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Roman Britain
Key Stage 2 Resource Pack
Background information for teachers
Learning and Audiences Department Great Russell Street
Telephone + 44 (0) 20 7323 8511 / 8854
London WC1B 3DG
Facsimile + 44 (0) 20 7323 8855
Switchboard + 44 (0) 20 7323 8000
[email protected]
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
British Iron Age
Around 750 BC iron working techniques reached Britain from Europe.
Whilst bronze was still used for objects such as jewellery; iron
was used for tools. In England and Wales, the Iron Age ended when
the Romans arrived in AD 43, although in Scotland and Ireland,
Iron Age ways of life continued after this date.
Iron Age Britain was essentially rural with most people living in
small villages.
Iron axes and iron tipped ploughs make farming
more efficient and output increased. Wheat, barley, beans and
brassicas were grown in small fields. Timber was used for fuel and
for building houses, carts, furniture and tools. Cattle provided
milk and leather and were used to pull the plough while sheep
provided milk, meat and wool. Chickens were introduced at the end
of the Iron Age.
Another form of constructed community space was
the hillfort which began to be built around 1500 BC. Use peaked
during the late Iron Age and they may have been defensive or used
for social and trading gatherings.
Communities had contacts with each other and Western Europe.
Through these contacts La Tène art styles spread (from 900 to 500
BC) until it was used across most of the British Isles. Trade,
internal and with continental Europe, flourished based on
Britain's mineral resources. About 100 BC, iron bars began to be
used as currency and from around 150 BC coins developed.
British Iron Age people did not build temples or shrines to
worship their gods and there are very few statues of these gods.
Instead, gods were seen as being everywhere and religious
offerings were made in the home, around farms and in the
countryside.
By AD 1, south-eastern England was controlled by powerful rulers
who had close contacts with the Roman Empire. Rulers such as
Tincommius (Tincomarus), Tasciovanus and Cunobelinus are known
from their coins and controlled areas of land from centres such as
St Albans, Colchester, Chichester and Silchester.
Roman Britain
The Roman general Julius Caesar made two expeditions to Britain in
55 and 54 BC following his conquest of Gaul.
During these
expeditions, the Romans invited the British people to pay tribute
in return for peace, established client rulers and brought Britain
into Rome's sphere of influence
In AD 43, a Roman invasion force landed in Britain and quickly
took control of the south-east before heading north and west. Then
in AD 61, while the Roman army was in Wales, Boudica, ruler of the
Iceni people, provoked by Roman seizure of land and the brutal
treatment of her family rebelled against Roman rule. The Iceni,
joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colonies at
Camulodunum, Colchester, Verulamium (St Albans) and London before
the Roman army finally defeated the rebels in the Battle of
Watling Street.
In Britain, towns often began as military camps or planned
settlements for former soldiers. At the centre of the town was a
paved space (the forum) often used as a market place. Facing onto
the forum were official buildings such as the temple and the
basilica (used for local government, tax-collecting and recordkeeping). There were also public buildings such as a bath house,
theatre and amphitheatre for gladiatorial combats. In Britain the
largest towns were London and Colchester.
The Romans built rectangular houses, with brick walls and tiled
roofs, known as villas. Some people continued to live in round
houses, especially in areas where Roman ways of living had less
influence. Villas usually formed the centre of farming estates
which produced food crops, timber and animal products such as
leather and wool. The main rooms in a villa had mosaic floors and
were decorated with wall paintings.
Pottery production was highly developed in the Roman period and
standardised shapes were produced quickly and in large numbers.
Most ordinary household pots were multi-purpose containers used
for storing, preparing and cooking food. These were made locally
wherever suitable clay was available. Finer decorative pottery,
such as Samian ware, was used as tableware, and was made in only a
few places and traded over wide areas. Wine, sauces and dried
fruit were imported in large pottery amphorae while cooking
ingredients were puréed in specially designed bowls (mortaria) to
produce blends of flavours.
Most clothes in Roman Britain were made from woollen or linen
fabric. The toga -a single piece of cloth worn over a tunic could be worn by every free-born citizen. However, it was
cumbersome and only wealthy Roman men regularly wore one. Most
people dressed in a simple tunic. Women wore a stola (long tunic)
with a palla (shawl) around the shoulders. Pins and brooches were
used to fasten both men and women's clothes and were highly
decorative.
In Britain the Roman army played an important role in maintaining
peace, and from AD 100 around 50,000 troops were stationed in the
province.
As well as military training, the army constructed
buildings and roads. Military documents and letters from
Vindolanda, near Hadrian’s Wall, reveal details of the
administrative activities of a Roman fort. Civilian settlements
developed around forts and trading took place with the local
people.
Control of particular regions was strengthened by forts,
mostly in Wales, northern England and Scotland. A typical fort was
rectangular in shape, surrounded by ditches and a wall and divided
into blocks by a grid of streets. The headquarters building lay at
the centre of the fort. Other buildings included officers’ houses,
a bath-house, storage facilities and barracks.
Although Latin was the official language in the West of the Roman
Empire (Greek in the East) many British people would have
continued to use their native tongue. Contact with the Roman
administrative and legal systems would probably have given many
people a basic spoken understanding of Latin even if they could
not read or write.
Roman temples were a place for people to pray to the gods, make
offerings and take part in religious festivals. Roman houses would
often have a small shrine used for worshipping protective
household gods, known as the lares, and honouring family
ancestors.
Local British gods and goddesses were included in the
Roman religion. During the reign of the emperor Tiberius (AD 1437), the Christian faith, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ,
spread across the empire. Early Christians were often persecuted
for their beliefs because they refused to worship the emperor as a
god. Then, in AD 313, the emperor Constantine ordered complete
freedom of worship for all religions, including Christianity.
However, it was not until AD 392, under the emperor Theodosius,
that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire
and all the temples to the Roman gods and goddesses were closed.
The disintegration of Roman Britain began with the revolt of
Magnus Maximus in AD 383. After living in Britain as military
commander for twelve years, he was proclaimed Emperor by his
troops and took a large part of the British Roman garrison to the
Continent where he dethroned the emperor Gratian, before being
killed by the Emperor Thedosius in AD 388.
The remaining Roman legions began to withdraw from Britain at the
end of the fourth century as the need to protect Rome itself from
invading forces grew.
As part of the east coast defence, a
command was established under the Count of the Saxon Shore, and a
fleet was organized to control the Channel and the North Sea.
A
letter of AD 410 from the Emperor Honorius told the towns of
Britain to organize their own defences from that time on.
Anglo-Saxons
Germanic auxiliary troops had been used for centuries by Rome and
that presence in Roman Britain would have facilitated any
migration. Graves and settlements suggest that the British
population was not killed or displaced, but rather came to adopt
Anglo-Saxon culture. The
extent of Anglo-Saxon migration seems to
have differed considerably across England. Over time the different
Germanic peoples formed a unified cultural and political group. By
the reign of king Alfred (AD 871-899) a number of Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms existed which developed into the kingdom of England in
the 10th century.
Roman soldiers
Teachers notes
This activity requires the pupils to look closely at the Roman
Army (Cases 6, 8 and 9) as well as the legionary tombstones
opposite the Julius Classicianus Tomb. Using the evidence listed
below they should be able to indicate whether they agree or
disagree with each of the statements.
1.
Agree
The boots in case 6 have hobnails
2.
Disagree
There are three tombstones from Lincoln with inscriptions which
tells about Gaius Saufeius who originally came from Heraclea in
modern Macedonia, Titus Valerius Pudens who originally came from
Savaria in Hungary and Gaius Julius Calenus who came from Lyons in
Gaul (France).
3.
Agree
Roman soldiers were paid in coin. This is the main way that
coinage got into general circulation. The Bredgar Hoard in case 9
is thought to have been an officer’s pay.
4.
Disagree
The helmets in cases 6 and 8 include protection for the back of
the neck and both cheeks.
5.
Agree
Daggers are displayed in case 6.
6.
Disagree
Case 9 shows tiles made by Legio IX and Legio XX, and one by the
Classis Britannica, the British Fleet.
7.
Agree
There were two lighthouses at Dover, the picture in case 9 shows
the surviving one. Dover was a base for the British Fleet.
8.
Disagree
Two mouthpieces for trumpets are shown in case 9. Trumpets and
horns were used on campaigns and in the fort for reveille and
changing guards.
Roman soldiers
Gallery sheet
 Working in a small group, find cases 6, 8 and 9 which all contain
material about the Roman army and the group of soldiers’
tombstones which are on open display.
 Study the objects carefully and then decide which of the
following statements you agree with and which you disagree with.
Circle your answer.
1.
The boots which Roman soldiers wore had nails on the bottom.
Agree / Disagree
2.
Roman soldiers who died in Britain were taken home to be
buried.
Agree / Disagree
3.
Roman soldiers got their pay in coins.
Agree / Disagree
4.
A Roman soldier’s helmet only protected the top of the head.
Agree / Disagree
5.
Roman soldiers carried daggers.
Agree / Disagree
6.
Roman soldiers did not know how to make roof tiles.
Agree / Disagree
7.
The Roman navy had lighthouses.
Agree / Disagree
8.
The Roman army did not have trumpeters.
Agree / Disagree
Off to work in Roman Britain
Teachers notes
This activity is aimed at looking for the tools of the trade,
rather than finished products.
Case 16 (unless otherwise mentioned) is the best source for the
activity, with the following:
Metal Worker: numbers 1-4: hammerheads, tongs, file, chisel and
Corbridge pottery plaque of a Blacksmith; number 28: field anvil
in farming tools
Builder: plenty of building materials in the right-hand half of
the case: box flue tiles, hypocaust tiles, imbrex tiles, tegula
tiles, water pipe, mosaic cubes (tesserae), window grille, window
glass, hinges, locks, taps, wall-plaster, stone inlay. To the
right of Case 16 is the Meonstoke Wall
Cook:
Eating and drinking section at left-hand end of case 16
includes cooking utensils whilst further along (numbers 35-40) are
knives, a gridiron, a cauldron chain, a frying pan, a flesh fork,
spoons and bronze pans.
Case 21: Mortaria for grinding/mixing
food, cheese-press and black-burnished (shiny) pottery commonly
used for cooking
Carpenter: numbers 5-9: chisels and gouge; numbers 14-16: punch
and drill-bit, draw-knife and float; numbers 17-18: adzes amongst
the farming tools.
Farmer: numbers 17-31: axes, adzes, ploughshare, coulter (blade
from plough), spade, hoe, sickle, pruning-hook, bill-hook, rakehead, wool-comb & field anvil.
Shoe maker/cobbler: number 12 a cobbler’s last (for making shoes
on); number 13 an awl for punching leather.
Army secretary: Case 2: Vindolanda tablet display of a folding
notebook; styli, tablets and inkpot in Literacy display. Ink on
wood, and stylus on wax would have been used.
Back at school, it would be interesting to compare these trades
and their tools with modern equivalents. Many modern tools are
quite similar to Roman ones.
Off to work in Roman Britain
Gallery sheet
 Look round the gallery and for each of the job listed below, find
and record an object which shows that the job was done in Britain
in Roman times.
metal worker
carpenter
builder
farmer
cook
shoe maker

And finally a difficult extra one - can you find anything to
show the job of an army secretary ?
Roman buildings
Teachers notes
Although archaeologists often find the foundations and floors of
Roman buildings in Britain, upper parts of buildings are very
rare.
Roman buildings were a hardy source of ready worked
building materials and were often used to construct a later
building nearby.
The British Museum has a rare example of Roman walling from a
Romano-British agricultural building which was excavated near
Meonstoke, Hampshire in 1989.
The wall was constructed in the
early fourth century AD and is part of the façade of an aisled
barn-like building on a villa estate. It collapsed some time after
AD 353, as that is the latest date of the coins found underneath.
Archaeologists have been able to reconstruct the whole building in
great detail from the study of the remains and where they lay.
The design, with clerestory windows and a blind arcade above is
elaborate and colourful, in the late Antique taste. The greenstone
capitals are of the Ionic order, a volute just surviving on the
right-hand example. Flints are used to create a rusticated effect,
and there were projecting tile cornices over both the windows and
arcade.
The holes cut through the façade (by this time laying flat on the
ground) mark the foundations for a wooden structure of the early
Anglo-Saxon period, erected in the fifth or sixth centuries AD.
Roman buildings
Gallery sheet
 Find the section of Roman wall from Meonstoke, Hampshire (corner
next to case 16).
 Study it carefully and then match the labels below to the correct
part of the wall in the picture. There is some information below
the picture to help you work out which material is which.
flint
clay tile
mortar
greenstone
plaster

Flint is a whitish stone which when broken is shiny black
inside

Mortar is a type of pale cement which is used to join things
together.

Clay tiles are red and were sometimes piled one on top of
another in the wall of a building.

Greenstone could be cut into different shapes and used as
decoration in a wall.

Plaster was a white mixture used to make a smooth surface on a
wall.
What different shapes can you see in the design of the wall ?
Write or draw them in this box.
Animals in Roman Britain
Teachers notes
The objectives of this activity are:

To encourage pupils to search for evidence across a wide range
of objects and materials.

To identify which animals the Romans hunted or farmed.

To
develop
awareness
of
the
sources
of
animal
based
food
available in Roman Britain.
Checklist of animals
Hare: case 23 Hoxne pepper pot; case 11 enamelled brooch; case 22
colour-coated ware pot – hunting scene.
Horse: case 8 cavalry items; case 11 enamelled brooch; case 6
chariot racing scene on pot; case 15 statuettes; case 10 riders
shown on coins; the Kirby Thore tombstone – on wall behind Julius
Classicianus tomb; case 22- rim of silver bowl.
Goat: case 15 statuette; case 20 statuette and bones; case 22 on
silverware; case 23 Hoxne pepperpot; case 16 painted on wall
plaster.
Sheep: case 20 statuette and bones; case 7 hoof imprint in a tile
from the settlement at Stonea.
Boar: case 9 Legio XX antefix; case 15 statuette.
Dog: case 7 imprint in Stonea tile; case 16 Ashstead villa flue
tile; cases 7 & 21 dogs hunting on vases; case 15 dog-like
statuette; case 17 Corbridge Lanx.
Cockerel: cases 15 & 20 statuettes; case 20 bones; case 11
enamelled brooch
Deer: cases 7 & 21 being hunted on vases; case 22 rim of silver
bowl.
Bear: case 22 rim of silver bowl.
Bull/Ox: case 15 statuette; case 22 rim of silver bowl; case 19
image of Mithras and the Bull; case 6 on shield boss; case 17
Corbrodge Lanx.
Hare, boar, deer and bear were all wild animals
The rest were farmed animals.
Animals in Roman Britain
Gallery sheet
 Look round the gallery carefully for examples of different
animals.
 Look in particular for evidence that the Romans either kept or
knew about the animals listed below and record this on the table.
 If you can tell, circle if the animal was hunted or kept on a
farm.
animal
hare
evidence
hunted or
kept?
hunted
kept
horse
hunted
kept
goat
hunted
kept
sheep
hunted
kept
boar
pig
/
wild
hunted
kept
dog
hunted
kept
cockerel
hunted
kept
deer
hunted
kept
bear
hunted
kept
bull / ox
hunted
kept
What are they made from ?
Teachers notes
It would be helpful to brief pupils on the following materials
before the visit:
Wood -most wooden objects do not survive
Bone -often used for tools
Leather - most does not survive
Jet -dark black stone used in jewellery
Gold
Silver
Copper – generally brown or green
Bronze (copper and tin) – generally brown or green; sometimes
plated with tin
Brass – golden or green
Lead – dull silvery colour
Pewter (tin and lead) – dull silvery colour
Iron – black, brown to steel colour
List of objects, stating materials and where they can be found:
Cases
Pins and needles – bone and bronze
2 and 7
Bracelet – gold, silver and jet
11 and 23
Note book – folded wooden leaves, or joined tablets
2 and 3
Bowl – silver, bronze, pewter, pottery & glass
7, 16, 17,
18, 21, 22 and 23
Mirror – tinned bronze
4 and 14
Shoes – leather; some had iron hob-nails
1, 3, 6 and
7
Knife – iron with wood/bone handles
Comb – bone
16
4
It is very interesting to compare ancient objects with their
modern counterparts. Pupils could do work which involves
illustrating ancient and modern tools, comparing their materials
and effectiveness. It is fascinating to see how some of the
objects are so similar.
What
Gallery sheet
are
they
made

Here are eight objects from Roman Britain.

Look round the Roman Britain gallery carefully to find them.
of?

Fill in the information.
Object
pins and
needles
Made out of?
What would a
modern version be
made out of?
Is the Roman
version
better, worse
or the same?
better
worse
the same
bracelet
better
worse
the same
note book
better
worse
the same
bowl
better
worse
the same
mirror
better
worse
the same
shoes
better
worse
the same
knife
better
worse
the same
comb
better
worse
the same
Roman
Teachers notes
tombstones
Roman tombstones often had objects or symbols carved on them,
sometimes shown the deceased as they wanted to be remembered and
usually carried an inscription giving details including the
person’s name, age at death, date of death and sometimes their
occupation or family connections.
Tombstone of Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus
1st century AD, found in Trinity Square, London
This is the reconstructed tombstone of Gaius Julius Alpinus
Classicianus a member of the Gallic aristocracy. Nero (reigned AD
54-68) appointed Classsicianus as the procurator (finance
minister) of Britain after the revolt of the Iceni led by Queen
Boudica in AD 60-61. His job was to correct the financial abuses
that had been an important cause of the rebellion. In late Roman
times pieces of the tombstone were re-used in the hurried
construction of one of the bastions that protected the walls of
Roman London.
Tombstone of a soldier's daughter
2nd-4th centuries AD, found near the site of the Roman fort at
Kirkby Thore, Cumbria
The name of the woman is missing from this broken tombstone.
However, the remaining part of the inscription in the lower right
corner tells us that she was the daughter of a military standardbearer (imaginifer) called Crescens. The scene shows a funeral
banquet, a common motif on the tombstones of Romano-British women.
The dead woman reclines on a couch holding a fancy two-handled cup
or goblet. A servant passes her food from a decorative threelegged table.
Framing the scene are a number of motifs symbolising death and the
Afterlife: the gaping head on the right probably represented alldevouring death; the pine-cone, above, was a symbol of
immortality, and the rosette, next to it, was a symbol of
fertility in the Afterlife.
Tombstone of Volusia Faustina and Claudia Catiotua
3rd century AD found in Lincoln
The woman depicted in the left-hand portrait bust, wearing a
necklace, is Volusia Faustina. She was the wife of Aurelius
Senecio, a town councillor at Lincoln, who set up the monument
after she died at the age of 26. The second woman is Claudia
Catiotua. It is not clear what her relationship with Volusia was,
but she may have been her mother, or perhaps her successor as the
second wife of Aurelius Senecio. She lived longer than Volusia,
over sixty years, according to the inscription.
Roman
Gallery sheet
tombstones
 Find these three Roman tombstones, look at them carefully and
then answer the questions.
Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus
Which
language
inscription ?
is
used
for
the
carved
Why do you think this tombstone is so large ?
A soldier’s daughter
What is in front
of her?
What is she holding?
What is she lying on ?
Where do you think this meal is happening?
Volusia Faustina and Claudia Catiotua
What are the women shown wearing ?
What do you think the relationship between the
two women was ?
Why have portraits
tombstone ?
Design
Teachers notes
your
own
of
their
faces
Roman
on
the
tombstone
This activity can either follow on from the last suggested
activity with tombstones or can be used independently.
The aim of the activity to encourage the pupils to use the
tombstones displayed in the gallery as a source of information to
help them design their own Roman tombstone.
All the information they record on the gallery sheet can be used
back at school to support the pupils as they design their own
Roman tombstone – including all the key elements they observed on
the Museum examples.
You may also find it useful to take
photographs of the gallery tombstones for reference purposes later
(particularly with regard to shape and colour which are not
recorded specifically by the pupils) two and some of the
tombstones can be found in the Explore section of the British
Museum website at www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore
Design
Gallery sheet

your
own
Roman
tombstone
Look carefully at the tombstones on display in the gallery and
collect some ideas which will help you to design your own Roman
tombstone back at school.
Practise some Roman style
writing here.
Some stones have a carving.
Do a rough sketch here.
Draw some Roman symbols.
There is information about
symbols below.
Who put up the tombstone to you?
Husband? Wife? Children? Exslaves?
How old were you when you died?
Make sure you use Roman
numerals!
What is your homeland?
People in Britain came from
across the empire.
If you were a soldier, how long
did you serve for?
If not a soldier, what was your
job or occupation?

Stars – represent wealth or becoming a god or goddess in the
next world.

Dolphins –represent the sea voyage to the Land of the Dead

Pine cones – represent life after death (new plants growing
from dry old seeds)
Further resources
Printed material
BM Pocket Timeline of Ancient Rome by Katharine
Wiltshire
BM Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ancient Rome by Mike
Corbishley
BM Pocket Dictionary of Roman Emperors by
Roberts
Paul
BM Pocket Dictionary of Greek and Roman Gods and
Goddesses by Richard Woff
BM Timeline of the Ancient World by
Wiltshire
Katharine
British Museum web resources
British Museum website
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Explore Adults
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore
Explore Children
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore
The Ancient World
www.ancientcivilizations.co.uk
Other useful websites
Portable Antiquities Scheme
www.finds.org.uk
Museum of London
www.museumoflondon.org.uk
English Heritage
heritage.org.uk
www.english-
Fishbourne Roman Palace
www.sussexpast.co.uk