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Straight Roads The Romans built long straight roads all over the empire to travel along quickly and for easy communications. Many roads we still use in Britain today were originally Roman roads. Before the Romans came we used dirt tracks as roads but because the Roman army wanted easy, quick access all over Britain they built strong brick/stone roads. Roman Roads Roman roads had a curved surface with ditches on either side so that water could drain off the surface of the road. Then the road would not become slippy and muddy. Aqueducts They also built aqueducts to carry water. • Roman towns needed a mighty water supply to keep the people clean and to drink. Rome itself used vast quantities of water. • Most of the water was used in public baths, for the ordinary citizens and the private baths of the rich. Central Heating Underfloor heating today uses electric wires or water pipes under the floor. The Romans had a hypocaust system. The floor was build on top of piles of stone, and the air underneath heated by a furnace, kept going by slaves. Concrete Concrete is used everyday in buildings and roads all over the world. The Romans started using it over 2000 years ago because it made buildings stronger. That’s why many Roman buildings are still standing today. Concrete is a mixture of broken stone, gravel, sand, cement and water which can be poured into moulds. Religion • Before the Romans came, the native Britons were pagans. They believed in lots of different gods and spirits. • The Romans were pagans too, but they didn't believe in the same gods as the Britons. They let the Britons worship their own gods, as long as they were respectful of the Roman ones too. Roman God and Goddesses • Christianity arrived in Britain during the second century. At first only a few people became Christian. When Christianity started to get popular, the Romans banned it. Christians refused to worship the Roman emperor and anyone who was caught following the new religion could be whipped or even executed. By the beginning of the 4th century, more and more people were following Christianity. In AD313 the Emperor Constantine declared that Christians were free to worship in peace. Emperor Constantine Language, Numbers and Writing • Before the Romans came, very few people could read or write in Britain. Instead, information was usually passed from person to person by word of mouth. • The Romans wrote down their history, their literature and their laws. Their language was called Latin, and it wasn’t long before some people in Britain started to use it too. However, it only really caught on in the new Roman towns - most people living in the countryside stuck to their old Celtic language. • We've still got lots of words and phrases today that come from Latin. Words like ‘exit’, which means ‘he or she goes out’, and ‘pedestrian’, which means ‘going on foot’. • Our coins are based on a Roman design and some of the lettering is in Latin. Written around the edge of some £1 coins is the phrase 'decus et tutamen' which means 'glory and protection'. Some clocks still use Roman numerals today.