Tabla de contenidos para Roman Britain en Roman Britain

“The Roman Empire was ahead of its time, with even the Dark Ages failing to eliminate its mark” 27 BCE Senate grants Augustus new titles As part of Octavian’s new position as the ultimate ruler of Rome, the Senate grants him the titles of Augustus, Majestic and also princeps. 27 BCE 43 CE Roman conquest of Britain 43 CE Prior to Emperor Claudius’ campaign to conquer Britannia once and for all, the Romans have enjoyed a relatively healthy trading relationship with the tribes of Britain since Julius Caesar’s first settlements in 55 BCE. However, the Catuvellauni have taken over from the Trinovantes as the most powerful kingdom in southeastern Britain. The Catuvellauni begin encroaching on the land of the Roman loyal Atrebates, forcing Rome to send troops to pacify Britannia…

The peoples of the British Isles and Ireland in the first millennium BCE did not call themselves Celts, and neither did the Romans who wrote about them, yet the Celtic identity still survives in the six territories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall a nd Brittany. This comes down to language. In the 16th century, the Scottish historian and scholar George Buchanan first suggested that the non-English languages of these regions were similar to those spoken in pre-Roman Europe by the Gauls, whom the Romans did refer to as Celts. Buchanan’s claim would mean the Celts travelled to the British Isles and Ireland. Then, in the early 1700s, Edward Lhuyd, a pioneering linguist, noted that there were actually two branches of the Celtic language. There was Brythonic,…

While Caesar was still tangling with the British resistance leader Cassivellaunus, word reached him that there was trouble back across the Channel in Gaul. With their great conqueror out of the country, busy trying to add Britannia to Rome’s wish list, the Gauls had seized the opportunity to rise up and rebel against their Roman overlords. Caesar couldn’t afford to keep his back turned much longer. He may have defeated Britannia’s southern tribes, but that was no guarantee that those further west or to the north would accept Rome as their new ruler. Getting bogged down in what would inevitably have become a costly guerrilla war was not something Caesar could even consider. It was by now early September, and with the unmistakable smell of autumn in the air, Caesar…

The nephew of emperor Tiberius and the grandson of Augustus’ sister with Mark Antony, Claudius was of good stock. However, within the imperial family he was considered unsuitable for public office. Instead, he threw himself into history, writing 20 books about the Etruscans and eight on the Carthaginians. His mother and grandmother had to stop him from covering the Second Triumvirate for fear of scandal. Though his self-depreciating demeanour helped him survive both the tyrannical Tiberius and the maniacal Caligula, when the latter was murdered Claudius found himself thrust into the purple. For elevating, rather than killing, him, he gifted the praetorians 15,000 sesterces and an annual bonus of 100 sesterces thereafter. Having recalled many who had previously been exiled, after uncovering various plots against his life his paranoia drove…

1. The call to arms As Boudica gathered her people, warriors flocked from all over Britannia to join her rebellion against the Roman Empire. The queen then led her army south to combine with the substantial forces of the Trinovantes before advancing towards Camulodunum 2. Legion IX ambushed The moment the commander of the ninth legion, Petillius Cerialis, was alerted about the uprising of Boudica, he immediately advanced his forces to save the undefended colonia of Camulodunum. However, his army was surrounded and destroyed in a clever ambush. 3. Destruction of three cities Boudica and her army moved almost completely unopposed to devastate Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium, and slaughtered well over 30,000 Roman citizens. The queen then advanced down Watling Street to confront the Roman army as it returned from…

A posting to the Roman Empire’s most northern boundary (and thereby its coldest) doesn’t sound like it would have been an appealing placement – and that’s before the threat of marauding Picts comes into consideration. However, archaeological evidence has revealed the auxiliary troops stationed on Hadrian’s Wall enjoyed the many benefits of cutting-edge Roman technology. One of the perks some men had access to was the hypocaust, an elaborate system of under-floor heating that must have proved popular in the harsh winters of northern Britannia (as were the leggings and sheepskin boots that soldiers donned in the colder months). Flushing toilets – something we take for granted today but were rare at the time – were also built into the forts and milecastles that the troops garrisoned. When they weren’t…

The province of Britannia was ruled by the Romans for approximately 367 years, during which time they constructed over 60 impressive civil and military installations, sections of which still stand today. As with everything the Romans put their minds to, the settlements of Roman Britain were built to a planned structure. Imperative to each town were twin roads, one running east to west and the other south to north. The junction at which these two roads met acted as a central hub for the town, home to the marketplace, forum and administrative buildings. Businesses would also have been placed towards the centre, with surrounding roads – ranging from five to eight metres wide depending on their purpose – built parallel to the two main roads and at right angles to…

From the earliest times, London has been a place of blood and fire. Conflagrations scorched the city throughout Roman times with extensive blazes destroying great swathes during the Flavian, Hadrianic and Antonine periods. The Hadrianic Fire (c.120-25) appears to have been the most potent, and though rebuilding occurred, it was not as dense. The city’s destruction in the revolt of Boudica stemmed its development for several years, and there is a legend of slaughter attributed to the Celtic tribes by medieval chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, who says the warriors threw the heads of Roman legionaries into a “brook in the city”. The discovery of skulls in the bed of the Walbrook River in 1860 has been linked to this story.…

The city that would become Verulamium was originally built on a Celtic site known as Verlamion (‘settlement above the marsh’) and acted as a key strategic hub for the Catuvellauni tribe. Hostile to the arrival of Rome, the Catuvellauni had occupied this Iron Age settlement since before 20 BCE, a fact attested to by the existence of coins minted in Verlamion by the thenking of the Catuvellauni, Tasciovanus. Evidently a king of ambition, Tasciovanus is thought to have ousted the ruler of the Trinovantes, Addedomarus, from his seat in Camulodunum, as coins issued from the city between 15 and 10 BCE bear his mark. However, coins minted after this date in Verlamion seem to suggest that Tasciovanus was keen to stress his status – possibly in the knowledge that not…

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Nonetheless, efforts to fathom what was going on in terms of religious beliefs in Iron Age Britain are not easy, principally both because its inhabitants were non-literate, thus leaving no record of their attitudes to the spiritual world, and because of the dearth of images of divine beings. There are a few scattered classical literary references to sacred rites on this remote island beyond Ocean (the great river believed by the Greeks and Romans to encircle the ‘civilised’ world). But these need to be treated with caution because such comments are loaded with a deadly mixture of ignorance and bias towards ‘barbarians’. Any notion of identifying anything resembling a pre-Roman Iron Age pantheon is doomed to failure. However, to be set against…

Like elsewhere in the territories controlled by the Roman Empire, the soldiers in Britannia were sorted into legions and subordinate auxiliary units. The former were composed of roughly 5,500 Roman citizens, almost all of whom were infantry and had joined for a fixed 25-year term of service. The legionaries were then supplemented by numerous units of auxiliaries, which were made up of non-citizens, drawn from the many non-Roman peoples around the empire. Having said that, at the end of their terms of service, the lower-paid auxiliaries were entitled to Roman citizenship. By the middle of the 2nd century CE, there were around 40,000 auxiliaries in Britain alone, garrisoned all over the province, and auxiliary horsemen comprised a large proportion of the cavalry there. Three legions provided the bulk of the…

By 455, the Western Roman Empire was crumbling – it had lost huge swathes of territory in Britain, Gaul, Spain and much of North Africa. That year, Rome was sacked once again, this time by the Vandals, led by Genseric. They ravaged the city for two weeks, stripping it of all its treasures and wealth – so rapaciously that the act gave rise to the term ‘vandalism’. Everything from gilded roof tiles and furniture to the empire’s most ancient relics were stolen, and hauled off to Carthage. Despite the best efforts of the Eastern Emperor Leo to restore the West to its former glory, in 476, it was finally dealt its death blow by Odoacer, a German warrior who had risen through the ranks of the Roman military. Declared king…

Though sub-Roman and early Medieval British history boasts a distinct lack of sources, the Briton monk Gildas left behind a contemporary account of the “ruin of Britain”. While laden with scripture and conjecture, it also made the first mention of Ambrosius Aurelianus, the Roman who is said to have led the Britons to victory against their Saxon invaders – an account repeated by the 8th-century chronicler Bede. The 9th-century Welsh scholar Nennius, meanwhile, painted the Dark Ages in a more colourful light. He not only referenced the fabled King Arthur for the first time, but credited him with the victory at Badon. Meanwhile, he presented Ambrosius as the adolescent son of a consul, a clairvoyant to whom Vortigern bequeathed western Britain. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudohistorical The History of the Kings…

The Roman Empire was one of the largest empires in history, comprising land throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. However, expansion was mostly accomplished under the Republic (between 509 and 27 BCE), before the principate was actually established. During this period, Rome’s control expanded from the immediate surroundings of the city to dominate most of the Mediterranean world through forming alliances or taking the territories by brute force. It wasn’t long before the entire Italian Peninsula was under the thumb of the Republic, and by the following century its overwhelming sovereignity had widened all the way to include North Africa, Spain and Southern France (Gaul). By the end of the 1st century BCE, the Republic had expanded to include all of modern-day France, Greece and most of the…

753 BCE Rome is founded/Romulus becomes king 753 BCE Once a series of warring tribes and clans, the strongest among them are united underneath the warrior general Romulus. He installs himself as king and forms the very first incarnation of the Senate. The eldest members from the most powerful and influential gentes (clans) are chosen, Italy’s deeply patriarchal makeup placing a great deal of importance on the wisdom of its older male members. Around 100 members are chosen by Romulus, and the Senate begins by taking care of the day-to-day running of the kingdom. Together, the very first laws of the land are written and the first standing armies formed. 716 BCE Romulus passes away Around 716 BCE, Romulus mysteriously disappears during a storm. Some legends say he was murdered,…

Who were they? The Celts were a loosely defined group of tribes that collectively formed one of the largest groups of people in ancient Europe. They lived predominantly off the land in small communities, some of which gradually merged over time to become larger settlements, and were informally tied by a similar religion, language and culture. To the ends of Europe They were scattered over a wide area, with tribes settled in locations ranging from the British Isles to central Europe and the borders of Ukraine. Some groups reached even farther afield, settling in the Balkans and stretched towards west Asia. Ancient origins The earliest archaeological evidence of the Celts’ existence dates back to around 1200 BCE, although what we would refer to as the Celtic civilisation was in existence…

Celtic tribes lived in small farming communities, often in hill forts defended by ditches and ramparts for added protection. The largest in the British Isles had 1,000 inhabitants but most were smaller, with roundhouses the most common dwelling-type. On the continent, larger settlements of up to 10,000 people are known, reflecting a more developed production and exchange economy. Celtic society was dominated by a warrior aristocracy, and the grandest fought from horseback or chariots. The largest roundhouses belonged to them and the smallest belonged to the hereditary slave class. Celtic society was also distinguished by the existence of classes of professional druids, responsible for all religious ritual; lawyers, who maintained widespread cultural norms; and bards, who celebrated the deeds of great men. The larger hill fort settlements were also centres…

Over the winter of 55-54 BCE, Caesar brooded over his expedition to Britain. Sure, it had done his celebrity status no harm – in fact, in Rome news of his exploits had sparked a 20-day party – but he was not a man who was used to failure. He resolved to return, and this time to conquer. He ordered the construction of a new invasion force with the galleys built to a different specification. “Made a little shallower than those that are habitually used in the Mediterranean,” as explained in his campaign diary, “to enable them to be hauled up on shore.” He also put together a far bigger army. When he landed near Deal on 7 July 54 BCE, his flotilla of 800 ships disgorged more than 25,000 legionaries,…

While Boudica of the Iceni was still mourning the death of her husband Prasutagus, a horde of Roman agents forced their way into her home. The armed men seized the Celtic queen, along with her two daughters, and dragged them all into public view. There, before the eyes of her people, Boudica was brutally flogged as if she were a slave and her two virgin daughters raped. When the violence was over, the Romans continued their acts of cruelty on the Iceni by confiscating the land of their chief nobles. Furious at their actions, the queen quickly gathered her people. She would stop at nothing until she had her revenge against the Roman Empire. The Roman commanders gave the orders for these acts in 60 CE after they received the…

ICENI Location: Norfolk Leader: Boudica The tribe was possibly the Cenimagni recorded by Julius Caesar when he invaded in 55 BCE. Except for a small-scale revolt in 48 CE, the Iceni remained a loyal client kingdom until the Boudican rebellion. TRINOVANTES Location: Essex, Suffolk and parts of Greater London Leader: The Roman Governor of Britannia By the time of the rebellion, the Trinovantes had fully become part of the province of Britannia. The tribe was enraged over the colonia at Camulodunum. BRIGANTES Location: Northern England and the Midlands Leader: Cartimandua The Romans benefited from their alliance with Cartimandua, as the vast territory of her tribe served as a buffer zone between the province and hostile tribes further north.…

Disastrous retreat With their larger swords unable to compare to the lethal gladius, many Britons were slain and the survivors were pushed back to the carts behind them. When the rebel army finally broke, the fleeing troops struggled to escape past their own barricade. Chariot assault vs terrain The chariots of the Britons were arrayed in front of the warrior bands and were the first to attack. Although the missiles of the mobile vehicles were deadly, the Romans withstood the heavy barrage until the British infantry began their advance. Superior numbers The Romans were positioned on top of a minor slope, with the mass of British warriors located in the fields below. With thick forests protecting their rear and flanks, the Romans waited for the Britons to make a frontal…

The Picts inhabited northern Britain, a region that the Romans always regarded as menacing. That area was north of a line running from (to use modern names) the Solway Firth across to the mouth of the River Tyne, a region that was never permanently subdued by the imperial forces. Roman operations there began a generation after the successful Claudian invasion of the island; expeditions were repeatedly sent north and led by experienced commanders such as the famous Agricola. Manpower was supplemented by physical structures when Hadrian’s Wall was built between 122 and 128 CE. Another wall/earthen work barrier was built further north known as the Antonine Wall, which was manned only occasionally. After the 3rd century, the imperial border was once again marked by Hadrian’s Wall. Initially, the Romans used…

When writing of the London of 60 CE, the Roman historian Tacitus describes it as “a very important and busy centre for traders”, proving that in less than a decade it had blossomed from a military supply base to a bustling and vibrant town. Despite a number of setbacks, London continued to grow throughout the 1st century, and alongside the small dwellings with their clay walls and thatched roofs, stone buildings sprang up, including public baths and temples, a fort and an amphitheatre, while a racing arena was built just to the south of modern-day St Paul’s. By the end of the 1st century, London was enjoying its most lively period of growth, though its great wall was not built until 100 years later, with historians placing its construction at…

It’s no secret that the Romans were brilliant strategists able to spot an opportunity or exploit natural features to their full extent, and nowhere in Roman Britain testifies more to their eye for a military advantage than the port town of Dover. Located on an estuary of the River Dour, Dover was identified by Julius Caesar’s military advisor Gaius Volusenus as an ideal landing place for an invasion force in 55 BCE. In order to acquire such knowledge, Volusenus crossed the Channel in a single boat to examine the coastline of the mysterious lands north of Gaul. Unfortunately for Caesar, the natural benefits of landing his fleet at Dover were somewhat outweighed by the very real threat of an unwelcoming host of Britons armed with javelins that had gathered to…

Work hard, play hard. That appears to be the mantra by which a lot of Romans lived their lives. There’s a general impression that the Romans were a wealthy, articulate bunch, who had splendid villas and clothes. However, that, in truth, is only half the story. As in any society, the normal men and women who lived and worked in Rome (Plebeians) led very different lives to those at the top of the tree (Patricians), residing in homes that were a world apart from the nobility and the elite and having differing levels of access to education and health provisions. Today, most of the physical evidence of the lower class’ existence has crumbled away. Their poorly built homes and unwritten stories have been lost to time. But historians have still…

Before the Roman conquest, Britain was formed of predominantly rural communities. The majority of people dwelled in roundhouses of mud, wattle and daub, timber and crowned with thatched roofs. These homes were unlikely to have separate rooms, so the space inside was more communal, especially the warming hearth in the centre. While there is evidence of rectangular buildings existing before the Romans’ arrival, they were rare. Roundhouses continued to exist, in declining numbers, throughout the Roman rule of Britain – perhaps even 40 per cent of homes maintained this traditional design. The Romans, particularly the elite, brought with them a culture that was both rural and urban, and the elite in particular needed a presence in both worlds: just as the growth of towns and urban life was a major…

Excavations at Vindolanda, the site of a Roman fort, have uncovered large numbers of letters on wooden writing tablets. The majority were composed with ink applied to the wood with a pen. These tablets have allowed extraordinary insights into Roman army life on the frontier and were not all strictly military. One tablet, dating to about 100 CE, was actually a birthday invitation from the wife of a commander of another fort to Sulpicia Lepidina, who was married to Flavius Cerialis, the commander of a Batavian auxiliary cohort (Cohors IX Batavorum) stationed at the Vindolanda fort. Another tablet contained a request made by a cavalry officer to Cerialis for more beer. The tablets themselves generally date from between 90 and 120 CE, when the fort served as the base of…

While Rome’s British fortifications began to collapse, not all suffered the same fate. Though many were very quickly deserted, larger settlements, such as Verulamium and Cirencester, as well as the smaller towns of Catterick and Dorchester on Thames all continued to exist for decades. However, needs facilitated a shift in how spaces were used. At Verulamium, one large villa, which once hosted a giant mosaic, now had a corn-drying oven in its place – indicating that, with a breakdown of order, there was a greater sense of urgency in gathering harvests and hiding them behind protected walls. The villa was later knocked down and replaced by a large barn, built using Roman methods, but with broken tiles salvaged from earlier buildings. The site also hosted a network of wooden pipelines…

Today, Rome is a beautiful tourist attraction more likely to play host to camera-toting travellers than barbarian hordes, but in the ages of the ancient world it was the epicentre of civilisation. The crown jewel of a nation that assumed every form – kingdom, republic and empire – a realm so powerful it changed the face of history forever. In the name of Rome and its ever-changing governments, it redefined the principles and engineering of warfare, revolutionised modern infrastructure and ushered in the beginning of the Middle Ages. And like any great superpower, it carved its borders across the face of the world. From the cold shores of Britannia to the warm sands of Palestine and Egypt, Rome created for itself an empire that was a sight to behold, but…

509 BCE Roman Republic established 509 BCE Following the overthrow of the monarchy and the exile of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the Senate establishes a new republic. In this new form, two leaders will rule cooperatively as consuls, elected for a single year each. With the formation of the Roman Republic, new powers are granted to the Senate and to the Plebeian Council, giving the people more power and influence over the laws that govern their home. It is decreed that Rome will never again recognise a king of Rome and subsequently elects Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus as its first joint consuls. Battle of Silva Arsia Republican forces meet those loyal to the deposed and exiled king at the Battle of Silva Arsia. Superbus’ forces are defeated, but…

The word ‘Celt’ is certainly an evocative one, conjuring up images of an ancient, hardy and almost mystical people who lived all over the British Isles and Ireland, and stood up against the Romans when they invaded. There were the fierce woad-painted warriors making a terrifying sight as they ran into battle without fear or armour, wielding weapons of iron. There were the proud women standing in the ancient world as rulers and fighters in their own right. There were their druids, in flowing robes, performing ghoulish rituals and making human sacrifices to the gods, sometimes by burning scores of animals or people alive inside a wicker man. Their settlements rose above the land in the shape of hundreds of mighty hill forts, defended settlements that still stand today as…

Prior to the coming of the Romans, the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures flourished in a continental Celtic civilisation that had its heartland in central Europe but branched out as far east as Asia Minor and as far west as Ireland. Although it was a fragmented society made up of clans with no centralised government, one thing the Celts were unified on was the cult of death. Across Europe, this major part of Celtic culture centred on a reverence for human heads and elaborate burial sites. In Britain, Ireland and Gaul (France) especially, a class of people known as druids became the link between the natural and the supernatural. The Celts believed that for a clan to survive and truly prosper, the dead must be properly respected. The Celtic warrior…

The Celts were leagues ahead of their counterpart ancient civilisations in gender equality, allowing females to be both warriors and queens, as the likes of Boudica and Cartimandua demonstrate. Although men held the ultimate power, the political freedom and lawful protection given to women was unparalleled compared with Greek and Roman lands. Classical Roman authors were notoriously fearful of the Celtic women as they fought as hard in battle as men. Girls were trained in the arts of war as much as boys, and would learn how to carry weaponry, fight off invaders and even lead their own fighting schools. The Iceni from southeastern England were one of the most prominent tribes to use women in battle as they drove the Romans out of Londinium. Women were also important in…

Size and structure The burial grounds would be approximately 50 metres in diameter and six metres deep, but this depended on the importance of the individual. The structure consisted of wooden walls and a layer of stones that would be covered by sod. Drinking culture As well as food and equipment, beverages and drinking vessels were buried as tradition. In one tomb alone, 1,100 litres of wine were taken underground. Gravediggers sometimes targeted Celtic burial grounds and huge amounts of drink could be a valuable find. The corpse The body would be made up to look its best for the Otherworld. The dead from noble backgrounds would be dressed in the smartest clothes they owned, while the poor would be covered and wrapped up in cloth. Location of the body…

On 26 August 55 BCE, Caesar gave the order for Roman troops to land on British soil for the first time. Having waited for hours near Dover for his cavalry to arrive, he decided to go ashore without them. Ordering his fleet northeast, he found a suitable beach six miles away at Deal. The entire time he was watched from land by the army the Britons had sent to meet him, following him to the shingle shoreline he now anchored his galleys off. Caesar could now see his new enemy up close. Although often mistakenly described as Celtic, these Ancient Britons weren’t related to the Indo-European tribes like the Gauls. These were an indigenous people, genetically connected to the Basques of northern Spain. Standing a head taller than the Romans,…

Before the time of Caesar, the Romans considered Britain an insignificant island of barbarians, stagnant at the edge of the world. Much of the country was untamed wildland, with only a few pockets rendered fruitful by great effort. It was known as a land of petty kings ruling fractured realms sitting precariously side by side. The southern straits of Dover had seen an influx of Belgic Gauls, first looting, then settling. Now they dominated the southeastern coast, boasting the island’s most advanced civilisation. By 54 BCE, despite having twice invaded Britain, learning much of the land and its people, Caesar returned with little to show for it. With even the mighty Caesar unable to subjugate the island, no sovereign attempted it again for quite some time. Augustus had thrice sought…

GAIUS SUETONIUS PAULINUS When Paulinus became the governor of Britannia in 58 CE, he had already proven himself to be a very skilled general. In 40 CE, he was the first Roman to lead an army over the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. GNAEUS JULIUS AGRICOLA Agricola was only a military tribune under Paulinus during the Boudican revolt. However, his participation in the conflict was one of the major reasons that his son-in-law Tacitus recorded the event. QUINTUS PETILLIUS CERIALIS Cerialis was a young and impetuous commander when he first entered history as the legate of the ninth legion. Yet even after his disastrous failure against Boudica, he became governor of Britannia in 71 CE.…

As with Camulodunum, the historic city of Eboracum was founded in 71 CE for military purposes. With an assault on the territory of the Brigantes planned for the coming campaign season, Quintus Petillius Cerialis – a formidable Roman general who would soon become governor of Britannia – astutely ordered the construction of a fort that would secure his position before he marched out to face the natives. Under his command, IX Legion set to work erecting a fortification on elevated ground that overlooked the River Ouse close to where it joined the River Foss. Its name meant ‘yew tree place’ in Latin on account of the abundance of trees of this type in the surrounding area. Yet the trees were not the only permanent structures to encircle the troops –…

Bath is a city bubbling with mystery. According to the legends, before Romulus and Remus had toiled to build the ancient city of Rome in 753 BCE, a beleaguered prince by the name of Bladud was ordered to head into exile and tend to pigs due to his catching of the fateful disease leprosy. Wandering alone, Bladud herded his porcine companions, also afflicted with a skin condition, towards the site of what is known today as Bath, where the pigs promptly plunged into a pool of heated mud. Miraculously, when they emerged their skin was healed, encouraging Bladud to follow suit and dive in, thereby curing his leprosy in the balmy waters of Bath. Bladud’s improbable recovery from a disease that was thought incurable until as recently as the 1940s…

The Palmyrene prince Odaenathus had proven himself Rome’s saviour in the East. However, when he was assassinated in 267 CE power fell to his widow, Zenobia, who was acting as regent for her son. While Odaenathus was loyal to the Romans, Zenobia was decidedly less happy beneath their yoke. Thanks to its strategic location along a major trade route, the city of Palmyra had become incredibly wealthy; its architectural marvels were said to rival those of Rome itself. With an army of 70,000, she seized Syria, Egypt, Anatolia and Northern Arabia – thereby founding the Palmyrene Empire. Her realm was a cosmopolitan one, where Greek, Roman and Syrian culture converged, and Pagans, Jews and Christians lived side by side. She famously protected the Bishop of Antioch, Paul of Samosata, who…

Roman society was a complex system made up of a strong social pecking order that went far beyond a simplistic dichotomy of very rich and incredibly poor. While we are familiar with the privileged lives of the emperors, senators and the equestrians below them, perhaps the most intriguing class of all was that of the plebeian. The men and women of the lower classes were the beating heart of the empire but there were few comforts their work afforded them, and this didn’t go unnoticed. A great dispute arose between the patricians and the plebeians in 494 BCE and it raged intermittently for 200 years. In that year, the plebeians threatened to leave Rome – a withdrawal of manpower which would have proved devastating – and concessions were introduced. However,…

While the rich indulged their taste buds with an array of mouth-watering foods, brought to them by slaves, the diet of the poor was rather more bland. Most were unable to enjoy the sauces, expensive meats and imported spices that the aristocrats digested, so made do with cheaper alternatives. The poor would rely on the staples of cereal, olive oil and wine and supplement it with bread, lentils, vegetables and porridge. Flat, round loaves made by cereal grain called ‘emmer’ were popular, but later bread made from wheat was introduced. Women would also grind grain into flour in thrusting mills, although there is evidence of animal-driven mills attached to bakeries such as in Pompeii and Ostia. Farmers, hunters and fishermen had better diets and thanks to no religious restrictions, anything…

In 367 CE, the Roman province of Britain succumbed to a ‘Barbarian Conspiracy’, as the island fell prey to simultaneous attacks from the Picts in the north, the Attacotti from the Western Isles, the Scots from Ireland, and Saxon and Frankish pirates along the southeast coast. This united assault was a first for Britain, enough to overcome the previously impregnable Hadrian’s Wall. Its success was made possible by treachery, as the Roman rangers, scouts and spies stationed at the frontiers defected. Rather than warning of the oncoming danger, they pocketed bribes, supplying troop movements to the attackers, and allowing them to make off with wagons of booty, slaves and cattle. Faced with this perfidious, multi-pronged onslaught, even the bravest Romans were forced to disperse – wandering the countryside, or else…