Romans Flashcards
(34 cards)
Kings, Republic and Empire
- Seven Kings of Rome
- Replaced by Republic led by two consuls
- Rome’s power and influence spreading throughout Mediterranean
The Arras culture (4th – 2nd cent. BC)
- Cemeteries, e.g. Danes Graves
- Burials mounds in square enclosures
- Use of chariots (elite)
- Chariots dismantled
- Crouched body
- British-made goods
Trade between Britain and Gaul
- 2nd cent. BC: gold coins introduced from Belgic Gaul
- Gift exchange systems between leaders
- British tribes began minting own coinage
- After Gallic Wars, British coinage more complex, diverse, denominations
Invasions of Britain
• Caesar: 55 and 54 BC
– For prestige and propaganda
– Dubious success
• Claudius (AD 43)
– Growing power of tribal leaders in Britain
– Replace tribal leaders with loyal ‘client kings’
Britain: Iron Age kingdoms and Roman Civitates
- Loyal rulers retained as client kings
* Immediate submission to Rome (Iceni, Brigantes, Atrebates)
Types of urban settlement in the provinces
- Colonia: settlements for Citizens of Rome, esp. veteran soldiers (e.g. Colchester, then Gloucester, Lincoln)
- Vicus: smaller urban settlements, developing from military presence?
- Civitas capitals: centre of administration in each Civitas (e.g. Silchester/Atrebates)
Colchester
- AD 43 to ~50
- Legionary Fortress
- AD 49 – 61: Colonia
- Augusta
Vicus: Eboracum (York)
- 1st cent: Roman legionary fortress
- 2nd cent: rapid urban growth
Civitas capital: Silchester
- Regular street grid
- Public administrative buildings
- Public religious buildings
- Public entertainment
- Markets
- Dense occupation: private houses
New settlements
Roman Civitas capitals often slightly shifted away from original location, e.g. Colchester, Dorchester
The archaeology of Roman rural landscapes
Villas: • Winged corridor •Aisled Low status nucleated settlements Who was in it? -‘Native’ Britons? -Wealthy Romans?
What characterises a villa?
• Stone built • Rectangular • Multiple rooms • With wings or courtyard • Rural • Part of an estate? What it isn’t: • A town-house • A ‘native’ hut or farmstead
Villas in Roman Italy
- Luxury in countryside
- Elite owned multiple villas
- Agricultural role
- Architecturally inspired by town houses
- Atrium
- Peristyle
- Taking advantage of space and views
Wider context of the villa
-Iron working
-Slaughter-house
-Milling/bakery
Other buildings:
-Bath houses
-Threshing floors
-Kilns for corn drying
Architectural features
- Single storey?
- Slate or tiled roof
- Tessellated or mosaic floors
- Hypocausts
Opus signinum floors
- Broken tiles, CBM, gravel, pottery mixed with mortar to cover floors and pavements
- North African (Phoenician) technique
- Largely replaced by tessellated floors by 2nd cent. AD
Rudston Venus pavement
• Northern workshop • Venus and Triton – Three hunters – ‘Killing bull’ – ‘Flaming lion’ • Classical subjects • ‘Local’ execution • North Africa style?
Pottery
Pottery in the Iron Age
– More rural areas: pottery rare
– Southern Britain – wheel-thrown wares, imported pottery. Limited distribution
– Regionalisation in pottery styles in south
– Pottery spreads after AD43.
Roman pottery
- Wheel-thrown wares
- New vessel forms, e.g. mortaria
- New fabrics and technologies – e.g. terra sigillata/colour-coating
- Dining and cooking vessels
Roman coarse wares
• Black burnished ware 1 (BB1) • Hand-made • Grey/black, sand tempered – BB1: 2nd – 4 th cent. Dorset with IA origins • Changing typology – rim, base size, latticing • Jars, bowls, dishes • Supplying army?
Terra sigillata (Arretine ware/Samian Ware)
- Mass production
- Maker’s marks
- Slipped (colour-coating – when slip different to internal fabric colour)
Local colour-coated wares
• Samian industry collapses in 3rd cent. • Range of slipped table wares locally produced – Oxfordshire – Nene Valley • Imitation of Gaulish potters
Cosmetic grinders?
- Over 600 known, only 4 outside of Britain
- Mineral cosmetics?
- Many contextually dated to 1st/2nd cent. AD
- Celtic decoration
- Two from possible LPRIA contexts
Toilet sets (Chatelaine brooches): LIA to Roman
- Tweezers
- Ear scoops
- Nail cleaners
- Pre-disposition towards lower status sites
