Download The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire
Aim: To introduce the Roman period in North Britain.
• The city of Rome was supposedly founded in 753 BC by
two brothers, Romulus and Remus.
• The first Roman Emperor was Augustus in 27 BC.
• The legitimacy of an emperor's rule depended on his
control of the army and recognition by the Senate.
• The Romans were pagan, and worshipped a pantheon
of gods. There was an Imperial cult and some
emperors were given divine status after death.
• The Roman Empire was the largest empire in Ancient
History, stretching from Britain in the west to northern
Africa and the Middle East.
• Emperors ruled the provinces through their Governors.
Octavian was declared
Augustus in 27 BC, becoming the
first Roman Emperor.
• In 285, Diocletian partitioned the Roman
Empire's administration into eastern and
western halves. The capital of the
Eastern Empire was
Byzantium/Constantinople (now
Istanbul, in modern Turkey).
• Constantine I (“the Great”), the founder
of Constantinople, ended the
persecution of Christians, after which
time Christianity became the dominant
religion of the Roman Empire.
• The Eastern Empire endured until its
conquest by Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Coin of Constantine the Great
The Roman Empire under Trajan, 117 AD
ROMAN CIVILISATION
Artist’s impression of Rome at its height
The Colosseum, Rome – built under the Flavian Emperors, Vespasian and Titus, in the 1st
century AD
The Pantheon, Rome. A Roman temple and now a Roman Catholic church. Rebuilt by
Hadrian c.126 AD. Still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome.
Roman aqueduct in Provence, France
Roman mosaic floor at Fishbourne Palace, Sussex,
England
THE ROMAN ARMY
•The Roman army was needed to conquer new territories and police
the provinces, upholding the Pax Romana (“Roman Peace”). It also
served bureaucratic functions, for example enforcing the collection
of taxes and customs duties.
•The Roman legions formed the backbone of the Roman army.
Legionaries were Roman citizens and usually served for a period of 20
years. They were highly-trained elite footsoldiers.
•Each legion was commanded by a legate and numbered around
5,500 men.
•A legion was made up of 10 cohorts (the first of which was doublestrength) of 480 men. Each cohort contained 6 centuries (80 men),
which were commanded by a centurion. Each century was made
up of 10 contubernia – fighting units of 8 men.
•The legions were also supported by a cavalry force of 120 mounted
soldiers.
•Each legionary was equipped with a helmet, shield, body armour,
two javelins, a short stabbing sword (gladius)and a dagger.
AUXILIARIES
Auxiliaries were recruited from the provinces of the
Roman Empire.
They were organised in cohorts of around 500 men.
These troops included heavy and light infantry, cavalry,
archers and slingers.
THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF BRITAIN
•The Roman Empire was intended to be an imperium sine
fine, or “empire without end”. As a result the Roman
Emperors followed an expansionist foreign policy, always
seeking to conquer new territories.
•Julius Caesar, who had been busy conquering Gaul,
carried out two military expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54
BC.
•There was no conquest of Britain at this time, but the
Roman Empire continued to maintain political and
economic links with the tribes of SE England.
•In 43 AD the Emperor Claudius launched a full-scale
invasion of Britain.
•Claudius ordered his governor, Aulus Plautius, to conquer
“the rest”. Much of the fighting was undertaken by the
future emperor Vespasian as Rome slowly expanded the
province into Wales and northern England.
THE FLAVIAN INVASION OF NORTH BRITAIN
•It is possible that the Romans first entered Scotland under
the governors Petillius Cerealis and/or Julius Frontinus in
the AD 70s.
•However, according to the traditional narrative by
Tacitus, Scotland was conquered by his father-in-law,
Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, between 79 and 84 AD.
•Agricola supposedly consolidated Rome’s hold on
southern Scotland by building forts and advanced to the
Tay before winning a great victory over the “Caledonian
confederacy” at Mons Graupius in 83 or 84 AD.
•The construction of a legionary fortress at Inchtuthil
suggests that Rome intended a permanent conquest at
this time.
•However, a revolt on the Danube led to Rome’s
withdrawal from the North in c.87 AD, to the Tyne-Solway
line. Tacitus stated that Perdomita Britannia et statim
missa – “Britain was completely conquered and
immediately let go”.
THE HADRIANIC AND ANTONINE FRONTIERS
•Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122 AD. Realising
that the empire could not continue expanding
indefinitely, he ordered construction of a wall across
northern England, from Wallsend on the Tyne to
Bowness-on-Solway.
•His biographer states that the wall was built “to
separate the Romans from the barbarians”.
•Hadrian’s successor, Antoninus Pius, needed a
military victory and so ordered a reoccupation of
southern Scotland in or shortly after 139 AD.
•A new turf wall was built across the Forth-Clyde
isthmus. However, the Antonine Wall was
abandoned in c.163-4 AD after an occupation of
some 20 years.
THE SEVERAN INVASIONS
•Following the revolt of the Maeatae and
Caledonii in northern Scotland, the Emperor
Septimius Severus invaded North Britain again in
the early 3rd century.
•After Severus died at York in 211 AD, his son
Caracalla made peace and withdrew Roman
forces from the north. This marked the end of the
last recorded major campaign in Scotland.
THE END OF ROMAN BRITAIN
•Peace seems to have endured on the
northern frontier for much of the 3rd
century, but in the 4th century the ailing
empire faced numerous threats.
•In 367 AD Britain was overrun by a
“barbarian conspiracy” which included
Picts, Scots, Attacotti and Saxons.
•Order was restored, but in the early 4th
century the last Roman troops were
withdrawn from Britannia. In 410 AD the
Emperor Honorius instructed the RomanoBritons to look to their own defence.
•By 476 AD, the Western Roman Empire
had itself fallen under waves of barbarian
attacks.