How 'Roman' was Roman-Britain? | Britannia 55BC to AD69

[@andytopley314]

I doubt that I am the only person who could happily have watched 2 hours on this subject when it is so well presented. One of the best history programmes out there, please do more.

[@TheSuperLegoMan100]

"It also has a large temple to the deified emperor Claudius, who's now died" that's news to me. RIP big man

[@OrganDanai]

Derek Jacobi was a fine man, indeed. 😁

[@anwlc85]

@@OrganDanai esrrteserrt a y rretare

[@Popebug]

Why are you so boring, Kenneth?

[@StarCrusher.]

I didn't even know he was sick

[@jimjiminyjaroo300]

Shit, who knew? Sad news.😢

[@purpurina5663]

The amphori, vases and cups are beautiful. The proportions are just perfect.

[@chrislightfoot1234]

The plural of amphora is amphorae. You failed the most basic Latin test.

[@purpurina5663]

@@chrislightfoot1234 thanks for the correction. The second part was unnecessary.

[@arionas11]

@@chrislightfoot1234 or amphoras. Both amphorae or amphoras are correct. The word is of greek origin not latin, though it came via latin

[@excession3076]

If anyone is interested, Welwyn Garden City (where the amphora came from) has an amazing Roman site that many people miss. It was excavated for years by an amature(?) husband and wife team and is extensive. When they built the A1(M), literally over the top, they covered the site under a large tunnel/arch. I haven't been for a few years so I may have got some details wrong (sorry about that) but it's really well worth a visit. It's actually in Welwyn old town, just up the road to the newer Garden City, and the entrance is at the back of the small carpark. Because it's kind of underground, it has the same atmosphere as the Roman Baths in Bath. You go down a tunnel and then find yourself within the Roman Villa, very evocative. And very unexpected. Perhaps because it's council owned, not NT or EH, it just doesn't seem to be that well known.

[@serendigity]

I really enjoy these short dips into the history of our world.

[@fionnmaguireoloughlin3538]

The modern world!

[@suecox2308]

OMG--that's a pre-Roman tea strainer!! lol. This was all so fascinating--thank you!

[@dominicm255]

wine strainer. Roman wine was full of impurities, sediment, and plant matter

[@rainbowchutney]

i think it was a joke lads

[@patriciapalmer1377]

It probably strained the seeds and peels from the cheap homade local brew they put in the nice Roman jugs.

[@faithlesshound5621]

@@patriciapalmer1377 If they heated herbs and seeds in their wine, they made a tisane, or herbal "tea." After boiling and dilution there would not have been much alcohol.

[@patriciapalmer1377]

@@faithlesshound5621 Dear Hound, Nuanced facetiousness is not your strong suit.

[@EyeLean5280]

For American viewers: when the British say "corn" it's a generic term and does not mean maize. Instead it's equivalent to our word, "grain."

[@DY142]

Thank you. Was about to ask this

[@ANDROLOMA]

Interesting. I didn't know that.

[@Oheh84]

I’m British and corn isn’t a generic term 😂😂 🌽

[@zackerycooper1206]

@@Oheh84 It’s actually a generic term for grain in both the UK and US. It’s just not very commonly used in the context of meaning grain generally, though it means grain a little more commonly in the UK.

[@johnbrereton5229]

@@zackerycooper1206 I'm English and here we only refer to corn when it is actually corn. I've never known it to be used as a generic term for any other type of grain. In fact corn has only been grown in the UK for less than 200 years so why would we use it to describe other grains that we have cultivated for far longer?

[@stevewiles7132]

Claudius was in Britain so long, when offered wine he replied, " No, I'll have half a mild and a packet of crisps."

[@raymondjmetcalfe2927]

Ha a goon show fan

[@sagidasyed6314]

Hahaha he supported arsenal!

[@scottharrison812]

😂

[@MrDaiseymay]

I've heard this---

[@EverendeverGroup]

I believe he also acquired a fond appreciation for spotted dick as well.

[@robster6868]

Love this,my parents moved to colchester a few years ago so it gave me a good reason to see the Roman stuff there,plenty of Roman in the south of France where I’ve lived for the past 8 years. Narbonne,Nîmes etc.Fascinating history

[@adamrobertorr9019]

More videos like these! Julia Farley is a fantastic educator.

[@sophieincolour]

Thank you for this excellent piece. I particularly enjoyed the investigative, exploratory way Julia talked, showing where there's evidence and where there's uncertainty. So much more engaging and trustworthy than the 'this is fact' way of talking that those with larger egos might bore us with.

[@johnraggett7147]

Greetings from Leipzig. Thank you for this super post. Please can we see something about London and Westminster between the Roman departure and the Norman conquest? The city re-emerged within the 600 year old Roman wall but the street pattern and all the buildings disappeared. Thank you once again.

[@MrDaiseymay]

They disappeared even more in 1940.

[@patriciapalmer1377]

The helmit is beautiful. Imagine it new and glinting in the sun topped with plumes.. This level of sophisticated design, 2000 years ago, still takes my breath away.

[@NeonsStyleHD]

Love the format of these. This is what we really want. An in depth look into the Museum and the history behind the objects with the occasional tour of an exhibit.

[@shalackma]

Thank you for these videos! They are wonderful pieces of interest and education.

[@lynnblack6493]

That was great. Really appreciated extra, and additional info, that saw Roman influence, prior to full blown conquest!

[@MixedMartialHelp]

Great video, I love Romano British history. I visited Colchester recently with my family and saw some of the sights.

[@cassopsnoxdigger614]

much appreciated and a very good presentation, thanks Julia & Richard .

[@sophieincolour]

There was a burnt fig found near the Colchester hoard, thought be on a shelf from what I remember. Figs grow well in East Anglia now, even in colder times than when the Romans were around. Did they bring the trees here? If the fig was fresh it implies the burning of Colchester was around September. Do we know the month?

[@KarlGregory-g8f]

More videos like these! Julia Farley is a fantastic educator.. What an enjoyable and informative lecture!.

[@birdshenanigans8506]

Julia Farley, loveliest historian I've ever watched!

[@madaug4389]

This was terrific, thank you.

[@davidwagner6116]

Thank you, your explanation brings these people's lives alive in my mind

[@MrNas42]

I hadn't thought of that - "Lets go for a 'Roman' " - when eating out just prior to the Claudian invasion...

[@susanhepburn6040]

Very interesting and well presented. Thank you very much - greatly appreciated.

[@charlesyanni5195]

Hear hear. Very well said.

[@sdamoros]

What an enjoyable and informative lecture!

[@lynnblack6493]

I have to go back and check out the Roman installations and artifacts. Missed so much in earlier visits! Great information.

[@jamesneedham6265]

I like how the British kept the Amphorae cherished them enough for them to be used as a statement of wealth and sophistication at burial. Its like how my Nan likes to keep Fortnum and Mason bags forever.

[@jackiedelvalle]

Haha! Or Harrods bags!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

The lady is knowledgeable, articulate and informative, no doubt destined for a most rewarding and useful career. We need more like her!

[@The-RA-Guy]

An excellent informative piece from the wonderful British Museum. Very well presented and explained. With a true LOL @ 11:20 via speech to text. 9th Legion Hispania comes out as "his spanner"! Must have been Mechanised Infantry!

[@thegreenmage6956]

Always nice to see Julia Farley.

[@HistorySkills]

Great video. Will be using this in my History lessons.

[@debasishbhattacharya2803]

Thank you for this excellent piece of information regarding Roman civilization and its influence in Britain . From Calcutta

[@L-mo]

This is so excellent, fascinating and exciting. I want to time travel now.

[@legionarybooks13]

Fantastic video! Regarding the helmet, with the questions as to whether it is a Roman soldier's or indigenous Britton's, the answer can easily be "Yes" to both. When we think of the imperial army, our thoughts always turn to the legions; however, there were as many, if not more, soldiers serving in the auxilia. If the holes atop are for a crest, my initial guess is that it belonged to an auxilia cavalryman, possibly a decurion, as I'm not sure if rank-and-file troopers wore crests.

[@damionkeeling3103]

Helmet could easily have belonged to a local Britonnic warrior The only real Roman feature is the enlarged neck guard, everything else is typical of Celtic helmets going back centuries earlier. If you look at where the neck guard begins there is a smaller neck guard representing the shorter Celtic version of the guard.The stamp could be anything, it might even be a unit number as suggested but the helmet might have been war booty originally. The holes at the top look like rivet holes for attaching a crest of some kind, note the circular clean spot surrounding the holes suggesting a cone like structure was orginally attached - which means the original crest could have been anything from a simple plume to a fancy box crest or bronze design.

[@kikker_g2747]

Excellent video about an interesting question about Roman history and the history of the British Isles.

[@njm3211]

Very interesting and informative. Thank you.

[@LordJazzly]

11:22 Ooh! Ooh! I recognise those rosettes; at least I've seen them on other gravestones and pieces of masonry. They were on heaps of stuff when I was looking up Canaanite inscriptions - so are they a common mediterranean motif, or did this guy have a gravestone specifically because he was bringing a part of that culture with him, where burial markers like this are relatively more common? Also - what is that 'H.S.E' at the bottom? 'Hic sedit [something]'? Does anyone know? Anyway this is an awesome video about stuff that I'd have liked to have read up on more but haven't had access to the proper books, or time, to be honest. So, er, thanks British Museum!

[@varana]

HSE is the standard abbreviation for _hic situs est_ , i.e. "is buried here".

[@LordJazzly]

@@varana Oh! Thanks. That makes sense. My Latin's non-existent, and I don't live in a country with any Roman inscriptions, so I appreciate the explanation.

[@omicroneridani7456]

Surprisingly enough (or perhaps unsurprisingly, it depends), that symbol (those rosettes with six "petals") has been used throughout the centuries in lands and cultures very, very distant from one another. Other noteworthy users were for instance the Templars, and in modern day Europe, some political parties...

[@teddyjackson1902]

Awesome stuff. Could watch for hours.

[@daveseddon5227]

Great presentation! Thank you.

[@TesterAnimal1]

Fantastic thanks! I took a tour through the Roman section of the BM on a recent trip to ThatLondon. Got a selfie with Mister Bad Tempered (Caracalla)

[@axsos]

From the important Roman presence to the huge influence of John Florio to the English language and literature, Italic people have definitely shaped Britain in a profound way.

[@monkeysnide]

spaghetti

[@Swift-mr5zi]

If only you gave Henry VIII permission to get that divorce!

[@Swift-mr5zi]

@@monkeysnide 70p ALDI pizzas are my saviour 40grams of protein and 800kcals for 70p!!!

[@monkeysnide]

@@Swift-mr5zi sold

[@2112jonr]

Shaped yes, profound? Less so. German, Norse and French are the major influences.

[@thegreenmage6956]

The most distinct form of Romano-British culture is of course the architecture, as seen the archaeology of something like Pagan’s Hill Temple. Quite beautiful white and red, octagonal buildings. THAT is true native British architecture. And yet, not one reconstruction has been made. Now, that was a little naughty of Julia to say ‘this is a Roman design of helmet with Celtic decoration’, because we all know that ‘Roman’ design is a copy of the earlier Celtic Coolus-type helmet. Edit: another thing, the largest Celtic Oppida, or towns, are approximately the size of small Greek city states from the same period. It is not accurate or true that native Britons were living in small and medium sized communities, they were also living in large communities. It is also misleading to say that they were living in wooden houses, many of them used stone for the walls where wood was less plentiful, some roundhouses but also entire towers such as the brochs of modern day Scotland, which are the largest free-standing stone structures in the world. As opposed to the Roman walls displayed here, the earlier Celtic usage of stone often used no joining agent, and stones were simply perfectly placed. This is also the case with the stone walls of Celtic Hillforts in Britain as well. The Celts ought not be misrepresented as overly primitive.

[@NubiansNapata]

Romans considered them primitive.... Romans considered basically everyone in Europe to primitive

[@battenburg6089]

"How Roman was Roman Britain?" I find myself interested, then realising my county actually traded with the Roman Empire before their invasion of the Isles.

[@Cat_Woods]

Little ironic that the Roman couple killed in the revolt had invoked Fortuna specifically.

[@JohnSmith-jt5qr]

Thank you for none of the New-Age BCE garbage. You got a Thumb's up from me. Obviously, the video is also GREAT!!!

[@alicedavid9397]

Very interesting and great presentation.......thank u

[@MB-oc1nw]

That's a "Montefortino" helmet. The design is Celtic but the Romans adopted it from the Celts.

[@Ome99]

How Roman was roman Britain? Askeladd: Yes

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

The lady uses BC and AD - highly commendable. May she do so throughout her career - and life.

[@stevecraig6175]

Useful video. When the map shows Colchester I think the location indicated is actually Cambridge?

[@JHamList]

ive always suspected that trade links prior to the invasion, even prior to Julius Caesars expeditions were more significant than people would have thought, people gonna trade, its what theyve always done.

[@peterdonaldhume]

Don't feel so.pleased about showing how little you know. What you mean is that you have just understood what all educated people already understood about Rome's connection with Britannia - really no need to flaunt this in such a Trumpian display of ignorance. "Who knew that?" Try reading a book next time - any book on the province will make this clear

[@Freakishd]

@@peterdonaldhume You seem obsessed

[@damionkeeling3103]

@@peterdonaldhume Trade between the British Isles and Europe goes back well into the bronze age and given the beaker folk migrated across the channel in boats of some kind it's a bit of a stretch to assume they never used boats to keep in contact with people in coastal Europe. That said, for those who don't follow history the narrative is one of civilised Rome crossing the great unknown to discover these weird folks called Britons - just ignore the tin trade going back several centuries earlier because many of the generic history books I've read over the years have done just that. They'll mention the tin trade, then pretend Britain was forgotten about by the time Caesar shows up.

[@JJSPARROW1978]

It was so Roman that many romans obtained a British Ancient, which would later be heavily involved in re-enactments, movies and Tv Shows. Cause Caesar was a real geeza!

[@matthewbryant958]

I’m lucky enough to live just a mile or 2 away from vindolanda and housteads forts and obviously the Roman wall. Best place in the world to live

[@MrGalpino]

The helmet is shaped similarly to Roman ones, but wasn't the Roman helmet inspired by Celtic designs in the first place?

[@francoisdaureville323]

Em nope? Where do you get that from

[@alayneperrott9693]

Excellent video!

[@eldunenorap2250]

Would salt from Cheshire be one of the exports back to Rome?

[@sophieincolour]

There's plenty more salt to mine and be made from seawater between England and Rome. More likely they would have used it more locally, paying their armies etc, don't you think?

[@tomellis4750]

Good, thank you. What was the purpose of the three holes on the back of the helmet?

[@charliesmith_]

Am surrounded by Roman Villas in my area. Great fun being an archaeologist in Buckinghamshire on the Berkshire county border x 🇬🇧 I like that most Romans here used hammered out lead to scratch their heartfelt *curses* on others with. Lead lasts longer for a long curse than mere vellum. So many lead curses still being found in damp places. Guess the resident Romans hated their British resident Roman neighbours as much as they did in Rome. Eastenders, Housewives of New York and MSM still keeps the old lead cauldron boiling. Times change, ERA societal people don't. Shove em en masse into high-rise Roman ghettos, or penthouses and you have the benchmark for how people have been trained to behave in a societal vacuum. I can imagine it was a kind of swift 'neighbours from hell' moment when the bigwigs/troops and their chav wives arrived in Britain. We won't mention the Norman's today.

[@AgTigress]

Excellent. Though as others have said, the captions could do with a few corrections.😉

[@Sawrattan]

Wonderful video and presentation style.

[@dream_emulator]

Excellent content

[@chrisdale5443]

I really enjoyed this talk however I found it hard each time that the map was on screen and Colchester was marked in the wrong place

[@theBaron0530]

It shouldn't be any surprise that there were contacts between Britain and the Roman provinces just across the Channel, before AD 43. It was the trade and the products the tribes on the island produced that made it a target of Roman expansion in the first place.

[@rexmundi3108]

The video talks about the gradual, almost organic intrusion of Rome. This may have been true of some regions in the south, but when they had that foothold they became somewhat less subtle.

[@techobsessed1]

The video explained that there was a Roman influence in Britan before the conquest which strongly implies there was a conquest. But apart from that implication, the video repeatedly mentions the conquest. So, I'm not sure what your point is.

[@basoon87]

At 6:50 , that was the best take? Didn't wanna give it one more go?

[@redrobot8925]

wine strainer has 'celtic' design. that wd be 'native british' design

[@damionkeeling3103]

Not necessarily, the design is generically celtic and similar forms exist from Celtic Europe. The region of the strainer was occupied by the Catuvellauni, one of the Belgic tribes that made up a cultural bloc in much of southern Britain defined roughly by Weston-Super-Mare to Southampton in the west and the Severn Estuary to The Wash in the north. So the design may have been native British or may have been from Belgic Gaul or simply existed in both places as part of common culture.

[@michaelwilkinson2928]

Colchester wasn't decimated (one in ten), it was annihilated (from nihil = nothing) i.e. totally destroyed.

[@toinebles]

OK, but apart from amphora, wine, pounds and writing, what have the Romans ever done for us?

[@ElusivePlatypus96]

Well they brought in aqueducts.. and the roads are to die for!

[@toinebles]

@@ElusivePlatypus96 yeah, ok, but apart from that?

[@phillgreenland2390]

@@toinebles Major roads.

[@ClassicalRaritiesChannel]

Fantastic video, thanks very much.

[@crookedpaths6612]

The decorations on the helmet are they one-off privately commissioned pieces of art or are they forms of insignia that the Roman army would use to identify individual units of legionaries?

[@donaldauguston9740]

Thank you. This was quite interesting. DA

[@euhdink4501]

At a speed of 75% this is just about understandable and followable. Why always so fast?

[@Syrkyth]

3:13 Wait, corn? Edit: Ohhh, apparently in British English 'corn' refers to any cereal plant grown for its seeds/grain. The word 'corn' in my locale refers to maize and maize only.

[@GavTatu]

0:14 "oh yeah Anotius, take your peaked helmet, its blazing sunshine in Britannica" .....snigger.

[@sophieledieu2584]

Omg my daughter is learning about this.

[@garyhart6421]

Perhaps the II was added much later --- If it were mine I would not have stamped it there.

[@ATINKERER]

Is that a pearl at 16:06? If it is, the people who owned it must have been very very rich!

[@tkc1129]

Great video. :-)

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Ceaser's first trip reminds me of Columbus. Both looked around and said they'd return with astroglide.

[@HarborLockRoad]

For Biggus Dickus, and his wife, Incontinentia Butticus???

[@Fernandoenf2]

Thank you very interesting!!!

[@gfuentes8449]

Thank you for not making this PC awesome vid

[@AsadKhan-ii3es]

Excellent 👌

[@eggsaladsamich7396]

They are both the most beautiful people I have ever seen in history education

[@davidevans3227]

thankyou for sharing this 🙂

[@davidevans3227]

how about people born of romans but now in Britain, (second generation etc) are you roman? British? or what? just like today, what's your identity..??

[@nHans]

So 'Colchester' *isn't* pronounced 'coal-stuh'? I'm confused ... aren't the middle bits supposed to be silent-Worcester, Leicester, ... ?

[@leocomerford]

Yes, I’m afraid English place names are like English spelling in general: lots of patterns but not much actual uniformity. The pronunciation of ‘Colchester’ _is_ similar to that of ‘Manchester’, though.

[@HarborLockRoad]

Come to new england if you really want confusion....all the towns in massachusetts, connecticut, vermont, new hampshire, etc, weve all got these same names from the original colonists....and im sure, pronounce them differently!

[@luckyblockyoshi]

c vs ch

[@nHans]

​@@HarborLockRoad I believe you. They even say 'Houston' differently depending on which place they're referring to!

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

Thanks for sharing

[@faithlesshound5621]

Ireland also had some wealthy people who lived like the Romans. Excavations on the East coast have uncovered a few Roman-like buildings, although it is fairly certain that the Romans did not invade, or at least make any permanent camp on the island. Those would have been the original "West Brits!"

[@NubiansNapata]

Romans civilized the region

[@barrytees3849]

The real question is. How roman is britain still

[@ecurewitz]

excellent, thank you

[@Gorboduc]

14:55 to the end is basically Must Farm 2.0.

[@hah3456]

REPARATIONS FOR OUR BRYTHONIC ANCESTORS

[@johnbockman6078]

I seem to remember from a book by the geneticist Bryan Sykes that said the presence of Roman DNA is pretty much nonexistent among the British, his hypothesis being that the Romans stationed Germanic mercenaries there. In fact, he says that no really distinct Celtic or Germanic DNA can be found in any individual because the inter-mixture has been going on for so long from generation to generation. I knew a woman named Honnig who was from York, and she told me it meant "honey," which I knew already from my knowledge of German. However, though she may identify herself with the Danes who settled there ages ago, her genetic make-up is much more mixed. As has been pointed out by somebody, nearly everybody in Britain can trace their family back in a very round-about way to William the Congueror.

[@vivaseineldin]

Clearly the British have Italian blood. Just look at the brown eyes & dark hair & Mediterranean noses of The Beatles (John, Paul, George & Ringo, although Ringo has blue eyes he clearly has a long Roman nose)

[@fabrizio.guidi64]

more than a million English people are descended directly from the ancient Romans

[@johnmckee912]

thank you for using BC and AD refreshing !

[@ourvaluesarewhoweareinadem4093]

Mining in Roman times wasn't just a punishment, it was an horrific death sentence.

[@morriganmhor5078]

Death sentence probably for horrific crimes. Why criminals shouldn´t be useful for some years at least? Only now they are living in *** hostels, being released after a few years, even for multiple murders and rapes.

[@luminousfractal420]

@@morriganmhor5078 because you either act like a civilised human or you act like those criminals ...like an animal. compassion and empathy...you should work on that.

[@what-oy8il]

@@luminousfractal420 all these things you said are based on your opinions. Why should terrible criminals be kept alive? Might as well make them usefull to the society.

[@morriganmhor5078]

@@luminousfractal420 No way. Even today the criminals are in a better position than their victims - thanks to all that "compassion and empathy".

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@morriganmhor5078 some were just slaves and others were considered criminals for minor infractions . Did you forget that there were public executions for being a thief less the 200 years ago?

[@niccolopozzati4909]

I like this video. Roman Britain is the subject of my thesis

[@stephenbrasher]

Someone needs to change that subtitle from "peat district' to "Peak District".

[@KlausBeckEwerhardy]

Shouldn't it be 'sandals on the ground'? 😁

[@Gambleiit]

@JONATHAN SUTCLIFFE I doubt she had Roman blood as she was the queen of a tribe which was in the process of being subjugated by the Roman's. In regards to relations.. "Boudica's husband Prasutagus, with whom she had two children whose names are unknown, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome, and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor in his will. However, when he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed and his property taken."

[@cholulahotsauce6166]

Caligulae on the ground

[@cholulahotsauce6166]

@JONATHAN SUTCLIFFE whoops, I meant caligae.

[@mikefabbi5127]

Thongs on the ground lol.

[@mikefabbi5127]

@JONATHAN SUTCLIFFE I don't get it but don't worry I don't get a lot of things.

[@ghostsoup1313]

Great video! Thanks. But what corn was being exported to Rome from Britain? Corn was a New World crop & didn't reach Europe until 1493.

[@thhseeking]

"Corn" is a general term for "grain". The crop brought from the New World was maize. At some point, in English it was called "Indian corn" meaning "Indian grain", then shortened to "corn" in the U.S. and wherever the U.S. spread their influence. In many non-English-speaking countries the word for "Indian corn" is a variant of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant, "mahiz".

[@AndreGarzia]

@@thhseeking before seeing this comment, I spent a lot of time researching what the hell was British corn because for sure it was not maize. Once I found that in British English corn is a term for any plant whose seeds can be used to make flour, I felt cheated.

[@cholulahotsauce6166]

@@thhseeking this right here folks. Hence peppercorns, acorns, quernstones, corned beef, probably a few others

[@starmeyer8935]

@@cholulahotsauce6166 FYI, “corned beef” because the salt used to preserve the meat is so large grained that it looks like “corn”/grain (or so I read in a recipe)

[@Marqk-]

Ironic incorrect use of decimate