THE ROMANS IN LONDONDON
BY MIA CEADAR CLASS
THE ROMANS CAME TO LONDON IN 43 AD AND Conquered THE LOCAL TRIBES THEY BUILT A FORTFEILDTOWN CALLED LONDINUM. THE ROMANS CAE INTO BRITAN FOR 300 YEARS . THEY LEFT MANY ARTEFACTS BEHIND.
THE ROMANS IN LONDONDON
BY MIA CEADAR CLASS
THE ROMANS CAME TO LONDON IN 43 AD AND Conquered THE LOCAL TRIBES THEY BUILT A FORTFEILDTOWN CALLED LONDINUM. THE ROMANS CAE INTO BRITAN FOR 300 YEARS . THEY LEFT MANY ARTEFACTS BEHIND.
Roman London and archaeology
The London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) of the Museum of London houses all the archaeological material that has been excavated in Greater London over the last 50 years or longer. There have been hundreds of excavations which tell us about London from Prehistoric to 20th-century times. The material is recorded and, if thought to be important, it is brought from the excavation so that the archaeologists can look at it more closely.
Conservators check the condition of the objects made of metal and other materials, like wood and bone. Pottery vessels, however, can survive without harm coming to them, except that they were often thrown away because they had been broken. They clean the objects, X-ray and treat them if they need it - a bit like doctors in a hospital. The objects are then carefully packed into plastic boxes or bags. The archaeologists are then able to write about the story of the site. When this has been done, the material is taken to the LAARC store in Hackney and placed in boxes and put on shelving.
It is the largest archaeological store in Britain, Europe and possibly the world. The material is kept so that students and researchers can come and look at the material and study it closely. There is much that can be learnt from this material and as scientific techniques improve there may be more information that will help us tell the story of London. Some of the objects used in this resource come from the LAARC and the replicas are based on London finds.
The Romans stayed in London for 400 years and Londinium, the town they created, was the largest town in Roman Britain (Britannia). The remains the Romans left behind lie as much as 8 metres below today’s streets due to the fact that the City of London (the Roman town) has been heavily built over for nearly 2000 years. Archaeological excavations help us find the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that help us tell the story of Roman London, but like any puzzle, there may be pieces missing. This is why we have to use words like ‘probably’ as we sometimes can’t always be certain of the evidence
queen boudicca
een Boudica, a proud woman, expected to inherit half of the kingdom of her husband, Prasutagus, when he died. The Romans, however, decided to seize her land and possessions, flogged the queen and mistreated her daughters. Boudica and her tribe, looking for revenge, joined with another tribe, the Trinovantes, who also had reason to resent the Romans. At first, the tribes were very successful and caused great trouble and destroyed Colchester.
The British tribes stopped to celebrate and spent time looting rather than continuing to advance. This gave time for the governor to reach London with a small force of cavalry but there were not enough to defend London and he evacuated all those Londoners left and they headed towards St Albans along Watling Street. The British tribes spent several days in London burning the buildings and killing anyone who was left, mainly the elderly and sick.
The tribesmen moved on to attack St Albans and the Roman historian, Tacitus, recorded that some 70,000 people were killed in all three towns. We do not know where the final battle took place but the Britons were unable to escape having brought their families to watch in wagons and carts behind them. Many were killed. We do not know what happened to Boudica – she either poisoned herself or she fell ill and died. The queen was probably in her mid to late thirties when she died but her final resting place is unknown.
Q
GLADIATORS
Gladiators were seen again in Guildhall Yard, City of London in July 2011. The shows by re-enactment group, Britannia, were staged for the Museum of London to celebrate the City of London's Roman past. The remains of the Roman amphitheatre lie below the Guildhall Art Gallery and, in Guildhall Yard itself, the position of the arena is marked out, making it an ideal place to stage the shows. The buildings that are now there are sitting on where the seating of the amphitheatre would have been.
A sanded arena was set up to allow the fighting to take place and two teams of gladiators battled it out. One team represented Londinium (Roman London) and the other, another major Roman town, Camulodunum (Roman Colchester). When asked whether they wanted the fallen gladiator spared or not, the audience were shown how to raise their hands up as fists but with the thumb stuck out sideways and to shout 'iugula' – 'Kill him!' when they wanted the gladiator to be condemned. It is often thought that is where the thumbs-up and thumbs-down sign came from. If they wanted the gladiator saved, they would wave their hands and shout 'Mitte' – 'Spare him!'. Although the audiences enjoyed these modern shows and shouted their support for their gladiators, it must be remembered that this was staged to be entertaining and did not involve any real injuries. The actual shows would have been very different.
Gladiators in Roman London continues on the next page...