CONTENTS

  1.          Introduction
  1. Who were the Romans
  2. When and where did they invade
  3. Pirate trouble

2.          The Roman Army

  1. Who was in the army
  2. Types of Soldiers
  3. Types of Regiments
  4. Uniform and Weapons
  5. Making a Camp
  6. Sieges
  7. Frontiers

3.         Roman Roads

        a.        Who Built The Roads

  1. How Roads Were Built

 4.        Roman Towns

        a.        Houses

  1.          Forum
  2.          Basilicas
  3.          Amphitheatres
  4.          Baths
  5.          Sewer System

5.         Entertainment

  1. Pastimes
  2. The Theatre
  3. Chariot Racing
  4. Gladiatorial Combat.

6.         Conclusion

7.        Bibliography        

INTRODUCTION

WHO WERE THE ROMANS

The story of the Roman Empire began about 2700 years ago, in small villages on hills above the River Tiber in Italy.  The people of these villages founded the mighty Roman Empire.

According to legend twin brothers called Romulus and Remus were taken from their mother and left by the river Tiber to starve. A mother wolf found the babies and looked after them until they were old enough to take care of themselves. The boys founded Rome. About 590BC the Romans set up a republic and created a strong army.  They began to conquer their neighbours.  

The capital of this state was Rome, a city built on seven hills.  Here was the Forum, or meeting place, and the Senate, or parliament.  There were temples, markets, triumphal arches, and villas (large houses).  The language of Rome was Latin.

In 45BC the soldier Julius Caesar made himself dictator of Rome.  In 27BC his adopted son; Octavian (Augustus) became the Roman Emperor.  The Romans ruled most of Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean.  They brought peace and firm government.  Roman ideas spread everywhere.  The Romans were skilful engineers and many remains of their roads, walls, forts, and other buildings can still be seen.  The crane was a Roman invention.

In AD364 the Empire was divided: the Western half goverened by Rome, the Eastern half from Constantinople (Byzantium).  For a thousand years, Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, emperors ruled from Constantinople.

Rome was now in decline.  Its army struggled to fight off attacks from barbarian tribes.  Around 476AD Rome itself fell and the empire in the west collapsed.  The Eastern empire lasted (in name) until 1453, when Constantinople was captured by the Turks.

WHEN AND WHY DID THEY INVADE

In 55 B.C. the Roman general Julius Caesar conquered France (At the time the country was called Gaul, and the Romans called it Gallia). The Gauls fought hard against the Romans and had been helped by their friends in Britain. Caesar was upset by their assistance and decided to teach the Britons a lesson.

Julius Caesar made two attempts to invade Britain, first in 55 B.C. and then again in 54 B.C. Both times the British warriors and the rotten British weather made his army give up and return to Gallia.

Nearly a hundred years later in 43 A.D. the Emperor Claudius sent another army to invade Britain. This time the Romans were successful, Roman Britain had begun!

What Happened?                                                                                                                                

Some Celts decided to make peace with the Romans in return for keeping their kingdoms. These people were called client kings, and they had to agree that once they died the Romans could take over their lands. One client king was Cogidumnus, the ruler of the Atrebates. The famous palace at Fishbourne in West Sussex was probably built for him with help from the Romans. Other British leaders, such as Caratacus, carried on fighting against the Romans until they were captured.

In some parts of Britain there were still fierce battles against the Romans. At Maiden Castle (a huge hill fort near Dorchester in Dorset) archaeologists found evidence of a battle, which the Romans had won. Buried on the site were the skeletons of young men, some of which even had cut marks of Roman swords on their bones.

In 61 A.D. the Romans faced their most serious problem yet - the Celts were rebelling. This happened when Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni died.

Prasutagus had always been friendly to the Romans but his wife, Boudicca, did not agree with him. The Romans were demanding to be paid taxes and they wanted her to give up her throne. Boudicca decided to fight back!

When the Romans invaded Britain they had to defend it against constant attack from Celtic tribes. To do this, they built forts around Britain for the soldiers to live in. At first they were built of wood, later they were built of stone.

 

The threat from Scottish Barbarians grew, and in 122 A.D. the Emperor Hadrian ordered his soldiers to build a wall between Roman Britain and Scotland. The wall ran from Wallsend to Bowness on the Solway Firth, and you can still walk along parts of it today.

In the third century A.D. the wall was broken and the Emperor Septimius Severus had to come to Britain to fight against tribes invading from Scotland. Although his soldiers won the battles he died at York in 211 A.D.

Pirate trouble

Because Britain was on the edge of the Roman Empire there was often trouble from people trying to invade. Pirates would often attack, so forts were built on the coast.

If the pirates got past the Roman navy then soldiers keeping watch at the new forts would raise the alarm and go out to fight them. They are called Saxon Shore forts because many of the people attacking Britain at this time were Saxons. The Saxon Shore fort at Portchester was so big that hundreds of year’s later people built a whole castle in just one corner of it!

THE ROMAN ARMY

The Roman Empire would not have grown without the army.  The army that invaded Britain in 43 AD at the command of the Emperor Claudius differed in structure from the one that gradually slipped under local control as the province became independent in the fifth century. This change is reflected in the types of sites the army used and the structures it built. Timber and earth forts some intended for one winter's or summer's use during the first century became more permanent structures built or rebuilt in stone. During the second and third centuries they were given towers to provide flanking fire along the walls as the army began to contemplate its bases coming under siege. And by the fourth century the classic playing card ground plan of forts was becoming replaced by irregular shapes that took advantage of defensive locations and begin to suggest medieval castle plans.  The Roman army in Britain: acted as a police force, combating minor civil disorders or quelling cattle raids; enforced taxation; and provided skilled administrators and engineers to the provincial governor.

 In the times of the early republic a property owning man between the ages of sixteen and forty-six could be recruited into the army.  If they joined the army they would have to stay in it for twenty-five years.    

During the early days of the Roman Empire most soldiers were part timers, which meant that they only fought when they were needed.  By 100BC all soldiers were full time professionals.  It was seen as the duty of a citizen to protect Rome.  Soldiers were not required to fight more than seventeen separate battles during their careers.  Some of them liked military service and decided to serve continuously.

Upon entering the army a recruit had to swear an oath of loyalty.  He first swore allegiance to his commander, but later this was replaced by an oath to the emperor.  Training each day was hard.  New recruits did two sessions of military drill, and the entire legion practiced swimming, running, jumping, javelin throwing, and fencing.

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The men gathered in groups called ‘centuries’, each of one hundred men.  At first wars only lasted a few days, so it did not matter if the recruits left their farms for a short time.

By 340BC wars further away from Rome meant people were required to leave their farms for longer periods.  Wages were introduced.  Even slaves were occasionally asked to fight.  This was dangerous because sometimes the slaves could turn against their masters and attack them.

The legions fought as heavy infantry, but also provided engineers, cadres of officers and men to assist the government, ...

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