HISTORY OF THE UK

THE ROMAN INVASION

2 ROMAN BRITAIN
(AD 43 - AD 410)

 The Roman invasion of Britain -the most significant event ever to

happen to the British Isles.
 It affected their language, their culture, their geography, their
architecture and even their way of thinking.
 The island has a Roman name,
 its capital is a Roman city
 for centuries the language of religion and administration was a
Roman one.

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

3 BRITON

 For 400 years, Rome brought a unity and order to Britain that it had never had
before.
 Prior to the Romans, Britain was a disparate set of peoples with no sense of
national identity beyond that of their local tribe.
 In the wake of the Roman occupation, every 'Briton' was aware of their
'Britishness'.
 This defined them as something different from those people who came after
them
 The Scots and Irish were proud of the fact that they had never been conquered
by Rome.
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
Roman Britannia
4

 The name Britain comes from the

word “Pretani”,
 the Greco-Roman word for the
inhabitants of Britain.

 The Romans mispronounced the word

and called the island ‘Britannia’.

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

 Roman invasion
5

Rome invaded Britain because it suited the

careers of two men.
The first of these was Julius Caesar.
He first came to Britain in 55 BC.
He believed that Britain was full of silver
and booty to be plundered.
His first expedition, however, was ill-
conceived and too hastily organised.
With just two legions, he failed to conquer
the island.

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

6

The second invasion of Britain - by the Emperor Claudius

So, it was not until a century later, in AD 43, that a Roman army
actually occupied Britain
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
Romans in Britain
7

 The Romans established a Romano-

British culture across the southern half
of Britain, from the river Humber to
the river Severn.
 This part of Britain was part of the
Empire.
 Beyond were the upland areas , under
Roman control but not developed
 Controlled from the towns of York
(Eboracum), Chester and Caerlon in
Wales
 Each of these towns held by a Roman
legion of c.7,000 men
 Total Roman army in Britain was c.
40,000 men

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

8 Roman toponyms

 Caledonia = Scotland
 Cambria = Wales
 Hibernia = Ireland
 Anglia = England

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

 Caledonia
9
Hadrian’s Wall

 The Romans could not conquer Caledonia, although they spent over a century trying to do
so.
 They built a strong wall along the northern border,
 named after the Emperor Hadrian who planned it.
 Intended to keep raiders from the north.
 It also
Prof.marked the border
Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD between the two later countries – England and Scotland.
10 Invincible Caledonia
 Scotland remained a holy grail for the Romans
 Roman control of Britain came to an end as the empire began to collapse.
 The first sign were the attacks by Celts of Caledonia in AD 367
 Roman legions found it more difficult to stop the raiders from crossing the
Hadrian’s wall

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

11 The defeat of the Romans
 The Germanic tribes Saxons and Franks began to raid the coast of Gaul.
 In AD 409 Rome pulled its last soldiers out of Britain and the Romano-British, the
Romanized Celts were left to fight alone against the Scots, the Irish and Saxon
raiders from Germany.
 King Arthur – Romanized Celt who held back the advances of the Anglo-Saxons,
the very people who later became “the English”
 An example of distortions of popular history
 In folklore and myth he is a great English hero – example of medieval nobility and
chivalry
 In fact, he lived long before medieval times

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

12 KING ARTHUR

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

The end of the Roman rule
13

 In AD 410 Rome itself fell to raiders

 In AD 410, the civitates of Britain sent a letter
to the emperor Honorius, asking him to come to
their aid against the Saxon invaders.
 He wrote back telling them to 'look to their own
defences',
 Roman influence in Britain was officially
ended.

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

 ROMAN CULTURE

14

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

15

 The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain.

 The written word was important for spreading ideas and also for establishing
power
 Latin began to be used in speech and writing
 Celtic peasantry remained illiterate and only Celtic-speaking
 Town dwellers spoke Latin and Greek with ease and the richer landowners
also used Latin
 But Latin disappeared both in its spoken and written forms when the Anglo-
Saxons invaded Britain in the 5-th century
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
16 ROMANS: FOOD AND HEALTH

 The Romans introduced many new foods to Britain.

 The Romans introduced over 50 new kinds of food plants:
 fruits such as fig, grape, apple, pear, cherry, plum, damson, mulberry, date
and olive;
 vegetables such as cucumber and celery;
 nuts, seeds and pulses such as lentil, pine nut, almond, walnut and
sesame;
 Some people had access to professional medical care during the period,
although most relied on herbal remedies.
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
17 DRESS The wearing of the Roman dress – toga - came
into fashion

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

ROMAN LIFE
18

 Characteristics of Roman Britain

 Towns – basis of Roman
administration and civilization
 Many grew out of
 Celtic settlements
 Military camps
 Market centres

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

19 Roman towns

 Broadly, three kinds of town in Roman Britain, two of them

established by Roman charter
1. Coloniae – towns peopled by Roman settlers
2. Municipia – large cities whose population given Roman
citizenship
3. Civitas – the old Celtic tribal capitals, through which
Romans administered the Celtic population

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

20 Roman Towns in Britain

 At first these towns had no walls

 From end of 2-nd century to the end of 3-rd c. AD > almost every town was given
walls
 By AD 300 all towns had thick stone walls
 Romans left 20 large towns with 5,000 inhabitants and 100 small ones
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
Castra
21

 At first Roman towns were military

camps
 Castra = Latin word for camp
 Remained part of many towns
names (with the ending chester,
caster or cester):
 Gloucester, Leicester, Winchester,
Chester, Lancaster, Manchester …

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

22 Chester
 The excavated remains of the Roman amphitheatre at Chester

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

23

 The amphitheatres designed for other preoccupations of the Roman Empire

 games,
 gladiatorial contests
 wild animal shows – are still visible at towns such as:
 Cirencester (Gloucestershire), 
 Chester,
 Silchester (Hampshire)

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

24 Towns

 The towns - built with walls (stone and wood)

 Had planned streets, markets and shops
 Some had even central heating
 connected by roads, which were so well built that continued to be used after the
Romans left and became main roads of modern Britain
 Six of them met in Londinium /London/, a capital city of 20,000 inhabitants
 Twice the size of Paris
 Most important trading centre of Northern Europe
 Since southern Britain produced and exported corn

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

 25 Londinium Llyn-Din

"Londinium" was in fact the Roman adaptation of its native name Llyn

Din which means "the City, or Fortress, of the Lake". 

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

Roman roads
26

 Impressive network of
roads

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Growth of large farms
27

 Outside towns
 Large farms called villas
 Belonged to the rich Britons, Romanized Celts
 Each villa had many workers
 They were close to towns so crops could be
sold easily
 Most people still lived in round huts and
villages in which Celts had been living 400
years earlier
 Growing difference between the rich and the
workers

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

Villas
28

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

29

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

30 Latin words

 Besides the Roman monuments, which certify the Roman

presence on the island, few Latin words were preserved in
the people’s language :
 “street” from “strata via”, recognized in Stratford,
 “mile” which is the Roman “mila”,
 “wall” from “vallum”,
 the ending “chester”/”cester”/ ”caster” to be found in some
names.
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
31

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

32 The Roman Legacy

 Despite their occupation of Britain (367 years), the Romans left

very little behind.
 In many other parts of Europe :
 a system of law /Roman law/ and administration, which forms
the basis of the modern systems,
 the language which developed into the modern Romance family
of languages
 In Britain they left neither!
 Moreover, most of the villas, baths and temples were soon
destroyed by the raiders.
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
33 English Vocabulary Derived from Latin
Latin Word Definition English Derivatives
villa, house villa, village, villager
villa

alta tall, high, deep altitude, altimeter, alto

antiqua antique, old antique, antiquity, ancient

longa long longitude, longevity, long

magna large, great magnify, magnificent, magnitude

pictura picture picture, picturesque, pictorial

nova new novice, novel, novelty, nova, Nova

Scotia
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD
 prima first prime, primary, primitive,
primeval

34 sub under subway, subterranean, suburban

corna horn cornucopia, cornet, clavicorn

est is estate, establish, essence

habere have have, habit, habitual

via street via

bona good bonus, bonanza, bona fide

fama fame fame, famous, infamous

provincia province province, provincial,

provincialism

multa many multitude, multiple, multiplex

nominare
Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD to name nominate, nominal, name,
nominative
 lingua language language, lingual, linguistics

35 nauta sailor nautical, nautilus

schola school scholar, school, scholastic

alba white albino, albinism albumen

amica friendly amicable, amicability, amity

beata happy beatific, beatify, beatitude

mea me me, my

mira strange miracle, miraculous, mirage

nota noted noted, note, notice, notable,

noticeable

obscura dark obscure, obscurity

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periculosa dangerous perilous, peril

36

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD

37 Further reading:
An Illustrated History of Britain, Ch. 1, 8-11.

Prof. Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik, PhD