Roman Britain Baths Architecture Layout Structure Operations Excavations Customs

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"Roman Baths in Britain (Shire Archaeology)" by Tony Rook.

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DESCRIPTION:  Softcover.  Publisher: Shire Publications (2002).  Pages: 64.  Size:  8¼ x 6 inches; ½ pound.  Summary:   Almost every Roman site in Britain seemed to have had its baths. They needed to be strongly built and to a large extent were constructed below contemporary ground level. As a result the remains of Roman baths have resisted demolition and subsequent damage by the plow. The uses of most rooms on many Roman sites can only be guessed at, but baths are an exception. We can imagine how, and in what environment, the Romans and their slaves bathed. Despite great variation in plan, bathing establishments are easily recognized, as are the characteristic materials used in their construction. The purpose of this book is to explain how Roman baths came to be built, how they were constructed, how they were used and how they worked. There is a gazetteer of sites where baths can be seen.  

CONDITION:  NEW. New oversized softcover. Shire Publications (2002) 64 pages. Unblemished, unmarked,pristine in every respect. Pages are pristine; clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE- FREE PACKAGING! Meticulous and accurate descriptions! Selling rare and out-of-print ancient history books on-line since 1997. We accept returns for any reason within 30 days! #6638a.

PLEASE SEE DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES BELOW FOR DETAILED REVIEWS AND FOR PAGES OF PICTURES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK.

PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.

PUBLISHER REVIEWS: 

REVIEW:  Osprey Publishing (Shire) has been providing books for enthusiasts since 1968 and since then it has grown, evolved and taken on new challenges until it stands today as one of the most successful examples of niche publishing around.

REVIEW:  A very clear introductory study of how Roman baths came to be built, how they were constructed, how they were used and how they worked in Roman Britain, with a gazetteer of sites.

REVIEW:  Almost every Roman site in Britain seemed to have had its baths. They needed to be strongly built and to a large extent were constructed below contemporary ground level. As a result the remains of Roman baths have resisted demolition and subsequent damage by the plow. The purpose of this book is to explain how Roman baths came to be built, how they were constructed, how they were used and how they worked.

REVIEW:  Roman baths can be found everywhere the Romans went. This was not so much the result of an obsession with cleanliness than the social role of bath houses as meeting places, the focus for cultural, aesthetic and physical life. This short guide to baths in Britain outlines the construction methods used, the architectural development of buildings, their layout and structure, how they operated and how they were used. It is also a guide to the remains of these buildings that can be visited today and Rook includes a gazetteer of sites with short descriptions and directions.

REVIEW:  Tony Rook is a building technologist and an Extramural Tutor in Archaeology. His many reports include that on Dicket Mead, the Roman villa whose baths he successfully preserved in a vault under the A1(M) motorway at Welwyn, Hertfordshire.

REVIEW:  Tony Rook is a building technologist and an Extramural Tutor in Archaeology, a Member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His first degree was in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. After six years in building research and ten as Head of Science in a secondary school, he entered the London Institute of Archaeology, where he researched Roman baths for his Master of Philosophy degree. He has been an enthusiastic independent archaeologist since as a boy in the 1940’s he joined a tram excavating bombed sites at Canterbury. He has directed the Welwyn Archaeological Society in the field since 1960. His many reports include that on Dicket Mead, the Roman villa whose baths he successfully preserved in a vault under the A1(M) motorway at Welwyn, Hertfordshire.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

List of Illustrations.

Introduction.

Architectural Development.

The Structure of the Baths.

Gazetteer.

Further Reading.

Index.

PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS: 

REVIEW:  Exceptionally well-written, compact, and very competent description of the discovery, excavations, functions, architecture, and mechanics of Roman Baths. Not a picture book, rather a concise and detailed examination.

READER REVIEWS: 

REVIEW:  An excellent and very readable little book on the history, construction, purpose and use of bathhouses in Roman Britain, containing some very good illustrations (including simple room plans of many excavated sites). Thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wishing to understand the importance of bathing in the Roman world.

REVIEW:  A reliable Shire Archaeology book on Roman Baths in Britain.

REVIEW:  Five stars!  Fabulous book!

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: 

Roman Baths:  Baths for bathing and relaxing were a common feature of Roman cities throughout the empire. The often huge bath complexes included a wide diversity of rooms offering different temperatures and facilities such as swimming pools and places to read, relax, and socialize. Roman baths, with their need for large open spaces, were also important drivers in the evolution of architecture offering the first dome structures in Classical architecture. 

Public baths were a feature of ancient Greek towns but were usually limited to a series of hip-baths. The Romans expanded the idea to incorporate a wide array of facilities and baths became common in even the smaller towns of the Roman world, where they were often located near the forum. In addition to public baths, wealthy citizens often had their own private baths constructed as a part of their villa and baths were even constructed for the legions of the Roman army when on campaign. However, it was in the large cities that these complexes (balnea or thermae) took on monumental proportions with vast colonnades and wide-spanning arches and domes.

Baths were built using millions of fireproof terracotta bricks and the finished buildings were usually sumptuous affairs with fine mosaic floors, marble-covered walls, and decorative statues. Generally opening around lunchtime and open until dusk, baths were accessible to all, both rich and poor. In the reign of Diocletian, for example, the entrance fee was a mere two denarii - the smallest denomination of bronze coinage. Sometimes, on occasions such as public holidays, the baths were even free to enter.

Typical features (listed in the probable order bathers went through) were:

•apodyterium - changing rooms.

•palaestrae - exercise rooms.

•notatio - open-air swimming pool.

•laconica and sudatoria - superheated dry and wet sweating-rooms.

•calidarium - hot room, heated and with a hot-water pool and a separate basin on a stand (labrum).

•tepidarium - warm room, indirectly heated and with a tepid pool.

•frigidarium - cool room, unheated and with a cold-water basin, often monumental in size and domed, it was the heart of the baths complex.

•rooms for massage and other health treatments.

Additional facilities could include cold-water plunge baths, private baths, toilets, libraries, lecture halls, fountains, and outdoor gardens.

The first baths seem to have lacked a high degree of planning and were often unsightly assemblages of diverse structures. However, by the 1st century A.D. the baths became beautifully symmetrical and harmonious structures, often set in gardens and parks. Early baths were heated using braziers, but from the 1st century B.C. more sophisticated heating systems were used such as under-floor (hypocaust) heating fueled by wood-burning furnaces (prafurniae).

This was not a new idea as Greek baths also employed such a system but, as was typical of the Romans, they took an idea and improved upon it for maximum efficiency. The huge fires from the furnaces sent warm air under the raised floor (suspensurae) which stood on narrow pillars (pilae) of solid stone, hollow cylinders, or polygonal or circular bricks. The floors were paved over with 60 cm square tiles (bipedales) which were then covered in decorative mosaics.

Walls could also provide heating with the insertion of hollow rectangular tubes (tubuli) which carried the hot air provided by the furnaces. In addition, special bricks (tegulae mammatae) had bosses at the corners of one side which trapped hot air and increased insulation against heat loss. The use of glass for windows from the 1st century A.D. also permitted a better regulation of temperatures and allowed the sun to add its own heat to the room.

The vast amount of water needed for the larger baths was supplied by purpose built aqueducts and regulated by huge reservoirs in the baths complex. The reservoir of the Baths of Diocletian in Rome, for example, could hold 20,000 m³ of water. Water was heated in large lead boilers fitted over the furnaces. The water could be added (via lead pipes) to the heated pools by using a bronze half-cylinder (testudo) connected to the boilers. Once released into the pool the hot water circulated by convection.

Some of the more famous and splendid baths include those at Lepcis Magna (completed circa 127 A.D.) with their well-preserved domes, the Baths of Diocletian in Rome (completed circa 305 A.D.), the large bath complexes of Timgad at Ephesos, in Bath (2nd century A.D.), and the Antonine Baths at Carthage (circa 162 A.D.). The Baths of Caracalla in the southern area of Rome are perhaps the best preserved of all Roman baths and were second only in size to Trajan’s Baths of Rome (circa 110 A.D.). They were also the most sumptuous and luxurious Roman baths ever built.

Completed in circa 235 A.D., huge walls and arches still stand and attest to the imposing dimensions of the complex which used some 6.9 million bricks and had 252 interior columns. Reaching a height of up to 30 m and covering an area of  337 x 328 m, they incorporate all the classic elements one would expect, including a one-metre deep Olympic-size swimming pool and an unusual circular caldarium which reached the same height as Rome’s Pantheon and spanned 36 meters (over 100 feet). The caldarium also had large glass windows to take advantage of the sun’s heat and further facilities included two libraries, a watermill, and even a waterfall.

The complex had four entrances and could have accommodated as many as 8,000 daily visitors. 6,300 m³ of marble and granite lined the walls, the ceiling was decorated with glass mosaic which reflected light from the pools in an iridescent effect, there was a pair of 6 meter (20 foot) long fountains, and the second floor provided a promenade terrace. Water was supplied by the aqua Nova Antoniniana and aqua Marcia aqueducts and local springs and stored in 18 cisterns. The baths were heated by 50 furnaces which burned ten tons of wood a day.

Besides the imposing ruined walls, the site has many rooms which still contain their original marble mosaic flooring and large fragments also survive from the upper floors depicting fish scales and scenes of mythical sea creatures. Baths and the need to create large airy rooms with lofty ceilings brought the development of the architectural dome. The earliest surviving dome in Roman architecture is from the frigidarium of the Stabian Baths at Pompeii, which dates to the 2nd century B.C.

The development of concrete in the form of stiff mortared rubble allowed unsupported walls to be built ever wider apart, as did hollow brick barrel vaults supported by buttress arches and the use of iron tie bars. These features would become widely used in other public buildings and especially in large constructions such as basilicae. Even in modern times Roman baths have continued to influence designers, for example, both the Chicago Railroad Station and the Pennsylvania Station in New York have perfectly copied the architecture of the great frigidarium of the Baths of Caracalla. [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

Roman Thermae:  In ancient Rome, "thermae" (from the Greek "thermos" or "hot", and "balneae") were facilities for bathing. Thermae usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while balneae were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout the Roman Empire. Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers not only for bathing, but socializing. Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas, town houses, and forts.

They were supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or more normally, by an aqueduct. The water would be heated by a log fire before being channelled into the hot bathing rooms. The design of baths is discussed by Vitruvius in De Architectura. Balneum signified, in its most elemental sense, a bath or bathing-vessel, such as most persons of any consequence amongst the Romans possessed in their own houses, and hence the chamber which contained the bath, which is also the proper translation of the word balnearium. The diminutive balneolum is adopted by Seneca to designate the bathroom of Scipio, in the villa at Liternum, and is expressly used to characterise the modesty of republican manners as compared with the luxury of his own times.

But when the baths of private individuals became more sumptuous, and comprised many rooms, instead of the one small chamber described by Seneca, the plural balnea or balinea was adopted, which still, in correct language, had reference only to the baths of private persons. Thus Cicero terms the baths at the villa of his brother Quintus balnearia. Balneae and balineae, which according to Varro have no singular number, were the public baths. But this accuracy of diction is neglected by many of the subsequent writers, and particularly by the poets, amongst whom balnea is not uncommonly used in the plural number to signify the public baths, since the word balneae could not be introduced in a hexameter verse.

Pliny also, in the same sentence, makes use of the neuter plural balnea for public, and of balneum for a private bath. Thermae from the Greek adjective thermos ("hot") meant properly warm springs, or baths of warm water; but came to be applied to those magnificent edifices which grew up under the empire, in place of the simple balneae of the republic, and which comprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances belonging to the Greek gymnasia, as well as a regular establishment appropriated for bathing. Writers, however, use these terms without distinction. Thus the baths erected by Claudius Etruscus, the freedman of the Emperor Claudius, are styled by Statius balnea, and by Martial Etrusci thermulae.

In an epigram by Martial—subice balneum thermis—the terms are not applied to the whole building, but to two different chambers in the same edifice. A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the caldarium (hot bath), the tepidarium (warm bath) and the frigidarium (cold bath). Some thermae also featured steam baths: the sudatorium, a moist steam bath, and the laconicum, a dry hot room much like a modern sauna. By way of illustration we will examine the layout of Pompeii's Old Baths adjoining the forum, which are among some of the best-preserved Roman baths. The whole building comprises a double set of baths, one for men and the other for women.

It has six different entrances from the street, one of which gives admission to the smaller women's set only. Five other entrances lead to the men's department, of which two communicate directly with the furnaces, and the other three with the bathing apartments. Passing through the principal entrance, a (barely visible, right side, one third of the total length from above), which is removed from the street by a narrow footway surrounding the building and after descending three steps, the bather finds a small chamber on his left with a water closet (latrina), and proceeds into a covered portico, which ran round three sides of an open court. These together formed the vestibule of the baths (vestibulum balnearum), in which the servants waited.

This atrium was the exercise ground for the young men, or perhaps served as a promenade for visitors to the baths. Within this court the keeper of the baths (balneator), who exacted the quadrans paid by each visitor, was also stationed. The room f, which runs back from the portico, might have been appropriated to him; but most probably it was an oecus or exedra, for the convenience of the better classes while awaiting the return of their acquaintances from the interior. In this court, advertisements for the theatre, or other announcements of general interest, were posted up, one of which, announcing a gladiatorial show, still remains. At the sides of the entrance were seats (scholae).

A passage leads into the apodyterium, a room for undressing in which all visitors must have met before entering the baths proper. Here, the bathers removed their clothing, which was taken in charge by slaves known as capsarii, notorious in ancient times for their dishonesty. The apodyterium was a spacious chamber, with stone seats along three sides of the wall. Holes are still visible on the walls, and probably mark the places where the pegs for the bathers' clothes were set. The chamber was lighted by a glass window, and had six doors.

  One of these led to the tepidarium and another to the frigidarium, with its cold plunge-bath (referred to as loutron, natatio, natatorium, piscina, baptisterium or puteus; the terms "natatio" and "natatorium" suggest that some of those baths were also swimming pools). The bath in this chamber is of white marble, surrounded by two marble steps. From the apodyterium the bather who wished to go through the warm bath and sweating process entered the tepidarium. It did not contain water either at Pompeii or at the baths of Hippias, but was merely heated with warm air of an agreeable temperature.

This was in order to prepare the body for the great heat of the vapor and warm baths, and, upon returning, to prevent a too-sudden transition to the open air. In the baths at Pompeii this chamber also served as an apodyterium for those who took the warm bath. The walls feature a number of separate compartments or recesses for receiving the garments when taken off. The compartments are divided from each other by figures of the kind called Atlantes or Telamones, which project from the walls and support a rich cornice above them in a wide arch.

Three bronze benches were also found in the room, which was heated as well by its contiguity to the hypocaust of the adjoining chamber, as by a brazier of bronze, in which the charcoal ashes were still remaining when the excavation was made. Sitting and perspiring beside such a brazier was called ad flammam sudare. The tepidarium is generally the most highly ornamented room in baths. It was merely a room to sit in and be anointed in. In the Forum Baths at Pompeii the floor is mosaic, the arched ceiling adorned with stucco and painting on a colored ground, the walls red.

Anointing was performed by slaves called unctores and aliptae. It sometimes took place before going to the hot bath, and sometimes after the cold bath, before putting on the clothes, in order to check the perspiration. Some baths had a special room for this purpose. From the tepidarium a door opened into the caldarium, whose mosaic floor was directly above the furnace or hypocaust. Its walls also were hollow, forming a great flue filled with heated air. At one end was a round basin (labrum), and at the other a quadrangular bathingplace (puelos, alveus, solium, calida piscina), approached from the platform (schola) by steps.

The labrum held cold water, for pouring upon the bather's head before he left the room. These basins are of marble in the Forum Baths, but we hear of alvei of solid silver. Because of the great heat of the room, the caldarium was but slightly ornamented. The Old Baths have no laconicum, which was a chamber still hotter than the caldarium, and used simply as a sweating-room, having no bath. It was said to have been introduced at Rome by Agrippa and was also called sudatorium and assa.

The apodyterium has a passage communicating with the mouth of the furnace, called praefurnium or propigneum; and, passing down that passage, we reach the chamber into which the praefurnium projects, and which is entered from the street at c. It was assigned to the fornacatores, or persons in charge of the fires. Of its two staircases, one leads to the roof of the baths, and one to the boilers containing the water. There were three boilers, one of which (caldarium vas) held the hot water; a second, the tepid (tepidarium); and the third, the cold (frigidarium). The warm water was turned into the warm bath by a pipe through the wall.

Underneath the hot chamber was set the circular furnace d, of more than 7 ft. in diameter, which heated the water and poured hot air into the hollow cells of the hypocaustum. It passed from the furnace under the first and last of the caldrons by two flues, which are marked on the plan. The boiler containing hot water was placed immediately over the furnace; and, as the water was drawn out from there, it was supplied from the next, the tepidarium, which was raised a little higher and stood a little way off from the furnace. It was already considerably heated from its contiguity to the furnace and the hypocaust below it, so that it supplied the deficiency of the former without materially diminishing its temperature.

The vacuum in this last was again filled up from the farthest removed, which contained the cold water received directly from the square reservoir seen behind them. The boilers themselves no longer remain, but the impressions which they have left in the mortar in which they were imbedded are clearly visible, and enable us to determine their respective positions and dimensions. Such coppers or boilers appear to have been called miliaria, from their similarity of shape to a milestone. Behind the boilers, another corridor leads into the court or atrium (K) appropriated to the servants of the bath.

The adjoining, smaller set of baths were assigned to the women. The entrance is by a door which conducts into a small vestibule and from there into the apodyterium, which, like the one in the men's bath, has a seat (pulvinus, gradus) on either side built up against the wall. This opens upon a cold bath, answering to the natatio of the men's set, but of much smaller dimensions. There are four steps on the inside to descend into it. Opposite to the door of entrance into the apodyterium is another doorway which leads to the tepidarium, which also communicates with the thermal chamber, on one side of which is a warm bath in a square recess, and at the farther extremity the labrum.

The floor of this chamber is suspended, and its walls perforated for flues, like the corresponding one in the men's baths. The tepidarium in the women's baths had no brazier, but it had a hanging or suspended floor. The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms listed above, a palaestra, or outdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. There, among other things, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves (as soap was still a luxury good and thus not widely available), shower and remove the excess with a strigil (cf. the well known Apoxyomenus of Lysippus from the Vatican Museum).

Often wealthy bathers would bring a capsarius, a slave that carried his master's towels, oils, and strigils to the baths and then watched over them once in the baths, as thieves and pickpockets were known to frequent the baths. The changing room was known as the apodyterium (from Greek apodyterion from apoduein "to take off"). In many ways, baths were the ancient Roman equivalent of community centers. Because the bathing process took so long, conversation was necessary. Many Romans would use the baths as a place to invite their friends to dinner parties, and many politicians would go to the baths to convince fellow Romans to join their causes.

The thermae had many attributes in addition to the baths. There were libraries, rooms for poetry readings, and places to buy and eat food. The modern equivalent would be a combination of a library, art gallery, mall, restaurant, gym, and spa. One important function of the baths in Roman society was their role as what we would consider a “branch library” today. Many in the general public did not have access to the grand libraries in Rome and so as a cultural institution the baths served as an important resource where the more common citizen could enjoy the luxury of books. The baths of Trajan, of Caracalla, and Diocletian all contained rooms determined to be libraries.

They have been identified through the architecture of the baths themselves. The presence of niches in the walls are assumed to have been bookcases and have been shown to be sufficiently deep to have contained ancient scrolls. There is little documentation from the writers of the time that there did exist definitive public libraries maintained in the baths, but records have been found that indicated a slave from the imperial household was labelled “maintenance man of the Greek library of the baths” (vilicus thermarum bybliothecae Graecae).

However, this may only indicate that the same slave held two positions in succession: “maintenance man of the baths (vilicus thermarum) and “employee in the Greek library” (a bybliothecae Graecae). The reason for this debate is that, although Julius Caesar and Asinius Pollio advocated for public access to books and that libraries be open to all readers, there is little evidence that public libraries existed in the modern sense as we know it. It is more likely that these reserves were maintained for the wealthy elite. Baths were a site for important sculpture; among the well-known pieces recovered from the Baths of Caracalla are the Farnese Bull and Farnese Hercules and over life-size early 3rd century patriotic figures somewhat reminiscent of Soviet Socialist realism works (now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples).

The Romans believed that good health came from bathing, eating, massages, and exercise. The baths, therefore, had all of these things in abundance. Since some citizens would be bathing multiple times a week, Roman society was surprisingly clean. When asked by a foreigner why he bathed once a day, a Roman emperor is said to have replied "Because I do not have the time to bathe twice a day." Emperors often built baths to gain favor for themselves and to create a lasting monument of their generosity. If a rich Roman wished to gain the favor of the people, he might arrange for a free admission day in his name. For example, a senator hoping to become a Tribune might pay all admission fees at a particular bath on his birthday to become well known to the people of the area.

Baths sprang up all over the empire. Where natural hot springs existed (as in Bath, England; Băile Herculane, Romania or Serdica, Bulgaria) thermae were built around them. Alternatively, a system of hypocausta (from hypo "below" and kaio "to burn") were utilized to heat the piped water from a furnace (praefurnium). A number of Roman public baths survive, either as ruins or in varying degrees of conservation. Among the more notable are the Roman baths of Bath and the Ravenglass Roman Bath House in England as well as the Baths of Caracalla, of Diocletian, of Titus, of Trajan in Rome and the baths of Sofia, Serdica and Varna. Probably the most complete are various public and private baths in Pompeii and nearby sites. [Wikipedia].

Roman Baths:  The Roman bath system was one of the most intricate and complex of the ancient world.  Composed of various rooms for mental and physical cleansing, the Roman baths were more than a source of hygiene; they were an important source of culture as well.  The Aquae Sulis became one of the largest and most renowned Roman baths in Britain, and is considered today the highlight of the Roman syncretization of the Celtic tribes as well as the highlight of the Roman bath system outside the city of Rome.

Located in the modern town of Bath in Somerset, England, the Aquae Sulis rose as one of the largest and most sought out Roman baths outside the Italian peninsula.  Dedicated to the goddess Sul or Sulis, the Aquae Sulis represents the blending of both the Roman religion and culture with the religion and culture of the Celts.  At this site Sulis, a goddess of water, healing, and fertility, was fused with Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, battle strategy, and in some accounts health as well.

Prior to Minerva's arrival however, Sulis was revered by the Celts at the site of Aquae Sulis because its hot springs provided natural rejuvenating properties that convinced many Celts that this was a place of directly linked to the goddess. Use of the hot spring appears to have begun about 10,000 years ago according to what few archaeological records have survived following the Romanization of the region.  It seemed the Celts arrived around 700 BCE and believed that the spring was one of the many pathways to the Otherworld—assumed because there was no perceptible source for its heat.

They began erecting shrines to their deity Sulis soon after, viewing this as a place where they could speak and communicate directly with the goddess herself.  It is unknown exactly how this area was used by the Celts, as their lack of written records prevents a full understanding of the specifics of their healing practices, but there is archaeological evidence that it was not uncommon to present curse requests to the goddess here as well.  However, by 43 A.D. the Celtic purpose of the spring became obsolete as the Romans took an interest in the area and began preparations to take possession of it for the syncretization process.

When the Romans came to modern day Bath, they saw the hot spring as a way to appropriate the Celtic people into the culture of the Empire.  As it was already a popular place that was religiously beloved by the Celts, there was ample opportunity to transform it into a place that suited Roman culture.  Adapting such native traditions for the advancement of the Empire was a clever tactic the Romans employed everywhere they attempted to conquer.  Transforming the hot spring into a proper Roman bath complex provided the Romans with a way to take over an extremely important Celtic location without completely destroying it and causing an uprising from the locals.

The most important aspect that first had to be rectified, however, was the site's dedication to the Celtic Sulis.  Their method of getting around this, which would also serve to introduce the Celts to their own religious pantheon, the Romans chose one of their goddesses to merge with Sulis. And so, the goddess Sulis Minerva was born. What is interesting is that Sulis is one of the few Celtic female goddesses to have been fully syncretized with a Roman goddess.  Generally the syncretization process happens with Celtic male gods, as was the case of Lenus Mars, with the females crossing over most often as merely the wife of a Roman god. Lenus was a god of healing in the Celtic pantheon.

He was merged with Mars despite the fact that the Roman god was considered a war god.  In the Gallo-Roman faith, Lenus Mars became a healer of infected wounds, fighting the disease rather than a war. Sulis is the exception to this rule, most clearly evidenced by the solid bronze head of a statue of Sulis Minerva remaining from a temple erected to her at the bathing complex.  As the Celts did not depict their gods or goddesses in human form, the Romans gave Sulis the same face as Minerva, blending their attributes so one became identified with the other at Aquae Sulis.

Sulis also became a goddess of wisdom for the Celts, adopting one of Minerva's primary affiliations, just as the spring itself came to adopt Roman ideals by its expansive healing nature. Taking what was already provided, the Romans expanded the hot spring into a full-functioning bath facility. Within it, there was a system of pools that succeeded the atrium, a changing and exercise room, that were each called the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium.  As their names suggest, the frigdarium was a cold water pool, the tepidarium warm, and the caldarium hot.

By passing through each bathing area in this particular order, the bather received a full and thorough cleansing, soothing for both the body and the mind.  Following the last room, it was customary to have a swimming pool for recreational purposes or a palaestra for further exercise, and in such a large location as the Aquae Sulis, this was able to be implemented.  Thus, not only did the Romans appropriate the spring but they were able to expand its purpose, stretching its healing space much further than the Celts had previously done and thereby further integrating the Celts into Roman culture.

Just one of many ways the Romans assimilated the Celts into their society, the Aquae Sulis stands as the most poignant monument of this unification.  Combining both the Celtic site of healing with the Roman standard of physical and mental cleansing, the Romans were able to achieve a relatively smooth integration of ideals and gods.  Instead of a complete loss of culture, the Celtic goddess Sulis continued to thrive in this community, preserving the religion of the natives and preventing the Celts from being completely overrun by the Romans. [AncientOrigins.Net].

The city of Bath:  In the heart of southern England, the city of Bath emerges from the countryside with picturesque stone buildings and neoclassical Georgian architecture. I recently visited the city’s Roman baths, which were built nearly two millennia ago and continue to impress over a million visitors each year. The Romans settled at Bath in the first century on the site of a pre-existing British temple to the Celtic goddess Sulis, whom the Romans identified with their own Minerva.

The Romans named it Aquae Sulis – the waters of the goddess Sulis, in an attempt to appease the local Britons. To the polytheistic Romans, belief in a god or goddess was not exclusive – the Celtic goddess Sulis was roughly equivalent the Roman goddess Minerva (Athena in Greece), so they worshiped the goddess at the spa as “Sulis Minerva.” Unlike most Roman settlements in Britain at the time, which were garrisons for military occupation, Aquae Sulis was intended to be a place of relaxation centered on the bath complex.

Bath is located on a natural geothermal spring that has made it important to residents throughout history. Water makes a long journey to reach the spring, beginning as rainfall in hills to the south, then being absorbed into limestone aquifers underground, and eventually traveling deep into the earth, where it is heated by the planet’s geothermal energy. It rises to the surface at Bath at a rate of 1,170,000 liters (257,364 gallons) per day and a temperature of 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).

I paid a visit to the baths on a brisk day in March. Their entrance blends seamlessly into the modern town, most of which was built during the Georgian period to emulate the original Roman buildings. By design, all of the city’s buildings are made of the same local limestone, the aptly-named “Bath stone,” giving it a quaint charm that attracts many visitors. In the pedestrian shopping district, people weave in and out of Ionic columns that mark the entrance to the baths, providing an interesting juxtaposition of ancient and modern that came to characterize the rest of my experience at Bath.

Inside, I found the baths as they were restored during the Victorian era. A neoclassical-style superstructure allowed me to get a bird’s eye view of the water from above. The baths are set about half a story below the ground, so the upper platform is surprisingly close to ground level outside the complex, but it stands a solid story above the Great Bath’s green water. It was even hazier inside the baths than it was on that cloudy day, due to steam rising from the warm water. It only added to the mystical atmosphere that came from standing at the same spring that the ancients deemed so sacred.

The city’s pride in its heritage shows throughout the Great Bath area. Although the superstructure was made in the 19th century, it looked and felt ancient itself. The designers even included a number of statues of Roman emperors along the walkway which have unfortunately been damaged by acid rain. During their heyday, the baths would have looked something like this model. They included a number of pools of varying temperatures. Romans would have first bathed in the warm pool (tepidarium, with the same root as our word “tepid”), followed by the hot pool (caldarium), then finally the refreshing cold bath (frigidarium). If they chose, they could complete their visit with a swim in the Great Bath.

Invented by the Greeks and perfected by the Romans, the hypocaust was one of the most remarkable technologies included in the bathing complexes. By placing a floor on stacks of tiles, the Romans created a space for air to flow beneath the floor. When they connected this space to a furnace and pumped hot air into it, it heated the floor, and in this case, the water that stood above it, allowing them to have a variety of water temperatures in the different baths. The stacks of tiles from beneath the floors still remain here and at other sites across the Roman world.

The actual Roman temple to Sulis Minerva at the complex does not survive, but a few pieces of its pediment have been recovered. It would have featured this fierce-looking face of a Gorgon, a mythological creature, looking down at visitors from a height of 49 feet (15 meters). The museum uses a projection to show how these pieces would have fit into the rest of the pediment. Although they are remarkable feats of architecture and engineering, the baths also showed me more of the human side of history through artifacts and human remains.

Here I came face to face with one of the residents of ancient Aquae Sulis, a 45 year old man whose remains were found nearby. My favorite object in the museum was a plaque thought to be a portrayal of three Celtic mother-goddesses. The Celtic portrayal of the human form is so different from the Roman style that you can almost forgive the ancient alien theorists based on the looks of this relief. People went to the baths not only to bathe, but also to socialize. However, with social interaction, there come opportunities for crime. These are lead curse-tablets (defixiones) that were etched with a curse and thrown into the water to ask the goddess to curse someone on the writer’s behalf.

I had a good laugh when I learned that many of them were written to curse those who stole bathers’ clothes while they swam! An amusing sampling of the curses:

“Docimedis has lost two gloves and asks that the thief responsible should lose their minds and eyes in the goddess’ temple.”

"May he who carried off Vilbia (a woman) from me become liquid as the water. May she who so obscenely devoured her become dumb.”

About a stolen ring: ‘…so long as someone, whether slave or free, keeps silent or knows anything about it, he may be accursed in (his) blood, and eyes and every limb and even have all (his) intestines quite eaten away if he has stolen the ring or been privy (to the theft).’

Another curse tablet – perhaps the most ominous of the set – only contained a list of names. It was fascinating to see how humans thousands of years ago share some of the same struggles we face today: theft, vengeance, and stolen lovers. Great monuments and buildings can provide one aspect of history, but everyday objects used by ancient people provide another invaluable side of the past that I was delighted to see at the Roman baths. [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

The Bath and Temple Comlex:  The baths and temple complex at Bath, a prime stop-off point on a tour of Britain's archaeology, have long been considered symbolic of the might with which the Romans asserted themselves. According to one Oxford archaeologist, however, the baths in Bath were built not by Romans but on the order of a native Celtic king who wanted to show his gratitude to the emperor Claudius and his general, later emperor, Vespasian.

A re-analysis of the site's iconography and new archaeological interpretations on how the Romans related to the Britons led Martin Henig of Oxford University's Institute of Archaeology to envision the spa as a place used both by Romans and aspiring native Celts. "We can look at central-southern Britain not as a place full of newcomers, but locals becoming Roman," said Henig, who thinks the spa's iconography is pregnant with meaning; carved images of the maritime god, Neptune, and his half-man, half-fish courtiers, suggesting the manner in which the Romans came to Britain across the English Channel.

Other iconography, says Henig, commemorates military victory--a sculpture of a shield of virtue held aloft by two winged female figures. Henig believes the baths and temple complex were built by order of Togidubnus, the most important political leader of tribal Britain and king of the Atretabes tribe of what is now the county of Sussex in southern England. Togidubnus was pro-Roman and benefited from the conquest in A.D. 43. His residence at a magnificent villa at Fishbourne was a reward for his loyalty to Rome and friendship with Vespasian.

It is also likely that the Romans gave him Bath as part of his extended, autonomous kingdom. In return, he commissioned the baths as a fitting tribute to the emperor Claudius. Vespasian became emperor at the time of the baths' construction. Two sculptural reliefs of "civic crowns" of oaks leaves and acorns signify the enduring respect Togidubnus showed the emperor. The temple at Bath was dedicated to Minerva, the virgin goddess of wisdom, another shrewd move by Togidubnus, as she was one of Vespasian's favorite deities, which is revealed by classical sources and Roman coins of his reign.

It is likely the site had been used previously as a shrine for the Celtic deity Sulis. The only hot spa known in Britain, it would have served as a place of worship and healing, where native people would have been schooled in the Roman way of life. Henig suggests the spa would have been a place where the cultures could meet--"soldiers, villa owners, ordinary people." [Archaeological Institute of America].

Subterranean Remains of Roman Baths Investigated:  Archaeologists excavating rarely seen areas of the Roman Baths under York Street and Swallow Street have found traces of red-painted plaster on the outside wall of the Great Bath. According to a report in The Bath Chronicle, the building may have been painted that color during the Roman period. Samples of the materials have been sent to Bournemouth University for analysis, where specialists will try to determine where the building materials in the different phases of construction originated.

The excavation team has also found evidence of the earliest phases of the Roman Baths, a second bath beneath York Street, the footings of the Roman walls of the Great Bath, and Roman floor levels to the south of the Great Bath. The project will create a new learning center and a World Heritage Center. “It’s fascinating to see new finds being unearthed. When the new center opens these spaces will form part of a state-of-the art education center, which will include a digging pit where school groups can uncover replica Roman objects in an authentic setting,” said Councilor Patrick Anketell-Jones. [Archaeological Institute of America].

A Private Roman Bath:  The Guardian reports that the remains of a private Roman bathhouse have been uncovered in Chichester’s Priory Park by a team of archaeologists and volunteers. The outlines of three buildings were first detected by ground-penetrating radar at the site last year. So far, the team has unearthed the hot room and its hypocaust, where heat was produced under the floor of the hot room. Archaeologist James Kenny explained that the suite of bathrooms was probably attached to a house in an affluent area on the edge of the Roman city. “Only someone who was incredibly wealthy could have owned a bath house like this and paid for it to be maintained,” he explained. Kenny thinks the site dates to the third or fourth century A.D.  [Archaeological Institute of America].

A Roman Bath Beneath Exeter Castle:  Exeter Cathedral has submitted a bid to England’s Heritage Lottery Fund to unearth a first-century Roman bath discovered under the cathedral green in 1971. Archaeologist Paul Bidwell told BBC News that the Exeter Baths were “one of the first two monumental masonry buildings built in Britain.”

The site includes a large caldarium, or hot room; a tepidarium, or warm room; a furnace house; an exercise yard; and multiple service rooms. “The baths were of a continental design which shows a close connection between Exeter and the civilized culture of the wider Roman Empire. It is of international interest,” added Martin Pitts of the University of Exeter.

The Anglo-Saxon minster was then built on the site, followed by Exeter Cathedral in 1050. The ruins would be showcased in an underground interpretation center, along with other historic items from the cathedral.  [Archaeological Institute of America].

A Bath in a Roman Villa:  Archaeologists excavating a Roman villa in Southwest England have unearthed a semi-circular room that was equipped with a heating system under its floor. According to SomsersetLive, researchers suspect the villa was used as a country retreat by several generations of officials from the nearby Roman town of Ilchester, who would have expected a certain level of comfort. Previous excavations showed the villa had a bath surrounded by elaborate mosaics, and revealed evidence that after the Roman period ended squatters probably lived there. The team currently working at the site, led by University of Newcastle archaeologist James Gerrard, hopes to discover another mosaic soon when they remove the fallen roof now lying atop one of the villa's rooms. [Archaeological Institute of America].

The Temple of Claudius:  Archaeologists have known about the arcade that had been built at the Temple of Claudius in Colchester for some 60 years, but the demolition of a modern office block has uncovered evidence that the covered walkway was the largest in Roman Britain. The arcade was built in the first or second century A.D., following the destruction of Colchester during Boudicca’s rebellion.

“Its closest rival in terms of size stands in what was Gaul, in northern France, and shares some of the architecture we can see in Colchester today,” Philip Crummy, director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, told The Telegraph. “The original arcade and its grand columns are similar to those you see in Bath, at the Roman Baths. It really is an extraordinary find and confirms the grandeur and richness of its Roman culture,” he said [Archaeological Institute of America].

Dailt Life in Ancient Rome:  Daily Life in Ancient Rome:  From the early days of the Roman Republic through the volatile reigns of such ignoble emperors as Caligula, Nero, and Commodus, the Roman Empire continued to expand, stretching its borders to encompass the entire Mediterranean Sea as well as expanding northward to Gaul and Britain. History records the exploits of the heroes as well as the tirades of the emperors. Despite the sometimes shameful deeds of the imperial office, the empire was built on the backs of its citizens - the unsung people who lived a relatively quiet existence, and who are often ignored by history.

Rome was a cosmopolitan city with Greeks, Syrians, Jews, North Africans, Spaniards, Gauls, and Britons, and like any society, the average Roman citizen awoke each morning, labored, relaxed, and ate, and while his or her daily life could often be hectic, he or she would always survive. Outside the cities, in the towns and on the small farms, people lived a much simpler life - dependent almost entirely on their own labor. The daily life of the average city dweller, however, was a lot different and most often routine. The urban areas of the empire - whether it was Rome, Pompeii, Antioch, or Carthage - were magnets to many people who left smaller towns and farms seeking a better way of life.

However, the unfulfilled promise of jobs forced countless people to live in the poorer parts of the city. The jobs they sought were often not there, resulting in an epidemic of homeless inhabitants. The work that was available to these new émigrés, however, was difficult to obtain. Slaves performed almost all of the menial jobs as well as many of the professions such as teachers, doctors, surgeons, and architects. Most of the freed men worked at various trades, for example, as bakers, fishmongers, or carpenters. Occasionally, poor women would serve the affluent as hairdressers, midwives, or dressmakers.

As elsewhere, whether on a farm or in the city, daily life still centered on the home, and when people arrived in the city, their first concern was to find a place to live. Space was at a premium in a walled metropolis like Rome, and from the beginning little attention was paid to the housing needs of the people who migrated to the city - tenements provided the best answer. The majority of Roman citizens, not all of them poor, lived in these apartment buildings or insulae. As early as 150 B.C., there were over 46,000 insulae throughout the city.

Most of these ramshackle tenements were over-crowded and extremely dangerous resulting in residents living in constant fear of fire, collapse, and in some areas there was the susceptibility to the flooding of the Tiber River. Initially, little concern from the city was given to designing straight or even wide streets (streets, often unpaved, could be as narrow as six feet or as wide as fifteen), not allowing for easy access to these buildings if a fire did occur.

It would take the great fire under Emperor Nero, to improve this problem when streets were widened and balconies built to provide safety as well as access in time of an emergency. These “flats” were usually five to seven stories in height (over seventy feet); however, because many of these tenements were deemed unsafe, laws were passed under Emperors Augustus and Trajan to keep them from becoming too tall; unfortunately, these laws were rarely enforced. Space was at a premium in a walled metropolis like Rome, and from the beginning little attention was paid to the housing needs of the people.

Poverty throughout the city was apparent, whether through one’s lack of education or manner of dress, and life in these tenements reflected this disparity. The floor on which a person lived depended on one’s income.  The lower apartments - the ground floor or first floor of an insulae - were far more comfortable than the top floors. They were spacious, containing separate rooms for dining and sleeping, glazed windows, and, unlike the other floors, the rent was usually paid annually. The higher floors, where rent was paid by the day or week, were cramped, often with only one room to a family.

A family lived in constant fear of eviction. They had no access to natural light, were hot in the summer and cold in the winter with little or no running water -  this even meant a latrina or toilet. While the city’s first sewer system or Cloaca Maxima had appeared in the six century B.C., it did not benefit those on the upper floors (lower floors had access to running water and indoor toilets). Refuse, even human waste, was routinely dumped onto the streets, not only causing a terrible stench but a breeding ground for disease.

For many, the only alternative was to use the public toilets. Combine the lack of street lights (there was no foot traffic at night due to the high crime rate), the decaying buildings, and the fear of fire, life on the upper floors of the tenements was not very enjoyable for many of the poor. On the contrary, most of the wealthy residents - those who didn’t live in villas outside the city - lived in a domus. These homes, at least in Rome, were usually located on Palatine Hill to be close to the imperial palace. As with many of the tenements, the front of this dwelling (especially in cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum) often contained a shop where the owner would conduct daily business.

Behind the shop was the atrium - a reception area where guests or clients were greeted and private business sometimes conducted.  The atrium would often include a small shrine to a household or ancestral god. The ceiling of the atrium was open and beneath this was a rectangular pool. On rainy days the water that came through this opening was collected and used elsewhere in the domus. On either sides of the atrium were smaller rooms, called cubiculum which served as bedrooms, libraries and offices. Of course, there was ample space available for a dining room or triclinium and the kitchen. To the rear of the domus was the family garden.

Regardless whether rich or poor, tenement or villa, the fundamental social unit throughout the empire was the family, and from the early days of the Republic, the existence of the family-centered entirely on the concept of paterfamilias - the male head of the household had the power of life and death over all members of the family (even the extended family). He could reject children if they were disfigured, if he questioned their paternity, if he had more than one daughter already or merely if he felt so inclined. He could also sell any of his children into slavery. Gradually, over time, this extreme, almost all-powerful, control over one’s family (patra potestas) would diminish.

However, this ironclad rule by the husband or father did not limit the power of the woman of the house. The home was the domain of the wife. While she was initially restricted from appearing in public, she ran the household and often saw to the education of the children until a tutor could be found. By the end of the Republic, she was even permitted to sit with her husband at dinner, go to the baths, although not at the same time as the men, and attend the theater and games. Later, women could be seen working as bakers, pharmacists and shopkeepers and, legally, women’s rights improved, for example, divorce proceedings could be initiated by either the husband or wife.

Everyone has to eat, and the diet of a Roman resident depended, as did his or her housing, on one’s economic status. For many of the poor this meant waiting for the monthly allotment of grain. To most Romans the main meal of the day was in the late afternoon, from four to six. The morning and noon meals were usually light snacks, sometimes only bread. Since there was no refrigeration, shopping was done daily at the many small shops and street carts or in the city’s forum. Many of the foods we consider Italian today did not exist in early Rome. There were no potatoes, tomatoes, corn, peppers, rice, or sugar.

Neither were there any oranges, grapefruits, apricots, or peaches. While the wealthy enjoyed imported spices in their meals, reclined on pillows and were served by slaves, many of the extremely poor or homeless ate rancid cereal or gruel (the lack of a quality diet caused many to suffer from malnutrition). To others the daily diet consisted of cereals, bread, vegetables and olive oil; meat was far too expensive for the average budget although it sometimes became available after a sacrifice to the gods (as only the internal organs were used in a sacrifice). Wine was the common drink, but, for the poor, water was available at the public fountains.

For the affluent the day was divided between business and leisure. Of course, business was only conducted in the morning. Most Romans worked a six hour day, beginning at dawn and ending at noon, although, occasionally some shops might reopen in the early evening. The city’s forum would be empty because the afternoon was devoted to leisure - attending the games (gladiatorial competitions, chariot races, or wrestling), the theater or the baths - all of which were also enjoyed by the poor (as many in government felt the need for the poor to be entertained).

Even during times of crises, the citizens of Rome were kept happy with bread and games. They could be found at the Circus Maximus, Colosseum, or Theater of Pompeii. Throughout the empire, cities such as Antioch, Alexandria, Carthage or even Cathago Nova became Romanized, containing an amphitheater or arena. The city of Pompeii had three municipal baths, two theaters, a basilica, and an amphitheater. During the time of Emperor Claudius there were 159 days when no business was conducted (no day of rest existed in a Roman week); however, Emperor Marcus Aurelius considered this too extreme and decreed there had to be at least 230 days of business.

After a busy day conducting business and attending the games, a Roman citizen needed to relax and this relaxation time was spent at the baths - bathing was important to all Romans (usually once or twice a week). The baths were a place to socialize and sometimes conduct business. In 33 B.C. there were 170 in Rome, and by 400 A.D. there were over 800 including the largest and most sumptuous, the Baths of Trajan, Caracalla, and Diocletian. An emperor could always ensure his popularity by building baths. A typical bath included a gym, health center, swimming pool and sometimes even a bordello (for the more affluent guests).

Most were free. A typical bath would have three rooms - a tepidarium or relaxation room, a caldarium or hotter room, and a frigadarium or cooling room. Slaves were used to maintain the heat in the various hot rooms as well as attend to the needs of the wealthy. One of the most famous baths was the one given to the city by Emperor Diocletian. It covered thirty-two acres with a lavish garden, fountains, sculptures and even a running track.  It could seat 3,000 guests. After a relaxing afternoon at the baths, a Roman citizen, wealthy or poor, would return home for their evening meal.

Daily life in a Roman city was completely dependent on one’s economic status. The city, however, remained a mixture of wealth and poverty, often existing side by side. The wealthy had the benefit of slave labor whether it was heating the water at the baths, serving them their evening meal, or educating their children.  The poor, on the other hand, had no access to education, lived in run-down tenements, and sometimes lived off the charity of the city. Historians still argue about the fall of the empire - was it religion or the influx of barbarians? However, there are those who point to the poor of the city - the squalor, the rise of the unemployed, and increase in disease and crime - as a contributing factor to the western empire’s eventual demise. [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

Sanitation in Ancient Rome:  Prior to the Romans, Greece was the only part of Europe to have had toilets. But by the peak of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century A.D., the Romans had introduced sanitation to much of their domain, stretching across western and southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Their impressive technologies included large multi-seat public latrines, sewers, clean water in aqueducts, elegant public baths for washing, and laws that required towns to remove waste from the streets. But how effective were these measures in improving the health of the population?

Modern clinical research has shown that toilets and clean drinking water decrease the risk of human gastrointestinal infections by bacteria, viruses and parasites. We might, therefore, expect that this area of health would improve under the Romans compared with the situation in Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, when these sanitation technologies did not exist. Similarly, we might also expect that ectoparasites such as fleas and body lice might become less common with the introduction of regular bathing and personal hygiene.

A new study I’ve published in Parasitology has brought together all the archaeological evidence for intestinal parasites and ectoparasites in the Roman world in order to evaluate the impact of Roman sanitation technology upon health. The study compares the species of parasites present before the Romans in the Bronze Age and Iron Age, and also after the Romans in the early medieval period. I found a number of surprising findings. Unexpectedly, there was no drop in parasites spread by poor sanitation following the arrival of the Romans.

In fact, parasites such as whipworm, roundworm and dysentery infections gradually increased during the Roman period instead of falling as expected. This suggests that Roman sanitation technologies such as latrines, sewers and clean water were not as effective in improving gastrointestinal health as you might think. It is possible that the expected benefits from these technologies was counteracted by the effects of laws requiring waste from the streets to be taken outside towns. Texts from the Roman period mention how human waste was used to fertilize crops in the fields, so parasite eggs from human feces would have contaminated these foods and allowed reinfection of the populations when they ate.

The second surprising finding was that there was no sign of a decrease in ectoparasites following the introduction of public bathing facilities to keep the population clean. Analysis of the number of fleas and lice in York, in northern England, found similar numbers of parasites in Roman soil layers as was the case in Viking and medieval soil layers. Since the Viking and medieval populations of York did not bath regularly, we would have expected Roman bathing to reduce the number of parasites found in Roman York. This suggests that Roman baths had no clear beneficial effect upon health when it comes to ectoparasites.

The fish tapeworm also became more common in Europe under the Romans. In Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe fish tapeworm eggs have only been found in France and Germany. However, under the Roman Empire, fish tapeworm was found in six different European countries. One possibility that would explain the apparent increase in distribution of the parasite is the adoption of Roman culinary habits. One popular Roman food was garum, an uncooked fermented fish sauce made from fish, herbs, spices and salt. We have archaeological and textual evidence for its manufacture, storage in sealed clay pots, transport and sale across the empire.

It is possible that garum made in northern Europe would have contained fish infected with fish tapeworm, and when traded to other parts of the empire this could have infected people living outside the original area endemic for the disease. This is not to say that Roman sanitation was a waste of time. It would have been useful having public latrines so that people in town would not have had to return home to use the toilet. A culture of public bathing would have made people smell better too. However, the archaeological evidence does not indicate any health benefit from this sanitation, but rather that Romanization led to increase in certain parasite species due to trade and migration across the empire. [AncientOrigins.Net].

A Roman Mosaic in Leicester:  Archaeologists have uncovered a fantastic Roman mosaic and evidence of good living over 1,500 years ago in Leicester city center in a home with underfloor heating. The team from the University of Leicester is currently excavating a large site on the corner of Highcross Street and Vaughan Way, next to Leicester's John Lewis car park. The project, which has been running since November 2016, is uncovering exciting new evidence for Leicester's Roman past, including evidence for a Roman street, and a Roman house once floored with mosaic pavements.

The excavation is funded by Ingleby, who will be developing the site into apartments, and the team from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) is working closely with the architects to minimize the impact of the new building on the underlying archaeology. Modern rubble and Victorian garden soil are being removed from the footprint of the proposed building to expose the medieval and Roman archaeology. This allows archaeologists to identify where the footings for the new building will have an adverse effect on important archaeological remains, which can then either be designed around, or excavated before they are destroyed, leaving most of the archaeology preserved intact beneath the new building.

The excavation covers nearly two-thirds of a Roman insula (city block), giving archaeologists an amazing opportunity to investigate life in the north-east quarter of the Roman town. So far, a Roman street and three Roman buildings have been identified. Today, Highcross Street still follows the line of the main road leading from the Roman forum (beneath Jubilee Square) to the north gate, at the junction with Sanvey Gate. On this western side of the site a large Roman building has been uncovered. Two ranges of rooms flanked by a corridor or portico appear to surround a courtyard. At least one room had a hypocaust (underfloor heating), and it is likely that this is a large townhouse, reminiscent of the Vine Street courtyard house excavated nearby, beneath the John Lewis car park, in 2006.

North of this building, running east to west across the northern edge of the site, close to All Saints' Church, a cambered gravel street has been recorded. Activity along this street appears to have been quiet during the Roman period. Roadside ditches and boundary walls have been identified, but no substantial buildings are present. Instead, activity seems to be more ephemeral in natured, gardens and yards, probably with some timber buildings. Evidence for copper working has been found in the area, perhaps suggesting commercial or industrial activity taking place along the street.

On the eastern side the site, close to the John Lewis car park, a second Roman house has been found. There is evidence for mosaic floors in at least three of its rooms, and one of the mosaic fragments, measuring some 2m by 3m (about a quarter of the original floor) is one of the largest pieces of mosaic pavement found in Leicester in the last 30 years. Mathew Morris, site director for ULAS, said: "The mosaic is fantastic, it's been a long time since we've found a large, well-preserved mosaic in Leicester. Stylistically, we believe it dates to the early fourth century A.D.

It would have originally been in a square room in the house. It has a thick border of red tiles surrounding a central square of grey tiles. Picked out in red in the grey square are several decorations, including a geometric border, foliage and a central hexafoil cross. The intricate geometric border follows a pattern known as 'swastika-meander'. The swastika is an ancient symbol found in most world cultures, and it is a common geometrical motif in Roman mosaics, created by laying out the pattern on a repeating grid of 4 by 4 squares. As part of the project, our plan is to lift and conserve it for future display." 

More curious, however, is a third small Roman building found in the center of the site. It has a large sunken room or cellar, and it possibly has a small apse (semi-circular niche) attached to one side. Currently, the building has no obvious purpose, but sunken rooms are relatively unusual in the Roman period. Mathew Morris added: "At the moment there is a lot of speculation about what this building might be. It could be a large hypocaust but we are still investigating. It seems to be tucked away in yards and gardens in the middle of the insula, giving it privacy away from the surrounding streets; and the possible apse is only really big enough to house something like a statue, which makes us wonder if it is something special like a shrine."

Archaeologists will be onsite through February as they investigate the Highcross Street frontage. In the medieval period, the site was occupied by St Johns' Hospital, Leicester earliest hospital founded in the twelfth century, and the town goal, and it is hoped that evidence for both important medieval buildings will found. The article, originally titled 'Fantastic mosaic' and home with underfloor heating among new evidence discovered from Leicester's Roman past’ was originally published on Science Daily. [AncientOrigins.Net].

Nero's Golden House:  Nero's Golden House (the Domus Aurea) in Rome was a sumptuous palace complex which played host to the wild parties of one of Rome's most notorious emperors. Besides using the finest marble and decoration such as fine wall-painting and gilded colonnades, the building was also a technical marvel with soaring domes, revolving ceilings, ornamental fountains and even waterfalls running down the walls. Following the devastating fire of 64 A.D. which had destroyed large areas of the Aventine and Palatine hills, Nero decided to take the opportunity to build a huge new palace.

To have enough space for the project the emperor - already unpopular due to accusations of a slow response to the fire and even possibly having started it - seized large areas of land owned by aristocrats and even carved into the Oppian hillside in the building's rear. For the construction of the palace Nero turned to the architect Severus and the engineer Celer, already celebrated as masters of grand architecture, whilst for the interior decoration and wall-painting he turned to Famulus whose work would be studied centuries later by Renaissance artists. When the whole magnificent project was finally finished Nero declared with satisfaction: 'Now I can begin to live like a human being'.

The best preserved part of the complex is the west wing which hints at the sumptuous nature of this one-time pleasure palace. There were two floors which boasted at least 140 rooms with ceilings up to 11 metres high. The principal entrance was along the via Sacra coming from the Forum. The main gateway also included a massive 30 metre high gilt-bronze statue of Nero as the sun god and the palace was surrounded by vast landscape gardens covering 125 acres which were further expanded by parklands and a lake. Large areas of the ground floor were dedicated solely to banquet rooms laid out in a bewildering maze of rooms in all shapes and sizes and all decorated with sumptuous wall-paintings.

The west wing, for example, had one rectangular courtyard surrounded by no fewer than 50 banquet rooms. There was a large pentagonal courtyard brightly decorated with glass mosaic which branched off into 15 separate rooms. One of these was the 'room of the Golden Vault' with its gilded ceiling, marble paneling and grand picture from Greek mythology of Zeus abducting Ganymede. There was a large octagonal room with a concrete dome, probably originally covered in glass mosaic. This dome and, in general, the use of concrete for vaulting in the building were innovations which would become common features of later Roman architecture.

Suetonius also offers a famous description of one of the domed ceilings or perhaps even the room itself: '[there was a] circular banquet hall, which revolved incessantly, day and night, like the heavens'. Such devices are mentioned elsewhere in both earlier and later Roman buildings and excavations have revealed evidence that water may have powered this wonderful entertainment for Nero's guests. Suetonius also described gem-encrusted walls, ivory and mother-of-pearl decorations, and ceilings which showered guests with flowers and perfumes.

The octagonal hall led to rooms on five sides, each of which had a waterfall running down their back wall. Nearby was the 'room of Achilles on Skyros' with marble and painted stucco walls. Yet another large hall had a 43 foot high vaulted ceiling made out to look like a cave by covering it with pumice stone. It also carried a mosaic depicting the Cyclops Polyphemus. The subterranean effect was further enhanced with the addition of fountains which ran down the walls, the water collecting in large pools in the surrounding rooms.

All of these wonderful features and their accompanying array of sun-courts, sitting rooms, access corridors and service rooms were probably repeated, or at least matched, in the East wing, the two being joined by a huge colonnade, possibly with two levels. The upper story is much more difficult to reconstruct due to the lack of surviving evidence. A small part of the upper story of the octagonal court survives which has a light-well to provide light to the floor below, two small courtyards with fountains, and a colonnade running along one side of a large ornamental pool.

Following Nero's death, and with his successors wishing to distance themselves from this unpopular emperor, the building was abandoned and stripped of much of its precious marble for reuse elsewhere. Most of the structure has disappeared under the foundations of later buildings such as the Baths of Trajan or lies buried. So too, the gardens were built over and the great lake was drained and the Colosseum built on top. In Medieval times the site became overgrown and was used to grow vegetables and vines, a tranquil contrast for what was once the site of Imperial Rome's most raucous and debauched partying. [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

Roman Britain:  Britain was a significant addition to the ever-expanding Roman Empire. For decades Rome had been conquering the Mediterranean Sea - defeating Carthage in the Punic Wars, overwhelming Macedon and Greece, and finally marching into Syria and Egypt. At long last, they gazed northward across the Alps towards Gaul and ultimately setting their sights across the channel (they believed it to be an ocean) into Britannia. After Claudius' invasion in 43 A.D., part of the island became a Roman province in name, however, conquest was a long process. Constantly rebellious and twice reorganized, it was finally abandoned by the Romans in 410 A.D.

At the time of the Roman arrival, Britain (originally known as Albion) was mostly comprised of small Iron Age communities, primarily agrarian, tribal, with enclosed settlements. Southern Britain shared their culture with northern Gaul (modern day France and Belgium); many southern Britons were Belgae in origin and shared a common language with them. In fact, after 120 B.C. trading between Transalpine Gaul intensified with the Britons receiving such domestic imports as wine; there was also some evidence of Gallo-Belgae coinage.

Although Julius Caesar’s presence did not result in conquest, it was this intense trade - some claim it was partly ego - that brought the Roman commander across the Channel in both 55 and 54 B.C. Previously, the Channel, or Mare Britannicum, had always served as a natural border between the European mainland and the islands. During his subjugation of Gaul during the Gallic Wars, Caesar had wanted to interrupt Belgae trade routes; he also assumed the Britons were assisting their kindred Belgae.

Later, he would rationalize his invasion of Britain by telling the Roman Senate that he believed the island was rich in silver. Although the Republic was probably aware of the island’s existence, Britain, for the most part, was completely unknown to Rome, and to many more superstitious citizens, only existed in fables; traders repeatedly told of the islanders’ barbarous practices. To the disgust of many Romans, they even drank milk.

Nevertheless, Caesar’s initial contact with the islanders went poorly, and he had to quickly reorganize his army to avoid defeat. During his second 'invasion' when he was accompanied by five legions, he pushed further northward across the Thames River to meet the Briton chieftain Cassivellaunus. Although he was joined for battle by several local chieftains, to avoid crossing the Channel in poor weather, Caesar feigned growing problems in Gaul, arranged a peace treaty with Cassivellaunus, and returned to the European mainland without leaving a garrison.

While many Romans were enthusiastic about Caesar’s excursion across the Channel, Caesar’s worst enemy Cato was aghast. The Greek historian Strabo, a contemporary of the late Republic, said the only things of value were hunting dogs and slaves.  More important to Caesar was the difficulties developing in Gaul, a failed harvest, and possible rebellion. The Romans would not return to Britain for another century.

With the death of Caesar and the civil war that followed, the Republic was no more, and the new empire’s interest in Britannia intensified under both Emperors Augustus and Caligula as the Romanization of Gaul progressed. While Augustus’s attentions were drawn elsewhere, Caligula and his army stared across the Channel towards the British Isles - the emperor only ordered his men to throw their javelins at the sea - there would be no invasion. The actual annexation fell to the most unlikely of emperors, Claudius (41 – 54 A.D.).

In 43 A.D., Emperor Claudius with an army of four legions and auxiliaries under the command of Aulus Plautius crossed the English Channel, landing at Richborough. They began the conquest of the island.  Some believe the emperor’s only goal was personal glory; years of humiliation under Caligula left him longing for recognition.  Although he had only been there sixteen days, Claudius would take credit, of course, for the conquest with a glorious triumphant return to Rome in 44 A.D.

The Roman army had landed on the British shore and marched northward towards the Thames River; it was there that Claudius joined them. Rome's army quickly overran the territory of the Catuvellauni with a victory at Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester). Afterwards, the army quickly moved to the north and west, and by 60 A.D. much of Wales and the areas to the south of Trent were occupied. Client kingdoms were soon established including the Iceni at Norfolk and the Brigantes to the north. While one legion was sent northward, the future emperor Vespasian led another legion southwest where he would capture 20 tribal strongholds. Cities such as London (Londinium) - because of its proximity to the Channel - and St. Albans (Verulamium) were established.

There was, however, considerably resistance; the Britons were not about to quit without a fight. Caratacus, a member of the Catuvellauni, rallied considerably support in Wales only to be captured in 51 A.D. After his defeat, he escaped and made his way to a region controlled by Brigantes whose queen quickly turned him over to the Romans. He and his family were taken to Rome in chains. In Rome, a triumph was held to glorify Claudius, but the captured chieftain was given the opportunity to speak to the Roman people:

"Had my lineage and rank been accompanied by only moderate success, I should have come to this city as friend rather than prisoner, and you would not have disdained to ally yourself peacefully with one so nobly born … If I had surrendered without a blow before being brought before you, neither my downfall nor your triumph would have become famous.  If you execute me, they will be forgotten.  Spare me, and I shall be an everlasting token of your mercy (Tacitus, Annals, 267). His life, together with that of his wife, daughter, and brothers, was spared by Claudius.

While Caratacus’s revolt was a failure, Rome had yet to tangle with the mighty Boudica. She was the wife of Prasutagus, a Roman ally and client king of the Iceni, a tribe in eastern Britain. His death in 60/61 A.D. left a will that gave one-half of his territory to Rome and one-half to his daughters; however, Rome did not wish to share the kingdom and, instead, decided to plunder it all. The result left Boudica flogged and her daughters raped. Although she and her army would eventually be defeated, she rose up, gathered an army, and with the neighboring Trinovantes went on the offensive. Towns were sacked and burned, including Londinium, and residents killed - possibly as many as 70,000 (these are Roman numbers and may or may not be completely accurate). In his Annals Tacitus wrote,

Boudicca drove around all the tribes in a chariot with her daughters in front of her. "We British are used to woman commanders in war." she cried. "I am descended from mighty men! But now I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters." She prayed that the gods would grant her the vengeance the British deserved. Unfortunately, her prayers went unanswered, and instead of surrendering to the Romans, she committed suicide. Tacitus believed that had it not been for the quick response of Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, Britain would have been lost.

Although progress was relatively slow, Rome considered the conquest of Britain necessary. While Julius Caesar had dismissed the island as having little of value, the truth was far from it. The Battle of Watling Street was the last serious threat to Roman authority in the lowlands. Aside from his victory against Boudicca, in his desire to strengthen Roman presence, Paulinus also eliminated the Druid stronghold at Anglesey; the Druid religion had always been considered a threat to the Romans and their imperial cult.

Accordingly, the governor’s rather vigorous response to the Boudica’s surrender led not only to his recall by Rome - he was replaced by Turpilianus - but a change in Roman policy towards Britain. Gradually, Britons were adopting Roman ways. With a stronger presence in Britain, Rome began to make significant changes. Burnt towns were rebuilt. Soon, London (Londinium), serving as the administrative capital, would have a basilica, a forum, a governor’s palace, and a bridge crossing the Thames. 

Although progress was relatively slow, Rome considered the conquest of Britain necessary. While Julius Caesar had dismissed the island as having little of value, the truth was far from it. Not only was it important for its tax revenue but it was also useful for its mineral resources - tin, iron, and gold and as predicted hunting dogs and animal furs. Mining developed. In addition, there was its grain, cattle, and, of course, slaves. Roads were built; Watling Street which linked Canterbury to Wroxeter on the Welsh border and Ermine Street which ran between London and York. And, with any burgeoning economy, merchants arrived, resulting in increased trade and commerce. However, despite the presence of a strong military, resistance continued, so expansion remained gradual.

From 77 to 83 A.D. the military commander Gnaeus Julius Agricola - ironically the father-in-law of Tacitus - served as governor. It was not Agricola’s first time In Britain. He had served there as a young man on Suetonius Paulinus’ staff as a military tribune. In his On Britain and Germany, the historian wrote about Agricola’s previous stay in Britain stating that he was energetic but never careless. Concerning the state of affairs in Britain at the time, he wrote:

"Neither before nor since has Britain ever been in a more uneasy or dangerous state. Veterans were butchered, colonies burned to the ground, armies isolated. We had to fight for life before we could think of victory". The Britons were on the defensive. "We have country, wives and parents to fight for: the Romans have nothing but greed and self-indulgence" .

The tribune studied his craft well, and in his return to the island as governor, he was prepared. His first order of business was to restructure the army’s loose discipline and reduce abuses, thereby giving men a reason to "love and honor peace." With his new army, he marched northward to Caledonia (Scotland) conquering much of northern England along the way.

In a series of conflicts, Agricola was able to achieve victory, subduing northern Wales and finally meeting the Caledonians at Mons Graupius. The governor even eyed the neighboring island of Ireland, claiming it could be taken with only one legion. Unfortunately, Agricola was forced to withdraw from Scotland when one of his legions was recalled by Emperor Domitian (81 - 96 A.D.) to confront intruders along the Danube. However, despite his attacks against rebels, Agricola was not a cruel conqueror. Aside from the forts he built to the north, he fostered 'civilizing' or Romanizing the Britons, encouraged urbanization, moving into towns that were equipped with theaters, forums, and baths. And, like other conquered lands, Latin was to be taught.

Unfortunately, his success would not go unnoticed by Domitian, who, in a fit of jealousy, recalled Agricola. The territory he had long desired to the north, Scotland, would not be fully conquered for years to come. Eventually, a 73 mile (118 km) long stone and turf wall would be built between the province of Britain and barbarian territories under Emperor Hadrian (117–138 A.D.). The emperor had visited both Gaul and Britain in 121 and 122 A.D. and believed that in order to maintain peace the frontier had to be secured. He realized that external expansion meant an increased reliance on strengthening frontier defenses. Although taking years to build and manned with 15,000 soldiers, it seems that it was not to keep the barbarians out but designed solely for surveillance and patrols.

By 130 A.D. military garrisons had been established throughout Britain. It was at this time that Rome realized the need to further strengthen their army on the European continent and began to recruit from the 'barbaric' provinces of the empire, namely the Balkans and Britain. In 139 A.D. another wall, the 37 mile (60 km) long Antonine Wall (named for the Emperor Antonius Pius), was built c. 100 km to the north between the Firth of Forth and the River Clyde; however, it was too difficult to defend, and therefore it was abandoned in 163 A.D.

Further changes soon came to the island. In order to rule more efficiently, the island was divided in half, Britannia Superior governed from London, and Britannia Inferior governed from York (Eboracum). Emperor Diocletian would later divide the province into four separate regions. Because of Diocletian’s tetrarchy, Britain was then placed under the watchful eye of the emperor in the west. 

Trouble continued to haunt Britain. During the 3rd century A.D., the island had been under constant attack by the Picts of Scotland, the Scots from Ireland, and the Saxons from Germany.  After a rebellion led by Carausius and then Allectus enabled Britain temporarily to become a separate kingdom, the Roman emperor of the west Constantius (293 – 306 A.D.) regained control in 296 A.D. The emperor had served as a military tribune combating Celtic tribes earlier in his career. In celebration of his victory, he received a much-deserved title from the people of London 'The Restorer of the Eternal Light.' 

However, along with the arrival of Christianity, by the end of the 4th century A.D., Rome was having trouble maintaining control of Britain. After Alaric’s sack of Rome in 410 A.D., the western half of the empire began to undergo significant changes; Spain, Britain, and the better part of Gaul would soon be lost. The eastern half of the empire, based in Constantinople, became the economic and cultural center. The loss of the rich grain-producing provinces doomed Rome. According to historian Peter Heather in his The Fall of the Roman Empire, Britain, unlike other provinces, was more prone for a revolt or break with Rome because many civilians, as well as military personnel, felt left out; attention (primarily defense) was being given elsewhere. Emperor Valentinian I (364-375 A.D.), who had defeated Saxon insurgents in 367 A.D., gradually began to withdraw troops.

In 410 A.D. Honorius, one of the last emperors of the west, pulled out completely; the emperor even wrote letters to individual British cities informing them that they were to 'fend' for themselves. In the final days, Roman magistrates were expelled and local governments were established. Britain was no longer a province of Rome; however, the years that followed could not erase all of the empire’s impact on the people and culture of the island. There was occasional contact with Rome. Missionaries helped Christians battle the heretics, and in the 5th century A.D., as attacks from Saxons increased and marauders from Ireland and Scotland raided the English coast, an appeal went out to the Roman commanding general Aetius for help. He never replied.

As Europe fell under the veil of the 'Dark Ages,' Britain would break into smaller kingdoms. The Vikings would cross the sea in the late 8th century and cause havoc for decades. Finally, one man would ward off the Viking attempt at conquest and claim to be king of England, Alfred the Great. Britain would recover. [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

Roman Britannia:  Roman Britain (Britannia to the Romans) was the area of the island of Great Britain that was governed by the Roman Empire, from 43 to 410 A.D. Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 B.C. as part of his Gallic Wars. The Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by other Celtic tribes during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. He received tribute, installed a friendly king over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 B.C.

In 40 A.D., Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel, only to have them gather seashells. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore an exiled king over the Atrebates.[5] The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the Province of Britain (Latin: Provincia Britannia). By the year 47 A.D., the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

Under the 2nd century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never directly controlled. Around 197 A.D., the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains.

A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410 A.D.; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. 46,323 Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

Britain was known to the Classical world; the Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century B.C. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 5th century B.C. and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th century B.C. However, it was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed at all.

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 B.C., as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honor the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgian tribes on returning to the continent.

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 B.C., but circumstances were never favorable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could.

Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 A.D., they came back with tales of monsters.

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 A.D., when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 A.D., it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

The invasion force in 43 A.D. was led by Aulus Plautius, but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61 A.D., and were probably there since the initial invasion. However this is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary.

The Legio IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 A.D. and on a building inscription there dated 108 A.D., before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt. The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent, although at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest,[28] Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla attack campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51 A.D., Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him.

The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. However, the Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

In 60–61 A.D., while Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning in Wales, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. Boudica was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested.

In consequence, Rome punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Suetonius Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans).

Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Suetonius regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

There was further turmoil in 69 A.D., the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country.

After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively. Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78 A.D. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 A.D.at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in northern Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged, although others appear to have been abandoned. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100 A.D., indicating growing Romanization.

Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110 A.D. These tablets provide vivid evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

Around 105 A.D. however there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts of Alba. Several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armor at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in southeast Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site. There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene.

However, Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign (117 A.D.): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120 A.D., he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior.

This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context. In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161 A.D.) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157 A.D., when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to dispatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 A.D. it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made.

The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time, however: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180 A.D. During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved.

Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts. In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180 A.D. Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus.

Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 A.D. he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia.

Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny. The future emperor Pertinax was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control. However, a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192 A.D.

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant.

His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralized however, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia — though it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195 A.D. where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196 A.D., and the ensuing battle was decisive. Although Albinus came close to victory, Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathizers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment.

Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions; but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere, however, would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenseless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 A.D. describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction".

In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject — although the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defenses of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, however, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209 A.D., crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians.

By 210 A.D. Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, again went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest.

A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts. During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, although increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 A.D. a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 A.D. when Aurelian reunited the empire.

Around the year 280 A.D., a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296 A.D. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings.

An invasion in 288 A.D. failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293 A.D. the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese subordinate to a praetorian prefect resident with an emperor and from 318 A.D. a prefect based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier), Julius Bassus, prefect to Constantine's son Crispus. Prior to this appointment two was the canonical number of prefects (not counting those of usurpers). The territorial prefectures first appear circa 325 A.D. Four are listed in 331 A.D.

It is certain that the diocesan vicar was based at Londinium as the principle city of the diocese as it had been for250 years; that Londinim and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals; and that the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency and presence as the governors, heretofore mainly judicial and administrative officials, assumed more financial duties (as the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century years).

The governors were stripped of military command (a process completed by 314 A.D.), which was hand over to duces. Civilian and military authority would not longer be exercised by one official with rare exception until the mid-5th century when a dux/governor was appointed for Upper Egypt. The tasks of the vicar were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with daily routing functioning the performance of the Treasury and Crown Estates which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces.

In short as the sole civilian official with superior authority he had general oversight of the administration, though having only direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture while the other two fiscal departments were not. The early-4th century Verona List, the late-4th century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis.

All of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources, however, list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its created by Count Theodosius in 369 A.D. after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a recreation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name and others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 A.D. Council of Arles. Unfortunately, the list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium).

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicar; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[60] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

Constantius Chlorus returned in 306 A.D., despite his poor health, aiming to invade northern Britain, with the provincial defenses having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. He died in York in July 306 A.D. with his son Constantine I at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

In the middle of the century, for a few years the province was loyal to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353 A.D., Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts was already being built, starting around 280 A.D., to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when a general assault of Saxons, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate in 367 A.D. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius with a string of military and civil reforms.

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383 A.D. and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384 A.D. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish.

His rule was ended in 388 A.D., but not all the British troops may have returned. The Empire's military resources were struggling after the catastrophic battle of Adrianople in 378 A.D. Around 396 A.D. there were increasing barbarian incursions into Britain, and an expedition — possibly led by Stilicho — brought naval action against the raiders. It seems peace was restored by 399 A.D., although it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; and indeed by 401 A.D. more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. However, consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation, though some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "black earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts.

Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanization of Roman Britain. The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had formerly been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There were growing barbarian attacks, but these were focused on vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy, although many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century.

The story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430 A.D. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centers, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates. Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 A.D. are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87 A.D.

Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, although it never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402 A.D., although minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 A.D. there were no new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 A.D. it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Pottery mass production probably ended a decade or two previously; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor probably adopted leather or wooden ones.

Towards the end of the 4th century Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks, and there were not enough troops to mount an effective defense. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407 A.D. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius. It is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed.

A Saxon incursion in 408 A.D. was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 AD. Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. However, Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai.

A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 A.D. has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Laycock has investigated this process and emphasized elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

In British/Welsh tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts and Irish, though Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries. The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600 A.D. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland.

A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446 A.D. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577 A.D., after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea. Most scholars reject the historicity of the later legends of King Arthur, which seem to be set in this period, but some such as John Morris think there may be some truth to them.

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, though there were also more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (Samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products.

Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well. These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources.

Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached circa 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island. It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century A.D. and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports.

Evidence has, however, been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century A.D., from circa 165 A.D. onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars. From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; however, vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century.

During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centers of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine was probably first worked by the Roman army from circa 75 A.D., and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock.

If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for crushing and comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from circa 75 A.D. through to the end of 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Although mining had long been practiced in Britain (see Grimes Graves), the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits.

The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.Although Roman designs were most popular, rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions.

Local pottery rarely attained the standards of the Gaulish industries although the Castor ware of the Nene Valley was able to withstand comparison with the imports. Most native pottery was unsophisticated however and intended only for local markets. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanized north. The design of Hadrian's Wall especially catered to the need for customs inspections of merchants' goods.

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability.

In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and in time of war probably directly ruled troublesome districts.

Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organizing military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services. Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections.

The different forms of municipal organization in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitas sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents. The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people.

Londonium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from across the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, both within Britannia and from other Roman territories, including North Africa, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean, and continental Europe.

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which still survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Though place names survived the deurbanized Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a center of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianizing mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

The Druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 A.D. they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). However, under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham. The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely.

Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica.

By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century. Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is actually a Christian artifact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain.

The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, circa 200 A.D., in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough.

The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively.

A large 4th century cemetery at Poundbury with its east-west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period. The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314 A.D.. Represented at the Council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln.

No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (although some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313 A.D.

Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391 A.D., and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labeled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived circa 354 to 420/440 A.D. A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to circa 363, had been widely publicized as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times.

According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. However, this translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text, in fact, has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.

The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia.] There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern Mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066.

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and sewage systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans. However, unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language - or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. [Wikipedia].

The History and Pre-History of Britain:  Britain (or more accurately, Great Britain) is the name of the largest of the British Isles, which lie off the northwest coast of continental Europe. The name is probably Celtic and derives from a word meaning 'white'; this is usually assumed to be a reference to the famous white Cliffs of Dover, which any new arrival to the country by sea can hardly miss. The first mention of the island was by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored the island's coastline, circa 325 B.C.

During the early Neolithic Age (circa 4400 B.C. – 3300 B.C.), many long barrows were constructed on the island, many of which can still be seen today. In the late Neolithic (circa 2900 B.C. – 2200 B.C.), large stone circles called henges appeared, the most famous of which is Stonehenge.  Before Roman occupation the island was inhabited by a diverse number of tribes that are generally believed to be of Celtic origin, collectively known as Britons. The Romans knew the island as Britannia.

It enters recorded history in the military reports of Julius Caesar, who crossed to the island from Gaul (France) in both 55 and 54 B.C. The Romans invaded the island in 43 A.D., on the orders of emperor Claudius, who crossed over to oversee the entry of his general, Aulus Plautius, into Camulodunum (Colchester), the capital of the most warlike tribe, the Catuvellauni. Plautius invaded with four legions and auxiliary troops, an army amounting to some 40,000.

Due to the survival of the Agricola, a biography of his father-in-law written by the historian Tacitus (105 A.D.), we know much about the first four decades of Roman occupation, but literary evidence is scarce thereafter; happily there is plentiful, if occasionally mystifying archaeological evidence. Subsequent Roman emperors made forays into Scotland, although northern Britain was never conquered; they left behind the great fortifications, Hadrian's Wall (circa 120 A.D.) and the Antonine Wall (142 -155 A.D.), much of which can still be visited today. Britain was always heavily fortified and was a base from which Roman governors occasionally made attempts to seize power in the Empire (Clodius Albinus in 196 A.D., Constantine in 306 A.D.).

At the end of the 4th century A.D., the Roman presence in Britain was threatened by "barbarian" forces. The Picts (from present-day Scotland) and the Scoti (from Ireland) were raiding the coast, while the Saxons and the Angles from northern Germany were invading southern and eastern Britain. By 410 A.D. the Roman army had withdrawn. After struggles with the Britons, the Angles and the Saxons emerged as victors and established themselves as rulers in much of Britain during the Dark Ages (circa 450 -800 A.D.). [Ancient History Encyclopedia].

A Roman Jewlery Hoard:  A collection of Roman jewelry, including three gold armlets, a silver chain necklace, two silver bracelets, a silver armlet, four finger rings, a box containing two pairs of gold earrings, and a bag of coins, was discovered during the renovation of a department store in Colchester, Britain’s oldest recorded town. The cache of jewelry had been buried in the floor of a house that had been burned to the ground at the time of the Boudiccan Revolt of A.D. 61, marked by a thick red and black layer of debris over much of the modern city.

According to Philip Crummy, director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, “our team removed the find undisturbed along with its surrounding soil, so that the individual items could be carefully uncovered and recorded under controlled conditions off site.” In addition, a piece of a human jaw and a shin bone that had been cut with a heavy, sharp weapon were recovered. “We also discovered food that was never eaten on the floor of the room in which the jewelry was found, including dates, figs, wheat, peas, and grain,” Crummy said. The food was probably stored in the room, and was carbonized and preserved by the fire. [Archaeological Institute of America].

Hadrian's Wall:  Hadrian’s Wall (known in antiquity as the Vallum Hadriani or the Vallum Aelian) is a defensive frontier work in northern Britain which dates from 122 A.D. The wall ran from coast to coast at a length of 73 statute miles (120 km). Though the wall is commonly thought to have been built to mark the boundary line between Britain and Scotland, this is not so; no one knows the actual motivation behind its construction but it does not delineate a boundary between the two countries.

While the wall did simply mark the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in Britain at the time, theories regarding the purpose of such a massive building project range from limiting immigration, to controlling smuggling, to keeping the indigenous people at bay north of the wall. Its military effectiveness has been questioned by many scholars over the years owing to its length and the positioning of the fortifications along the route. Regarding this, Professors Scarre and Fagan write:

"Archaeologists and historians have long debated whether Hadrian’s Wall was an effective military barrier…Whatever its military effectiveness, however, it was clearly a powerful symbol of Roman military might. The biographer of Hadrian remarks that the emperor built the wall to separate the Romans from the barbarians. In the same way, the Chinese emperors built the Great Wall to separate China from the barbarous steppe peoples to the north. In both cases, in addition to any military function, the physical barriers served in the eyes of their builders to reinforce the conceptual divide between civilized and non-civilized. They were part of the ideology of empire."

The suggestion that Hadrian’s Wall, then, was built to hold back or somehow control the people of the north does not seem as likely as that it was constructed as a show of force. This seems to be the best explanation for the underlying motive behind the construction of Hadrian’s Wall. The Romans had been dealing with uprisings in Britain since their conquest of the region. Although Rome’s first contact with Britain was through Julius Caesar’s expeditions there in 55/54 B.C., Rome did not begin any systematic conquest until the year 43 A.D. under the Emperor Claudius.

The revolt of Boudicca of the Iceni in 60/61 A.D. resulted in the massacre of many Roman citizens and the destruction of major cities (among them, Londinium, modern London) and, according to the historian Tacitus (56-117 A.D.), fully demonstrated the barbaric ways of the Britons to the Roman mind. Boudicca’s forces were defeated at The Battle of Watling Street by General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus in 61 A.D.  At the Battle of Mons Graupius, in the region which is now Scotland, the Roman General Gnaeus Julius Agricola won a decisive victory over the Caledonians under Calgacus in 83 A.D.

Both of these engagements, as well as the uprising in the north in 119 A.D. (suppressed by Falco) substantiated that the Romans were up to the task of managing the indigenous people of Britain. The suggestion that Hadrian’s Wall, then, was built to hold back or somehow control the people of the north does not seem as likely as that it was constructed as a show of force. Hadrian’s foreign policy was consistently “peace through strength” and the wall would have been an impressive illustration of that principle. In the same way that Julius Caesar built his famous bridge across the Rhine in 55 B.C. simply to show that he, and therefore Rome, could go anywhere and do anything, Hadrian perhaps had his wall constructed for precisely the same purpose.

Emperor Hadrian (born Publius Aelius Hadrianus in 76 A.D.) ruled the Roman Empire from 117-138 A.D. His building projects, especially in Greece, are legendary and his penchant for ambitious monuments is exemplified in his eponymous wall. The work was begun in stone (unlike other fortifications which began with timber) in the east and proceeded westward across uneven terrain to create an impressive reflection of the power of Rome. The wall was originally 9.7 feet wide (3 meters) and 16-20 feet high (six meters) east of the River Irthing, all built of stone, and 20 feet wide (6 meters) by 11feet high (3.5 meters) west of the river, made up of stone and turf, stretching 73 miles (120 km) across the breadth of the land.

This ambitious building project was completed within six years through the labor of the Roman legions stationed in Britain. Plans for the construction of the wall were in place prior to Hadrian’s visit to Britain in 122 A.D. and, perhaps, construction had already begun before the traditional date assigned for the initial work on the wall, possibly as early as 118 A.D. There were between 14-17 fortifications along the length of the wall and a Vallum (a ditch purposefully constructed of earthworks) which ran parallel to the wall. The Vallum measured 20 feet (6 meters) wide by 10 feet (3 meters) deep, flanked by large mounds of tightly packed earth. It is this composition of the site which has given rise to the traditional interpretation of the wall as a defensive work built to repel invasion from the north.

The Vallum was built after the construction of the wall and the forts as evidenced by its deviation from existing ruins and the clear indication of causeways across the ditch at intervals which correspond to established fortification sites. When the Antonine Wall was constructed further north (in c. 142 A.D. by Emperor Antoninus Pius) the Vallum appears to have been partially filled in for easier passage.

The Antonine Wall was built after Hadrian’s Wall had been abandoned as an outpost and was positioned further to the north in present-day Scotland between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. The Antonine Wall was perhaps constructed to serve the same purpose as Hadrian’s Wall but is thought to have functioned more pragmatically than the earlier construct.

Hadrian’s Wall is thought to have been plastered and white washed so that it would be a shining beacon of the might of Rome, visible from considerable distances. The Antonine Wall does not suggest this same grandeur nor, in spite of the many fortifications along its route, the same intent in design and construction. Emperor Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180 A.D.) drew the Roman legions back from the Antonine Wall to Hadrian’s Wall under his reign and fortified the garrisons in his efforts to maintain the boundaries of the Empire. Hadrian’s great monument to Rome’s might continued as an impressive affirmation until 410 A.D. when the Roman legions left Britain. Activity around and along the wall seems to have continued as evidenced by archaeological finds but a disciplined Roman presence after 410 is not signified.

Following the Roman withdrawal, large portions of the wall were carried off for personal building projects by the local inhabitants. Huge sections were removed to provide paving for British troops heading north on muddy tracks to quell the Jacobite Uprising of 1745 A.D.  Hadrian’s Wall may have disappeared entirely were it not for the efforts of one man, the antiquarian John Clayton (1792-1890 A.D.) who, in 1834 A.D., began buying the land around the wall in an effort to preserve it. Clayton’s excavations and enthusiasm for the site kept what remains of Hadrian’s Wall intact and, in 1987 A.D., it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Today it is under the care of English Heritage commission and is cared for largely by volunteers who recognize its immense historical significance. [Archaeological Institute of America].

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ABOUT US: Prior to our retirement we used to travel to Europe and Central Asia several times a year. Most of the items we offer came from acquisitions we made in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) during these years from various institutions and dealers. Much of what we generate on Etsy, Amazon and Ebay goes to support The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as some other worthy institutions in Europe and Asia connected with Anthropology and Archaeology. Though we have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, our primary interests are ancient jewelry and gemstones. Prior to our retirement we traveled to Russia every year seeking antique gemstones and jewelry from one of the globe’s most prolific gemstone producing and cutting centers, the area between Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, Russia. From all corners of Siberia, as well as from India, Ceylon, Burma and Siam, gemstones have for centuries gone to Yekaterinburg where they have been cut and incorporated into the fabulous jewelry for which the Czars and the royal families of Europe were famous for.

My wife grew up and received a university education in the Southern Urals of Russia, just a few hours away from the mountains of Siberia, where alexandrite, diamond, emerald, sapphire, chrysoberyl, topaz, demantoid garnet, and many other rare and precious gemstones are produced. Though perhaps difficult to find in the USA, antique gemstones are commonly unmounted from old, broken settings – the gold reused – the gemstones recut and reset. Before these gorgeous antique gemstones are recut, we try to acquire the best of them in their original, antique, hand-finished state – most of them centuries old. We believe that the work created by these long-gone master artisans is worth protecting and preserving rather than destroying this heritage of antique gemstones by recutting the original work out of existence. That by preserving their work, in a sense, we are preserving their lives and the legacy they left for modern times. Far better to appreciate their craft than to destroy it with modern cutting.

Not everyone agrees – fully 95% or more of the antique gemstones which come into these marketplaces are recut, and the heritage of the past lost. But if you agree with us that the past is worth protecting, and that past lives and the produce of those lives still matters today, consider buying an antique, hand cut, natural gemstone rather than one of the mass-produced machine cut (often synthetic or “lab produced”) gemstones which dominate the market today. We can set most any antique gemstone you purchase from us in your choice of styles and metals ranging from rings to pendants to earrings and bracelets; in sterling silver, 14kt solid gold, and 14kt gold fill. When you purchase from us, you can count on quick shipping and careful, secure packaging. We would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from us. There is a $3 fee for mailing under separate cover. I will always respond to every inquiry whether via email or eBay message, so please feel free to write.

  • Condition: New
  • Publisher: Shire Publications (2002)
  • Format: Oversized softcover
  • Length: 64 pages
  • Dimensions: 8¼ x 6 inches; ½ pound

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