Neolithic, Celtic, and Roman Britain

Prehistoric, Celtic, and Roman Britain

Estudios Culturales en Lengua Inglesa I - Grupo 4

Neolithic Britain

• Ice Age ended ca. 12,000 years ago.
• People began returning from continental Europe.
• 4000 BCE Neolithic began:
• Hunter/gatherer societies
• Stone monumental architecture: henges (ca. 3000-2000 BCE)

Avebury Henge in Wiltshire, in southwest England

Neolithic Britain

Stonehenge (Wiltshire)

Learn more about Stonehenge in this podcast episode and in this video with Dan Snow

Take a virtual tour of the site!

Iron Age

• Began ca. 800 BCE
• Migration of Celtic cultures from mainland Europe.
• Brought smelting techniques (iron work):
• Agriculture.
• Not homogeneous: tribes.

Brythonic Celts

Goidelic Celts

Pictish Celts

Iron Age

• Late 2nd c. BCE: Beligc tribe.
• Heavy plough.
• Craftmanship (pottery).
• Art (decoration of shields).
• Celts occupied lower grounds in the south.

• Celtic society:
• Rulers - martial aristocracy
• Priestly class (druids)
• Bards
• Craftworkers
• Farmers
• Slaves
• Frequent wars among tribes.
• Communities in hillforts:

Learn more about the tribes:

The Battersea Shield, British Museum (c.350 BC - 50 BC)

A reconstruction of Maiden Castle, a hillfort in Dorset.

Roman Britain: First Incursions

• Britain: attractive due to mineral resources.
• Well situated.
• Roman invasion of Gaul: escape to Britain.

• 55 BCE: first Roman expedition to Britain, led by Julius Caesar.
• Bad weather
• Lack of provisions
• Hostile natives

• 54 BCE: second Roman expedition to Britain, led by Julius Caesar.
• 5 legions (25,000) + 2,000 cavalrymen.
• Britons' resistance led by Cassivellaunus - Catuvellauni: defeated.
• Caesar extracted annual tribute and left.
• Caesar established headquarters north of the Thames (Tower of London?)

Caesar's conquest of Gaul (58-50 BC)

Caesar's landings in Britain (58-50 BCE)

Roman Britain: Conquest I

• No attempts to conquer until 43 CE.
• Until then, trade and diplomacy (south-east).
• Emperor Claudius decided to invade in 43 CE: prestige.
• Led by Aulus Plautius
• 40,000 men
• war elephants
• war machinery
• Claudius visited; son given cognomen "Britannicus."
• The conquest was not immediate: some resistance, some surrenders (client kings).
• Resistance: in 51 CE Caratacus (leader of the Catuvellauni) was betrayed by Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes.
• The island became a Roman province: Britannia.
• Romanization:
• Roads
• Towns
• From rural to urban life.
• Londinium founded in ca. 47 CE.

Cameo depicting Emperor Claudius (43-5 CE. Royal Collection Trust)

Reconstruction drawing of Londinium ca. 120 CE

Roman Britain: Conquest II

• 61 CE: Last serious resistance to Roman rule in the south:
• Led by Boudica, queen of the Iceni.
• Iceni and a confederation of other tribes.
• Sacked three centres of power (incl. Londinium and Colchester).
• Massacred 70,000 Romans + pro-Roman Britons.
• Defeated part of the 9th Legion.
• Finally, defeated. Killed herself?
• Consequence: client kings replaced by Roman governors.
• Expansion of the province BUT not the north:
• Very fierce tribes (Caledonians/Picts).
• Difficult terrain.
• Never Ireland (Hibernia).

Learn more about Boudica:

Boadicea and Her Daughters Statue, Westminster (London). 19th century

Roman Britain: Conquest III

• 83 CE Battle of Mons Graupius: location? Near present-day Inverness?
• Caledionans vs Romans.
• 30,000 + high ground vs 20,000 (1 legion + auxiliary).
• Calgacus vs Julius Agricola (gov. 77-84 CE).
• Thousands vs 360 casualties (Tacitus).

Text 1 by Tacitus

• Romans retreat south.
• Agricola recalled to Rome by Domitian.

Why couldn't the Romans conquer Scotland?

Roman Britain: Conquest IV

• Hadrian's Wall begun in 122 CE, finished 127 CE.
• To divide Brigantes and Selgovae.
• To protect Britannia from Picts.
• Antonine Wall begun in 142 CE, finished 154 CE.
• To control lowland Scotland.
• Abandoned 160s.

Bridgeness slab from the Antonine Wall, ca. 142 CE. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Discover more about Hadrian's Wall.

Roman Britain: 2nd & 3rd c.

• Britain: Roman infrastructures and way of life
• Aristocracy
• Cities
• markets
• courts
• offices
• baths
• Romanisation
• Roman administration
• Roads
• Watling Street
• City development
• Planning and engineering

Roman baths at Aquae Sulis (now Bath, Somerset).

Roman Britain: 2nd & 3rd c.

• Economy of Britannia:
• Grain
• Minerals
• Londinium:
• port
• London Bridge
• Official language of the province: Latin.
• But Celtic dialects.
• Literacy: Vindolanda Tablets
• Britannia abandoned: Latin only used by Church and historians.
• Religion in Britannia:
• Roman polytheism.
• Adoption of local gods (Sulis).
• Prosecution of druidism.
• Other cults imported: Mithras.
• Christianity imported: Church schools founders were Romano-Celts
• St Ninian
• St Patrick
• St Illtud
• Paulinus

Remains of the Caldarium in the bath complex in Aquae Sulis (Bath).

Roman Britain: 4th c. decline

• Late 3rd c. - decline of Roman Britain.
• Germanic invasions following the split of the Roman Empire (Saxon and Frisian pirates).
• Inability of military forces to contain migration; removed from the island.
• Corruption of local authorities (Carausius).
• 4th c.:
• 367 co-ordinated assault on Roman Britain and northern Gaul:
• Picts
• Attacotti (Celtic, northern modern England/southern Scotland)
• Scottii (Celtic Irish)
• Franks
• Saxons
• Later 4th c. usurpation attempts by Romano-British generals (last, Constantine III in 407 CE).
• By 410 Britain was out of Roman control, legions withdrawn.
• Britons had to fight Germanic invaders on their own.
• Roman civilization disintegrated.
• After Roman authority was removed, landowners and military men ruled over the Britons: tyranni/usurpers.

Tacitus's Agricola

• Roman historian Tacitus gives the only account of the battle in Agricola, a historical-biographical work about his father-in-law Agricola.
• Written after Agricola’s death, ca.  98 CE. The Roman victory is portrayed as an example of Agricola’s greatness.
• Tacitus
• Lived 56-117 CE.
• Other works: Germania.
• Agricola: conquest of Britain, first years of Roman rule.
• Positive portait of Agricola: moderate and pragmatic.
• Agricola
• Lived 40-93 CE.
• Roman general.
• Governor of Britain (78-84 CE).

Processional Frieze in the Great Hall of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery; fragment showing Agricola and Tacitus.