans built was the frontier

between England and Scotland, called Hadrians Wall, named after the

Emperor who ordered it built.

It was started in 120 A.D. and took nine years to build.

It was built to protect Roman Britain from raids by the Picts and Scots.

Those were the tribes that lived in Scotland then. It stretched for over

100Km across Northern Britain, and was 5 metres high and 4 meters wide.

It was built so well, that you can still go and see parts of it today, nearly

2000 years after it was made.

What is less well known is that the Romans did invade Scotland and built

another wall (The Antonine Wall) in 142AD roughly between Glasgow and

Edinburgh. It was not as solid as Hadrians Wall, and most of it has

disappeared but there are some bits you can still see.

It was called the Antonine Wall because Emperor Antoninus Pius was in

charge at the time.

The Romans only stayed for about 30 years, after that they went back to

Hadrians Wall further south.

Aqueducts

The Romans built fantastic bridges all over Europe, like this aqueduct (a

bridge to carry water) in Pont du Gard in Southern France. This one had a

path for walking across, one for riding a chariot across and a channel for

getting water across!

Roman Roads

It was important for the Roman army to be able to move

soldiers and all their baggage around the country. They built

roads as straight as possible, in order to travel as quickly as

they could.

The roads connected forts and important towns

Many of our modern day roads are in the same place as Roman ones.

If you are ever travelling on a really straight road, with no bends, it's

probably an old Roman one. (They have put some new Tarmac on it since

then!)

Before the Romans came, roads were just mud tracks high on hills. When

planning a new road, Roman surveyors would look for the straightest

flattest route.

This would follow the valleys and go straight over hills if no other route was

possible.

The surveyors used a Groma. This was a wooden cross with weights hanging

from it which gave them a straight line.

The most famous Roman Road

'Watling Street' is the name given to a long straight road that the Romans

built from the Kent coast, up through London towards Leicester. Then the

road bent round to North Wales. It consisted of 11 straight lines that

might change direction where they met.

The reason for building the road was to make sure that the Roman Army

could march into central England easily once they arrived at the shore.

Much of Watling Street is used as roads today and many parts of it are

still called by the same name.

How to make a Roman Road

1. Plan your route carefully.

2. Clear any trees and grass out of your way.

3. Dig a deep trench and fill the bottom with layers of stones.

4. Make sure the road will be wide enough for soldiers to march along.

5. Cover the surface with small gravel or cobblestones.

6. Make sure that the surface of the road is curved, so that all the rain

will run off to the ditches at the edge and not make any puddles.

The Roman Army

Also on this page:

Army Camps

War Machines

The Roman Empire grew strong because it had a very good army to help

conquer and later control all the other lands.

The Roman Army was successful because it was better equipped and

organised than any army had been before.

The Roman Soldier

The Roman soldier was a professional soldier. This means that he joined the

army for 25 years and would be paid a salary.

A part of his wages was paid in salt, hence the saying 'being worth your

salt' -- (a good worker).

A soldier belonged to a Legion which had about 5,000 or 6,000 men. Each

legion was divided into companies of 80 men called Centuries.

Each legion had a standard that had badges on it from all the battles the

legion had won.

A Centurion was the man in charge of a century.

As a professional soldier, he spent most of the time training and kept his

uniform clean and smart. As well as being first class fighters, the

legionaries were good engineers and craftsmen.

There were also other regiments called Auxilia. These soldiers came from

the tribes which the Romans had conquered. Their job was to help the

legions.

They had to fight in front of the Roman soldiers to protect them from

attack. So they got killed first. They were divided into groups of about 500

or 1000 men called Cohorts.

Archers

Each company of the army would have some archers. Their bows were made

of horn and sinew. They could shoot a very long way and were very accurate.

Chariots

The fast fighting chariots made the Romans a formidable fighting force.

Light weight chariots were used for racing and training.

Army Camps

To keep Britain under Roman rule the Army built over a hundred camps in

all parts of the country.

Each camp would be a defensive site that would have everything they would

need to live a settled life.

Each camp would be rectangular, protected by a ditch and a wall. The

soldiers would live in wooden huts built in straight rows.

When they were marching from one place to another the soldiers had to

build a camp every night. Then they would sleep in tents pitched in neat

rows.

War Machines

The Army had special equipment to help them.

They had large war machine like catapults called ballista that fired arrows

and a sort of giant catapult that fired massive pieces of rock.

The Romans were so good at inventing things that they made the first

machine gun - which could fire many bolts a minute. No-one invented

another machine gun for over 1900 years!

The army also used special sheds and towers. The sheds gave them

protection as they dug under walls and the towers helped them climb high

walls and battlements.

Why did the Romans invade Britain?

A famous Roman General, Julius Caesar, decided to invade Britain in 55 B.C.

(That means 55 years before Jesus was born) because:

He was cross with the Britons for helping the Gauls (now called the

French) to fight the Romans.

He thought it would make him look good back in Rome (no-one had

travelled here before, it was like going to the moon for the Romans!).

He had heard that there was great treasure in Britain and he wanted

it.

He tried twice in 55 B.C. and 54 B.C. and his army did defeat the tribes

that were waiting for him but both times his boats were destroyed by

storms and he went home.

The Romans did not come back for another 90 years.

The Second Invasion

In 43 A.D. (43 years after Jesus was born) Emperor Claudius decided to

invade Britain again. He sent 40,000 troops, who gradually conquered most

of the country. The troops were terrified of going to Britain because they

had heard about the tribes who lived there. In fact they nearly refused to

go!

Emperor Claudius even brought elephants over to Britain to scare the

tribes - who would have never seen such an incredible animal before.

After the Romans had conquered most of Britain, the country became

peaceful.

The Romans were good rulers. They built good roads, and big

towns and made sensible laws.

Food

There was a great difference between the food that the poor Romans ate

and the food that the wealthy Romans had.

Poor people ate very simple food. They survived on bread, porridge and a

sort of vegetable soup with lentils, turnips, onions and beans. They might

also eat local food like figs and olives. They rarely ate meat.

Rich Romans could afford to buy lots of different food, from all over the

Empire. They used food to show off how wealthy they were.

Kitchens

Most houses had kitchen. It would have a charcoal fire and food was boiled

or fried in bronze or earthenware containers. Bread was baked in the ashes

of the fire. Some large houses might have special ovens built into the walls.

Kitchens would have containers of wine, olive oil, vinegar and a salty sauce

(made from gone off fish guts! - it was their favourite sauce.) called

liquamen.

Dinner Parties

Rich Romans served expensive and unusual food in order to show off.

Strange food included delicacies such as dormice stuffed with pine kernels

or boiled pigs udders and roast peacock. The more unusual the food, the

more the guests were impressed.

Guests ate lying on sofas, leaning on their left elbows while picking up the

food with their fingers. Slaves would bring bowls of water so that guests

could wash their hands.

Farming

The Roman farms grew wheat, grapes and olives. They also grew local crops

which might be sold all over the Roman Empire.

Farms were usually large estates and owned by wealthy men. Each estate

would have a large number of slaves. The day to day running of the farms

was done by stewards who were often slaves as well.

Roman farmers took great care

to keep on the right side of the

Gods.

Every month of the year had

special religious rituals

connected with it. The farmers

thought these were more

important than anything else they did on

the farm.

At harvest time offerings of fresh bread

would be placed in the fields for the Gods to eat.

Roman Clothing

Roman men wore a short linen tunic. Over this they wore a heavy toga which

was arranged in a complicated system of folds.

Men wore the toga when they wanted to look smart, like wearing a suit

today. For ordinary times they would just wear a simple woollen cloak over

their tunic.

Roman women wore a long tunic which reached almost to the ground. On top

of this they had a stola, a dress belted at the waist and on top of that a

wool or linen cloak.

Rich women were very fashion conscious and their hairstyles were always

changing. They also wore lots of expensive jewellery to show off their

wealth.

Hairstyles

Hairstyles changed constantly, one year it would be fashionable to have the

hair piled high on your head, the next year the fashion would be ringlets.

Women also wore elaborate wigs. Black wigs were popular and they were

made from the dark hair of British slave girls.

Jewellery

Wealthy women wore beautiful jewellery made from gold and silver with

precious gems set in it.